“Did you know that one clove or bulb of garlic, when planted, can produce up to an additional twenty cloves? So instead of tossing out your garlic that’s started to sprout, plant it instead! Simply plant garlic cloves individually. If they’ve started to sprout, even better! Otherwise plant them with the pointy end up. Make […]
Container gardening isn’t only for savvy urban gardeners and folks with limited space to grow, it can also be for folks who want to maximize their yields in a controlled environment. Not only does growing potatoes in a barrel reduce the amount of weeding and exposure to pests and fungi, you don’t even have to […]
“My family didn’t grow asparagus when I was a child. We found it. My dad had a sharp eye for the tender green spears that grew wild along roadsides near our home in Piqua, a wisp of a town in southeastern Kansas. He could spot even a single spear when he took the family on […]
Doll’s house-sized ‘watermelons’ that taste of pure cucumber with a tinge of lime. These little guys are officially the cutest food known to man & oh-so-easy to grow even for real beginners. Cucamelons can be grown in pretty much the exact same way as regular cucumbers, only they are far easier. They don’t need the […]
If you’re interested in gardening on any level, it’s nearly impossible not to notice that vegetables are once again enjoying the gardening spotlight. Like everything else, the gardening trend has taken a twist. Large expanses of cultivated land have been swapped out for raised beds, containers, and one of the easiest and rewarding veggie gardening […]
Greenhouse construction with a rocket mas heater, including an excellent demonstration of the rocket mass heater sideways burn. A rocket mass heater is typically 10 times more efficient than a regular wood stove. And 20 times cleaner…
This is very cool… “This is a brief guide on how I took some old windows from houses they where tearing down in my neighborhood and turned them into a small greenhouse in my back yard. I collected the windows over the course of a year and a half and the build took about 3 […]
If you’ve got weeds in the garden, rather than using Roundup or another chemical, consider using good old natural store brought vinegar. “Need proof that vinegar is a weed-terminator? Just look at the weeds growing along a pea-stone path in my Herb Garden. These were photographed yesterday afternoon, just moments before I sprayed them with […]
“Step 1: Beg Explain patiently to professional carpenter husband over several months that current compost bins are old and too small and in the wrong place. Paint dazzling word pictures of abundant food and rich soil that would result from beautiful new compost bins. Step 2: Research. Turns out it’s not easy to find a good […]
Homemade grain threshing solutions… An important first step for the small-scale grain grower is choosing grain varieties that can be threshed without modern machinery, since some grains grow surrounded by a tough, hard-to-remove outer “husk” or “hull.” Some recommendations for easily-threshed grains are: Hull-less Oats (these oats do have a “hull” or “husk,” but it’s […]