Recent content by Mike

Went to have a look at the garden plot and, you won't believe this but, those weeds didn't leave on their own! I did get a new idea, though, instead of trying to knock them down with the mower this year. I thought about maybe just burning the whole thing. I've read that burning it all up could...

The first, and only, peach tree I planted was over five years ago. I haven't gotten a peach from it yet! Last year it died so I'm having to start all over. We'll see how much better we can do with these. My expectations are much lower than last time.

Honestly, you may be on to something. All this "learning" I'm doing is really just equating to more and more frustration and more and more money down the drain. 🤣 One of these years, though, I'm hoping to at least break even on these veggies!

Welcome aboard @Geezerette! Glad to have you (re)join! Whether it's a single raised bed or a 5-acre plot, it's still a garden! How's your spinach doing? We tried to grow a little in the fall of 2024 but the rabbits, and/or other critters, at it all up way before we could get any off it. We...

Hey everyone, As we start gearing up for the 2026 season, I wanted to encourage everyone, whether you have a 5-acre homestead or a few pots on a balcony, to start a garden journal right here in this forum. Why start a journal? Track your progress: It's easy to forget exactly when you planted...

I'd love to tell you that my first garden was a lush paradise where I strolled through perfectly spaced rows, picking perfect vegetables and that the rain kept everything perfectly watered. The reality? It was a bit of a jungle, I wasted a lot of water, and I definitely learned some lessons the...

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a good looking seed packet. You're standing there in the garden center at Walmart or Home Depot and you spot that perfect looking, giant red tomato or bright yellow squash and it just grabs you. I'm building my garden to build food, though, not just look at...

I'm planning on adding some new peach trees to the property this year, starting up our fruit orchard, and I wanted to share how I'm going to plant them to make sure they actually survive their first Texas summer. A lot of folks just dig a hole, throw a tree in it, and hope for the best. In our...

I'm looking into a new project for the 2026 season, and I wanted to see if anyone here has tried it. I'm planning on building a large trellis, using 16-foot cattle panels, to create a "tunnel" or archway. The Goal: I want to plant cucumbers on both sides of the arch and let the cucumber vines...

Whenever we (myself included) meet a new gardener online, especially those who are looking for help, the first question is usually "what zone are you in?". We've all been told that knowing you're in zone 7b, or 8a, is the key to success. But as I've learned over the last few years, the USDA map...

It never fails...as soon as the soil warms up and things start looking good, the fire ants start moving in. This is one of the toughest battles I face in my garden. It's one thing to use those heavy duty "death crystals" on the front yard, but I refuse to put that stuff near where my food grows...

When we see a bug in the garden, our first instinct is usually to reach for the spray or the "squish" finger. But before you do that, make sure you aren't killing your best workers! Here are a few "Garden Heroes" that we want to keep around: Ladybugs (The Aphid Assassins) Everyone knows the...

I’ve been doing a lot of digging (literally and figuratively) into how I want to handle the watering this year. I’ve tinkered with basic drip emitters before, but I’ve been looking hard at drip tape for the 2026 season. For those of you who haven't used it, drip tape is that thin, collapsible...

As we inch closer and closer to spring/summer gardening season, it's about time to start preparing. Figuring out what to plant, making sure the seeds are ready to go, coming up with a plan for how everything will lay out in the garden, and figuring out how to make sure it all gets enough water...

So, as I was sitting here thinking about my 2026 garden plan, and I realized something: my family plants a TON of okra! I started thinking about just how much of this stuff my family actually consumes in a year. It got me to thinking: are we weird, or does everyone eat okra as much as we do? In...