Gardening can add a wonderful addition to your diet, but there are tips and tricks to raising fruit and vegetables well both indoors and outdoors. In this series of blog posts, we share some of those tips and tricks with you.
One of the issues that faces homesteaders after we have grown our crops, is how to store them. Particularly root vegetables. So, I wanted to talk a little bit about storing root vegetables today. Obviously if you don’t store them correctly, they can spoil. Here’s how to store root vegetables according to George McLaughlin:“Sweet potatoes …
I love to grow and sell sweet potato slips! This is one of my favorite spring time activities, even though it involves a fair amount of time and work. “Slip” is the most common term used for “cutting,” in sweet potato nomenclature. Sweet potatoes are grown from slips and the majority of those who grow sweet potatoes …
I am announcing the launch of the Sweet Potato Network. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t believe I’ve heard of such a network before. Let me explain what it is. The Sweet Potato Network is a Way for Growers to Help One Another. For years I’ve grown sweet potatoes and networked with Glenn Drowns …
I think most gardeners try their hand at growing cornfield beans at some point. I can remember trying to grow beans on corn when I was only 10 or 11 years old. It was a miserable flop! I didn’t understand the basics and had no one to teach me. The Joy of Three Sisters Gardening …
In gardening forums I often find the question about whether the ornamental varieties of sweet potatoes produce good roots for the kitchen. Some gardeners wonder if ornamental sweet potatoes are good to eat but how many have considered regular sweet potatoes for ornamental use? Many years ago, when I first saw ornamental sweet potatoes, I …
The topic of sweet potato diversity is pretty obscure. If they think about it at all, most folk believe that the extent of it is that there are some red colored sweet potatoes beside the regular orange ones, found in the supermarket. Don’t let the supermarket fool you. Sweet potatoes are far more diverse than …
Some years ago I think I actually coined the term, “feel good crop.” You see, here in Oklahoma we garden in an extreme environment. We hold the continental US record for the hottest 40 days and nights in a row and, I’ve seen colder winters here than we ever saw on the East Coast. We …
While in the garden this morning I thought of an axiom: “One can never make too many observations.” I thought of this while inspecting a bean variety I’ve grown for years, yet examining it today I saw details about it which I had never before noticed. This is true for so many facets of gardening. …
Rodents can be a real problem in the garden and homestead. It seems that one day they’re not a problem and then one blinks and… they are a big problem! “Rodent” can refer to a good many different species. The term encompasses not only rats and mice, but also moles, voles, ground hogs, rabbits and squirrels, …
It’s mid August and my tomatoes haven’t done very well this year. Weeds abound and tomatoes don’t. The other night I was weeding and discovered this tomato plant, hiding in the weeds. I had planted it very late. It looks feeble. It made me think of the question of when to pull the plug on …