Pragmatic Gardener

I have debated saving some seed from my cabbages this year. Debated because cabbage seed is a weird thing. Some will cross readily and some will not. Some are annual and others are biannual. Either way, they make tiny okra pod looking things that you wait for the plant to die back and the pods…

The single biggest issue, I have in my garden is heat. Following that are pests. Specially, pests on my cabbage or young seedlings. Bugs are always an issue in a organic garden. They may not be a massive concern for some because good gardening practice can eliminate many of those issue but they still exist.…

As a person with significant Irish genetics, I have a fear of the the potato blight. Today, I got to confront my enemy. So what is a poor boy of Irish decent to do in the face of potato blight? Dealing with Potato Blight This is a blend of two methods. One that I have…

Let me just say the madness that I am experiencing is trying to plant something that I have no business trying to plant. It will die. My winters are too cold. The climate too dry. Depending on who you ask, I have a bad case of the gardenings. It is a condition that requires you…

So I have nursed and coddled my little tomatoes since they were seeds in February. I transplanted them to bigger pots. I lovingly watered and grow lite my seedlings before tenderly hardening them off this Spring. Finally it is time to do some transplanting. It’s time to start transplanting my tomatoes. Basics of Transplanting Tomatoes…

One of the big things that people like to do in the garden is bury stuff in it. One of the most popular things to bury are eggs. Why Eggs? Here is the thing. Eggs are pretty easy to get. They have a surprising amount of nutrients and mineral contained in them. Finally, they are…

A fool and his money are soon parted. I really hate it when I end up that fool. It’s even worse when it is a story that involves my soil. This is a tale about how I ended up with garbage soil. How to Work Hard to Get Garbage Soil. So my tale starts like…

I lost something near and dear to me. It was rusty and faded. Weakened by the exposure of thousands of hours of sunlight. Degraded by moisture and eaten away by acidic substances. I lost my trowel, I had the curse of broken tools ravage my garden. What Happened? I started my first garden in 2007.…

Like many people, I have expanded my bed this offseason. One of the issues with expansion is that I need new bed materials. While I may regret it, I decided to expand using metal raised beds. I have a couple of different raised bed models. Each are almost exactly the same in construction so this…

For those that do not know, I use raised beds as the foundation of my garden. We can get into why at a later date but it is just fact that I do. Because I use raised beds, I have several different kinds of beds. My favorite and the most expensive are the Frame It…