Home Gardener’s
Weekly
Issue
No. 152
December
12, 2025
December Thriving Gardener:
The Winter Garden Advantage
This December, discover why winter gardens can be the most flavorful, magical, and rewarding of the year! Join Stacey Murphy, founder of Grow Your Own Vegetables, for a live masterclass that will show you how to grow indoors, start in the fall, preserve your harvest, and plan for a bountiful spring.
The Winter Gardening Advantage:
Taste, Magic, & Abundance
with Stacey Murphy
December 15, 2025 @ 10am PT/ 1pm ET
Learn simple strategies for indoor and movable gardens, enjoy winter’s unique flavors, and experience the magic of off-season gardening. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow with confidence and joy all winter long!
It’s happening live this Monday!
Garden Jumpstart System – 60% Off
Ready to stop dreaming about a thriving vegetable garden and start growing one with confidence and joy?
The Garden Jumpstart System is your all‑in‑one shortcut to success: lifetime access to the full Garden Freedom Series + Fresh Food Essentials courses, a ready‑to‑use 40‑day grow plan, step‑by‑step guidance to choose the right crops and garden layout for your space, and even a 2‑month membership in our supportive Harvest Club (live Q&A, growing community, and ongoing garden support).
Beginner Crop Planning – 50% Off
Feeling overwhelmed about what to plant, when, and where?
The Beginner Crop Planning Course takes the guesswork out of your garden so you can plan with confidence and clarity. You’ll learn how to choose the right crops for your space and goals, map out your garden layout — whether raised beds, containers, or traditional soil — and build a full-season planting and harvest calendar tailored to your local climate.
Funky Fermentation
— 50% Off
Ready to turn your extra garden bounty into flavorful, gut‑healthy staples?
The Funky Fermentation Micro Course gives you lifetime access to a course with easy-to-follow video lessons and step‑by‑step guides for safe lacto‑fermentation, making fermented vegetables, chutneys, jams, sauces, and homemade vinegars. Learn food‑safety basics, how to choose the right tools, how to tell when a ferment is ready, and how to store your ferments so they stay delicious for months.
🎁 Give the Gift of Gardening & Fresh Food 🎁
Whether you’re treating yourself or looking for the perfect gift for someone who loves fresh, homegrown food, these courses are a gift that keeps on giving.
Imagine the joy of planning a thriving garden, enjoying flavorful ferments, and savoring fresh, healthy meals all year long — for yourself, your family, or a friend who would love to grow their own food.
Make Green Friday a day to grow, nourish, and share!
Gift Note 🎁 If you’re giving this as a gift, simply forward your receipt to support@growyourownvegetables.org along with the recipient’s name and email. We’ll make sure they get access to their course and all the resources they need to enjoy it.
Weekly Garden Tip
If you’re growing a microgreen with a large seed, add some substrate to cover the seed husks once the plants are fully germinated and 1-2 inches tall.
Seed husks start to decompose once they’re through doing their job, so you want to keep anything decomposing below the substrate line.
Free Resource
Types of Seeds
Seeds are the essence of the nourishment you want to grow from your garden—but understanding the different types can feel confusing. How do hybrids differ from heirlooms? What about GMOs vs open-pollinated seeds?
To help, we’ve created a Types of Seeds guide for easy reference. Learn the main seed types and the shopping lingo so you can make choices aligned with your values.
Here’s what you’ll discover:
🌱 Conventional vs. organic
🌰 Open-pollinated & true-to-type
🌱 Heirloom & hybrid
🌰 Patented seeds & GMOs
Keep this guide handy in your garden folder so it’s easy to reference whenever you shop for seeds or plan your garden. Seed ordering will be here before you know it!
Meet Karla, a true mountain gardening superhero from Denver, Colorado. Even back in 2019, she was growing incredible harvests despite long workdays and unpredictable mountain weather—and sharing hundreds of pounds of fresh produce with her community. Watch this timeless story to see how Karla makes gardening effortless, overcomes challenges, and nourishes both herself and those around her.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HARVEST CLUB
This week’s Garden Jam explores cozy winter scents, creative herbal blends, and practical cold-season gardening tips—from deep raised beds to winter composting and smart soil enhancements.To view the replay, log into your portal and click here.
