If you’re lucky enough to have a patch of yard to do some gardening, you’ve likely spent some time dreaming up garden designs. If you’re anything like me, that involves graph paper, colored pencils, and a ruler! When thinking about what your garden will look like, think about the types of vegetables you want to grow and their specific needs. I recommend considering enclosed vegetable garden ideas.
One sunny day in late summer, I went to visit a city-dwelling friend. We went for a walk, and I noted a few porches with a random tomato plant or two in pots and the occasional container garden of basil and thyme. And then.
I love window boxes – especially those DIY window box planters I come across now and then. They’re just bursting with personality. I saw a fantastic steampunk window box a few years ago that I wish I would have taken a picture of. The box itself was ordinary, but it was embellished with these amazingly detailed metal gears, copper piping, and even a few pocket watches thrown in for good measure. Naturally, there was garlic growing in the box.
The best piece of advice I got over ten years ago, in regards to weeds in my garden came from a friend of my mom who always has the most pristine garden. Each row between his plants were always clean, and never seemed to have sprouts or bugs. I assumed he must be hand-weeding, but when I asked he told me “nope, I just go out every day with a hoe and turn the soil—haven’t had to bend over to pick a weed or mulch a day in my life.”
Remember dinner parties? Sigh. Me too. I’m optimistic that they’re making a comeback soon, though and I want to be ready. I was looking for different ways to level up my hosting abilities and remembered the bonus points earned through edible flowers. Adding edible flowers to any dish as garnish or flavor enhancer is sure to wow the crowd. In the fall and winter, you may be forced to source them from the store. But why not try to grow edible flowers indoors?
There’s nothing like the fragrance of fresh herbs in the kitchen. I love the way they flavor a meal and add color to sauces. And I love how easy they are to grow. You can grow herbs like basil in a sunny windowsill, rosemary will stay fresh outdoors well into the colder months of the year, and I’m pretty sure mint would even grow on the moon. But can you help your herbs grow even better and stronger? Should you use mulch for an herb garden?
The hills are alive with the sound of…growing vegetables? You may think that living on a hillside is a disadvantage when it comes to outdoor gardening. But there are different gardening methods you can use to take advantage of your sloped yard. One great idea is to build planter boxes directly into your hill. Another great tool for hillsides is a gravity drip irrigation system. In fact, you can employ both methods and build the hillside vegetable garden of your Sound of Music dreams. Here are five benefits of a gravity drip irrigation system and one challenge to keep an eye out for!
I love cooking with fresh herbs. There’s nothing like the smell of chopped basil or the aroma of crushed thyme to get me in the zone to cook. That’s easy enough to do in the summer when my herbs are growing faster than Jack’s magical beanstalk, but since I live in New England, the herb garden is pretty much done by mid-autumn. What’s a cook to do? Bring the garden indoors and grow herbs in Mason jars.
Seed catalogs can sometimes be so beautiful that they look like collector’s pieces, and even though they do quite literally expire in use each year, it’s hard to throw them out. When I start getting my seed catalogs in the mail in January, I take to them like a good book and sit down with […]
You’ve probably heard that using old wood pallets isn’t the best idea, because you never know what they were carrying and could be filled with poisons you don’t want leaching into your soil and food. So then, if the most Pinterest-ed DIY project is null, what are the best containers for container gardening when you grow food? Mason jars. That’s the end of the list. Pure glass, no plastic.
