Zucchini is such a versatile vegetable and there is always an abundance available, more than we can use fresh. Here are over a dozen ways to preserve zucchini for winter. We have used all of them at one time or another. Pick one or two or use them all. There are many varieties of ...
Easy Frozen Strawberries Recipe
This easy frozen strawberries recipe is just right for the season. It's summer and hot outside, so besides eating strawberries fresh right from the plant, having them in breakfast, and meals, we want an easy way to preserve them for winter. Strawberries can be frozen like any other berries, ...
How To Water Your Vegetable Garden
How to water your vegetable garden so that you do not need to water all season long? Most watering in our vegetable garden has one simple goal: to establish young plants. Of course, there are exceptions to this, in the case of very dry and hot times, container gardens, and greenhouses need to be ...
Growing Fruit Trees in Cold Climate Part 1
We love fruit. Juicy, sweet, delicious fruit. Growing up in Central Asia, the fruit was a big part of our diet. My (Anna) father moved our family to that area to grow fruit. With hot, dry summers, the fruit was our best crop. Growing fruit trees in a cold climate is a bit of a different story. We ...
To Prune or Not to Prune Tomato Plants
To prune or not to prune tomato plants is an option tomato growers have. Not all tomatoes need pruning, in fact, some should not be pruned except for the bottom leaves and possibly at the end of the growing season. Some growers decide not to prune at all, and some go over the top with pruning. ...
Why we are not prepping
Survivalists or preppers who actively prepare for an emergency, disaster, end of the world, or the coming of zombies seem to like our blog. We are sometimes asked about prepping, or what we think about it. In our world, it would seem that everyone should be prepared. However, we do not consider ...
Cutworm in the Vegetable Garden
A garden is always shared with many organisms, wanted and unwanted. Most of them we are not even aware of. However, a cutworm in the vegetable garden will make itself known in a quite unpleasant way. We do not suggest starting a war on cutworms, neither to hate nor despise them. They are just ...
Garden Update – Spring 2021 On Video
Welcome to our garden update spring 2021 on Video. Northern Homestead is in Alberta, Canada – plant hardiness zone 3A, elevation 1,037 m (3,402 ft). We turned our yard into a garden and the old garage into a food production place. We have been publishing garden updates since 2012. You can find ...
Dry Spring Challenge in the Garden
Planting seeds into something that feels more like dust than soil, is a common thing here in Alberta. With over 300 days of sunshine a year, we do not get much rain at any time. Spring, however, often feels especially dry. Here we share how we deal with the dry spring weather challenge in the ...
Raised Garden Beds vs Container Gardens
Raised garden beds have gained popularity, especially by new gardeners. However, there seems to be confusion about raised garden beds vs container gardens. They often look the same, but they are fundamentally different. We wanted to explain it in this blog article. A raised garden bed is ...
