As a return from an unplanned hiatus, I’d meant for this post to be all about the things I love most in the fall season. However, winter arrived suddenly yesterday. From all the projections, while the snow is already melting, looks like the cold is here to stay. So instead of waxing poetic about autumn, I’ll share with you some of the lovely scenes from this weekend. The only crops remaining in the vegetable garden are some beets and radishes,…
first seeds to go in this year
February 1, 2022It seems hard to believe but it’s time to start seeds indoors – at least some of them. For my Zone 6a garden, the first seeds to go in this year are onions and leeks. The onions I grew last year did really well and I am going to go ahead and start them just a bit earlier this time. I’m hoping to get an earlier harvest. Last year I grew the following varieties: Ailsa Craig and Walla Walla and…
plant spotlight: lively italian sweet yellow pepper
October 3, 2021Greetings! As fall is kicking into gear, we are heavy in the midst of garden cleanup over here at the woodland garden, like every other gardener in the northern hemisphere probably is at this time of year. While many of the veggies have died back or stopped producing, the peppers are still going like gangbusters. This has definitely not always been the case; in fact, I am very happy to say that this year was very different, our best pepper…
planting a few fall perennials
September 28, 2021Wrapping up a mostly successful vegetable gardening season (that I woefully failed to post about all summer long), I’ve just this week added a few fall perennials. I guess technically, they are just “perennials”. I happen to be planting them in the fall and I think they will add some nice color during the autumn season. Specifically, these plants are going in a bed that runs along the side of our house. You can see the early phase of this small…
plant spotlight – matt’s wild cherry tomatoes
February 19, 2021Greetings fellow gardeners! While many of us have gardens that are covered under a thick blanket of snow at the moment, it’s seed starting time for some vegetables. If you grow tomatoes from seed, maybe you will find this post interesting. I grow several varieties of tomatoes each year and I must say that the award for Best Production last year went to….Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes! If you read my last post, I touched on this briefly. Today, I’d like…
despite it all, 2020 gave us our best garden
December 19, 2020Hello! How’ve you been? Safe and well, I hope. It’s been a long minute since my last post and in case you are still around and wondering… The man and I have had an interesting year. In the midst of COVID-19, we were displaced from our house for five weeks (our choice and for a very happy reason, maybe it’s worth a post later), rearranged work schedules, helped family (both human and canine) with medical issues, celebrated our 15th anniversary,…
the seed storage system that is rocking my world
January 14, 2020For many years my garden seed storage system was extremely simple and homemade. I stored my seeds in zippered storage bags (think: kitchen ziploc bags). I considered this to be good enough. It got the job done. Then over time, the minor little annoyances began to get to me: Even though the bags were getting pretty fat with seed packets, they didn’t stand upright. This meant that if they fell over, there was the risk of seeds falling out of…
my 2020 garden seeds are here – wanna know what i got?
January 8, 2020If you are smack dab in the middle of winter right now (looking at you, my northern hemisphere friends), maybe you are in a bit of a relaxing lull. January is a slow month in regard to the garden. The biggest thing on the radar this month for me is finalizing the layout for the this year’s veggie garden. Are you spending these colder months choosing veggie seeds? I’m excited to try the new seeds I ordered. I really practiced…
gardening in january (no time off!)
December 30, 2019Happy Monday! As we enter into a new year and new decade this week, I’ll be gardening in January. While it might not be the most active month (in fact, January always has my shortest task list!), there’s always something I’m doing to stay connected to my garden and the outdoors. We are in southwestern Ohio, USDA Zone 6, so while my list may look a bit different than yours, some of these same activities might be on your radar.…
book review: the family garden plan
December 18, 2019Hi all! I’ve been MIA for a bit, that’s because (1) Christmas season (aren’t we all so wrapped up in it? Fantastic time of year!), (2) I’ve been taking a course to help me become a better writer (please say some prayers for me because I might just need them, it’s tough work), and (3) my fitness instructor has started cracking the whip (as someone dealing with MS, gotta stay healthy!). But (!) I have a book review for you.…
