Last year, I expanded my raised bed garden. My plan was to garden in-ground this time to save money and to try something different. Once we got into the project, I realized that plan wouldn't work. My garden is on a gentle slope that seemed harmless before, but once I...
Gardening
Common backyard butterflies in Virginia and the southeastern United States
One of the best things about my garden this year is how many pollinators I have been able to attract. Last year, I didn't see nearly as many as I would have liked, so I took steps to attract more. It has been such a delight this year to see so many different kinds of...
How to grow organic garlic
Garlic is very easy and rewarding to grow. You just need a few bulbs and lots of time. Here in Virginia (7A), I planted in October and harvested in June. This was my first time growing garlic and I was pleasantly surprised. How to grow garlic Get organic bulbs and...
Digital Garden Irrigation & Monitoring
My husband works in IT and I work in digital communications, so it should be no surprise that we digitized our garden last year by setting up an irrigation system and a system to control it digitally. Our software also allows us to check humidity and soil and air...
Plant Native Plants
I signed up for an online class about Virginia native plants several months ago sort of on a whim. I really signed up for it because of the words "Virginia" and "plants" and thought it would be great to learn more. Well, I missed the key word, which is native. It has...
How to build a custom deer fence for your garden
When I started my garden, I had a fence using T posts and plastic deer fence. It worked for deer but didn't keep out smaller animals that would come in underneath it. This year, since I was expanding the garden, I wanted to improve the deer fence as well. We decided...





