Recent Post
How to Make Maple Syrup at Home, Step by Step
Tap the trees on freeze-thaw days, keep the sap cold, boil it down outdoors, finish it at 7 to 7.5°F above boiling water and 66 to 67 Brix, filter it hot and bottle it at 185 to 190°F. The whole process in seven steps, with a guide for each.
How to Tap a Maple Tree: Drill, Spout and Bucket, Step by Step
Pick a maple at least 10 inches across, drill a 5/16-inch hole 1.5 to 2 inches deep on a day above freezing, seat a clean spout, hang a covered bucket, and pull the spouts when the buds swell. Step by step, from four extension guides.
How to Improve Garden Soil Over Winter (6 Simple Steps)
Pull the spent plants, leave the soil undug, compost on top, two inches of leaves held down with sticks, and the chicken-run pile in spring. The six-step routine behind my dark, worm-filled raised beds, plus what I stopped doing. The written version of my video.
How to Build a Simple Garden Fence That Keeps Rabbits Out (Wood and Wire DIY)
Twenty-one posts in dry concrete, picture-frame panels with welded wire sandwiched in the middle, all built on one plywood template. How I built a garden fence that keeps the rabbits out and still looks good after three and a half years, plus the one mistake at the bottom. The written version of my video.
Summer Mulch Mistakes: 5 Fixes for Vegetable Gardens
Five summer mulch mistakes in vegetable gardens and the fixes: about 3 inches of light-colored mulch, a gap at every stem, no dark mulch in summer, deep watering through the mulch, and soaking the soil first.
Green Beans Stopped Producing? 3 Fixes That Restart Them
Bean plants stop when pods ripen on the vine, heat drops the flowers, or they get too much nitrogen and too little water. Three fixes, plus a second sowing.