In theory, I should be pretty good at gardening. My mom worked at the US Department of Agriculture for part of her career, and my grandparents were homesteaders who grew almost all the food their family consumed. As a child, I spent bunches of time on their farm, helping (or maybe hindering?) them, digging in the dirt, smelling the flowers, eating cherries straight from their trees and observing how they did things.

So if green thumbs could be inherited, you’d think I’d be a natural at gardening. But truthfully? I’ve had more failures that successes with my own gardening efforts. That doesn’t stop me from trying, though. I am a gardener wannabe!

Gardening is a topic that runs deep, and there is a lot to learn — and a lot to re-learn, every time you move somewhere new. And, I lived for years as a digital nomad, which means that I have moved often. That also means that I know a little bit about gardening in a LOT of different places. I have spent time in various locations around the world — for example, learning about landscaping from professionals in soCal, and about growing tulips from the Dutch, and about drip irrigation from olive farmers in Greece and growing potatoes, livestock and all kinds of other things from kibbutzniks in Israel.

I also make a point of trying to visit as many botanic gardens as I can, all around the world. There are soooo many enchanting and lovely plants out there to discover. I think my dream vacation would be a botany tour through the Amazon rain forest…

I recently discovered that the growing conditions at my Grandma’s place were about as close to ideal as it gets — but I have never been one to limit myself to growing things in ideal circumstances. I’ve tried growing plants while living aboard a sailboat. My latest project is learning about gardening at high altitudes (on a balcony, in the shade, no less).

Welcome to my main directory of pages on the topic of gardening. I hope you’ll find these articles helpful and interesting.

High Altitude Balcony Gardening in the Shade

Did you just read that and think to yourself, “Yeah, that sounds just about impossible”. Well, guess what — it isn’t!

I mean, it isn’t like you’ll be able to grow everything you might possibly want to at 10,000 feet in a terra cotta pot in the shade — but you can grow more than you’d think. For any of you who might be interested, I’ll tell you about the plants I’ve discovered that are good choices for this type of environment.

Gardening Book Review: The Homesteader’s Herbal Companion

This is a helpful and practical book on the topic of herbalism. It’s only part gardening manual; the other parts of the book are dedicated to giving you recipes for what you can do with the herbs you grow in your garden.

Organic Gardening

My family and I eat a completely organic diet. I’m pretty convinced we save money by doing so — even though organic food is substantially more expensive than non-organic food is.

Why am I so convinced that organic food is a good way to save money, when so many people believe that the exact opposite is true?

That’s an easy one. It’s because we’ve stopped getting sick as a result of our organic diet. We’re impervious to common illnesses like colds and flu that used to cost us money every single year. This has translated to less time taken away from work, less money spent on medicines, and much lower healthcare bills overall. But we have yet to enjoy the benefits of the greatest savings, which will happen as we advance in age.

So, obviously, I’m a big fan of organic gardening. I’m trying to learn everything I can about how to garden organically. I think that a widespread return to organic gardening and farming practices could help to solve some of the healthcare crises we’re currently facing on a global level. I hope more gardeners will decide to learn about organic practices and implement them in their own gardens.

So there you have it: Those are the pages I’ve posted on the topic of gardening. I hope you’ll find them helpful and interesting.

This page was last updated on 9-8-2019.