OK, we all know that the biggest reason to garden is for tomatoes. But one of my favorite reasons to garden is for the flowers. I love, LOVE to bring in a nice bouquet of flowers and set them on the kitchen table. These flower bouquets are not at all professional, just a jumble of…

Make the Most of the County Extension If you haven’t used the information and services offered by your County Extension, you are missing a lot.  The County Extension has lot of FREE booklets–both online and for pick up at the office–with a wealth of information including: Gardening–what plants do best in your area, when you…

Now that we’ve had a couple frosts, it’s about time to put the garden to bed for the winter. Obviously we want the yard to look nice and clean, but putting the garden to bed is not just for cosmetic purposes. If we take care with the garden in the fall we lay the groundwork…

Garden veggies in April? How would you like to be eating fresh vegetables a full 4-6 weeks before the rest of your fellow gardeners? You can with cold frames. What’s a cold frame? Basically, it’s a mini greenhouse that helps warm the soil and protect plants during the cold transitioning months of early spring and late…

We love our gooseberries! A continuation of our Gooseberry Adventure: We’ve picked the last of our Gooseberries and we got a lot more than I’d originally thought we would. Out of our four Gooseberry bushes we got three batches of jam and four pies. For the finishing touch: this week we made Gooseberry Ice Cream.…

One of the best things to come out of the garden each year is asparagus. It’s a perennial vegetable that, once established, will give you years of vegetable deliciousness with very little work. In fact, after planting your vegetable garden, I highly recommend you make establishing an asparagus bed your next priority. Small investment, big…

[My son says that fans of Game of Thrones will appreciate the title of this post. He said it should include a picture of Sean Bean sitting on a throne but since I’m constrained by copyright laws, you’ll just have to imagine it.] Spring is coming It may not look like it, but spring really…

The joke is “Leave your car windows rolled up in the summertime or someone will deposit a bunch of zucchini in your car.” But the truth is, there is no such thing as “too much zucchini.” Honestly, there are so many amazing ways to use zucchini, why would you ever want to give away this…

Organizing my seeds Well, I finally did it. I finally organized my seeds. Well, actually, I’ve had them organized for several years, but over time my filing system has become inadequate and my seed box has been a jumbled mess for a couple years. So I needed to clean it up and make it work…

So who’s my favorite? Growing herbs and creating my herb garden has brought me so much satisfaction. It’s my favorite part of gardening. So which herb is my favorite? Oh dear…I can hardly say. That’s like asking who your favorite child is. I’d hate to have to answer that. But, if you want to know…

This is our first year harvesting gooseberries and are they ever yummy! We planted them three years go. Last year it looked like we were going to have a good crop. But I didn’t keep a close eye on them ripening and the next thing I knew the birds and rabbits had eaten almost all of…

I’ve seen some pretty amazing gardens this year and I want to share some of them with you. The first garden we’ll visit is the Rellaford’s, a young couple, Matt, Mariann and their smart little 2-year old son, Henrie.  Matt is a graduate student at NDSU studying agronomy. Urban gardening The Rellaford’s live on the third floor…

There really is a difference between seed companies and this picture shows what quality seed looks like. The beet seeds on the left came from an organic heirloom seed company and the seeds on the right are beet seeds that I bought at a local big-box hardware store. See how much plumper the seeds on…

Kale and collards are leafy greens in the brassica family (which also includes things like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussel sprouts.) I use them interchangeably because there is very little difference in flavor between the two. In the picture below, collards are labeled “dinosaur kale.” The main difference between the two is kale is smaller and…

Save money A garden starts with a modest investment of just a few dollars in seeds. But it gives you hundreds of pounds of fresh fruits and veggies. And if you preserve the surplus produce you’ll get even more. If you are willing to do a bit of canning, freezing or dehydrating, you can provide…

Living a provident lifestyle is more than just frugal or self-reliant living. It also means cultivating a connection to your community and making economic choices based on your morality. Our food choices are  just one area that reflect our morality and community values. So much of our food supply is charged and impacted by politics…