How to map garden before planting

Every year before I plant the garden I map the whole thing out! I decide exactly where I want each plant and make myself a garden map taking into consideration how much space each plant needs, how much sun it needs, how much moisture it needs and also when it will get harvested in relation to the rest of the garden.

Using all this information to plan out my garden before planting ensures I will have enough room for the plants I want plus they will all have exactly what they need to produce a bumper crop for me!

I mean, nobody wants to spend all that time and effort to plant a garden that fails right?

This year we are moving the location of the garden! I'm super excited about this because we live in the woods and over the years as the trees in the woods have grown they are blocking more of the sun on the garden and the clearing that is our yard.

So after more than 15 years, the garden needs to move.

When should I start seeds?

When late winter hits I know it's time for me to think about starting seeds. Most people like to start seeds 8 weeks before they will transplant them but I don't always agree with that one size fits all method! In fact, I have some seeds I started already and my planting date is usually in May!

That's 3 months away!

Of course there are other seeds that don't get started till the garden is ready to plant so how do you know when to start seeds? Also is there a difference in the ones you start early and the ones you don't? How do you decide which seeds to start indoors and which to direct sow into the garden?

That's exactly what we're going to figure out today!

Driving safety and deer

This post is going to be a little different than anything I've written before, but I need to address this problem! The deer population has gotten absolutely insane where I live. Hunting season is just getting ready to start, but it usually doesn't make a very big dent in the problem.

There are so many whitetail deer hit on the roads by me that we have a guy whose job it is to drive around in a big pickup truck with an old wooden bed on the back of it and he just goes up and down all the main roads and picks up deer that were hit and left on the side of the road.

I see him multiple times a week and his truck bed always has a lot in it!

You know it's bad when it becomes a full-time job for someone to clean up this mess! We'll talk about what I think the solution could be at the end, but for right now let's talk about the problem of them being on the road and getting hit.

People die every year from deer accidents. In my home state of Pennsylvania there was over 5,848 accidents caused by deer in 2022 alone! Of those, 1264 people were injured and 9 were killed!

That's in just one year according to PennDot and this website!

Peak time for adult deer collisions with vehicles is October till December. There's a bit of a spike in May also when the fawns are born and grass starts growing on roadways.

How to grow peas

I think my favorite vegetable to grow is peas! They are also one of the easiest vegetables to grow and generally produce well from spring into the hot parts of summer. One vine will produce dozens of pea pods! Plus since they grow up not out, they don't take up a lot of ground space.

I grow sugar snap peas, snow peas and regular shelling peas. Even though they are different varieties they all pretty much have the same care so this guide will help you with growing all different types of peas!

It's crazy how many different types of peas are out there! So lets talk about growing them.

How to read and understand a seed packet

I've been gardening for many years and I still get stumped sometimes when reading seed packets! There is so much information fit onto those tiny little packets, and it ALL matters! To add to the confusion, all seed packets don't have the same information!

It's seriously annoying because sometimes they have all the info you could possibly want, and other times it's like 3 things! *sigh*

Today I want to talk about the different type of information you'll see on the back of a seed packet, what it means and how to use it. From deciphering sun exposure requirements to mastering spacing recommendations, lets go through what everything means!

How to get rid of stink bugs in your home

Are you lucky enough to live in a place that doesn't have infestation of stink bugs every year? Unfortunately we've been dealing with them for quite some time! As I've struggled with keeping them out of the house I have learned quite a few things that work... and a few that don't!

One of the things that helped was getting new siding on the house! No, I don't recommend this for everyone! In our defense the wood siding that was on our house was about 25 years old and badly needed replaced for other reasons! Effective, yes! Practical, no! Only get new siding if you need it.

However by getting new siding we found out that some stink bugs were getting into our house through the attic crawl space so we had to address that.

One of the things I tried that didn't work was sprinkling diatomaceous earth all around the entire outside of the house. Stink bugs don't crawl up to your house and then crawl up the house and get in.

