SHIFTING ROOTS

home, garden, food, and prairie lifestyle

Garden 2018: Lessons Learned and What I’m Doing Next Year

There’s been two back to back overnight frosts and the 2018 gardening season is officially done as far as I’m concerned.  Someday I will try and extend my season by a month, but with some unexpected health complications this summer, this is not the year.  Here’s a little recap of what went well, what I learned, and what

First, let’s start with the successes. . .

Check out my small space backyard vegetable garden. It's amazing how much you can grow using the square foot gardening method and a bit of vertical gardening. #smallspace #gardening #backyard #vegetable #garden

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

[Read more…]

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

[Read more…]

How to Survive a Heat Wave in Your Garden

It’s one of those humble-brag type of problems in the garden: Oh look, we’re having this crazy heat wave with wonderfully warm summer weather. What do I do?

While you’re grateful for the nice weather, it’s easy for your plants to take an absolute beating when the temperatures soar high above average. Here’s a few strategies to cope.

How do you deal with a hot summer heat wave in the vegetable garden? I'll show you how to save your plants with these easy tips for your backyard garden. #gardening #summer #beginnergardener #heatwave #gardentips #vegetablegarden

Disclaimer: I garden in zone 3b in the Canadian Prairies. What is hot for me might be normal for you. If you live in the Southern States and have some other solutions for surviving a heat wave, I would LOVE to hear them in the comments, as you are the experts!

Disclaimer 2: This post contains affiliate links, which means I earn a bit of extra coffee money, at no extra cost to you, if you purchase anything from one of my links.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

[Read more…]

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.

[Read more…]