No-till or no-dig gardening methods are on the rise in popularity. The idea of starting an instant garden without the back-breaking work of digging sounds very appealing to an instant culture. To be honest with you, it took me a while to understand the no-till methods. Not because they are ...
Spring
Organizing and Storing Seeds
Organizing and storing seeds properly helps us not just simplify the busy sowing season, but also save money by not buying duplicates, and prolonging the shelf life of the seeds we already have. When organizing seeds you can go from very simple to super fancy. As you know, I am all for simple. ...
Winter Sowing in Zone 3
Winter sowing is a way to start seeds outdoors in a small container greenhouse while it is still winter. Since the most common containers are used milk jugs, it also sometimes is referred to as milk jug sowing. It was first invented by Trudi Davidoff. It sounds so good that one wonders if it can be ...
Cold Spring Challenge in the Garden
Living in a cold climate cold is a constant challenge in the garden. We share many methods about how we survive blizzards and protect plants from frost. In this blog article, we want to particularly address the cold spring challenge in the garden. If you prefer listening to reading, you can ...
Planning the Vegetable Garden
Planning a vegetable garden is for those, who love making plans and lists, a welcomed exercise, but a struggle for not-natural planners. We are more in the latter category. You know how it goes, you make a plan, at least sort of, then change it and then lose it. Oh, the struggle! If you know what ...
How to Deal with Multiple Plants in one Seedling
Seedlings are great for short season gardeners. They help us to extend the growing season up front. Transplanting seedlings can be tricky though. Here is how to deal with multiple plants in one seedling. Do you start your own seedlings from seeds or do you prefer to get them from a ...
Northern Spring
Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. I like all seasons, but the celebration of new life is just so special. The problem I have with the northern spring though is that it feels more like a second winter, not spring. Frost almost every night till late May, snow every now and then, ...
What to Do Differently Next Spring
March is here, but it is still freezing cold outside. Spring is coming though! Reflecting on what was growing last summer, there were a few things that I would like to do differently next spring. At a northern garden we get just one shot. With most crops there is no time to redo something or to try ...