Preparing edible perennials & fall plantings for winter

If you’ve decided to save money and time with perennial choices, start thinking about how you’ll help your plants through the colder months. Some need no attention. Most will benefit from some. Others may parish if you don’t take some easy steps to protect them. Herbs Herbs are easy. The…

7 ways to stop vegetable garden loss organically

This year marks my first growing season the Roanoke area (BIG difference from Upstate New York), so it’s required some experimentation as things went wrong. One issue I’ve never dealt with is suburban deer (country deer are a lot easier to discourage or redirect). Another is prolonged heat. This makes…

5 tips for easy edible container gardens

For 20 years, I had the luxury of garden sprawl. I was in Upstate New York, so the downside was a short growing season. The upside was 117 acres of fertile soil that allowed me to play with planting without worrying about how much space vegetable & herb crops occupied….

5 easy tips for better harvests in small outdoor spaces

Now that you’ve planned your space, become creative about putting friends close by and enemies apart and have enjoyed time spent nurturing your babies along, it’s time to enjoy the harvest. That is, of course, assuming you’ve taken some steps to ensure your seed starts make it to culinary creations….

5 easy tips for better yields from edible gardens in small outdoor spaces

If you missed last week, check out 5 easy tips for preparing your edible garden. This week delves into setting things up with space saving & companion planting ideas, ensuring your plantings get along and dealing with climbers in small spaces. Map out your space with companion and aversion planting…

5 easy tips for planning edible gardens in small outdoor spaces

This is the first of a three-part series. Tips here assume you’re planting directly into the ground.  We’ll explore container gardening, raised beds, straw and hay bale planting and other unusual options in later posts. Prepare your beds. The more time you spend before you plant, the more time you’ll…