I recall a couple years ago in the early fall going out to the municipal compost pile with my Dad to drop some dried leaves, grass and spruce cones off. While there I started looking around, as one does when…
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Apr 28 2024
The Potato Trial - In Search of a New Potato Variety that Works for Me
Potatoes are one of the easiest, cost effective, beneficial, productive and nutritious vegetables to grow. But storing the harvest can prove problematic at times and so alternative methods like pressure canning and freezing have to be used to preserve the…
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Apr 21 2024
The Tomato Trial - Results of 2023 Tomato Trial and What's New for 2024
For years I only planted tomatoes I could get in the local stores or nurseries. But I got tired of the same varieties and when I found something I liked, they were not always available year to year. So I…
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Apr 7 2024
Establishing a Food Forest Orchard Garden - But Will it Save Me Money
Developing an orchard or even planting a couple trees takes time as we wait for them to produce. But if one is developing a food forest, the planning, implementing and then waiting for the ecosystem to develop can seem like…
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Mar 31 2024
Does Gardening Save Me Money - A Year In Review
Although I have been gardening for decades, it has always been viewed by folks as a lot of work that does nothing to save money. “You can buy it cheaper in the store” and “Once you include your labor and…
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Mar 24 2024
Every garden should have this perennial vegetable
As I sit to write this, we are a couple days into the spring equinox. And although temperatures have decided to take another dip into the deep freeze for the last days of March, it does not stop the dreaming…
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Apr 18 2023
Garden planning and seed starting
The calendar flips to the new year and my thoughts turn to planting the garden and looking into things to grow for the upcoming season. And as winter turns to spring, the gardening itch gets a little more serious and…
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Mar 22 2023
Tomatoes - A guide to choosing tomato varieties
Tomatoes are a member of botanical family Solanaceae which make up a group of plants better known as nightshades. Surprising to me, there are over 10,000 recorded tomato varieties with more being developed all the time as home gardeners breed…
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Dec 4 2022
Growing Garlic In Raised Bed Garden For Culinary and Medicinal Use
For years I bought softneck garlic every spring and although I did have limited success, the bulbs that were produced, if any, were less than impressive. It always seemed that they would not have enough time to grow to maturity…
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Sep 10 2022
Converting an Apple Tree Orchard and Fruit Orchard to a self sustaining Food Forest
I have heard it said over the years, that one of the first things that a person should do after buying a property, if they are so inclined, is to plant fruit trees because establishing an apple tree orchard or…
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Sep 5 2022
Planting an Apple Tree Orchard and Fruit Tree Orchard with goal of a Self Sustaining Food Forest
After my initial apple tree orchard met it's demise, I knew that it would be just a matter of time before I did the work involved in planning an orchard to replace it. But this time, rather than just planting…
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Sep 2 2022
Establishing an Apple Tree Orchard and Planning an Orchard for a self sustaining future
When I first moved here 30+ years ago, I knew that I wanted to not only have a garden but that I also wanted to have the ability to grow some of my own fruit. Raspberries and strawberries were the…
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Aug 29 2022
In the garden - When Garden Planning does Not go as Planned
Like most gardeners, I take the time in the late winter and early spring to do garden planning for the upcoming season. What grew well in the previous years, what I will plant, where I will plant and when I…
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Aug 26 2022
Fall planting of cool weather crops for fall gardening in Zone 3b
As the cooler temperatures and shorter days of the fall season become noticeable, I start to think about getting things ready for the winter that lies ahead. But I also start to look at the garden and realize it will…
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Aug 12 2022
Common Purslane AKA Portulaca (Portulaca Oleracea) - Benefits and Control of Purslane weed
Common Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea) is considered a noxious weed to most gardeners and for many years it was for me too. But after doing some research I quickly realized that it was more than just a purslane weed.
Backstory
I…
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Aug 7 2022
The Potato - Are Potatoes indeterminate or determinate?
The potato is probably one of the most consumed vegetable around the world and is grown commercially and in most home gardens around the world. But yet good crops can be somewhat evasive at times. A very common question that…
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Jul 24 2022
Back to Eden Gardening, Homemade Woven Weed Fabric and other projects - An Update
As part of my gardening and homesteading life, I like to learn about new methods, research how to improve old methods and sometimes resourcefulness comes into play to develop new ones. But part of ensuring the success of it all…
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Jul 7 2022
Woven Landscape Fabric - A Homemade Woven Weed Fabric DIY project
Although I do find weeding to be somewhat relaxing, dealing with the quack grass is something that I hate doing. You can't just pull it out easily and every little piece of the root starts a new plant. And to…
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Jul 3 2022
Achieving a Permaculture Design Principle with the Back to Eden Gardening method
I have always liked to learn new ways to garden and have experimented with a number of them over the years. I tried a couple of times over the years to use straw as a mulch but always ended up…
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Jun 23 2022
DIY Floating Row Cover Tunnel for Cabbage Root Maggot and Cabbage Moth Control
For many years I tried to grow members of the Brassica family only to be met with limited to no success. I would plant my nice looking bedding plants only to be met with wilted plants weeks later. When I…
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May 18 2022
How to container garden
We all have pictures in our minds of how a garden should look with it's weed free rows growing this winters produce or maybe it is just a small backyard garden where we go to get the salad fixings for…
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