Home Gardener’s
Weekly
Issue
No. 61
February
2, 2024
Free Resource:
🌱 Double Your Harvest in Half the Space eGuide 🌱
If you want gardening to be easy and your garden abundant, it’s truly about working WITH Mother Nature and creating an ecosystem made for your plants to thrive.
To discover the 5 keys to a successful vegetable and herb garden, download this week’s complimentary resource: Double Your Vegetables in Half the Garden Space.
The checklist in this eGuide helps you to ensure the best growing environment for optimal results!
👩🏽🌾 The Joyful Gardener Docuseries Event! 👩🏽🌾
It’s time to find the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in the dirt!
We all realize that growing our own fresh food has great health benefits, but we don’t often stop and think about the mental health benefits that this activity also provides.
For our pet owners, you know that feeling when your heart leaps out of your chest because your beloved pet runs to greet you and is so happy to see you? For our non-pet owners, think of a favorite event or your favorite season and the joy that you feel when it arrives.
This same feeling can occur by spending time with the plants that you are growing in your own garden. Seeing your plants grow and produce beautiful vegetables brings a smile to your face and JOY to your heart!
That is what our upcoming Joyful Gardener Docuseries is all about—finding the JOY down in the dirt of your garden!
This complimentary 8-Day Online Event occurring February 20-27, 2024 shows you how to grow the FRESHEST, most nutrient-rich foods right at home and experience the wonderful JOY of gardening at the same time. The Joyful Gardener Docuseries has helped thousands of people all around the world in previous years…and it can help YOU now!
Weekly Garden Tip
It takes diversity in a garden to create a strong ecosystem and abundance in the garden. Diversity helps establish a balanced ecosystem. Less diversity encourages imbalance and fragility of the whole system. Mono-crop farms are a perfect example of this. In mono-crop farming, only one crop is planted. This draws the pests that attack that specific plant. Without plant diversity or crop rotation, there’s nothing to deter that pest population.
🛍 Product Feature: 50 Gallon Athena Rain Barrel
Many of you have experienced a large amount of rain or snow—or both!—in recent weeks. Why not store the free water supply that Mother Nature is providing for future use on your plants and gardens? Add a rain barrel to your outside decor!
Designed to give you a classic look of ceramic but with the durability of resin, the Algreen 50 Gallon Athena Rain Barrel is not only extremely functional but adds a lovely aesthetic to your downspout.
The Athena Rain Barrel is able to withstand harsh temperature changes while not chipping and fading. A high-quality rust-proof brass spigot is included with the rain barrel along with a filter and a corrosion-proof screen guard to block debris from entering your water supply. Buy two and link them together to store even more water for your gardening needs!
The Algreen 50 Gallon Athena Rain Barrel comes with a two year manufacturer’s warranty.
Measuring Your Shadow & Sunlight
As you prepare to find the perfect garden location to begin your vegetable garden, one important step is to map your shadow and sunlight areas in order to create a habitat in which vegetable plants will thrive. This week’s featured video covers 5 keys for a successful vegetable garden location. Your best growing location may surprise you!
🙋♀️ BLOG 🙋♀️
The Role of Your Garden Personality in Successful Gardening
Your garden personality is a reflection of your individual preferences, interests, and gardening style. It encompasses your gardening goals, your level of experience, and your personal connection to the natural world. This week’s featured blog shares how knowing and understanding your garden personality plays a vital role towards your achieving a successful gardening experience.
Dear Arti,
Question: We have two fenced gardens due to deer! One grows fantastic raspberries but only gets approximately 6 hours of sunlight. The other garden with combo raised beds/inground gets sun almost all day. I would like to know which veggies will grow best in each. – Jeanette .
Answer: Hi Jeanette,
For the bed that gets sun most of the day, if all your other environmental conditions are within their appropriate ranges, all your edible annual plants and perennial herbs should do well.
For the bed that gets about 6 hours, you might have a little inconsistency. Most of your crops should thrive, so long as you have 6 hours of FULL sun without ANY shade at all, but you might notice smaller harvests and lower yields than your bed that receives more light.
If you need to get more light on the bed that gets 6 hours, many growers use a reflective material. Garden Mirrors can act as art and light reflection at the same time to help get more light on your plants.
Some garden annuals are a little more tolerant to shade. Arugula and Nasturtium are two of my favorites that I found do well, even in 5 hours of sun.
I hope that helps, Jeanette!
🥕 Garden Fresh Vegetable Stock 🥕
When making a robust vegetable stock, the French principle of a ratio of 2:1:1 is often observed, which is 2 parts onions to 1 part carrots and 1 part celery. Another combination option is the “The Holy Trinity” equal ratio of 1:1:1 of these three ingredients.
The higher the ratio of onion, the richer your stock will be due to the high content of natural sugars that onions release when cooked. Both celery and carrot provide an herbaceous savory flavor to “round out” the taste of the stock.
These ratios are merely suggestions to create a strong foundation for your stock. You should adjust the ratio to coincide with your personal preferences.
Making a stock such as a healthy vegetable stock is a great preservation method. Homemade stock can last 5-7 days in the refrigerator and can last frozen up to 6-12 months, depending on the type of freezer.
Keeping homemade stocks on hand makes creating a flavorful meal at any time within easy reach. Homemade stock is a great base for a hearty stew or soup. Stocks are also used to braise meats or vegetables as well as be the start of a velvety sauce. The options are almost limitless!
Download the full Garden Fresh Vegetable Stock recipe along with other tasty recipes by clicking the button below. Enjoy! 😋
During a recent winter storm, Denise Beins, GYOV CEO and Lifestyle Gardener, gathered some vegetable ‘scraps,’ which she used to make a hearty, nutritious vegetable stock. This stock is a great base for a hearty winter soup.
Garden Events for You!
FREE ONLINE EVENT:
Uncovering the Secrets to Longevity
WHO: HealthMeans
WHEN: February 26 – March 3, 2024
WHAT: Uncovering the Secrets to Longevity is about rewriting the aging narrative. Why live longer if you don’t have your health, your mental acuity, and look and feel great?
Join over 50 leading experts in medicine, fitness, and health and learn what you can do to extend your healthy life span.
Discover a wealth of information on topics such as:
💚 Understanding the key mindsets for living a long, healthy life
💚 Adjusting your workouts as you age
💚 Identifying YOUR perfect diet for aging well
💚 Deciding when to choose traditional vs alternative medicine
💚 PLUS talks on hair loss, weight loss, blood sugar, & more!
Grab your spot for this informative event and redefine what it means to age gracefully!
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HARVEST CLUB
This week in Harvest Club brings newly released Video Clips for members! Learn about watering in container gardens, espalier fruit trees, when to trellis peas, creating a strong tomato trellis, and more!
Not a member of our garden membership Harvest Club? You can get a one-time complimentary two month membership with any of our courses. Harvest Club has tons of resources to help you thrive. Plus, you get access to ongoing garden support through email. Learn more here.
On a lighter note…
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