One of the most important aspects of homesteading is gardening to grow your own food. If you live in an urban or suburban environment, you might not have suitable land for a traditional garden.

Do not despair! You still can grow your own food, even if you don't have land. You can grow in containers.

Plants are adaptable and can thrive when grown in containers. The hardest part is deciding how to make it work...

Urban Homesteading is a buzzword lately. 

Looking into it a bit, I find that Wikipedia says: 

an urban homestead is a household that produces a significant part of the food, including produce and livestock, consumed by its residents. This is typically associated with residents’ desire to live in a more environmentally conscious manner. ("Urban Homesteading." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 January 2021, ...

Homesteading is having a moment right now. 

I have a few ideas why it's trending. People want

• More control over how they get their food
• More control over what's in their food
• Healthier food full of nutrients, not chemicals
• To produce food in a sustainable way - reduce the environmental impact of large-scale farming
• To connect with the natural world

Yes and yes! If you're reading this article, this is resonating with you,...

It's a gift-giving time of year! I don't know about you, but I'm always on the lookout for unique, beautiful, practical, and clever items to give to loved ones.

If your gift recipient is a gardener, we can help.

Maybe you'll even find a few things to add to your own wish list!

If you see something you like though, order as soon as you can! This year with supply chain problems and shipping and mailing issues, your...

If you aren't a community garden gardener yet and you want to be, it's time to start doing some research. 

This is the time because many community gardens start leasing out their open plots at the beginning of the year. It's good to be ready ahead of time!

You need to:

• Find the community gardens in your area. 
• Check out their websites or contact the garden manager to find out the requirements for membership.
• If you meet those...

I admit, I don't know everything about growing vegetables. I do have experience and experience helps a lot, but there's always something to learn. 

This year, I was exasperated by onions! Onions are supposed to be easy to grow, but I just didn't get it. My crop failed, and I was frustrated. 

^{What's happening to my onions?
(Onion tops in the foreground)}

My Incorrect Growing Method

I planted my onions in...

People who garden in small plots usually find themselves with seeds left over at the end of the season. 

It's a good idea to have some extra seeds on hand when you're planting, just in case you need to replant. But once the planting window for a particular crop is over, you may find an extra half packet or more remaining.

So what do you do with those seeds? 

Last Year's Seeds

There's nothing wrong with keeping your extra...

Can you grow seeds from the produce you get at the grocery store?

The short answer is yes.

If the answer were that simple, this would be the end of my blog post. Let's think about it for a minute. 

Yes, you can grow from your grocery store fruits and vegetables, but should you?

Oh, I hate to be a party pooper!

If you're expecting gardening success, growing a bountiful crop of fruits or vegetables with the free seeds from...

If you would have told me when I first started growing in the community garden that one day I'd be canning my abundant harvest, how I would have laughed!

Ugh, too much work! In modern times, there's no need. Canned vegetables are cheap, safe, and abundant at the grocery store. And they taste pretty good, too!

Yet, when you have an abundant harvest, you are faced with a decision what to with it all. Preserving it is one solution, and...

When your growing season is coming to a close, it's always a great exercise to reflect on how the season went, what you learned, and what you would change next year. 

It doesn't need to be a formal project - just take some time and think about the season from the beginning. Think about each crop. Jot down a few notes to yourself for next year.

Ask yourself questions like these:

• How did this crop do for me this season?
  
  • Did I...