Growing your own food year-round using organic methods. Here you will find many proven gardening tips and ideas. Just scroll down the page and go to any link you want. We are constantly adding more posts, come back often.
Garden planning
Planning the Vegetable Garden
Garden Shade Survey
Micro Climates in a Northern garden
Permaculture Zones on 1/8 of an Acre
Growing Food Without Owning a Speck of Land
Starting a garden
All About Starting a Garden
Turn a yard into a garden
Gardening where it is cold (Zone 3)
Replace Your Lawn With Food Production
How to Create a New Garden Bed
Wicking Bed for the Greenhouse
Convert A Hay Field into a Garden
Update on the Field Garden
Raised Window Protected Garden
Raised Garden Beds VS Container Garden
Soil Preparation and Maintenence
To Till or Not to Till the Garden
No Dig or Double Dig
3 Great No Till Gardening Methods
Starting a new No-till garden with tilling
Back to Eden – the Film
Soil for Seedlings Container Gardening and Raised Beds
Raised Garden Bed VS Container Gardening
Do Not Use Weed Control Fabric in the Garden
How to Make Simple Compost Tea
Preparing the Garden for Winter
Growing Legumes as companion plants
Maintaining a no-till garden
Planting
Getting Seeds for the New Growing Season
Organizing Seeds
Spring Indoor Seed-Starting Schedule
Starting Seeds Indoors
Soak or Sprout seeds before planting
Starting Seeds in Vermiculite
Hardening off Plants the Easy Way
Early spring direct garden planting
How to transplant seedlings into the garden
When to Plant What – And Why Not Follow the General Rule
Winter Sowing in Zone 3
Planting a Hydroponic Garden
How to Deal with Multiple Plants in one Seedling
Planting a Fall Garden in a Northern Climate
Perennial Favorites in our Northern Garden
How to transplant seedlings into the garden
Sowing carrots in corn starch experiment
Making and planting seed bombs
Planting a Shelterbelt
Container Gardening
Growing Food Without Owning a Speck of Land
How to Sew a Grow Bag
How to Grow in Grow Bags
Winter Growing in Zone 3
Growing Aloe Vera in Cold climate
Lemon tree
Growing Figs in a Cold Climate
Raised Garden Beds VS Container Gardens
Hydroponic Gardening
Planting a Hydroponic Garden
Growing Food the Kratky Hydroponics Way
Growing the Tower Garden in Cold Climate
7 Reasons to Grow a Aeroponic Tower Garden
N.F.T. Downspout Hydroponic Setup
N.F.T. Downspout Hydroponics System Upgrade
High Pressure Aeroponics Guide
Greenhouse and Cold frame
What greenhouse to choose?
A Greenhouse for Winter Growing
Winter Growing Conditions in a Greenhouse
Award Winning Community Greenhouse
A Cold Frame for Tomatoes
GeoDome Greenhouse in the Winter
2 Top Things to Keep a Greenhouse From Freezing
GeoDome Greenhouse Water Tank
Car Radiator for Heating and Cooling a Greenhouse
Wicking Bed for the Greenhouse
Growing a Greenhouse Garden
Raised Window Protected Garden
Geodesic Dome greenhouse garden update
Indoor Garden
An Alternative to a Passive Solar Greenhouse – Indoor Window Garden
Growing an Indoor Edible Garden – Video
How To Grow your own Salad Year Round
Our Garden in January
Winter Growing Conditions in a Greenhouse
Growing Aloe Vera in Cold climate
Edible Window Garden
Where to Grow an Edible Window Garden
Growing an Indoor Edible Window Garden in Soil
Growing an Indoor Edible Window Garden in Water
Additional Light for an Indoor Edible Window Garden
Temperature for an Indoor Edible Window Garden
What to Grow in an Indoor Edible Window Garden
Troubleshooting in an Indoor Edible Window Garden
Growing microgreens and baby salad greens
Preventing birds from flying into windows
8 Years of year-round growing in Zone 3
Four-Season Greenhouse/Growing Room Review
Winter Growing
Growing Overwintering Spinach in Cold Climate
Winter Growing in Zone 3
Gardening Where it is Cold (Zone 3)
How Different Plants React to Frost
Plant Protection From Frost
Preparing the Garden for Winter
Preparing the Greenhouse for Winter
Winter Growing Conditions in a Greenhouse
GeoDome Greenhouse in the Winter
How to Grow Early Peas in an Unheated Greenhouse
Winter Sowing Works in Zone 3
Growing microgreens and baby salad greens
Blizzard Conditions in the Garden
Where does our homegrown food come from in the winter
Trouble Shooting and How-to
7 Ways to Keep Your Garden Chores Enjoyable
How to Deal with Garden Weeds
How To Water Your Vegetable Garden
Do Not Use Weed Control Fabric in the Garden
How To Ripen Green Tomatoes
Hill Potatoes with Straw
What to Do Differently Next Spring
Gardening for the Weak, Sick and Lazy Gardeners
What To Do if Plants Fail to Grow
Controlling Aphids with No-Pest Strips
Gardening and Wildlife
Dry Spring Challenge in the Garden
Cold Spring Challange in the Garden
Cutworm in the Vegetable Garden
Gardening in the hailstorm alley
Row Cover Tunel
Grow Food
Grow What You Eat and Eat What You Grow!
