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."
so many great deals happening today ⚡️
Maybe you've heard: Amazon Prime Day is happening this week and it's 4 full days of deals across all categories—June 23 through June 26. I know people have varying opinions about buying on Amazon, but if you still have a Prime membership (or want to start a free trial just to take advantage of the deals this week), Prime Day is the best time to look for deals as hundreds of thousands of items go on sale for a very limited time. (And you won't see them again until Black Friday.) So in an...
my favorite walkable ground covers
Last year, I sowed miniclover seeds in my vegetable garden paths to fill in some bare dirt and attempt to outcompete (or at least live in harmony with) the grass currently growing there. Seeding miniclover in my garden paths Happy to report that the miniclover is thriving with very little water so far this year! Miniclover growing among the grass (I got my miniclover seeds from here.) Five things I love about having miniclover in my walking paths: It's relatively drought-tolerant, stays green...
I was VERY surprised by this powerhouse vegetable
I came across a study that determined what the most nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables were. These so-called "powerhouse fruits and vegetables" were ranked in order of nutrient density, and the highest-ranked plant caught me by surprise! "Powerhouse" kind of sounds like one of those new-school buzzwords (like "superfood") that aren't based on any scientific standards, but I just found out it's a legitimate classification (per the CDC) for foods that have high levels of essential nutrients...
how to cure garlic 🧄 so it lasts all winter
Can you believe I just finished up the last of the garlic that I grew LAST summer?! And it was still perfectly good, firm, and flavorful like the day I harvested it. That's nearly 11 months in storage in my garage, piled into mesh bags and placed on a wire shelf. What's even better is that I'm only about three weeks away from my next garlic harvest, so I'm pretty dang pleased that I only have to buy a couple heads of garlic before that happens. 😄 If you planted garlic last fall, chances are...
the mistakes most people make with ladybugs 🐞
When there's an aphid infestation, the first thing I usually see recommended (for people who want a natural method of pest control) is to buy ladybugs. Live ladybugs at my local nursery And while I'm all for biological pest control (I wrote about green lacewings in yesterday's email), releasing store-bought ladybugs into your garden is rarely effective. Research has shown that 95% of released ladybugs fly away within 48 hours, and the rest are gone within 4 to 5 days. That's a whole lot of...
these aphid destroyers are more effective than ladybugs!
Last week I stopped by a local nursery and I think it's the first time I've ever seen a display featuring several different biological pest control solutions: I've written about ladybugs on my site (how to attract them and why you might want to rethink buying them), but I want to spotlight LACEWINGS here because most people don't know about these awesome predators. Lacewings are incredibly effective for aphid control—not only are they far easier to keep around, they're more productive than...
a bonus garlic harvest before your 🧄 is ready
Okay, let's talk garlic. This is a staple in my vegetable garden because it's incredibly easy to grow. Butttt... It's also one of the latest-maturing crops, taking up to 9 months to harvest. That means garlic planted last fall (usually in late October) is still a little ways away from being ready. However! This is the time when hardneck garlic starts offering up a delicious bonus harvest weeks before you can pick the bulbs. (Sorry, Southern gardeners: This does not apply to softneck garlic.)...
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."