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​I have been container gardening for years. It started back when I lived in an apartment. I had no ground, so I had to plant vegetables in pots on my balcony. The harvest was not huge, but it was very satisfying to pick fresh peppers and lettuce leaves to put in my dinner salads.  Gardening in containers can be done anywhere you have sun!  

But this was just the beginning of my adventures in container gardening!

​I have been making my own weed killer for years.  Ever since I heard that Round up has a big link to cancer, I decided I would use only weed killers with commonly known ingredients.  My homemade formula does not work as well as chemicals, but the trade off is more than worth it.  However, recently I have changed one ingredients in my homemade weed killer that I have been using for the last few years.  That change makes a big difference!
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Gathering your own seeds is a great way to save money, and to have fresh, viable seeds to plant every year in your garden.  Collecting tomato seeds is really easy to do, and it is a great way to make use of those tomatoes that are split or damaged that you would not want to eat.  Here's how to do it.
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It's finally time to start my seeds.  This winter has been so long and cold, I was beginning to wonder if it would ever end.  But the time has finally arrived to plant my seeds and begin preparing my garden beds.  It is exciting!  

Over the years of gardening, I have tried several methods of starting seedlings with varying success.  I wasn't really impressed with any of them.  Some were too expensive, some were too much trouble and some fell apart before I was able to replant.  So last spring I had an idea while at a family restaurant.  I tried it out because I wanted to see how it worked before writing about it.  I think it worked like a charm and it was also cheap and easy!  Can't get much better than that.  Let me show you what I did.
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My sweet banana peppers are very prolific this year.  One garden bed has been coming in heavy for weeks and the other one, which I planted later is just starting to get little peppers on the plants.  Needless to say, I will not be hurting for peppers this winter.  What I may be needing more of is storage.  We only have one chest freezer, so I decided to put up a bunch of peppers by dehydrating them.  It's easy and drastically cuts down on the amount of storage space needed!
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Since this was our first full summer on our homestead, I decided to raise as much of my garden as I could from seed.  This included my new herb garden.  I started them all out in small three inch pots and I over-planted by three because I had no idea how many seeds would sprout.  As it turns out, it was a good idea for all of them but basil and sage.  Those two little rascals are VERY prolific and as you see, I had to plant the overflow in pots
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If you love sunflowers, but don't have the space to devote to growing these brightly colored giants, I have some great news for you!  Sunflower hybrids can give you the beautiful sunflowers that you want, and only grow about 2 or 3 feet tall!

They are also really easy to grow, either from seeds or from transplants, and come in a big variety of colors, if you aren't crazy about the original yellow.  Here's how!

Since I was moving in the middle of growing season, I didn't get to plant much this summer.  For a dyed in the wool gardener, it was heartbreaking.  It also means that we have nothing in the freezer to help feed us this winter.  A sad situation, but since we now live on our homestead, it will be the last time this happens.

One of my favorite things to grow in the fall is lettuce.  Since it grows quickly, I planted a crop in one of my raised garden beds, back in August after we moved here.  It is so easy to grow and it really matured quickly and looks beautiful.  We harvested our first leaves last week.  Delicious!!