Tracing a bean
By Wren Everett
The beans came to me as an accident.
In the early spring of 2023, I was scouring The Exchange (exchange.seedsavers.org/home) — an online seed-savers trading post of sorts — looking for squash seeds....
Green or Yellow: Grow Your Best Bush Beans Ever
By Lisa LaFreniere
Issue #62 • March/April, 2000
Bush Beans, or snap beans as they're sometimes referred to, are a growing favorite among many gardeners, and with good reason. Beans are high in vitamins A, C...
Use Old Newspapers to Make Your Starter Pots
By Darlene Polachic
Issue #49 • January/February, 1998
Why spend money buying plant starter packs when you can make all you need from old newspapers? The added benefit of these newspaper pots is that they can...
Love Those Green Beans
By Alice B. Yeager
Issue #68 • March/April, 2001
Anyone with some gardening space, a sunny location, and good loamy soil with pH 6.0-7.5 can grow snap beans. With some good recipes, you'll have people begging...
The Potato Hole
By Sylvia Gist
Issue #137 • September/October, 2012
Carrots go in sand in the green pail and potatoes can be sorted by type into plastic mesh bags.
We had talked of putting in a regular root cellar,...
Your Manure Pile — For Fuel, Fertilizer, and Maybe Even Improved Water Quality, You...
By Rev. J.D. Hooker
Issue #87 • May/June, 2004
It's been well over a decade now since I first heard my friend Pete voice his amazement at my practice of spreading animal manure as a fertilizer....
How to become a backyard beekeeper
By Sheri Jones
If you’ve been intrigued by the idea of becoming a beekeeper but think you don’t have the space, resources, or knowledge, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised. Backyard beekeeping is a lot...
Save Time and Energy with the Fenced Chicken Coop/Garden
By John Silveira
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
My engineer father was not fond of wasting time or energy. He was always searching for a better, more efficient way to perform chores, especially chores that reoccurred...
A Small Space Yields a Big Crop of Garlic
By Howard Tuckey
Issue #131 • September/October, 2011
In less than an hour last fall, I tilled up a 4x8 foot garden bed and planted 250 seed cloves of Chesnok and Russian Red garlic. I've been...
Grow Your Own Dishrags
By Alice B. Yeager
Photos by James O. Yeager
Issue #85 • January/February, 2004
Some of us are thrifty beyond measure, even growing our own dishrags. None of those flimsy, store bought cotton things for us. Our...
Testing Soil
By Tom Kovach
Issue #119 • September/October, 2009
Testing the soil content of a garden is very important and is quite easy to do. Soil tests are needed because some plants prefer slightly acidic soil, while...
Build a Top-Bar Bee Hive
By Jereme Zimmerman
Issue #175 • January/February/March, 2019
My journey to becoming a beekeeper has been a long one, and I’m still not quite there yet. For the past five years or so, I have read...
Propagating Plants
By Jackie Clay
Issue #128 • March/April, 2011
We all love the idea of having a big, productive garden, full of all the nutritious, tasty foods our hearts desire. But the prices in the nursery catalogs...
Home-Grown Eggs
By Allen Easterly
Issue #165 • May/June, 2017
Maybe you’ve thought about keeping a few chickens for their eggs but didn’t want to be awakened at 4:00 AM by a rooster singing “cock-a-doodle-doo.” At this time...
Gardening with a Chicken Tractor
By Brianna Stone
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Issue #161 • September/October, 2016
This spring, my parents let me enlarge my garlic business and till up three 600-square-foot beds for planting...
Blueberry Cash Crop
By Ed Mashburn
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
My almost two-year-old grandson loves blueberries. Put a bowl of those round blue jewels in front of him, and he's a happy little man. He's not alone. Many...






























