Krista's Farms Market Garden Secret

Krista is another awesome gardener in our area. We visited her Davenport Farms Market Garden at the beginning of this week. It sure looks good, despite all the rain we've had here.

One of the special features in her garden is the mulching. Krista mulches with grass clippings. She grows delicious produce this way. Her spinach looked and tasted out of this world. Those leaves are almost as big as my hand, yummy! Read more and learn about mulches with grass clippings!

• Source: northernhomestead.com/kristas-farms-market-garden-secret

More about mulching: Gardening Without Work: For the Aging, the Busy & the Indolent

Dave, an enthusiastic northern fruits and berry grower

Dave is a fellow gardening enthusiast from central Alberta who writes an interesting AlbertaHomeGardening blog. Would you believe that plums, grapes, and kiwis grow just outside of Red Deer, Alberta? They do, Dave has proven it. There is a whole world of hardy fruit plants that can survive and even thrive on the northern prairies. Read more and learn about growing fruits and berries in a short growing season area.

• Source: northernhomestead.com/dave-an-enthusiastic-northern-fruits-and-berry-grower

More on hardy Trees and Shrubs: Hardy Trees and Shrubs: A Guide to Disease-Resistant Varieties for the North

How to build a GeoDome greenhouse?

When it comes to gardening in colder climates, a greenhouse is almost a must have. It extends the growing season and gives the plants a lot more heat. With a greenhouse, we can actually pick ripe tomatoes here and grow some plants that we would not be able to without one. A greenhouse can also be a great place to hang out on those cool spring days and summer nights. When we started to look out for one to build, our expectations were very high. In a northern garden we have to deal with frost, nasty winds and hail, and also loads of snow in the winter. Our days in spring and fall don't have much direct sunlight so we need to catch every sunbeam we can. Plus, we live in town and the greenhouse in our small back yard needed to be somehow catchy.

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Tilly's 'Back to Eden' garden experience

Back to Eden is a documentary movie about a gardener named Paul Gautschi. In the film he explains his mulching method. My friend Tilly, a christian mother of 8, an amazing homemaker and gardener, tried out this gardening method in her northern garden and was willing to share her experience with us. Read more and learn about wood chips mulching the 'Back to Eden' way.

• Source: northernhomestead.com/tillys-back-to-eden-garden-experience

More on Back to Eden: Back to Eden the Film

Seedbank of open pollinated, non-GMO seeds

This is an ongoing project on building an own bank of open pollinated, non-GMO seeds. The aim is to find seeds that are suited for our very short growing season. Some of these seeds we will grow for the first time, others have been already tested and been approved. Non-GMO, open pollinated seeds for a cold weather, short season, most also suited for the winter garden.

• Source: northernhomestead.com/seedbank-of-open-pollinated-non-gmo-seeds