Lawn & Garden / growing a garden

Companion planting is a timeless practice deeply rooted in the history of agriculture. From the earliest crop cultivators to modern-day gardeners, the concept of strategically planting complementary crops together has been embraced across cultures and continents.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed when you decide to grow your first garden. One thing I know for sure, for every gardener, there is a slightly different and equally legitimate way to grow a garden. Over time, with practice, you will become one of those unique growers of produce. There is not one "correct" way to be a successful gardener. It takes time, failure, imagination, and patience.

During the heat of summer, our gardens put on a lot of growth. Unfortunately, the weeds can begin to take off as well. Adding a summer mulch can help with your weeding, conserve water and cool the soil.

Raised beds are very versatile and easy to use. A raised bed allows you to easily control your soil mixture so that you can always have the proper soil for your plants. As you customize the soil mixtures in your raised beds, you can improve soil drainage and soil compaction, this being the most important advantage. This is very important, especially with the high alkaline, clay soil that we deal with here in our area.

What is a cover crop and how do you use them in your garden? Cover crops are essentially sacrificial crops that are planted, allowed to grow, then mowed over and tilled under to allow the organic matter to decompose.

Have you ever wondered how people grew fruits and vegetables before commercial fertilizers were available? Before World War II there were almost no commercial fertilizers.

There comes a time in every gardening season when all the plants are planted.  All the vegetables tended.  This time of year comes so much faster than we ever realize.  For organic and natural gardeners the options for getting plants to put out that little extra is very limited. What if I could show you a way to feed your plants naturally and you would see miracle-like results?