Should You Order Beneficial Insects for Your Garden?

Monday, May 4th, 2009

One of the reasons we start our home vegetable gardens is so we know we've got healthy organic food that hasn't had anything funky done to it. We don't want to spray chemicals or pesticides on our growing veggies, so we rely on natural forms of garden pest control. Beneficial ...

More Landscape Designers Are Offering Edible Designs for Your Yard

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Lots of us are getting into permaculture and growing our own vegetables again, both because the economy is kicking our butts and because we're interested in eating fresh food that we know is genetically modified and hasn't been treated with pesticides or anything else unnatural. Sometimes, though, in all our enthusiasm ...

Compost Tea, a Free Way to Boost Your Garden’s Productivity

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

If you're a gardener, you're probably already making your own compost. (And if you're not, it's time to get started! Not only is it cheaper--AKA free--to make your own compost instead of buying from the garden store, but it's more eco-friendly as well since no one needs to ...

5 Uncommon Herbs for Your Garden

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Herbs are a great addition to the urban or suburban garden.  They don't take a lot of space, many varieties are easy to grow in pots, and some of them can even be beneficial for your vegetable garden (by keeping pest insects away--not everything likes the smell of mint as ...

7 Reasons to Grow Potatoes in Your Vegetable Garden

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

Ask any vegetable gardeners, new or old, what their favorite things to grow are, and you'll probably hear something like tomatoes or peppers or cucumbers... something that looks good dangling in the garden and tastes great fresh too.  It's a littler rarer to hear someone wax nostalgic about potatoes.  Why ...

How to Attract Bees to Your Vegetable Garden

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

It's no secret that bees will improve the output of your backyard fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. Planting bee-friendly goodies will attract these great little pollinators, but you don't have to stick all sorts of odd wild flowers in your garden (when gardening space is limited, it makes sense to ...

How to Vegetable Garden… When You Live in an Apartment

Friday, March 6th, 2009

All right, you're down with eating healthy organic food, and you're ready to start a vegetable garden of your own, because let's face it: Whole Foods gets pretty darned expensive after a while (okay, it's expensive the first time you go too). The only problem? You live in an apartment ...

No Time to Garden but Want Fresh Veggies from Your Yard?

Friday, February 13th, 2009

One of the reasons I'm a big fan of permaculture and perennial crops (think fruit trees, berry bushes, asparagus, etc.) is that quite frankly it's less work than a vegetable garden.  In veggie gardens, the majority of the crops need to be planted anew each year.  If you're already working ...

Self-Contained Vertical Garden Kit Lets You Grow a Salad Indoors or Out

Friday, February 6th, 2009

Gardening in the city, and even surburban areas, often means there isn't a lot of room for planting. That's a big reason why "vertical gardening" is becoming so popular. This is when you train plants to grow up instead of out and over the ground. In addition to being ...

Manual Sod Cutter–Worth Buying?

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

A sod cutter is a tool that allows you to quickly and easily cut and remove grass. There are big gas-powered sod cutters, and then there are manual/kick-type versions. As you might guess, a manual sod cutter is more affordable and more practical for a homeowner (the gas-powered ...