Garden Betty
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
how being lazy helped me achieve a better garden 🌿
Pssst… we’re coming up on my favorite day of the year. Yes, it’s my daughter’s birthday 😉 but also, it’ll be the first official day of SPRING tomorrow! 🌱🌼🐞🌈 My plants have been tucked in their garden beds since last fall, sittin’ cozy under a thick layer of last year’s plant debris. I use old plants as a free mulch throughout my garden because 1) they’re free, and 2) they add nutrients to the soil as they break down. The plants are cut down at soil level once they start dying back—leaving the...
have you made this mistake when growing strawberries? I have! 🤦🏻♀️
My experience with strawberries is rather unique because I've grown them across 2 totally different climate zones: 10b and "technically" 6b but what is actually more like zone 5. (Moving 5 climate zones to a much colder place to start a permanent homestead is definitely one of the crazier things I've done. 🤪) I've grown all kinds of strawberries from seeds, bare roots, and potted plants, and I've also heard from people each year about their lackluster harvests. What I've found is that they...
I'm making grow lights easy to understand and use
Ohhhmygossshh... I'm watching the weather forecast for the coming week and it's supposed to be in the high 60s to low 70s in Central Oregon‼️ (And let's not talk about the heat dome happening in the southwest. 🥵) This time last year, it was actually still winter. We had a big snowstorm on my daughter's birthday, and I wouldn't start seeds indoors for another three weeks. But this year, the abnormal weather is making me rethink my timing for seeds. I've begun to organize all my trays and pots...
why you should soak your seeds first 💧
Do you have trouble keeping your seeds (and soil) moist enough after sowing? Do you find it tricky to get the timing just right when planting peas and other cool-weather crops—crops that prefer to grow in spring conditions, but sometimes take a long time to germinate in cooler soil? If so, you should think about using this little trick: presoaking. With this method, you can shave a few days to even a week or more off the germination time! Faster germination outside means your seeds are less...
save this email for the next time you can't sleep 😴
I just re-read the subject line of this email and had a chuckle. It sounds like you're about to dive into an incredibly boring and long-winded email, right? 😆 But this will be neither. (I hope.) Most people across North America lost an hour of sleep this weekend due to Daylight Saving Time. ⏰ For a lot of us—namely night owls and folks with kids, both of which I am—it's a tough shift in the sleep routine. I know I need to be getting in bed earlier, but I often can't fall asleep if I do, and...
how to start hundreds of seeds in a tiny space with no soil
Today is the last day to save 20% off all spring-planted flower bulbs and roots from Eden Brothers. Use code SPRING20 to save on your order. Have you started your seeds indoors yet? For most people, it looks something like this: grab a bunch of little pots or seed-starting flats, fill with soil and seeds, water, and wait for the magic to happen. This could mean starting (and storing) a half-dozen or more flats in front of a window or setting up a seed-starting station with grow lights to make...
when it's better to sow seeds outside vs. starting them inside
When it comes to growing vegetables, one of the more confusing aspects is knowing what seeds should be sown directly in the garden, and what are better off started indoors and then transplanted at a later time. Not every plant should be started indoors—in fact, many common crops are best sown outdoors as soon as the weather and soil conditions are favorable (and they can be sown weeks before the last frost). They tend to be more resilient and productive if you seed directly in the garden. On...
my new book is HERE! 🇺🇸
Just released!!! 🎉 About two years ago, my longtime book editor asked if I would write a book about Route 66, America's most recognizable roadway, to honor the Route 66 Centennial in 2026. 🇺🇸 It would be very different from all my other cookbooks and on the surface, it didn't seem doable: I knew little about Route 66, none of the recipes would be my own, and was it all going to be diners, drive-ins, and dives? You could only have so many recipes for burgers and pies, after all. But the more I...
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."