Grow the Dirty Dozen Foods
Where does our homegrown food come from in the winter
3 Reasons To Grow Your Own Salad and How To Do It
12 Favorites to Grow in the Garden
Growing Food – Scarlet Runner Beans (Recipe)
Growing Food – Garlic
Growing Food – Carrots
Growing Winter Carrots in Cold Climate
Growing Food – Potatoes
Growing Food – Cabbage
Fresh and Dry Basil in the Winter
How-to grow and use Ground Cherries
Heirloom tomato varieties we grow in a northern garden
Anti-Cancer Foods: Go Cruciferous
Growing Sweet Potatoes in Cold Climate
Varieties of Perennial Vegetables for Zone 3 Garden
Annual Vegetable Varieties for a Short Growing Season
Growing Sprouts at Home
Growing microgreens and baby salad greens
Varieties of Berries for Zone 3 Garden
Growing Peppers in Cold Climate
Growing Chickpeas or Garbanzo Beans
Growing Sunchokes or Jerusalem Artichokes
Growing Fruit Trees in Cold Climate Part 1
Growing Fruit Trees in Cold Climate Part 2
Growing Raspberries in a cold climate
Growing Edible Pine Nut Trees
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tomatoes Challenge – Get Ready
Heirloom Tomato Varieties we Grow
How to Start Tomatoes from Seeds
When to Start Tomatoes Indoors
How To Grow Tomatoes From Cuttings
A Cold Frame For Tomatoes
Transplanting Tomato Plants into the Ground
How to Support Tomatoes
To Prune or Not to Prune Tomato Plants
Tomato Blossom End Rot
Growing Tomatoes in Cold Climate
Why do Tomatoes Crack and Split as they Ripen
How to Grow Tomatoes Indoors
How To Ripen Green Tomatoes
Growing Tomatoes Summer Update
Hello!
It’s so nice to find a blog about northern homesteading. I live in north of Finland, but I’d like to start growing parts of our own food in the very short summers here. Luckily I’ve grown up in the countryside so I’ve been growing some vegetables when I was a kid. I’d just like to try some not so traditional methods with mulching and raised beds. Though here the conditions are more challenge, north of the Arctic circle, but we do get a lot of sunlight in the summer.
This blog will give me a lot of inspire and ideas of what to try.
Take care and enjoy the up coming spring! We still have a lot of snow to melt!
Linda
Welcome Linda, nice to hear from you. Yes, the long days in the short summer help a lot with growing food. Finland must be a beautiful country, we have been to Sweden and loved it! Happy gardening!
I am so excited to find your site! I live in Northern Alberta (just south of Grande Prairie) and have struggled to find information about growing in our zone! I just ordered some thread to make my own grow bags. I look forward to reading more of your posts. 🙂
This is a really great website ! I have just put it under my favorites list as there is so much great material on it to draw from to gain the guidance to do things I am not familiar with……..I found it when I was wondering how to make growbags and put the query into my computer. And in exploring your subject matter I found the “Back to Eden” video included, so worth watching also. Thank you for creating a wonderful source of organized information for the person who wants to explore DIY living ! I will pass this on to others who share same or like interests!
Thank you, Eldonna for your kind words and for spreading the word. Our goal is to encourage more people to grow and enjoy real food.
Hello. I am attempting to grow vegetables indoors. In particular my question is about tomatoes. I do not have a sunny window with more than like 5 hours of sunlight. So I have been experimenting with growing under a led full spectrum light. I have some success with other vegetables but being that I have only grown outdoors with prestarted tomato plants I dont know if im doing anything wrong or expecting it to grow quicker. So i attempted to start determinet tomato plants wanting them to produce all year. I have them under a 1500 watt led full spectrum spaced at about 4 foot away. A few of the seeds sprouted and they are all about two inches tall with only the first set of leaves and a fuzzy stalk. But it doesnt seem they are really growing. I have them on a 18 on 6 off light schedule and they were started in a seed starting mixture in little seed starter plastic container with multiple seed spots. So my questions are firstly how fast should this thing be growing? And when should I transplant or am I doing something wrong? Any help you could provide would be great.
It is hard (impossible) to answer your question from a distance. There is no set time for anything alive, is there? If they are determined, they also may be tiny plants that do grow little to stay tiny. However, what you can do is provide good conditions for them to grow. Tomatoes like it bright and warm, not always easy to achieve indoors. If you have a window with 5 hours of sunshine, I would move them there. Supplement the other time with grow light. If you only grow under grow lights, the light needs to be closer to the plants, about a foot away, not more. I also would encourage you to read all the information we provide about growing indoors and growing tomatoes. Happy tomato growing.
Thank you so much! I’ve been using your site a lot, considering I live in Alberta, zone 3b, and am only in a rental! Container gardening AND cold weather was so hard to find advice about. This is a great site. Please keep sharing your knowledge!
Happy to hear that Tara. Thank you for your encouraging words.
planning for next year!!!
do you have a secret you can pass on for growing radishes and getting them to form those beautiful round shapes we see in the store ??
(mine are dismal!)
I would think that the shape depends on the variety. Look for a round shape variety and they should be that way. Also, loose soil will help them to shape the way they are intended to be. If the soil is too compacted, they will missshape.