vegetable garden

10 Best Vegetables for Small Container Gardens

While you might only be able to grow vegetables on a miniature scale, it is always worth doing. You might have a balcony or small courtyard, but as long as you have enough space for a few pots, you’ll definitely be able to grow some food. Essentially, no garden is too small. Your little garden

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How to Make an IBC Wicking Bed – 2 Ways

What is a Wicking Bed? A wicking bed is a type of self-watering raised garden bed that is both water-saving and time-efficient. It has a water reservoir at the bottom and growing medium (soil) on the top, which are separated by a layer of fabric. This allows the plant roots to ‘wick’ water up as

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How to Grow Ube (Winged Yam)

What is Ube? Ube (dioscorea alata) is a perennial tropical vegetable that you may not have heard of. A specialty of south-east Asia, this purple winged yam is a low-GI, easy-to-grow staple that puts a lot of food on the table for minimal effort. Especially versatile in the kitchen, it can be used in both

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Repel Large Pests Organically in the Garden

There’s nothing more disheartening than seeing your carefully nurtured harvest fall prey to animal predators. After investing time in preparing the soil, growing from seed, nurturing plants to maturity, and witnessing the fruit’s development, it’s heart-breaking to have it all disappear overnight due to ‘unwanted visitors’. Combatting sizeable pests poses a significant challenge for home

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6 Beginner Food Gardener Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re a beginner gardener & not quite sure how to start….this one’s for you! While more and more people are turning to food gardening to beat cost-of-living price rises, gardening should also feel like an enjoyable hobby, so it’s best if you can set your garden up the right way straight off so it

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2023 Autumn/Winter Subtropical Planting Guide

Welcome to winter in the humid subtropics- all three weeks of it. Okay that’s a local joke where I live (Brisbane, Australia), but it’s not far from the truth. The subtropics give us a specialised climate- one unlike any other. Most gardening information found online and in books is written for cool or temperate climates,

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How to Grow a Ton of Asparagus

Asparagus is a tasty and versatile vegetable in the kitchen- you can eat it sauteed, fried, grilled, barbecued and of course fresh. There’s no wonder that asparagus is one of the worlds most famous veggies; it contains a wide range of vitamins, making it one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can possibly grow. Naturally

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Subtropical Winter Planting Guide 2022

Welcome to winter in the humid subtropics- all three weeks of it. Okay that’s a local joke where I live (Brisbane, Australia), but it’s not far from the truth. The subtropics give us a specialised climate- one unlike any other. Most gardening information found online and in books is written for cool or temperate climates,

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How important it is to eat a fresh varied diet [Podcast]

In this episode of the Self Sufficient Me Show we go for a walk around the property and I chat about the importance of eating a variety of healthy, fresh food as much as possible from the home garden. In the "what's growing now" segment, I describe some of the plants we have growing now

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How to Start a Spring Vegetable Garden

The following article is a guest post by Ann Sanders founder of the Blog/Website A Green Hand based in the USA (more details/link to her Site at the end). With the arrival of the spring season, many homeowners aspire to grow their own vegetables. However, it’s not as simple as sowing seeds in the soil

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