There can be some confusing information about seeds when choosing to plant a garden. Who would have ever thought there could be so much strong opinion and controversy surrounding the kind of seeds we plant in our gardens! If you've shopped for seeds, you may have noticed several terms related to the type and origin of … Continue reading Open-Pollinated, Heirloom, Organic, or Hybrid – I’m confused!
Gardening
Time to think about gardening!
It's snowing furiously outside at the moment. It probably seems crazy to think about gardening this time of year, but this is when we start to plan for the upcoming season. Where we live, the growing season us typically from the end of May til the end of September. Gardening, like most things worth doing, … Continue reading Time to think about gardening!
Harvesting Broccoli
Today we pulled our first head of broccoli out of the garden for our dinner. We thought it would be a good topic to cover. Knowing when the broccoli is ready There are a few ways to determine when broccoli is ready to harvest. First, it must have a head of broccoli of course! Second, … Continue reading Harvesting Broccoli
Finishing the Root Cellar
When we moved into our house years ago, we had no idea that we had a root cellar. From our point of view, we had a wet, nasty closet area off our foundation that needed to be cleaned up and made to stop leaking. Needless to say, as we came to understand the value of … Continue reading Finishing the Root Cellar
Adding kitchen waste to your garden without composting – should you do it?
We've seen many people skip the compost process and place their kitchen waste directly into their garden. While this won't kill your plants, there's some things to consider when taking this approach. Among other things, one of composts' benefits is providing nitrogen (N) to the plants in your garden. The process of composting is actually … Continue reading Adding kitchen waste to your garden without composting – should you do it?
Growing and Harvesting Sweet Potatoes
Today we had the fun experience of harvesting sweet potatoes. Here in PA, we aim to harvest them before the first fall frost which is still nearly a month away. We could have waited a few weeks to let the potatoes get a bit bigger, but sometimes we just harvest when you get the itch! … Continue reading Growing and Harvesting Sweet Potatoes
Keeping the deer out of the garden – and people too!
Several weeks ago, we noticed that despite our efforts up til that point (ie. a four foot fence), that deer were still gaining access to one of our gardens. They were unfortunately helping themselves to the green leaves of our beets which ended up making the yield lower. When they tired of beets, they moved … Continue reading Keeping the deer out of the garden – and people too!
The Intrepid Homestead 