Advice for sustainable gardening
If you’ve been interested in organic gardening for at least ten minutes, you’ve probably already heard about Neem oil. It’s the gold standard for natural garden pest control, among other issues, and folks will recommend it for everything from bug infestations to blight or fungal wilts. Caterpillars? Neem oil. Leaf spots? Neem oil. Deer, rabbits,…
A good garden plan from year to year is an important part of growing your own veggies. Annual vegetable plants thrive best with proper spacing, good “neighbors,” and crop rotation when it makes sense. Honestly, I’m still learning new lessons every year about what works well and what doesn’t, as far as where to plant…
If you’re in the business of growing food at home without using dangerous chemicals, you’re probably familiar with natural pesticides like Neem oil, Spinosad, and diatomaceous earth. It’s tempting to go straight for the sprayer and the Neem, when you find pests eating unsightly holes in your vegetable plants. Here’s the issue, though: many natural…
If you’re like us and you want to get serious about growing more food at home, setting up a system for floating row cover is a must. Row cover is a low-stress way to protect vulnerable plants from both pests and damage from weather extremes. That makes it an invaluable tool for reducing losses, extending…
If done well, raised beds are an effective and convenient way to grow backyard vegetables. They’re also a helpful addition to an in-ground garden, if you have trouble growing certain crops in your native soil. At our place, we’ve got so much clay in our soil you could use it for pottery crafting. Even when…
When we witnessed the supply chain crisis and days of empty store shelves back in 2020, growing food at home became a topic of more interest. In addition to food security, some folks want to grow their own produce for affordability, to avoid questionable pesticides and GMOs, and to address the environmental concerns of industrial…
Summer 2025 was one of the wettest I’ve ever seen for the North Georgia mountains. Throughout July, we had torrential thunderstorms every afternoon for the whole darn month, and I’m not exaggerating. Our dog got so conditioned to it he hid under the bed at 4 pm every day for weeks even after the stormy…
When you first start gardening, you might expect weeds to be a minor annoyance. But you’ll find they can turn into an overwhelming and discouraging problem, if they get out of control. Left to their own devices, aggressive weeds like buttonweed and spreading grasses can take the place over in a matter of days in…
During the first half of fall, I like to take a breather from bigger garden projects so I can baby my cool-season crops and enjoy spooky season. Once we get to November, though, it’s time to get the garden situated for the cold months. There’s a couple pre-winter soil maintenance tasks we can’t afford to…
For a lot of folks, gardening season ends with summer. It doesn’t have to, though. Fall is the perfect time to plant another round of cool season crops and get another big haul of homegrown produce before winter. In the fall months, insect pests are dwindling down instead of ramping up. The weather tends to…
