Adventures in Hydroponics: Growing Tomato Plants in an AeroGarden

I had no idea what was in store for me when I planted tomato seeds in my AeroGarden a month ago. I ended up with way more seeds than I was expecting & I wasn’t quite sure if any of them would end up growing or not. The first sprout came up just in time,…

Adventures in Hydroponics: Planting Tomato Seeds in an AeroGarden

It’s the end of January & I have already planted tomatoes, even though it’s the dead of winter over here in Zone 5b. How? My AeroGarden Harvest that’s how. I got this awesome grow light/hydroponic system last year, which I have written about extensively (check out my first impressions, one month review & cleaning out…

Adventures in Hydroponics: Cleaning out an AeroGarden

Hello, 2021! New Year, new garden! But first, let’s do a little New Years cleaning. One of my best gardening decisions of 2020 was setting up a grow light system. I had been interested in grow lights for a while, so you can imagine how happy I was when I received an AeroGarden Harvest for…

End of Season Growing from Seed Update

Whew, it has been one eventful growing season over here! 2020 brought a lot of new gardening challenges, chief among them was my quest to grow from seed. As a general novice in this gardening field, I decided to dive right in this spring by starting a bunch of seeds indoors. Mainly because I was…

Fall Raised Bed Garden Clean Up & Planting Garlic

The nights are getting longer & the weather is turning cooler, which means that a lot of my annual plants aren’t looking so hot anymore. All of my tomato plants have shriveled up & succumbed to the fall weather. On the other hand, it also means that it’s finally time to plant garlic! As a…

How to Harvest Tomato Seeds Now for Free Tomato Plants Later

It’s that time of year again when chilly autumn nights reign & the threat of frost starts to loom. I’m always a bit relieved when cooler temperatures arrive since that means I don’t have to water my garden as often. However, it also means that most of my plants will soon fade off into the…

Tomato Wars: End of the Season Update (Seed Starting Indoors, Winter Sowing, Hydroponics vs. Direct Sowing)

Back in the spring, I thought it would be interesting to plant brandywine tomato seeds in a variety of ways & chronicle their growth here. I am relatively new to growing plants from seeds, so I was excited to experiment with different seed starting methods. I started this Tomato Wars series off with an article…

Cast Iron Pizza Recipe with Garden-Fresh Ingredients

I have been making homemade pizzas since I was a child, so I consider myself to be a bit of a pizza-making expert (check out my basil, pepperoni & mushroom pizza recipe). I usually make pizzas in a standard pizza pan, but I also like using a deep dish pan (I am from the Chicago…

Victory Garden Guide: Grow it Yourself

Victory gardens are back in a big way & many brand new gardeners are looking to plant their own fruits, vegetables & herbs due to the current times of uncertainty that we are facing. Growing your own produce is always an excellent decision & creating your very own victory garden is a lot easier than…

Tomato Wars: Tomato Seedlings Update (Seed Starting Indoors, Winter Sowing vs. Hydroponics)

Well, it’s been about a month since my tomato seed starting article where I compared seed starting indoors with the winter sowing method & hydroponics. A lot has changed over the last month. To be honest, it’s been a bit of an unexpected rollercoaster of events which I definitely did not expect, but that’s gardening…