Ready to get more food from your garden?
You’re in the right place!
I dish up no-nonsense advice that works.
Popular
The Great Debate! Choosing Between Bush Beans vs Pole Beans
True fact: I rarely buy green beans from the grocery store. I find them to be waxy and virtually tasteless most of the time. They’re one of the vegetables I only eat during their growing season. That’s why I think they’re one of the most “worth it” vegetables to grow in your garden. One of […]
When to Start Seeds Indoors in Zone 5 Demystified
I’ve lived and gardened in zone 5 (Madison, Wisconsin) for the bulk of my gardening life, over 20 years! This zone is no joke with bitterly cold winters and hot, humid summers – we have it all. The winters are long in Wisconsin, which is one of the reasons why I love starting seeds for […]
Mastering Brussels Sprouts Growing Stages for a Bountiful Harvest
If you’re reading this article, I’m going to assume you’re a proud member of the group of people who love Brussels sprouts! I’ll be honest, I didn’t eat one until adulthood when I became a gardener. In that way I’m spoiled because I never had to suffer through frozen or grocery store sprouts. […]
Watering Potatoes: Best Practices for a Healthy Harvest
Potatoes are a delicious part of most gardeners’ diets. They’re tasty no matter how you eat them – baked, fried, mashed, or stuffed, with or without a big pat of butter. And if you know how to care for them correctly to set them up for success, they can be easy to grow in your […]
5 Ways to Mix Flowers and Vegetables for a Gorgeous Garden
Vegetable gardens are ugly. This is a commonly held belief by a lot of people. Or, at least, vegetable gardens aren’t as pretty as perennial gardens. They should be hidden in your backyard and you should save your front yard for growing trees, shrubs, flowers, and grass. Do you know what I say to that? […]
DIY Tomato Cage: How to Make the Best Affordable Option
We gardeners love our tomatoes! You seldom see a vegetable garden without at least one tomato plant growing. They’re really remarkable if you think about it. You plant a small seedling in spring, and then by the end of the summer, the plant is a huge monster producing more tomatoes than you can possibly eat. […]
My philosophy?
Get more with less.
Keep it simple.
Learn how to garden the smart way & get great results.
We’ll start with the top 5 mistakes to avoid.
Recent
Tips for Starting Tomatoes from Seed (You’ll Never Buy Transplants Again)
We gardeners love our tomatoes! I know we all agree that there’s nothing quite like plucking a warm, sun-ripened tomato straight from the vine. But here’s the thing — if you’re still buying tomato plants from the garden center every spring, you’re missing out on one of the most rewarding parts of growing tomatoes. Starting […]
Perfect Timing: When is a Tomatillo Ready to Pick?
Tomatillos aren’t just green tomatoes! They’re a unique vegetable with it’s own tangy taste that’s nothing like its cousin tomato. They may not be as popular in home gardens, but those of us who do grow them have learned that they’re extremely productive and definitely deserve space in our garden beds. Although tomatillos definitely fall […]
Are Tomatillos Self-Pollinating? A Gardener’s Guide
One season, I was tending to a client’s garden and her tomatillo plant was flowering, but wasn’t producing any fruit. I was confused because usually tomatillos are super productive. It’s easy to grow more than you can use in your kitchen. What the heck was going on? I was comparing the tomatillo plants in my […]
The Big Question: How Long Does It Take for Tomatoes to Grow?
I know we all agree, there’s nothing quite like the taste of a homegrown tomato straight from the garden! No wonder it’s one of the most popular vegetables grown by gardeners. Since you’re probably counting down the days until your first harvest, you’re likely wondering how long does it take for tomatoes to grow? It […]
Seed to Harvest: Growing Pumpkins in Raised Beds
After building several different gardens of my own and working with hundreds of gardeners over the years, I’ve found that building and growing vegetables in raised beds is the best choice for most people. Raised beds offer lots of important benefits: they require less work to prepare in spring and less long term maintenance, they’re […]
Harvesting Leeks Like a Pro: Tips from the Garden
I’m not shy about how much I love growing alliums in my garden. Every fall I plant 220 garlic and each spring 500 onions. I harvest and cure them in my garage in mid July and in fall I transfer them to my basement to use throughout the winter so I never have to buy […]
Books to help you get the most from your vegetable garden
Grow more vegetables than ever in your garden this season. This book is a fresh and simple approach to planning your garden. At the end, you’ll have a personalized blueprint for what a successful season in your garden looks like.
Eat food from your garden all year round! Preserving food doesn’t have to be difficult or take up a lot of time. And if you think canning is the only option – this book is for you! I’ll teach you how easy it can be to use your basement, fridge, and freezer instead.
spring
Planting garlic in spring: It’s not too late!
In an ideal world, you planted your garlic in the fall. But, we and our gardens don’t always exist in a reality where we accomplish everything on our garden to-do lists. In 2019 my husband and I traveled the western US for a year in a teardrop camper. We didn’t return until January of 2020, […]
High Yield Crops: Which Vegetables Produce the Most Food?
Do you wish you got more food from your garden? I don’t blame you. Gardening is joyful work, but it’s work nevertheless. It’s nice to feel that the hours and sweat you’re pouring into your garden are being rewarded with large, colorful and delicious harvests. Getting more food from your garden is an attainable goal […]
Prepping spring garden beds quickly and easily for planting
Mid to late spring in the vegetable garden is one of the most exciting times! The day we’ve all been waiting for finally arrives – we dig out our gardening tools and sink our hands into the soil. Ahhhh! What a joy to be experiencing the re-birth of the gardening season for another year. Although […]
How Long Do Vegetables Take to Grow? Plan Your Garden for Non-Stop Harvests
This post contains affiliate links. To a certain extent, gardening feels like a waiting game. Once we get our plants and seeds into the ground, we immediately start looking forward to the day when we can harvest the food. But vegetables vary widely in the number of days they need to grow until we can […]
Unusual Vegetables to Grow in Your Garden This Year
Red tomatoes, green beans, and orange carrots are great, but there’s so much more out there! This season, take a chance and grow some unique and interesting varieties in your garden. Growing beautiful and colorful food dramatically increases the fun you’ll have in your garden. Pulling an amazing rainbow of carrots out of the ground in […]
How to start a small vegetable garden and make the most of it
If you had to guess, what’s the most common mistake beginning gardeners make? If you said, “starting with a garden that’s way too big”, you’re right! Over the years I’ve met thousands of gardeners who get excited about the idea of growing their own food and then dig up a huge section of their yard. Not […]
Explore by Topic
