The Weekly Wire Hi friend, Let me tell you where a lot of extra food can come from in a small garden. Not new beds. Not expanding your yard. But the space you’re already ignoring. Patios. Decks. Walkways. Corners. Railings. Pergolas. Fences. Containers turn all of that into growing space. When I started using containers alongside my garden beds, everything changed. Suddenly I had room for extra tomatoes, herbs, and quick-growing crops without needing more ground space. And containers pair...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, If you want to grow more food without adding more space, there’s one strategy that makes the biggest difference: Grow up. Most gardens are designed in two dimensions, rows stretching across the ground. But the moment you start using vertical space, everything changes. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and even some squash can all be trained upward instead of sprawling out. That means:• more plants in the same footprint• better airflow (fewer disease issues)• easier...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, For a long time, I thought I needed more space to grow more food. A bigger garden. More beds. More room to spread everything out. But when I was gardening in a small suburban backyard, I didn’t have that option. So I had to figure something else out. That year, I grew almost 100 pounds of tomatoes…in just four small garden beds and a few GreenStalk vertical planters. Not because I had more space, but because I started using the space differently. I stopped thinking...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, There’s a moment every spring when it feels like winter is finally behind us. A few warm days. The soil starts to soften. Your seedlings are growing well. And it’s incredibly tempting to start planting everything out at once. But this is where the last frost date quietly sneaks in. That “average last frost date” you see on charts isn’t a guarantee. It’s more like a guideline, a rough marker that tells you when the risk usually starts to fade. Some years it comes...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, One day your seedlings look perfect. Tiny green leaves, standing tall, everything on track. The next morning, one of them is lying flat against the soil like it simply gave up overnight. If you’ve ever had that happen, you’ve likely run into something called dampening off. It’s one of the most common issues people face when starting seeds indoors, and it can feel incredibly discouraging when you don’t know what caused it. The tricky part is that dampening off often...
2 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, Last week we talked about preparing the right soil for container gardening and how starting with a good mix gives your plants a huge advantage from day one. This week, we move on to the moment that always feels a little magical. Seed starting. There’s something about planting a tiny seed and watching it push up through the soil that never really gets old. It’s quiet work, often done at the kitchen table or under grow lights in a spare corner, but it’s where the...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire What's happening around the homestead Hello Friend, Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking about soil. First about waiting until it’s ready… and then about giving it what it needs before planting. But what if you’re growing in containers? Containers play by slightly different rules. When you’re planting in garden beds, the soil ecosystem already exists. Earthworms, microbes, organic matter, years of life working underground. Containers start with a blank slate....
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire Hi friend, Last week we talked about something that’s easy to forget when spring fever hits… letting your soil decide when it’s ready to plant. Once your beds finally reach that sweet spot, crumbly instead of soggy and workable instead of cold, the next question becomes: What does your soil need before you plant? This step is easy to skip when you’re eager to get seeds in the ground. But a little attention now can make a big difference later in the season. Most garden beds...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Weekly Wire What's happening around the homestead Hi friend, This is the time of year when the temptation kicks in. The sun comes out for a few days, the air softens just a bit, and suddenly you’re ready to grab a shovel and start planting everything. I get it. I feel it too. I'm itching to get my onions and celery outside. But the truth is, your soil sets the pace. Not the calendar. Not the seed packet. Not your enthusiasm. Planting into soil that isn’t ready can undo weeks of careful...
3 months ago • 1 min read