They fly and land wherever they want and try to find a crevice to get in. So anything working on the perimeter of the house will not work at all.

I found a mix of keeping them out and getting rid of the ones that were inside the house already was the easiest way to keep the stink bug infestation down to just a random one or two a week. Still annoying, but not so bad!

Lavender sleep sprays DIY

Years back I bought a bedtime spray from Avon and I used to spray it in my bedroom and on my pillow every night before went to sleep. It was lavender and I used it religiously until I could no longer buy it. What do we do when we can't buy something anymore? We make it!

Lavender is well known for its aromatherapy properties. Many people use it to help calm down, or even to go to sleep. One of the great things about using a particular item to help you go to sleep is that you get so used to it happening before you go to sleep, that it becomes a trigger that tells your body to go to sleep.

It's why all the experts recommend bedtime routines for children who can't fall asleep well or even for adults who have trouble falling asleep at bedtime. For me, a spritz of my Lavender Lay Down Spray tells my mind to calm down and get ready to sleep.

Thankfully this sleep spray is one of the easiest and cheapest recipes I make... Because I use it every night, so I go through quite a bit!

You're only going to need three things for each of these recipes. Well, four if you count the spray bottle. Distilled water, witch hazel or micellar water and lavender essential oils.

Uses for fallen leaves

I live in the woods. My house is on a 2-acre clearing smack dab in the center of the woods. When your house is surrounded by acres of trees you have a lot of fallen leaves to pick up every year! I don't mean rake a little bit and that's it! Nope, we actually need machines for this! I like to joke that my husband vacuums the lawn, but well...he does! lol

At first you just rake them into the woods or burn them or even suck them all up with the lawn vacuum thing and dump them somewhere deep in the woods where they can't blow back out. After a while though you come up with ways to use said leaves, after all leaves could be very useful for a gardener!

There is one school of thought that leaves and dead plants should be left where they fall as certain insects will hide in them over winter and the leaves help them to survive.

Unfortunately many common garden pests are on that list and allowing them a space to survive over winter is making more pest problems for yourself next year!

I'm pretty sure that's how my earwig problem got so bad the last 2 years! 

I also didn't till for 2 years because of a new fence, so that certainly didn't help. Tilling does help break up their little buggy homes and disrupts the lifecycle of many garden pests.

Unfortunately, I can't blame my earwig problem on 1 thing...but I'm sure the 2 changes worked together to make the garden particularly buggy this year. That won't happen again!

30 years gardening and still learning and trying different things. About the leaves though...

Make your own grape jam!

One of my favorite things to make instead of buy is grape jam! I grow concord grapes and there is just no comparing the flavor from homemade jam to store bought. It's one of the simpler canning recipes out there, though it can be a bit tedious at first.

Grape jam is probably the only preserve I make every single year! It's also one of the simplest preserves to make. All you really need is grapes, sugar, water and lemon juice.

First you separate the grapes and cook them apart, then strain, blend and combine and cook again. That's it!

It's also really easy to water bath can grape jam, so if you're new to canning...it's a great way to get started without investing a ton of money.

How to grow bush beans

I have been growing bush beans in my home garden for years! They are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and generally produce well from spring into fall. They are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and 1 plant will produce dozens of beans! Plus they don't take up a lot of space.

A few years back I started growing more than just the standard Blue Lake bush beans. I love the color of purple bush beans and have recently started growing some of the yellow bush bean varieties!

It's crazy how many different types of bush beans are out there! So lets talk about growing them.

How to raise Monarch Butterflies

Last year was my first full year raising monarch butterflies. Since the 1970s the monarch butterfly population has been declining. As the only butterfly to make a 2 way migration, the monarch butterfly can live long and go through quite a lot. Or it can have a very short uneventful life. It all depends what time during the year they come about.

Let's start with the sad facts. A monarch butterfly egg only has about a 10% chance of becoming a butterfly when left in the wild.

However if those eggs are brought into a controlled environment, hatched and the caterpillars raised to a chrysalis, that changes to a 90% chance that each egg will make it to a butterfly. 

