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."
you don't need all those things in your seed starter mix
Last week, Punxsutawney Phil (the celebrity groundhog) said there would be 6 more weeks of winter... Which means it might be time for you to start your seeds indoors (or at least start thinking about it) so your seedlings are ready to transplant once the weather warms up. Because I like to save money (and I bet you do, too), I often make my own seed starting mix at home. And why would I do that, considering you can find seed starting mix in stores right now? This is why: Some—not all—seed...
the game-changing items I use to start my seeds every year
Funny thing here—I originally wrote a different email for today to go over the must-have items in my seed starting kit, the ones I've used for many years that I would buy again and again (if I had to—but I haven't, because they're going on seven years and still look and perform great). And the email got so long that, well, it ended up turning into a blog post because I just had so much to share! If you're curious what I use to start my seeds every year, I just compiled a list of my 5...
when to start seeds (+ a hack for the old ones)
After a couple weeks of gloomy and frigid weather (but no snow, what's up with that?!), we finally got some sun the last few days and, unfortunately, a string of warm temperatures. (I know a lot of people are probably ready for spring, but we're in desperate need of snow in Central Oregon!) Although it feels good to be outside, this mild week (and unseasonably warm winter) is making all our plants confused. Some of my raspberries never dropped their leaves this season, and a few friends have...
don't make these mistakes when ordering seeds
I'm deep in catalog mode this weekend, circling all the seeds I plan to order for the year. I'm also diving into my seed inventory spreadsheets, marking varieties I need to refill and seeds I probably won't order again. Even after 16 years of doing this, I still get tempted by all the shiny new seeds I could fill my garden with and then have to scramble to find a spot for the hundreds of seedlings I start every season. (That's when biointensive planting comes in handy.) Maybe you're the same?...
how to deal with mealybugs
I don't know about you, but it seems like my houseplants keep attracting tiny pests every few weeks this winter. (It happens due to dry and warm indoor air, reduced light, and lack of natural predators, all of which accelerate aphid reproduction and take a toll on plants.) I found a handful of aphids on my indoor citrus trees earlier this week, so I moved them all outside to blast them with water and let them enjoy the breeze. For good measure, I also applied an organic insecticide to...
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."