One of the single best things you can do to improve the overall health of your garden, raised beds, container plants, and any other green-thumb projects you have going is to start your own compost pile. Compost is nothing more than properly decomposed organic matter, all of it rich in nitrogen, carbon, and other nutrients … Read more
I think every gardener knows by now that plants need three essential nutrients in order to grow and thrive: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. But just like everything else in life, getting too much of a good thing will quickly turn harmful, and that is certainly the case when it comes to nitrogen. All kinds of … Read more
Most gardeners, even the greenest of green thumbs, know by now that plants need the right ratio of nutrients in order to thrive, and specifically, they need the big three: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. All are important, but of the three, nitrogen is the most important when it comes to helping plants develop the foliage … Read more
You ever notice how whenever you look at gardening pictures in books and on websites it always shows this perfect, loose black soil? The kind that is perfectly well-drained, perfectly nutritious, and very easy to work with? That’s great if your land is fortunate enough to be blessed with it, or you’re working in containers … Read more
For beginning gardeners, one of the trickiest things to manage when you want healthy plants and huge harvests is the pH level of your soil. Soil is either acidic, neutral, or alkaline, and for the vast majority of plants we grow, including many fruits and veggies, acidic soil is not optimal. Many plants will fail … Read more
If there’s one kind of soil that every gardener and farmer fears, it has to be clay. Any soil that’s high in clay will be very hard to work with, draining very slowly, compacting into a solid mass that will stifle and strangle roots, and being too alkaline for many vegetables (aside from the typical … Read more
If you’ve ever been doing any projects around the homestead involving landscaping, digging, or building, in your travels to get materials you’ve probably seen advertisements or want ads for fill dirt. They’re all over the place, and depending on where you are it’s either ubiquitous or in very short supply. For those of us who … Read more
There’s nothing like the anticipation of planting your garden and watching everything grow. But you can’t just plant willy-nilly – you have to prepare your garden properly first! Here are a few tips to help get you started. Get Rid of Any Messes, Debris, and Weeds Any gardener will tell you that preparing your garden … Read more
Preventing soil erosion in your yard, garden, or pasture is essential if you have a farm or homestead. Not only does limiting erosion improve and increase the amount of workable land that you have, it makes your property look a lot nicer, too. When we first purchased our property, we had a huge problem with … Read more
Gardening is one of the most common hobbies out there. In fact, around 50% of all Americans are said to be into some form of gardening, with food gardening being the top most pick. As per reports, around 35% of all American households grow a portion of their food at home. It is also believed … Read more