SHIFTING ROOTS

home, garden, food, and prairie lifestyle

Weeds vs Plants: Simple Tricks to Differentiate Between Weeds and Vegetables in the Garden

Your garden is in and your seeds are finally starting to poke above the ground. . . hurray!  But there’s also some other things growing in your garden, and frankly, you’re not sure which is which.  While I can’t possibly know every single weed in North America, I can give you some tips and things you can try before planting to help you figure out which plants are weeds, and which plants are those vegetables you worked so hard to grow.

Planting a vegetable garden for the first time? You'll need to know how to figure out what are weeds and what are plants. Whether you garden in raised beds, small spaces, or by rows, you need to know these beginner gardening tips! #weeds #vegetablegardening #gardening #planting #seedlings #beginnergardener #firsttimegardener

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something after clicking one of my links, I earn a bit of money at no extra cost to you.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!  You can read more about it in my Privacy Policy.

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10 Easy to Grow Vegetables for Beginners (Plus 5 You’ll Want to Avoid)

Planting your very first garden can be both exciting and scary.  You can’t wait to eat fresh vegetables you’ve grown yourself, but you soon realize that there’s so much about gardening you just don’t know.  Add in a few incidents with killing houseplants and it’s enough to make a beginner gardener throw in the trowel.

Don’t give up before you get started.  You can grow vegetables as a beginner and be successful at it too.  As long as you have a location with 6 or more hours of light a day, are willing to add some compost to your soil, and you water regularly, you can grow a vegetable garden this year.

I’ll show you the 10 easiest vegetables to grow, plus 3 I think you should avoid your first year.

P.S. All the vegetables you see in this post are ones I have personally grown in my own garden.

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Avoid These 8 Mistakes for a Better Vegetable Container Garden

This year I had visions of a beautiful container garden filled with vegetables on my back deck.  I would make it interesting by adding flowers to some of the pots and create a space that was both beautiful and edible.  However, my dreams and reality did not meet.  Here’s the mistakes I made and how you can learn from them.

Really quick gardening disclaimer: I garden in zone 3b in Saskatchewan, Canada, and as such, my gardening advice is best suited to the Canadian Prairies.  While I try to make my gardening tips applicable to as many locations as possible, it is impossible to be 100% relevant to every single zone in North America and beyond.  Thanks for understanding!

Second disclaimer: Nobody really wants to see pictures of practically dead plants.  The pictures here are of my pots when they last looked good, around the mid-point of the growing season.  They went downhill shortly after.

Do you dream of having a container vegetable garden on your patio, balcony, or other small space? Gardening in pots can be tricky for beginners--here's 8 mistakes you'll want to avoid. #gardening #containergardening #pots #vegetables #vegetablegardening #beginners #plantcare
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How to Start Seeds When Your Home Has no Light or Space

The seed catalogues are calling your name, but your home leaves much to be desired to start this years seeds.  Maybe you don’t have a south facing window, or the one you do have has no ledge to rest plants on, or your apartment is basically a window-less dungeon.  You’d like to get a grow light set up, but let’s be real.  You don’t have the space, your kids or pets would get into everything, and you just feel like scrapping the whole idea.  Besides, who has $200-$600 for a really nice set-up with shelves and everything?

There is another way.

Do you drink milk from plastic jugs?  (Or could you get someone who does to save theirs for you?)

Do you have a small deck or other flat outdoor space that gets a decent amount of light?

Great!  You can start seeds this year. . . even if you live in a place as cold as zone 3.   I’ll show you how.

Have you ever wondered if you can winter sow flowers and vegetables in zone 3? Yes you can! Start your seeds the easy way--even if you have no light and no space in your small house. #wintersowing #seedstarting #gardening #zone3
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28 Hardy Fruits You Can Grow in Zone 2 and 3

Are you dreaming of a backyard orchard or food forest but think that because you’re in zone 2 or zone 3 you’re restricted to crab apples? Absolutely not!  There are 28 hardy perennial fruits you can grow that are perfect for a cold climate and short growing season. I’ve done my best to suggest some better varieties when possible.

When you’re done reading about perennial fruits, you can also grow these 6 annual fruits from seed for even more fruit production.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it in my privacy policy. Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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