Gardening Archives - Our Heritage of Health

How to Grow Your Own Saffron

Of all of the herbs and spices in the spice aisle at the grocery store, saffron is almost always the most expensive one you can find. Saffron’s high price tag makes it a special occasion spice rather than an everyday spice for many people. But since saffron actually comes from the inside of crocus flowers, it’s possible to grow your own saffron for a much, much cheaper price than you could ever buy saffron at the store.

I decided to try growing my own saffron last year, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and simple the process was and by how much more economical it was than buying store bought saffron. Sometimes growing your own food ends up not really being much cheaper than just buying food at the grocery store, but in this case it’s definitely much cheaper.

The Best Online Sources for Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom seeds are becoming increasingly more popular, but even so, they can often be difficult to find in garden centers and other places that sell gardening supplies and seeds. And even if you are able to find a few heirloom seeds, the selection is usually nowhere near as large as what you can find when you shop online. So today I wanted to share a few of my favorite online stores that I consider to be the best online sources for heirloom seeds.

How to Store Apples to Last for the Winter

One of the many reasons why apples were such a popular fruit in previous centuries is the fact that they are one of the few fruits that will keep well in long term storage. Unlike berries that will only keep for a few days if you don’t dry them or turn them into jams and jellies, apples that are stored properly can often last for several weeks or even months. This is one of the reasons why knowing how to store apples for the winter months was such an important skill for our ancestors who needed to have enough food in storage to last them until spring.

For those of us living in modern times, though, it’s still a very helpful thing to know even if we aren’t dependent on our harvest to see us through the winter. Knowing how to store apples to last through the winter months allows us to enjoy having fresh apples for eating and for baking with for as long as we possibly can (because you can only make so many batches of applesauce with your fresh-picked apples, and it’s so nice to be able to enjoy eating fresh apples at Christmas time and beyond!)

How to Save Seeds from Carrots, Beets, and Other Biennial Plants

Saving seeds from your own garden plants is a great old-fashioned way to save money in your garden, but the process of saving seeds from some vegetables isn’t always quite as simple as harvesting the plants at the end of …

How to Start a Compost Pile for Your Garden

One of the best ways to help add nutrients back into your soil is to start a compost pile to create your own homemade fertilizer. This is simple to do, and it’s also a great way to be able to reduce waste while improving your soil at the same time.

Building your own compost pile is the cheapest way to add nutrients to your soil, but it does take time for materials in the pile to break down enough that you can use the compost in your garden. Depending on how late in the season you start creating your compost, you might not be able to use your own compost for your first planting season, but if you start building a compost pile now, you’ll have wonderful nutrient-rich compost to add to your garden for next year.

Growing Fruit in Containers

Today I’m happy to share with you a guest post from Cindy Keller of MyGardenGifts.com. Cindy will be sharing some tips for growing fruit in containers. Growing fruit in containers is something I’ve never tried before in my own garden, so I was excited to be able to learn more about some of the best tips for using containers to expand your gardening options!

The Versatility of Growing Fruits in Containers

Many gardeners have discovered the joy of growing fruit in containers. You can produce delicious crops in containers that are not only free of chemicals but are both rich in nutrients and absolutely fresh.

Most fruiting plants are also extremely decorative and are grown for the way they look. They adorn well when placed in niches in your garden such as the patio or front door entrances. As an example, apples are often grown in containers for their ornamental virtues as well as for their edible fruits while strawberries are suitable when planted in hanging baskets as well as in multi-holed terracotta pots.

10 Best Herbs for an Indoor Herb Garden

Growing an indoor herb garden is a great way to be able to enjoy having fresh herbs all year long even if you live in a climate with cold winters. Keeping herbs indoors also makes cooking with fresh herbs really convenient because you only need to step over to your windowsill to gather all the fresh herbs you need to flavor your meals.

I love being able to have fragrant green herbs growing inside even when it’s cold and snowy outside, and there’s nothing quite as good as being able to harvest some of my favorite kitchen herbs right from my windowsill.