As you embark on your journey to growing more food from home, you might also want to be able to season your food. This is where herbs come in. Having fresh herbs on hand is a great way to be encouraged to cook more at home and experiment with different flavors. You can start your own herb garden with these easy tips.

Choosing Your Herbs

When you want to start an herb garden, the first thing you will do is choose the types of herbs to grow. While technically you can choose any herbs you want, there are a few things to consider. First, you want to think about the herbs that are easier to grow, such as basil, chives, dill, and oregano. These are good for beginners because they are simple to grow, even for black thumbs.

Then there are the herbs that are good to get as young plants. That way, you don’t have to start them from seeds. Herbs that are often available as young plants from nurseries are sage, thyme, rosemary, and basil. Of course, you should also think about the herbs you will use most in your cooking. Continue reading →

It’s no secret — cats are unpredictable and extremely territorial so keeping cats out of garden areas can be a bit tricky. They mark their territory by depositing pheromones from scent glands (urinating or otherwise), and will continue to visit as long as their scent remains.

Best approaches Known to Keep Cats Away from Gardens

Broadly speaking, we can label all of these diverse approaches as “cat repellents,” since they are all designed to repel unwanted feline intruders from a specific area. But I’ll also provide an example of the commercial products more narrowly associated with the label, “cat repellents,” namely, products that come in a can and are sprinkled on the ground to keep cats away. Continue reading →

How can you keep rabbits out of your garden? Long ago, the best solution was to shoot them on the spot. But that was a long time ago. Although in some parts of the world it is still practiced, we highly discourage you from following that example (unless you plan to eat them). Alternative methods can be done today that weren’t available in the old days.

Instead, you should consider building a rabbit-proof fence. It is expensive, but essential to ward off these pests — each one of which will eat a pound of your fresh greens per day.

The Fence

Considering fencing, it must be at least 4ft high and of 1 inch or 2 inches of mesh wire-netting. Buy a roll 5ft wide, because the bottom 6 inches or so of wire will have to be buried in the ground and angled outwards. This will stop the rabbits as they attempt to burrow under the fence. They may have another try farther along, but they will eventually give up and your vegetables will be safe. Continue reading →