Finding your way into gardening to learn how to grow your own food can come about for a variety of reasons.

There are those that have been helping, tending, and harvesting with grandma or other family members since they were little. For them, gardening is just something that is a part of their normal life, they have a pretty good understanding of the basics to grow, harvest, and cook from the garden. Some of us come across gardening through a friend, or possibly when we purchased a new home and it had a small plot in the backyard. Whichever way you get here, eventually everyone becomes some type of gardener in their life. 

Now 2020 hits and a lot of things abruptly change, due to staying at home orders, cancelation of our schools and universities, changes in our gyms and restaurants, as well as a change to how we manage our grocery stores, and for many, a big change came from working at home.

It’s about the time of year to look into getting a fresh supply of seed garlic. Yes, seed garlic is one of those crops that sells out faster than ice on a hot day.  We will be posting our garlic for sale in the next few weeks! so stay tuned for that.

That also means starting to think about where to plant garlic, and if you’re a newbie grower there are a few things to know.

First before you get into the garden, I want to make one point about growing garlic-It is an investment.

You buy into it. What you pay for is usually what you get. Buying certifited, disease free seed garlic will yield good results. Larger healthier cloves produce larger healthier bulbs (baring any mishaps in soil and growing practices). Seed garlic that is certified and tested is exactly that! It’s tested to ensure it is free of garlic diseases that can ruin a crop. Garlic is a good investment, especially when

I ordered potatoes.

Now what?

IF they need to wait to be planted put them aside and make sure that its,

1. Cool
2. Dark
3. Ventilated

Once you are a few days away from planting you can go ahead and cut up the seed potatoes so that each piece has a few eyes. Put these cut potatoes somewhere with good ventilation and let “green sprout” for a few days.  

Potatoes can’t withstand a heavy freeze so accommodate your planting accordingly to your growing location or microclimate you might be growing them in. I usually plant a few weeks before our last average frost. Sometimes for me plant

Everyone is getting back into the garden. Some are calling it the re-emergence of the victory gardens that were planted back during WWII, some say they are crisis gardening, and others just want to improve their home.

Now that many of us are working from home we really want to up the indoor and outdoor aesthetics, which helps us also connect with the natural world. There is no better way to do this than getting some dirt under our nails and nurturing a plant, a few, or a whole yard worth. Being a plant parent is on the up and up, and like any good parent you want to make sure your plants are keeping good companions, avoiding disease, and dodging pests.  

Today we are much more aware of what we are using, what’s in it, and how it affects the environment. A lot of new gardeners want to grow gardens, either on the patio or backyard and they want to do it without pesticides and herbicides. Yet, our plants can become infested with pests, a