Farm and garden Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Seven tactics for planning next year’s garden

By Kristina Seleshanko There are few things I enjoy more than snuggling up next to the woodstove with a cup of coffee and my garden planning notebook. Although winter might feel like a time to...

Making Apple Cider with a Homemade Press

By Robert Van Putten Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 Apples are an important food resource for us. Every year we store hundreds of pounds in our root cellar where they will keep for up to six...

Slug Zapper

By Joel Winters Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 I live in a small clearing in a big forest. This is on the rainy side of the mountains in the Cascade foothills. Slugs are underfoot nearly year-round...

Propagating Grapes

By Sylvia Gist Issue #107 • September/October, 2007 As a kid in western South Dakota, I enjoyed picking wild grapes and using the delightful juice they produced, so when I eventually acquired property in Montana, I...

Use Plastic to Get a Head Start on Corn in the Fall

By Mark and Lynn Klammer Issue #41 • September/October, 1996 As spring approaches each year, we can hardly wait for the feel of warm earth between our fingers. And so, while most avid gardeners let Mother...

A New Use for Old Tires: A Garden Using Tires

By Charles Sanders Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 There are mountains of old tires out there. Americans keep on rolling and tires keep on wearing out. Every year there is almost one scrap tire created for...

Starting a Roadside Farm Stand

By John Murray  Issue #158 • March/April, 2016 For country landowners who desire a way to supplement their income, operating a small roadside farm stand is an excellent business venture. Produce which is harvested on a...

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...

Rotten Luck: The Skinny on Composting

By Patrice Lewis Issue #141 • May/June, 2013 For much of human history, people have tried to prevent things from rotting. Literally every food preservation method we've come up with in the past few thousand years...

Prevent Foodborne Illness with Safe Gardening Methods

By Donna Insco  Issue #158 March/April, 2016 According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, "CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and...

Woodchuck-Proof the Garden

By Setanta O'Ceillaigh  Issue #160 • July/August, 2016 The cycle never ends: As soon as one garden pest is dealt with, another takes its place. Last...

The Home Citrus Orchard

By Anita Evangelista Issue #81 • May/June, 2003 It may seem like an impossible dream if you live outside of southern Florida, California, or Texas, but you can grow a home "backyard" orchard of oranges, lemons,...

Plant Your Trees in the Spring

By Tom Kovach Issue #61 • January/February, 2000 Winter is a good time to plan your spring tree plantings, deciding what and where you want to plant. When spring arrives you'll be ready. Spring is the best...

Grow Garlic and Reap Health Benefits

By Alice B. Yeager Photos by James O. Yeager Issue #98 • March/April, 2006 Garlic is one of our oldest herbs on record. Anyone can grow garlic without having to hover over it, hoping that it produces....

Okra — Not Just for the South

By Alice B. Yeager Photos by James O. Yeager Issue #58 • July/August, 1999 No one is quite sure about how okra seeds came to this country. Okra is of African origin and the seeds could have...

Victory Gardens

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #54 • November/December, 1998 There have been very few times in our nation's history when "We, the people" have banded together so fiercely as we did during World War II. We...