Gardening

Start With Your Space

I begin garden planning with climate, light, available space, and what I actually want to harvest. I find a small productive garden more useful than a large plan that is difficult to maintain.

Raised Beds

I use raised beds because they make soil, irrigation, spacing, and crop rotation easier to manage. I use succession planting to keep productive space working by following one crop with the next.

Plan by Climate and Season

Planting calendars are local. I use regional gardening guidance as a starting point, then adjust for heat, rainfall, frost patterns, and my own garden conditions.

Indoor Growing

I use indoor shelves and hydroponic systems to keep leafy greens and herbs close at hand when outdoor weather is difficult. Begin with Indoor Seed Starting for Fall, then continue with Indoor Vegetable Gardening: Seedling to Harvest for containers, lighting, feeding, pollination, and harvest.

Grow for the Pantry and Table

I plan crops around meals, everyday pantry needs, and preservation goals. I grow the foods I use often, succession-plant quick crops, and use seasonal buying or U-pick farms when growing a full year’s supply is not practical.

Keep the path connected: organize preserved harvests in the Pantry and use tested methods from Home Canning.

Gardening Guides

• Why Grow Some of Your Own Food?
• Plan One Productive Raised Bed
• Toni’s Four-Bed Food Garden
• Indoor Seed Starting for Fall
• Indoor Vegetable Gardening: Seedling to Harvest
• Container and Kitchen-Door Gardening
• A 24-Inch Culinary Herb Pot
• Crop Rotation for a Home Vegetable Garden
• Integrated Pest Management for the Home Garden
• How to Find Reliable Local Planting Dates