Posted in Homestead Garden and Farm

Hello there!  I'm back online after our move, and getting settled into our new nest little by little. 

Good news in the gardening area- we got our garden planted last week!  Bad news- a series of storms came thru on Friday dumping golfball-sized hail on it .  Amazingly, it seems to have survived for the most part, only time will tell.

With all this moving, and other "stuff" going on around here, I've just not had the brain power for blogging  lately.  So, I'm asking my friends and fellow gardeners and farmers to help me out a bit.  Please share some of your favorite gardening tips with us.  Blog about them and then leave a comment here so we can check them out (someday maybe I'll figure out that Mr. Linky thing, or some kind soul will help me out ). 

My best gardening tip of all is prepare your soil.  To get good crops, you need good soil.

We are growing in some very sandy soil, that I honestly didn't prepare as I normally would.  See, not even following my own advice!  Time and money are both in short supply, and my dh said "just plant it"....we'll see what happens .   Everything is an adventure these days!  I did put some organic fertilizer in each little planting hole and will topdress this week with some compost. 

Another tip is only water the plants you want to grow.  Yes, this means more work for you when watering the garden, but you'll spend less time weeding it . 

One last thought, check out those "weeds" growing around the homestead, some of them might be very nutritious and useful!  I learned recently that both nettle and chickweed are very helpful weeds to have around.  Really!  I haven't located any nettle as of yet, but I did find a lovely spot of chickweed and made a great chickweed salve.  That's one weed that I won't mind giving a little drink now and then .

OK, time for this gardener to get busy, hope your week is filled with planting, plucking, and pleasant pursuits!

Blessings,

Catherine Love