Did you know that saving the honey bee is crucial? Numbers have been declining since the late 1990’s, with beekeepers noticing the mysterious disappearance of bees as well as the decline of bee colonies. Since 2006, over 40% of honeybees have been lost in the U.S. You’ve probably heard or seen lots of stuff about […]
Strawberries are a delicious summer treat. Naturally sweet and bursting with good stuff. They are versatile and, as long as you choose the right varieties, they are easy to grow, and you’ll have beautiful fruit from early summer to early fall. But you really don’t need to spend a small fortune on expensive hybrid plants […]
Red ants, brown ants, black ants — there are over a thousand species of ants in North America alone, and most of them are a serious pain the rear. They eat our crops, bite us, and farm aphid colonies to further wreak havoc on our fruit and vegetables. And if they get in your house, […]
The start your plants get determines their health, their robustness, and the yield you’ll get from them. Get the seed starting bit wrong, and your crops will fail. Seed starting is easy, but it’s also easy to get wrong, so we’ve put together this practical guide to seed starting for beginners to help you get […]
Saving your own sounds super easy. And it is to a degree – but there are some things you need to know to get it right. Otherwise there’s a strong possibility that your saved seeds won’t germinate, won’t produce fruit, will deliver a poor or mutated crop, or otherwise won’t be stable. Learning how to […]
Onion white rot – Stromatinia cepivora (syn. Sclerotium cepivorum) — the unforgiving fungal pestilence of the allium family. There is nothing so annoying as expectantly walking up to the lovely crops you’ve grown, picking your first onion, and looking at it in dismay, wondering what happened to it. This happened to me this week as I picked my […]
Basil, a fragrant annual herb that is popular in cooking — particularly in Italian dishes. It’s easy to grow indoors and outdoors, but it’s still quite a fragile plant — especially in hot conditions, and is prone to a number of diseases. Basil diseases can prevent the plant from flourishing and, in some cases, can […]
Bindweed, or bellbind, is a regular problem in gardens. This weed is incredibly frustrating for gardeners as it literally chokes fruit and vegetables. It is very difficult to control as it attempts to take over the world, or at least the garden, with its winding vines that just want to grow up everything in the […]
The bane of many gardeners life, the squash bug, Anasa tristis, is commonly found throughout the US. Their damage is limited to members of the gourd family including squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins. They attack plants in large numbers and like to gather on the leaves, vines, and fruits of the plant. The bugs cause damage to the […]
Blossom end rot – not caused by a pesky insect or a disease, but it is caused by adverse growing conditions. Although it most commonly occurs in tomatoes, it also appears on squash, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and melons. What Causes Blossom End Rot? Blossom end rot occurs in plants when there isn’t enough calcium in […]
As the gardening season progresses, we all have to be alert and ready to tackle those annoying little insects that can decimate our crops and leave us devastated that all the hard work we put into growing our fruit and vegetables was a waste of time and money. For many growers, one of the evilest […]
Slugs. An absolute menace in the vegetable garden. The swines will devour just about anything. None of our fruit or vegetable plants are safe. Controlling them naturally is a continual battle and you can find out how by checking out “How to Control Slugs Naturally“. Slugs are, however, pretty interesting little critters. Frustrating and intensely […]
Slugs are an absolute nightmare in the vegetable garden. They’re bad enough in your ornamental garden, but among your fruit and vegetable plants, these little mollusks are the gardener’s nemeses. The rasp away at your plants and can devour entire crops in short order. Young, tender seedlings are often the victims of the insatiable appetite of an […]
Live in an apartment with a little balcony? An urban house with a tiny yard? Think you’d love to grow your own food, but just don’t have the space? Think again. While you might not have much floor space, that shouldn’t stop you getting the satisfaction and health benefits of growing your own fruit and […]
The autumn garden is bitter-sweet. You’re drowning in gluts of beautiful fruit and veg like apples, pears, and squashes, which is, of course, wonderful. And, if you preserve them properly – whether you’re a master canner or you’re the queen of dehydrating, your bountiful harvest will see you right through the winter and into spring – […]
Ants farm aphids. They care for them, offer protection, and literally “farm” them – much like humans farm their livestock. Picture ants wearing the frayed straw hat, dirty blue dungarees or coveralls, and the good ol’ fashioned wellies. This prime example of mutualism is fascinating, annoying, and often brutal. And it can be exceptionally troublesome […]
They’re a menace. A total nightmare in ornamental and edible gardens alike. The bane of many gardener’s lives, these tiny pests wreak havoc, and can weaken or destroy huge numbers of crops. But don’t despair and reach for the expensive, harmful, and pretty useless chemical pesticides just yet – we’ve got quite a few different […]
Two of the main challenges we face when we grow our own food organically are controlling pests and maximizing our crop yield. Knowing the best companion planting combinations helps you solve both problems without resorting to nasty chemical solutions. You can of course further optimize your crop yield by using any of our homemade organic […]
Whether you’ve got a sprawling rural ranch or a tiny urban yard, growing your own organic food is definitely worth the work you put in. But, if you can grow your own organic food, and get a higher, healthier yield per foot, that makes the whole process even better. As long as you’ve got 4 […]
Whether you’re growing fruit, vegetables, or flowers, you want them to perform at their best, yielding an abundance of high-quality produce. However, in a bid to lower your environmental impact, and because you really don’t want you and your family to consume a bunch of harmful chemicals, you really don’t want to use synthetic fertilizer. […]