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."
a warning about buying plants locally (plus a gift card giveaway)
Maybe you've heard: Amazon's got their Big Spring Sale going on right now, with hundreds of thousands of deals across all categories. They do a couple of these big sales each year, but this is the first time they've run one in spring. 🌱 Talk about good timing... I wanted to see what kind of gardening deals are live on the site, and after going through many many many pages, I can say there's a lot! So to narrow it down, I've hand-picked my favorites and created a Big Spring Sale Idea List over...
stop using cinnamon for this plant problem
If you start a lot of seeds indoors, one of the most underestimated gadgets to add to your setup is a fan. Not only does it help seedlings develop strong stems, it helps with another problem that (mostly) happens with seeds sown indoors: damping off. You've probably seen it at some point: happy healthy seedlings one day, then wizened stems and floppy seedlings the next. Damping off disease is actually pretty common, especially when you're starting seeds en masse and especially if you're using...
I'm questioning all those plant spacing rules... 🤔
You've seen instructions like this on seed packets: Sow seeds 2 inches apart, in rows 18 inches apart. Or, sow 3 seeds together, every 12 inches, in rows 12 inches apart. What the heck does all of that even mean?! Spacing suggestions on seed packets can be kinda confusing, because a lot of them are meant for people growing plants in long rows in the ground... not the people growing in standard 4x8 raised beds (or any size raised bed). I'd guess that most of us attempt to grow in neat, orderly...
tomatoes from seed to harvest in 42 days!? 😲
That might sound like a click-baity subject line, but it's absolutely true—because I've grown several varieties in the 42- to 60-day range. 🙌 Most of the plants bore cherry- or salad-sized tomatoes, but they produced vigorously in pots in front of the window and even outside in my garden just a month after the last frost. When I first moved to Central Oregon almost eight years ago, I struggled a lot with growing tomatoes. I went from Southern California's zone 10b (where you can grow pretty...
why you should soak your seeds first 💧
Pssst... Don't forget to take advantage of your 20% discount at Peaceful Valley. Use code WINTERSAVE20 at checkout. This is where I buy all my frost cloth and floating row covers, and they have a great selection of cover crop seeds too. And thanks to my partnership with Gardener's Supply Company, I just scored an exclusive discount for Garden Betty readers. Use code GARDENBETTY10 to get 10% off your purchase this spring! Do you have trouble keeping your seeds (and soil) moist enough after...
can't sleep? this will help 😴
With the start of Daylight Saving Time, most people across North America lost an hour of sleep this weekend. (The contentious, years-long issue is once again being debated in Oregon's legislative session this year.) For a lot of people—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 then I wake up completely discombobulated for the rest of the week....
how to start hundreds of seeds in a tiny space with no soil
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 shelves and grow lights to make sure you have enough seedlings to transplant. But what if you just don't have the space inside your home? Or you're not sure how...
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."