Share my passion for all things gardening!
I know I’ve talked about this before but crop rotation is a big deal! It’s the best tool vegetable gardeners have to cut down on insect and disease problems. And it’s free, too. Crop rotation involves keeping records of where you grew each crop in the previous 3 to 4 years. That way, you can grow them in different locations […]
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On Dec. 9, I wrote a blog post about growing microgreens. It also included a video on how to accomplish this. As a quick recap, microgreens are young seedlings that you harvest once they’ve developed their first true leaves. I live in a Northern climate where growing salad greens like lettuce year-round is virtually impossible. So growing microgreens seemed like […]
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When you live in a climate with cold winters, it’s pretty darned tricky growing veggies year round. If you’ve been following me, you know I grow some very cold-tolerant vegetable crops in a hoop house during the winter months. But this winter, I’m also trying something for the first time: growing microgreens! You’ve probably heard of folks sprouting seeds, where […]
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It won’t be long before we plant our warm-season crops so I wanted to make sure you saw this video to help you get excellent germination rates. It’s all about proper seed orientation. What’s that, you say? Well, there are certain irregularly-shaped seeds that will germinate more successfully if they are planted in the correct direction. The types of seeds I’m […]
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As you’ve probably discovered, I’m VERY into starting my own plants from seeds! In my opinion, being successful at it requires a decent grow light set-up. It’s true that you can put your flats of seeds in a sunny window, there are two problems with this. First, seedlings need about 16 hours of light daily. That’s not feasible since our […]
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When planting vegetable seeds, there are some that should be sown directly into the garden and others that do better when started indoors first. But which is which? In my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review, I take the mystery out of sowing seeds and am hoping you’ll find it really helpful. Here is a link to it: Different […]
Read moreDo you enjoy starting your own plants from seed as much as I do? You’ll be excited to hear about a wonderful new seed-starting kit. It’s the GrowEase Seed-Starter kit from Gardener’s Supply. Here’s a short video on the kit’s features:Why do I like this seed-starting kit so much? Here are close-ups of the various components: This is the water […]
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If you live in a northern climate, I hope you haven’t planted your tomatoes from seed yet! Yes, it’s easy to get excited but it’s still too early. I used to start my tomato seeds indoors in early February. I figured the plants need to be large and robust before planting them out into the garden in mid-May. I quickly […]
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Well, today’s an exciting day: my first column of the 2016 garden season runs in The Spokesman-Review! Here is a link to it online: Getting grounded. (You can also read my column below.) I know you like to be on top of the latest garden news, right? The topic is cool and exciting new vegetable varieties. I only had room to […]
Read moreHere is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Saving seeds an easy way to save money. (or you can read my column lower in this post) This one is about a topic I’m very excited about. It’s a valuable skills all gardeners should have although I’m embarrassed to say it’s not something I’ve had much […]
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