There are five primary ways that a home gardener can hold Jack Frost at bay IF the temperature dip isn’t extreme. It isn’t possible to beat a 60 mph –30 F. arctic blast outdoors. Don’t even try. But you can sometimes stretch the growing season by several weeks with a judicious application of some simple techniques.

When the sun goes down, cold air that had been suspended in the atmosphere on a pillow of warm air nearer the ground is free to fall. This happens all year around and is part of what gives us the cooling at night in the summer.

This cool / cold air pools in low spots. Warm air is replaced by cool air, then cold air, then colder air. That low spot always ends up with the coldest air available. If the air is cold enough and if our garden is in that low spot, frost forms on our precious veggies and flowers. So, here are 4 tactics to defeat this phenomenon that are suitable for the backyard gardener.

Read on, my gardening friend. Read on …

(Revised 2/26/09)

If you’ve never started a garden from seed, you’re in for a treat … if you do it right.

Here are a handful of links and some useful commentary to help you do it right. Read on, my gardening friend. Read on …

With the economic situation what it is, likely there are many first-time or returning gardeners searching the internet for tips this year. That is good. But there are many sites that are long on eye-candy and conjecture and short on facts.

1) Many sites will refer to compost as ‘fertilizer’. While most of my readers know better, new gardeners might get hood-winked. With an NPK macro-nutrient rating of 1-1-1, “fertilizer” is the worst of all possible reasons for using compost. Read on, my gardening friend. Read on …

David LaFerney has posted a rather nice set of how-to photos for setting up an inexpensive greenhouse. He sited it in a wooded area, which makes me wonder how well it would stand being erected in an urban area with a maze of zoning laws and sometimes clueless inspectors. Read on, my gardening friend. Read on …

Making your own rain barrel can help you cut costs in your garden while increasing both the quantity and the quality of your produce.

Greg, over at NashVeggie, has put together a pretty nice pictorial of how to make your own rain barrel on the cheap. I’ve seen other barrels similar to his, and I’ve given considerable thought to building something a little more ambitious in my own “space challenged” garden*, so allow me to add my thoughts to his.

A problem to solve:

I’ve found that I get a dramatic boost in output IF (and only if) I never, ever, let the soil dry out. “Mid-day wilt” might be a natural response, but it is NOT the optimal response. And standing around with a watering can in my hands simply isn’t on the agenda. Not today. Not ever. Read on, my gardening friend. Read on …