That's an insane difference, isn't it?

If you guessed that is why I raise monarch butterflies, you're correct! There are lots of disease and predatory insects that affect the monarch caterpillar. Last year I lost less than 10% of my monarchs, almost all of them in the caterpillar stage.

I released almost 40 healthy butterflies!

One of the other problems monarchs face is that the caterpillars only eat milkweed. It grows wild pretty much everywhere but is often perceived as a weed and most people don't want weeds growing in their yards. 

Milkweed grows wild on the side of the roads which would be a good thing but many states have a mowing program and will mow it right down with no concern for the monarch caterpillars that are living on it!

How to grow tomato plants in containers

The one good thing about the big shut down a few years back is that so many people are more interested in growing their own food! Since a large number of people live in apartments or just don't have a yard to plant in, container gardening has become a way they can still grow some of their own food...even with limited space!

If you would like to grow some of your own food in containers then tomatoes are the perfect plant to start with. As long as you have sunlight, tomatoes can be grown anywhere.

Growing tomatoes in containers is not limited to people with a lack of gardening space though. Plenty of home gardeners grow their vegetables in containers, even when they have free space in the backyard.

There are many reasons for container gardening, but we grow tomatoes in containers mostly for convenience, control, and flexibility. Also if you have a problem with deer in your garden, putting your plants on your porch in containers can circumvent that!

Not many deer are comfortable walking up onto your porch! Nor are rabbits which can really damage a traditional garden! 

Growing tomatoes in containers is not too different from growing tomatoes in the outdoor soil. Like planting in the ground, it's best to raise young tomato seedlings carefully indoors until they're strong enough for transplant.

This gives them a few extra weeks to grow instead of waiting to plant seeds when the soil is warm enough.

Vegetables That Grow Well In Partial Sun

My garden started as mostly full sun, but because it's situated approximately 20' from the edge of the woods, it takes awhile for the sun to get to it in the morning. 11 am to be exact.

The definition of full sun is at least 6 hours of direct sun per day, partial sun is 4-6 hours of direct sun per day, partial shade is about 1-4 hours of direct sun that isn't the hot afternoon sun.

From the second the sun comes over the trees, till about 7 pm in summer, the garden gets sun.

That should be all there is to it, but because of plant placing there are a few areas that don't get as much sun as others. For instance, since my tomato plants grow to be about 4' tall, anything planted behind them doesn't get as much sun.

Asparagus creates the same problem. 

When planning my garden I need to take this into account. Also, over the years the trees in the woods grew taller and they now block more sun. Some of my formerly full sun areas now have a whole lot more shade!

We talked about figuring out how much sun your garden gets in How to Make a Sun Map for your Garden. If this is your first time gardening in your location (or you're moving the garden plot) you'll want to make a sun map first.

If you've been using that spot for a few years you're probably familiar with the way the sun moves across your property during the growing season.

Knowing which parts of your garden has less sun, or which plants will block the sun once they're full grown is essential to planning a garden where all your plants get the correct amount of sunlight for optimal growth! 

How to start seeds cheaply

Lots of people are looking to start a garden this year! I can totally understand that, especially with the way food prices are. Unfortunately because food prices are up people don't have a lot of extra money to spend on a garden. It's a real catch 22 isn't it? 

Don't worry, you're in the right place! I love to talk about frugal gardening and seed starting is no different. 

Over the years I've come up with lots if ways to save money on seed starting supplies and today I'd like to talk about them. I'm going to do a mini round up here with a bunch of the posts that I've already written on parts of this topic.

I'm also going to round it out with some new ideas, so let's get started on how to start seeds cheaply!

How to use Arnica

Earlier this year I had surgery. I was lucky to get a doctor that believes in supporting modern medicine with natural methods. She prescribed arnica and pineapple as ways to support my body as it was healing. I have used arnica for years, but had never thought to use it after a major medical event like this.