🍅 Harvest Club is your go-to for garden tips, Q&A, and fresh food inspiration! 🥕
Not a member yet? Harvest Club has tons of resources to help you thrive. Plus, you get access to ongoing garden support through email. Learn more and join us here.
Scrumptious Squash Soup
These sweet dumpling squash are tiny, but they pack big flavor!
Roast them with a blend of butter, maple syrup, and warming spices, then turn the leftovers into a creamy, cozy soup. Add lentils, potatoes, or other veggies for a heartier meal.
Ingredients & Instructions:
1. Prep the squash:
• 4 sweet dumpling squash (or other squash that you enjoy)
• Cut in half across the middle (easier than top-to-bottom with the stem).
2. Make the spice butter (ingredients are per full squash):
• 1 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
3. Roast:
• Brush each squash half with the spice butter mixture.
• Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes. Check doneness with a fork—some squash may need a little extra time.
Enjoy one roasted squash right away for a cozy dinner.
Soup Time!
For the remaining squash:
• Scoop out the flesh and puree it in a blender or Vitamix.
• Add 2 cans of coconut cream and 2 tsp salt, then heat gently to make a creamy, comforting soup.
• You can also add lentils, potatoes, or other veggies to make it a heartier meal, or store the soup in jars in the fridge to enjoy later.
What’s on your garden wish list this season?
If you’ve ever wrestled with a tangled hose, you’ll love this handy retractable hose reel. It keeps your garden space neat, makes watering effortless, and rolls itself up with a smooth, tangle-free rewind. It’s one of those upgrades you don’t realize you need—until you have it!
While you’re there, check out all their fun gift ideas and stocking stuffers!
Dear Arti:
Question: I haven’t ever really done cover cropping. Seems like I am always too early/late or confused about when to plant it and how to manage it (when to chop and drop it or somehow mix it in to nourish the soil). I don’t want to cause a bunch of “weeds” to seed all over the place if I don’t get around to managing my cover crops before they go to seed or spread, but I don’t want to leave my soil bare either. I’d love advice on how to incorporate and manage cover cropping into my garden rotation. – Lorraine M., Talent OR
Answer: Hi Lorraine,
You’re not alone! Cover cropping confuses a lot of people. One reason for this is because the term cover crop implies that anything that’s a cover crop is all going to be treated the same way. And that’s only partially true.
Almost all cover crops will be cut down as they begin to flower. If you don’t get around to chopping on time, a cover crop can produce seed and then be a weed next year. So, if you aren’t sure if you can keep up with it but you want a ground cover to protect the soil, consider planting micro clover, which is a ground cover versus a cover crop. It will still feed nitrogen into your soil, but this low growing ground cover has shallow roots, so you can simply dig it up with your trowel wherever you want to plant.
Back to cover crops. Every cover crop is different. There are warm season, fast-growing cover crops like buckwheat or slower growing summer cover crops like sunflower. There are cover crops for spring like oilseed radish and native cover crops that specifically benefit the soils in their native habitats. Not only that but each cover crop has its own purpose. Some cover crops, like buckwheat, add a ton of organic matter very quickly, and some, like sunflower and oilseed radish, till into the soil to break up clay and hard pan soils. Still others fix nitrogen. So, you want to choose a cover crop that meets your goals, your preferences and lifestyle habits, and also your temperature growing range.
📣 Our Brand-New Grow Your Own Vegetables Skool Community Is Here!
If you haven’t heard of Skool yet, it’s a beautifully streamlined online learning and community platform designed to help you stay engaged, keep learning, and connect with like-minded gardeners in an easy, clutter-free environment.
What You’ll Find Inside Our Skool:
• A fresh, modern home for garden conversations
• A space to continue your learning with tips, discussions, posts, and guided resources
• Easy interaction with your fellow gardeners
• A supportive environment to share wins, ask questions, and stay inspired
Think of it as your new go-to garden hangout: simpler, more interactive, and built to support your garden journey year-round.
We have some exciting things planned with this community … come join the fun!
Connect with us:
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