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    • The Four Main Needs of All Garden Plants
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    • My Voice, the Benefits, and an Homage to the Greats
  • Big Secrets
    • The True Core of All Great Gardeners:
    • The Fundamentals of Gardening
    • Immense Amounts of Sunlight
    • Perfect Soil
    • Building Soil
    • The Right Amount of Water
    • Growing Temperature
    • Layout and Spacing
    • Companion Planting
  • Sun
    • There’s Nothing Like Sunlight!
    • What Green-Thumbed Gardeners Know About Sunlight
    • How Much Sunlight Do Garden Plants Really Need?
    • Why Garden Plants Need So Much
    • Finding A Spot That Gets Enough Sun — The First Steps: Marking Out Your Spot, Orienting Yourself, and Choosing a Method
    • The Two Easiest Ways to Find Your Sunniest Spot
    • Three More Easy Ways to Find Your Sunniest Spot
    • Making Your Own Sunstick to Quickly and Accurately Find Your Sunniest Spot
    • What If You Don’t Have Enough Sun?
    • Orienting Yourself
    • Using a Compass
    • Why Northeast and Northwest Instead of Just East and West?
  • Soil
    • Amazing Soil
      • A Gardener’s Relationship with Soil
      • Perfect Soil
      • Rich
      • Full of Organic Matter
      • Well-Drained
      • Well-Loosened
      • Deep
    • Lessons from Our Roots
    • Building Soil
    • Adding Organic Matter to Build Soil
      • Compost
        • Adding Cured Compost
        • Making Your Own Compost
        • To Bin or Not To Bin | To Mix or Not to Mix
        • Some Bin Ideas to Get You Started on Your Own
      • Mulch
        • Benefits
        • For Each Season
        • Mulching Cool- and Warm-Season Plants
        • Mulching to Create “Perfect” Soil Microclimates
        • What’s the Best Mulch?
        • My Own Mulch Epiphanies
      • Cover Crops
        • 20 Reasons to Grow Cover Crops
        • Growing Cover Crops
    • Bed Preparation That Builds Soil in the Process
      • Building Healthy Soil by Adding Organic Matter and Loosening It
      • Digging/Tilling Methods
      • Trenching, Bastard Trenching, and Double Digging—An Overview
      • Trenching
      • Bastard Trenching
      • Double Digging
      • Double Digging’s Finer Points
      • Loosening Soil with a Digging Fork
      • Tilling and Raking Your Own Mounded Beds
      • Tilling Only but Keeping Beds with Paths
      • “No Dig”/“No-Till” Methods
      • Pros and Cons of “No-Dig” / “No-Till” Methods
      • “No-Dig” / “No-Till”: Adding 6″ of Cured Compost
      • Building Raised Beds
    • Clearing Your Spot
      • Dealing with Sod & Persistent Weeds
      • Clearing Existing Vegetation for “No-Dig” / “No-Till” Beds
  • Water
    • The Basics: How Much and How Deeply?
    • The Biggest, Best Secrets: A Conservation Perspective, Mulch, Soil Loosening, & Cover Crops
    • The Power of Mulch
    • What’s the Best Mulch?
    • Straw versus Hay
    • Mulching Cool- and Warm-Season Plants
    • Mulching to Create “Perfect” Microclimates
    • Speaking of Mulch: Contrasting Alliums
    • Should I Water, and What’s the Best Way to Water?
  • Temperature
    • The Basics: Cool- vs. Warm-Season Plants
    • Planting Times
    • Frost Dates
    • Mulching Cool- and Warm-Season Plants
    • Mulching to Create “Perfect” Soil Microclimates
  • Layout & Spacing
    • Past Paradigms
    • Planting in Beds
    • How Big of Beds?
    • In Bed Spacing
    • Sidebar: Offset Spacing
    • The Benefits of Planting in Beds
  • Companions
    • Companion Planting—An Overview
    • Easy Companion Groupings to Get Started
    • Companion Planting Chart
    • Our Favorites
  • “Little” Secrets
    • Seed and Plant Selection
    • Starting Your Own Seedlings
      • Starting Your Own Seedlings — Part 1: Why Do It Yourself?
      • Starting Your Own Seedlings — Part 2: Soil and Containers
      • Starting Your Own Seedlings — Part 3: Planting Depth, Watering, Light, and Heat
    • Hardening Off Seedlings
    • Crop Rotations
    • Transplanting
    • Lessons from Our Roots
  • Blog

The Simple Fundamentals and Joy of Great Gardening

Big Secrets

Companion Planting Chart

Note: If this chart is overwhelming for you, and even if it’s not, you might want to have a look at our favorite companions and companion teams to make things easier, or just to get some ideas or see how Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 23, 2021 ago
Uncategorized

Sidebar: Offset Spacing

Offset Spacing When seeds or seedlings are planted in offset rows, the rows can be closer and still give plants their ideal amount of space in all directions (r) once mature. In the diagram to the left, the seedlings are Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 22, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

The Benefits of Planting in Beds

The Benefits of Planting in Beds Arranging your garden into beds has many benefits. First, it allows you to create larger blocks of plants spaced perfectly apart in shorter rows. This creates a “living mulch” that discourages weeds, retains soil Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 22, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

In Bed Spacing

In Bed Spacing Blocks of Short Rows In your beds, plant your seeds or seedlings in blocks of short rows, and space your rows the same distance apart as you space your seeds or seedlings within rows. Offset vs. Random Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 22, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

How Big of Beds?

How Big of Beds?  Many people say three-to-five-feet wide and however long you like. I say, make your beds as wide or as narrow as you like. It’s your garden. Experiment and see what works for you for each set Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 22, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

Planting in Beds

Planting in Beds However you decide to organize your garden and however you decide to loosen your soil, planting in beds instead of individual rows is one of the most powerful actions you can take for the health of your Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 22, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

Some Bin Ideas to Get You Started on Your Own

Some Bin Ideas to Get You Started on Your Own All gardeners have their favorite bin styles, and there are countless good ideas—more quality methods and quality bins than could be adequately described on any website. But no gardener’s preferences Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 17, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

To Bin or Not To Bin | To Mix or Not to Mix

To Bin or Not To Bin  |  To Mix or Not to Mix Whether you use a bin or not, which bin you use, and whether or not you mix your compost on a strict schedule misses the point: that Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 16, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

Making Your Own Compost

Making Your Own Compost It’s probably become clear that adding cured compost is the best way to increases your soil’s fertility and grow amazingly healthy and productive plants. It has all of the macro-and micro-nutrients plants need and contains the Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 16, 2021 ago
Big Secrets

The Benefits of Mulch

Benefits Applying mulch to your garden is a wonderful way to add organic matter to your soil. Plus, adding mulch has several other very useful benefits. Adding Organic Matter Although it doesn’t typically contribute nearly the volume of organic matter Read more…

By juddlefeber, 4 yearsMarch 4, 2021 ago

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