Are you interested in growing your own food and embracing the beauty of a simple, self-sufficient lifestyle? Then you’re in the right place! Whether you’re planting your first seeds or tending a flourishing garden, you’ll find practical tips and projects to make growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs easier and more rewarding.
From creating a bountiful vegetable patch to harvesting fresh herbs for your kitchen, this space is all about cultivating nourishment, connection, and sustainability. Discover beginner-friendly guides, seasonal planting advice, and tried-and-true tips for growing your favorite foods at home.
Ready to dig in? Explore our gardening resources and see how growing your own food can transform your simple living journey—one seed at a time.
If you need a little help planning your garden and keeping your notes organized or understanding your climate, we can help.
Growing a fruit garden on your property will give you years of harvest as most fruits are perennial plants. Your backyard orchard will provide food for your family and wildlife and add beauty and shade to your property. Since the day we moved here (even before that really) we knew we wanted to grow a … Read more
oh my, I just can’t believe that this is the last week of January. We are just a couple of weeks away from our average last frost date which means we need to be starting some seeds soon. We don’t normally plant our warm weather transplants until early March but I like to have them … Read more
Aww, fruit trees! It’s been said that the best time to plant a fruit tree is yesterday – because they take so long to produce. And while it’s true that you won’t get fruit the first year you plant a fruit tree it doesn’t have to take years and years to get fruit either. There … Read more
I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas! We’re still celebrating with various family members and will be until January 1st but I wanted to pop in and share our December garden with you. We’ve had a really warm fall and winter – in fact, we’ve not run the heater at all and … Read more
One thing gardening has taught me is to not “count my chickens before they hatch”. There are so many variables in gardening that we just cannot control that I try not to get my hopes up at the beginning of a season. I just have to do what I can and leave the rest up … Read more
The September garden in zone 9 is very much like many areas early spring garden. We have started many of our cold weather crops but we still have a few warm weather crops growing. The lemons are slowly turning yellow. Most are still very green and won’t be ready until Thanksgiving but we’ve picked a … Read more
We don’t really ever finish gardening here. We have slow months and busy months but since we garden year round, we never take a complete gardening break. Even so, I’m learning the importance of closing out one gardening season and begin another by not using our entire garden for each season. Now, the spring and early summer it’s … Read more
We are about to begin round two of our garden for 2015. We’ve had a break where we’re not bringing in much harvest and it’s been nice. But I just sowed a whole bunch of fall seeds so we’ll be having more to harvest soon. This week our theme for National Organic Harvest Month is … Read more
While most of our organic gardening friends in the National Organic Harvest 2015 project are bringing in the vast majority of their harvest right now, we’re not. Our big harvest time is June and July and then we wait a few months and start planting the fall garden. Right now we are harvesting peppers, basil, … Read more
Did you know that September is National Organic Harvesting Month? Well, it is! We’re celebrating by teaming up with seven other bloggers in a month long promotion. Each week we’ll cover a different theme and the last week we’ll have a couple of super cool giveaways. If you’re on social media you can follow #organicharvest15. I … Read more
The zone 9 August garden is sparse but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. We’ve been preparing the beds for the fall garden, harvesting a few things and mostly just enjoying the relaxed pace. Our citrus trees are doing great! We have lemons on both trees and our mature tree is covered. We’ll have enough lemons … Read more
The time to start planning the fall garden is when it’s still summer. The time to plant your fall garden will depend on your climate. Some of us will start planting our fall garden in July and some of us won’t plant our fall garden until October. If you plan well and plant frost tolerant … Read more
While many of you are in the glory time of gardening right now, we are about done for the summer. Oh, there are still peppers, luffa, okra, basil and moringa and an occasional small tomato or strawberry, but that’s it. The plants have been in the ground since early March and are spent. It’s hot with … Read more
Of all this things I’ve grown, I think I’m most excited about growing pineapples. I’m not really sure why but I am. There’s something wonderful about planting the top of a pineapple and in a couple of years have fruit. This photo is from August 2011. About 4 months after I planted a pineapple top … Read more
Goodness our June garden has gone through a lot. We started the month harvesting tomatoes, squash and green beans. Then came Tropical Storm Bill which dumped 7 inches on our property in two days. Our ground was already saturated as we’ve already had as much rain as we get in a normal YEAR. Although I’m … Read more
On Monday, Gabriel woke up and said, “Today is the day to check the bee hives.” We’ve had so much rain that there really hasn’t been a good time to get into the hives to check them. So, I did what any good mom would do, I put on a long sleeve shirt, long pants … Read more
Goodness have we had rain! I’ve only watered twice so far this spring which is a huge time saver for me and the plants love the rain water. It’s been wonderful! Everything in our May garden is so green, such a contrast from previous years. Our lemon tree is doing great! It’s even blooming again … Read more
So much has happened in our garden these last few weeks and our April Garden is looking promising. Our sweet peas are producing; I just love the flowers. I didn’t plant a lot and I planted really late, kind of spur of the moment really, but we’ve been enjoying a few a day as an … Read more
Note: Once a week I share a popular post from the archives. This post was originally published in June 2012. We planted several different varieties of tomatoes this year. We planted Rutgers, Romas, Purple Cherokee, Lemon Boy, Yellow Pear and Yellow Cherry tomatoes. They have all done well and after the season is over I’ll share … Read more
We have had so much rain this year so far and our plants are loving it! So far. We’ve had twice the amount of rain in March than we normally have for the entire month and we’re expecting more this weekend. It’s making for an interesting March garden. This is our Meyer lemon tree full … Read more