How I Grow Vegetables at Not Quite a Homestead

I’ve been growing vegetables for my family in my small, suburban backyard for several years.

No farm, no acreage, no animals. Not quite a homestead.

If you’re new here, welcome! My name is Karen and while I do grow cut flowers as well, growing vegetables was my first real gardening adventure.

Here’s what I’ve learned over the years, organized to help you find exactly what you need.

New to Vegetable Gardening? Start Here

How to Know When It’s Safe to Plant
What you need to know about your frost dates, zone, and growing season. Once you know this, you’re golden.

75 Easy Vegetables and Herbs for Beginner Vegetable Gardens
Everything I recommend for beginners to grow and steps to help you choose the right crops for you.

How to Plan Your First Vegetable Garden (for Beginners)
Location, size, what to grow, and how to actually get started.

Stop Gardening Like a Farmer: 10 Mistakes Home Gardeners Make
Learn from my failures so you don’t have to repeat them.

Raised Beds vs. In-Ground Gardening: How to Choose
Weighing the pros and cons of raised beds and in-ground beds and giving you my honest opinon on both.

Weird Facts New Gardeners Don’t Know About Growing Vegetables
Plants are weird. Here’s 22 surprising things about how vegetables actually grow.

Planning and Garden Design

This is one of my favorite topics. I absolutely love planning my gardens every year.

These posts share what I’ve learned about planning a vegetable garden that grows well, looks great, and that works for YOU.

Garden Layout & Structure

Planting Strategies

Choosing What to Grow

Herb Gardening

Herbs are some of my favorite plants to grow in my garden. They are fuss-free and produce all season. While I do like to mingle my vegetables, flowers, and herbs together in the same bed, herbs deserve their own special call-out.

If growing lots of vegetables feels intimidating to you, try growing mostly herbs with just a few vegetables. You can always add more plants later!

Gardening Skills and Techniques

One of my favorite things about gardening is that there’s always something new to learn and experience. Here are some of the gardening skills and techniques that I’ve found essential over the years.

Starting from Seed

Growing Vegetables from Seed

Planting Potatoes and Garlic (They’re Just Different)

You’ll find potatoes and garlic sold as “seed” but you’re not going to be planting seeds, but parts of the vegetables themselves. Weird, right? These posts will guide you through planting white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and garlic.

Mid-Season Garden Maintenance

Harvesting and Curing

I’ve included harvest and curing notes in most of my “how to grow” guides above. But sweet potatoes got its own separate post on harvesting and curing.