Farm and garden Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Jackie’s Garden Primer

By Jackie Clay Issue #117 • May/June, 2009 The birds are singing. The sunshine makes the day feel soft and warm. The soil is mellow and damp. It makes us feel like being outdoors and doing...

By Charles Sanders Issue #99 • May/June, 2006 Gardeners are an ingenious lot. Trial and error, time, study, observation, and experience all help us to come up with ideas that result in better gardens, more produce,...

Build a Composter

By Charles Sanders Issue #170 • March/April, 2018 As with most of the other facets of homesteading, composting can be as simple or as elaborate as you wish to make it. One of the easiest ways...

The Best City Garden

By Anita Evangelista Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 City gardens and country gardens are differentnot only in the amount of space each can fill, but in the types and quantities of...

Growing Microgreens

By Lisa Nourse Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 The small town where I live has two small grocery stores and getting a good variety of organic produce during the winter months is difficult. I find myself...

Hügelkultur for the Homestead

By Rose Shelton Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019 Last spring, I finally completed a long-planned homestead project of constructing two hügelkultur beds. What is hügelkultur? It’s basically a method of recycling junk wood to make a...

No Worrying About Fire Blight with Orient and Kieffer Pears

By Alice B. Yeager Issue #52 • July/August, 1998 Everyone likes a good success story, and if I were called upon to name the most successful tree in our small orchard I'd have to say it's...

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...

Gardening the Year ‘Round

By Alice B. Yeager Website Exclusive • September, 2006 Normally, we gardeners tend to make plans to begin planting our gardens during early spring. We select vegetables such as garden peas, lettuce, mustard, radishes, onions, and...

Leaf Mold is Another Way to Build Your Soil

By John Fuchs Issue #41 • September/October, 1996 Leaves are an excellent way to add organic matter to the garden. However, using rawor unprocessedleaves has some drawbacks. Raw leaves are more acidic than composted leaves, and...

Put Your Garden to Bed for the Winter

By Jackie Clay Issue #95 • September/October, 2005 During the crispy fall afternoons, we listen often and intently to the weather forecasts. "It's going to be clear tonight," I'd tell my late husband, Bob, and my...

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...

Time to Forget About Snail and Slug Bait

By Lyle Dykes Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 Years ago when traveling on business, I looked out of the window of my motel one morning in Newport, Oregon, and noticed a little Chinese lady flipping over...

Here’s a Mighty Creative Way to Protect Your Plants from Animals

By Joy Lamb Issue #39 • May/June, 1996 A huge brown beast stared at me as I drove through our apple orchard toward the house. I parked, walked quickly into the house, and said to my...

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...

Exotic Plants for the Homestead

By Corcceigh Green Issue #85 • January/February, 2004 Isn't it funny how even the things we step on while walking on the lawn have value? I learned this first hand last summer as I discovered some...