Now is the time to refresh your soil for a last fall planting or prepare your garden for next year. There are a few easy “no dig” ways to get this accomplished. 1. Remove dead plants and debris Remove dead plants, leaves, fruits, and etc. 2. Leave plant roots in ground If you are not planting in the area, leave plant roots in the ground to let them decompose over the winter. This will add nutrients back into the soil. 3. Gently loosen up the soil Lightly loosen up the top lay

There is much joy and satisfaction in having your own seed collection from the plants you grew throughout the season. Your very own herb, vegetable, or fruit seeds not only create a personal seed bank but by just having them saves you time in searching out varieties and it saves you money. So, what do you look for in a seed in order to deem it worthy to save? Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Choose seeds that are not damaged, misshapen, or small. Diversify your seeds. Hav

Bush beans are one of those vegetables you can sneak in for a one last time crop! There is an "IF" to my previous statement (sorry)! IF you live in zones 1-4, unfortunately, the growing window is gone. Zones 5-10 have growing windows dependent on each hardiness/growing zone. You will get beans if you follow "the basics" from a previous blog. (1) Find out your first frost date. (2) Look for varieties that fit into your time frame (For example, here in zone 6 we have 70 days ti

Now that your summer vegetables are starting to wind down, it's time to get your garden ready for the next step.... fall vegetables! Here are a few simple chores to do before you plant your last seeds and seedlings for fall; Clean and clear up any weeds, spent plants, or debris from the garden. If the soil is compacted, loosen it up! Work organic matter into the soil to revive it. Organic matter includes compost, composted manure, leaf mold, peat moss, coir, and any other pla

We're a little over halfway through the summer growing season. Our summer harvest has been happening for a few weeks. So now what?! How about getting ready for fall planting? Sounds strange, but if you want to have your gardening extended to at least the first frost date, you must plan and do things to move in that direction! Here are "The Basics" for fall planting to keep in mind. Make a list of what you'd like to grow. Look up your zone's first frost date. Buy seeds. Find t

I'm not a big fan of bugs...whether they are the good ones or the not so good ones(pests)! I'm not sure if anyone really is! LOL! As an organic gardener, I always try and solve my gardening challenges with organic based principles, protocols, or approaches. One wonderful approach to repelling our pesty friends is to plant those plants that are known as plant repellents! Here is a short list of what I've used successfully... BASIL: Basil is one of my favorites and a great opti

I have learned in my many years of gardening that plants, like humans, need companions. For us humans, it's always better when you have a companion that shares and supports you in your journey. Likewise, plants also need companions to share in their growing journey! Companion planting is where you plant different kinds of plants next to or in the vicinity of each other. There are many reasons to do this which include pest control, pollination, maximizing use of space, increas

It's always exciting to see seeds sprouting after putting in the work to build a raised bed, purchasing the seeds, planting the seeds, and hoping and praying through the ups and downs of the spring weather! I won't lie, gardening always has its ups and downs and if you can "weather the weather" or hold on through those cold-rainy-snowy-cloudy-sunny-warm days there is wonderful rewards in the bounty from all your labor! I included the above picture of a client's garden. This i

Where would we be without our bees? We wouldn't be around! Humans eat honey from bees, use their wax, and rely on them to help us grow our food. Bees are responsible for pollinating about 85% of all the food crops for humans. Without the honeybees, predictions have been made that we would have an environmental collapse! Bees play a very important part in the life cycle of most plants and flowers. Without them, most plants would have no way to reproduce resulting in a die out.

We finally made it to March! This is the time of year that is exciting to the gardening community because we get to plan out our gardens, purchase seeds and supplies, and starting our seedlings and planting in the garden. Here in zone 6, we are a few weeks away from being able to plant seedlings! This is "cool crops" season! Cool crops do best in a temperature range of 35℉ to 65℉. Here are some plants that do well in cooler temperatures; garlic, onions, chives beets, swiss ch

It is super easy to buy seeds. The choices are endless! You can buy anywhere from grocery and big box stores, through phone apps, to internet seed companies. Sometimes too many choices can become overwhelming. Here are a few things to consider when buying seeds; Seeds from brick and mortar stores: they generally carry hybrid seeds that are popular varieties. Hybrid seeds are great if you only want to plant them for the season you are buying them for. Replanting seeds from a h