Growing
7 Steps for Preparing Vegetable Gardens for Winter
Our farm, Fairhaven Farm, is in U.S. growing zone 8, so we are able to have a garden pretty much year-round. Late January and February is the most down time we see.
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Why You Should Consider Wintering Geraniums
Wintering geraniums not only saves money, it also saves special memories. As a warm October day arrives, I force myself to uproot blooming pots of geranium plants to store away for winter.
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Growing Peas for Winter Greens
No matter what variety of vegetable pea plants you are growing in your garden, all parts of all varieties, including the buds and blossoms, are edible.
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Growing and Marketing Bulb Plants
Experimenting with new ways to earn an income from our small farm, we recently discovered the possibilities of spring flower bulb plants.
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Using Natural Fertilizers on the Homestead
Gardens are hungry creatures, demanding endless applications of fertilizer to keep vegetables, fruits, and flowers growing throughout the season. Unfortunately, many find their plot’s needs increase each passing year despite frequent feedings.
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How to Craft with Grapevines
By Cherie Dawn Haas – One of the beauties of homesteading is learning how to use everything that’s available to us in some way, and if you grow grapes for wine or jelly, that resourcefulness includes making grapevine crafts. I discovered this firsthand a few years ago after pruning hundreds of our vines one season.
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Propagating, Collecting and Saving Seeds
Had the Pilgrims not brought and introduced abundant seed varieties to the New World, we would not be enjoying a diverse variety of popular plants in the agricultural world and our homesteads would lay barren. Collecting and saving seeds is easy and rewarding.
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How to Plant Daffodil, Tulip and Other Bulbs in Pots
If you live in a condo, apartment or just don’t have space to plant spring-flowering bulbs in the ground, you can still enjoy continual color and fragrance from spring bulbs by learning how to plant daffodil, tulip and other bulbs in pots.
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How to Make Natural Deer Repellent
Perhaps your garden had some unwelcome attention from foragers last year, and your crops suffered. Maybe you have tender, young trees on the property and worry about deer stripping bark from their trunks in the cold, bare days of early spring, or pushing them over as they rub the velvet from their antlers in the fall.
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Aphids and Ants on Apple Trees!
If you have infestations of ants on apple trees, you could also have an aphid problem.
I got home from a long trip for work and hear that one of the new apple trees isn’t doing so well.
Preserve the Harvest Giveaway
Our Preserve the Harvest giveaway is BACK! Win food preservation these trusted brands:
All-American Canner
Dripping Springs
Pomona’s Universal Pectin
Self-Watering Planters: DIY Containers to Combat Drought
What holds five gallons of soil, uses 80% less water and costs less than a dollar? Self-watering planters! DIY instructions are simple and most materials can be recycled.
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Oh, Deer: Keeping Deer Out of Gardens
Whitetail deer are charismatic, beautiful animals as they leap in graceful 20-foot bounds through your neighbor’s bean field. I like to watch them.
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Planting Kale in the Fall Garden
Planting kale isn’t just a spring activity in our gardens. When spring crops wilt from summer’s heat, and we have the pantry lined with the fruits of our labors, we till up the soil and plant a fall garden.
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Black Currants: America’s Delicious Forbidden Fruit
Black currants are easy-to-grow, requiring very little care, which was perfect for us! One spring, we were buying baby fruit trees at our local nursery and were excited about starting a small orchard on our 10-acre homestead.
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