It’s always growing season inside backyard greenhouses. Quite simply, that’s the appeal of a backyard greenhouse-- or even a larger-scale greenhouse on your acreage property. Even when there’s snow on the ground and the cold wind is howling, it’s always summer in the greenhouse. The controlled climate inside a greenhouse makes it possible to grow ornamental plants and edible fruits and vegetables all year long. According to Tammy Wylie of Advance Greenhouses, you can enjoy the benefits of having your own greenhouse without being a professional grower. "Greenhouses enable you to enjoy growing plants all year long, and that's the best way to take your gardening to the next level," she said. Many avid gardeners and property owners have installed a greenhouse to grow their favorite plants—especially homegrown fruits and vegetables—throughout the year. That's because an impressive variety of greenhouse styles, sizes and price points is available. Some lightweight greenhouses can … [Read more...] about Backyard Greenhouses for Every Budget
homestead
How to Start a Hobby Farm
You are interested in how to start a hobby farm. But what separates a hobby farm from a standard farm or homestead? And what do you need to know to start a hobby farm to ensure its success? Below are the characteristics of a hobby farm, the potential goals you can establish for your hobby farm, and how to write a one-year plan for your farm. These tips and bits of information will help you stay on track when buying and operating your own hobby farm. What Is a Hobby Farm? A hobby farm is a farm with a small footprint that is run and maintained for pleasure instead of profit. It's important to understand that the crops you grow or yield from your hobby farm are not going to be a major source of income for you or your family. Unlike a homestead, a hobby farm is not a source of total self-sufficiency. Hobby farmers, because they are not primarily concerned with profit, have the luxury to decide exactly what the purpose of their hobby farm is. For example, do you want … [Read more...] about How to Start a Hobby Farm
How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub
I always wanted to build a cedar hot tub. The vision of a long soak in a hot tub under the starry skies on a clear, crisp night in Santa Fe is quite compelling. Doing it in a natural tub constructed from cedar made the thought seem even better. As an experienced DIYer, I was taken by the idea that I could design and build a classic, red cedar hot tub myself. And I could save several thousand dollars over the cost of a kit from an established hot tub supplier. After all, how hard could it be? I built my own home in 2014. A cedar hot tub is a far simpler and much smaller project. This is the basic hot tub I envisioned: Research I spent several weeks scouring websites of commercial suppliers and DIY builders for ideas about wooden hot tubs. In my search, I discovered three things: How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub: The Design After my research was finished, I began the design phase. The tub would be circular, five feet in diameter and about 40 inches deep. I would use … [Read more...] about How to Build a Cedar Hot Tub
Attract Butterflies to Your Garden
If you’re like an increasing number of gardeners, you want to attract butterflies to your garden. Butterflies are truly the winged jewels of our landscape. Not only are butterflies beautiful, they serve the greater purpose of helping to pollinate plants and provide food for other important insects in the pollinator food chain. While monarch butterflies are my current focus, they weren’t always. But as most gardeners soon learn, one thing in the garden leads to another. When you plant a seed, you learn about soil. When plants grow in your garden, you learn about weather and the insects those plants attract. With more insects, more songbirds are likely to visit your property, too. See what I mean? One thing in the garden really does lead to another, and another, and … So, if you want to attract more butterflies to your garden, it’s helpful to know what plants and plant attributes butterflies enjoy. Keep the following tips in mind and you’ll be on your way toward having a … [Read more...] about Attract Butterflies to Your Garden
Build an Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal Fence
Our master bedroom garden was an unsightly mess. What it needed was an instant rusted corrugated metal fence, although it took me a while to figure that out. The space was initially designed as coyote-safe place for our small dogs and a sunny location for our raised bed gardens in galvanized stock tanks. But the native grasses had taken over, and the heavy-gauge open mesh fence offered no privacy. It was time for a serious landscaping remodel. Bee Zollo, my life partner, and I decided we wanted a space with a cleaner, more modern aesthetic than the over-grown “natural” look that we currently had. The most important element in the new garden was making it more private. This necessitated replacing the open mesh fencing with a new design. We considered a range of wood options, but finally decided we liked the contemporary appearance of a rusted corrugated metal fence using the existing redwood framing which was in very good shape. Inventing the Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal … [Read more...] about Build an Instant Rusted Corrugated Metal Fence
