Gardening articles from Common Sense Home. From finding the right seeds to preserving the harvest, we share tested tips and information.
I (Laurie) have been working the soil for over 50 years, since I was a toddler following my mom around in the dirt. We’ve tried a lot of different things, researched, and talked with friends to bring you real, practical information.
Gardening categories covered on the site include:
Getting Started – Soil Health and Fertilizers – Seed Starting – Vegetables – Tomatoes – Fruits – Herbs – Vertical Gardening – Tools and Equipment – Pest Control – Permaculture – Season Extension – Crop Storage – Preserving the Harvest – Inspiration – Book Reviews – Wildcrafting – Using Your Weeds
Keep an eye out for printable charts (featured in several different articles). We have a free garden planner for newsletter subscribers, and offer online gardening courses for more information.
Windbreaks can provide amazing benefits – blocking cold winter winds and reducing wind erosion, moderating temperature and humidity, providing wildlife habitat, and more. We’ll share the the basics of how they work and why they make a great addition to larger yards and homesteads.
Whether a watermelon is sweet depends the grower and Mother Nature, as well as proper storage. These tips will show you how to tell if a watermelon is ripe and ready to pick from the vine. PLUS – I’ll tell you how to store a watermelon for best flavor and nutrition.
Every September (sometimes October), we have end of season tomato plants loaded with tomatoes, and frost on the way. Waste not, want not, so all the usable green tomatoes get brought inside (or covered, depending on the forecast). We’ll share our super easy way to ripen green tomatoes, plus a few other popular methods and…
Potatoes are one of our top storage crops. With the right varieties in good storage conditions, they’ll last from fall harvest to when the next crop comes in. We’ll share tips for harvest, curing, and how to store potatoes long term.
My seed catalogs have started arriving, and the unusually warm weather and new greenhouse have me thinking about next year’s gardening season. Since I suspect I’m not the only one ogling the seed varieties and dreaming of gardens to come, I thought I’d put together a list of some of the best garden tools and…