My seed-starting set-up is pretty well equipped, which makes it a lot easier to manage the fairly aggressive seed-starting schedule I keep. When we moved into our current home, I commandeered a corner of the garage as my indoor garden and seed-starting area. Having a dedicated area to grow out seedlings is a luxury, but one I would sacrifice…
Recent Posts
7 Ways To Save Money On Seeds – Without Saving Seeds
Vegetable growing can be a great way to save money on food, but it can also be a dang expensive hobby in its own right. One of the biggest expenses edible gardeners run into is the cost of seeds. If you’ve been at this for awhile, you’ve noticed that the cost of seeds in the…
To Do In The Northwest Edible Garden: March 2012
Last year I wrote the March 2011 To Do list and there was snow on the ground. This year? Yeah…you guessed it! But, hey, ignore the snow dusting the ground right now – the fact is, March is here, spring is coming and we gardeners can feel it. Here’s what Maritime Northwest gardeners should be…
What's Next? The Anti-Inflammation Challenge Wrap-Up
A good friend emailed me last night. She pointed out the inflamed elephant in the room: if sleep is my anti-inflammation keystone, spending 3 hours a night after the kids are in bed writing daily blog posts until midnight might not be the healthiest use of my evening hours. Yeah. There’s that. So, dear readers, I’m…
Win One Of My Five Favorite Gardening Books
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of milestones here on the blog. First, I launched my first ever sale-able product, The 2012 Garden Journal. The feedback on the Garden Journal has been fantastic. Thank you guys so much for your purchases. They directly support this blog, and – I hope – directly support…
The Book Burner and The Bermuda Grass: How To Become Your Garden's Gardening Expert
Last week I wrote a post encouraging people to smother their lawn instead of ripping it out before planting veggies. There’s some solid soil science reasons why I believe my suggestion to sheet compost the hell out of your sod is a good one, and I stand by the post. But apparently there’s this thing…
Your Personal Health Keystone: Anti-Inflammation Challenge Week 4
You know what a keystone is, other than a bad beer and a bad pipeline? It’s the special wedge-shaped center stone in an archway. The integrity of the arch depends on the keystone transferring the stress of a load out and down through the rest of the arch and, ultimately, to the security of the…
The Real Bounty of The Coop (Hint: It's Not Eggs)
Chickens have changed the way I think about gardening, and I’m not just talking about bull-rushing a garden bed to shoo the little cluckers out of my arugula. Again. No, something is happening to the way I think about garden inputs and outputs, and it all hinges on chicken shit. Before we got our hens…
Stop Ripping Up Your Lawn To Grow Veggies
It’s a badge of honor among urban homesteaders to say, “I’ve ripped up my whole lawn and put in a garden.” Stop doing that. No, seriously, I would now like to explain why you should not actually rip up your lawn, and I’d like to start with a little soil science. Bear with me, this’ll…
You Know You're A Veggie Gardener If…
You go to Costco and buy one thing – Sluggo in bulk – and ask for 8 large cardboard boxes to take it home in so you can smother more lawn. You frequent a horse stable even though you have no interest in riding horses. You have a ridiculous multi-component compost hierarchy to handle kitchen scraps and you assume…
Stumbling Over Chocolate Chips: Anti-Inflammation Challenge Week 3
Well as far as anti-inflammatory living goes, this week could have been better. It started last Saturday, with a catering event for some long-time clients. Now, I don’t wan’t this to come across as braggartly, but I make really good food. As a matter of professionalism, I do have to taste the really good food to ensure it…
How To Cull The Weak
Classic new gardener problem: you successfully grew a seedling. You planted it and nurtured it from a little seed and – life doing what it does – it’s flourishing, putting on layers of healthy leaves and growing up well. And now you have to kill it – on purpose. You have to murder your seedling so that other,…