Mostly I use arnica for bruising. I have a cream made with arnica and I have some homeopathic tablets and I would use one or both to help myself heal from bruising or muscle strain. 

My stepdad had a really bad injury on his arm a few years ago and I decided to get him some arnica cream to help it clear up more quickly, so I looked online and I found that there is a whole line of arnica products and these are now sold in every major grocery store! 

I find that absolutely amazing because the last time I had to buy it, I had to go to a specialty herbal shop because I couldn't find it anywhere else.

How to make a corn heat bag

Today I'm going to put together a simple tutorial on how to make a corn heat bag. I have several of these in different sizes and they are amazing used hot or cold for basically any injury you might have. I've had my original one for over 20 years and other than the fabric getting kinda dingy, it still works great!

I've made several more since that original one and I keep a smaller one in the freezer and the larger ones just in the cupboard to warm up when needed. Depending where you're at in an injury, you could use hot or cold, so I like to have a few ready.

I swear I get hurt more living on a farm than any other time of my life! But I digress...

Let's talk heat packs!

Cranberry almond bars

This recipe is one I make every single year when cranberries start showing up in stores! There aren't many recipes you can make using fresh cranberries, and it seems that their tartness means they always get relegated to cranberry sauce. These cranberry almond bars will make you change the way you think of cranberries though!

I think people are afraid to use cranberries in a lot of baking solely because of that tartness. Whatever goes on as this recipe bakes though, turns the cranberries super sweet! I like to add almonds because I like the unique cranberry almond flavor, but they are just as good with pecans.

I cut these into cranberry almond bars or squares, but you could also just serve it as a cake. 

How to make an Aromatherapy Bedroom Gnome with Lavender!

When my kids were little I had typical screwed up, parents sleep schedule. I was often trying to fall asleep when I had time to sleep and not necessarily when I was tired! Yeah, that! I got this cute little sleepy time teddy bear with a little lilac colored robe on and he was filled with lavender.

I would set it on my pillow next to my face and it would help me fall asleep.

The kids knew this and if they couldn't fall asleep they would ask me to bring them "smell my butt teddy". That was the teddy bears name because the lavender scent was strongest at his butt. lol Kids are funny. 

Well it's many years later and I still use a lavender spray or lavender eye pillow to help me fall asleep some nights.

So I started thinking that a lavender gnome would be super easy to make and really cute, plus ya know, gnomes are trendy right now! I've made a lot of gnomes as décor, so I decided to write out the way I do it and show you how I make this cute little gnome to help you fall asleep faster. 

Since gnomes are small, this is a perfect project to use up scraps of fabric and notions. 

How to plant bulbs in fall

Autumn has arrived and that means it's time to put the bulbs in so next year's flowers will pop up in the spring! The first couple times I planted bulbs I did it all wrong! I planted them too shallow, I planted them too close together and I planted them at the wrong time of year.

I learned the hard way that if you plant them too shallow the chipmunks will dig them up and eat them. If you plant them too close together as certain bulbs multiply you're going to have to thin them out, and soon.

Also, if you plant them in the wrong season well you might not get anything for a year if at all.

So today I want to talk about what I've learned and put into practice since the first disastrous set of bulbs I planted.

How to make leaf mold

It's that time of year again, when the garden is winding down just as the leaves are falling and filling up the yard! I know it's a pain in the butt and a lot of work, but I look forward to the leaves falling because they are so great for the garden!

Not only do leaves make great mulch, but they help insulate the plants for winter and protect the garden. They also give insects a place to hide over winter which could be bad or good depending on the types of insects! 

You can also use fallen leaves to make leaf mold. If you spend any time in the woods you'll notice the forest floor is covered with a thin layer of really dark earth.

This is the breakdown of fallen leaves and helps improve the structure of soil while supporting plant growth and helping the soil to retain moisture.

You can use your Autumn leaves to do the same thing on a larger scale and use it in your garden and landscaping. This is similar to compost except you're only using fallen leaves and it takes a super long time compared to compost!