The Second Half of May In the Garden

June 3, 2025 Sarah

As I mentioned on May 16th, it has been a learning month for me in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia. The weather started very hot in May, with numerous thunderstorms, but as the month progressed, particularly into the 3rd and 4th weeks, it changed. It got cooler. No complaints on that, though. It made life a little easier. I only had to water twice in the last 2 weeks of the month. But cold it got – down to 57* yesterday. The past few days, it has been barely above the mid-60s. But that isn’t bad – if anything, it encouraged me to get work done. It felt great sitting outside in the shade. The bugs seemed less energetic in general and left us mostly alone.

I gave up on the onions and the soft neck California garlic in the 3rd week and pulled them. I don’t know if it was the weather or the hard plastic containers, but both had absolute cellular collapse, and the stems rotted. I dug up the garlic, and it wasn’t growing much. I shall try again next year, but this time it will be in raised beds, with more room and better temperature control.

My theory is that the large, hard plastic grow containers were not the best choice in this case. They performed well in Washington State, but the temperatures are significantly lower. I think the soil was too hot here, and the heavy May rain led to the soil being too wet, which prevented it from drying out quickly enough.

I also realized that as the Oak trees finally leafed out, one side of the patio out back wasn’t getting enough sunlight. So that led to containers being moved around in the 4th week.

The raspberry plant I potted up is producing berries.

These two tomato plants have done well in this wooden holder.

Mid month the were around 2 feet tall.

And already had tomatoes setting.

I try every year to find an African Blue Basil. It is a woody type of Basil. They produce long stamens of flowers that attract pollinators, versus being an eating Basil.

In the 4th week I started moving more plants to the other end of the patio, to seek out more sun.

One thing I paid to have shipped was two of my folding tables I used in the gardens. They are invaluable for holding plants – and keeping them up high off the ground. My herb plants I started from seed, to build my new herb harden, are doing their kob and getting biggger.

The shade is very noticeable on the patio, on this side, now in the afternoon. Therefore, it was worth the effort to relocate more of the containers to the right.

Stevia is in bloom.

And with the month ending, I have four types of Basil growing, all of which are doing well.

As I mentioned above, the rigid plastic containers haven’t been the best choice for growing here, but the fabric felt grow bags have performed well. They breathe far better, and let out excess water when we have sudden downpours. The only things in hard plastic that grow great here are blueberry bushes, but next year I will move those into really big felt bags once the permanent garden is built. They will grow along the fence, is my idea. Digging into the ground here isn’t easy due to the amount of rock seams under us.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Halfway Thru May In The Garden

May 16, 2025 neverfreefarm

It’s been a learning month for me in growing in the ShenandoahValley of West Virginia. I’ve had some big success, but also some losses, where I had to tell myself to cut my loss, pull, and replant something else better suited. Learning a new grow zone is worth it, but it’s also a huge and sometimes painful/pricey set of lessons.

The start of May had me doing various seeding. It was time to start my new herb garden.

Potatoes just starting to come up. I planted the first two grow bags of potatoes 🥔 back at the start of April.

I got a lot planted around May 1st, visiting a couple of local nurseries as the westher heated up.

We are in grow zone 7a, for reference. The last “frost date” is around May 1st, but that doesn’t mean you are safe necessarily. Optimism is a powerful force for sure.

In early April, I had planted Walla Walla onions, which are a PNW variety. There’s your optimism right there. They were growing quite nicely. Even if you can buy them locally, stick to local varieties.

While I knew rain was predicted, the hail wasn’t expected.

I had a few broken tomato branches and drowned lettuce. I lost one of the two Stevia plants. It was just too delicate.

The table of herbs was sitting on the lawn unprotected. Ugh. The basil plants took a huge hit. They survived, though, as did the lettuce eventually. They look thick and full now.

The onions never recovered. They absolutely wilted and collapsed. Full cellular collapse. Was it the rain? The shift from 80+ temps to 55? I also lost a couple of small pots of garlic. Thankfully, not my big pots. Also, a cellular collapse.

Then I realized something: every plant I lost after that massive set of thunderstorms and rain? They were in large hard plastic pots. Everything in the felt pots? They were fine.

Which leads me to thoughts. That the rain was just too much at once. It couldn’t drain fast enough. It has very much shown that felt pots are far better here. In Western Washington, I didn’t have these issues. Rain would be gentle, drizzle, all day long. Here, it dumps for an hour, and you can have a quarter inch fall in that time.

The tomatoes 🍅 love the heat and rain. They really love it.

Potatoes 🥔 are huge. They are in felt pots.

The three grow bags of peas 🫛 are just starting to flower.

I love to tuck nasturiums in. They seem to enjoy growing here. Hopefully they will flower all summer long. If they do, I hopefully will have enough seeds to pickle for poor man’s capers.

2 weeks out the seedlings are doing well.

A lesson learned there. When I see heavy rain predicted, the seedlings trays go into the pop-up greenhouse for protection. It is under the deck, so it is protected from the heavy rains to a point. The table we bring under the deck as well, while the larger potted plants do get rain, it’s not non-stop damaging. This week, we had another set of storms. It dropped 1.5″ in a 24-hour period. I’m paying attention now.

It’s all lessons, and every year, I will adapt to growing here better. I’ve harvested strawberries, lettuce, and greens so far. That leaves me happy.

~Sarah

Gardening · Reviews

Survival Garden Seeds Seed Storage Organizer Review

May 4, 2025 Sarah

A few weeks back, I saw the Survival Garden Seeds Seed Storage Organizer at the Walmart in Martinsburg, WV. I walked away from it, but it kept calling to me.

The closest Walmart in Charlestown, WV didn’t carry it in the garden section, but I was coming back through Martinsburg the other night, and caved for it.

Most years, my seeds sit in a mess, in zip-top bags, in a random storage bin. This isn’t very efficient. I rarely know what I have, and have to dig through it all.

The Description:

Seed Organizer – Organize your seeds in one safe space using this portable seed storage kit. You can also save seeds from your garden harvest for breeding purposes or create a personal seed vault for future stability and self-reliance.
Perfectly Sized – Fits most conventional seed packet sizes. The handy file dividers help you easily find your seeds for planting and organization. The dividers have seed-saving instructions for major vegetable, herb, and flower varieties.
Paper Envelopes – Blank paper envelopes have plenty of room for adding details on variety, growing conditions, or any other notes a gardener might want to keep track of for future growing seasons. Perfect for any gardener who wants to select traits for their future crops or keep a record of what has worked in the past.
Seed Protection – The sturdy waterproof, rodent-proof container keeps your seeds safe and secure from moisture or pest damage.

Does it do all this?

It’s a nicely made plastic ammo can with a handle. The side locks down, and like ammo cans, it can take two locks (hardcore seed protection?). I hope not to have to test it for rodent protection, but at the same time, it’s good to know that, in theory, it is safer. It is also black and will block light from getting to the seeds inside.

It comes with 20 seed envelopes for seeds you save, with plenty of room to take notes. It also comes with 15 dividers labeled for the major types of seeds (Onions, Greens, Flowers, etc.). There are 12 labeled and 3 you can mark on your own. My only argument is that they didn’t have dividers for beans, peas, or corn. That was odd.

The box has 5 foam blocks that can be used if you haven’t filled it up with seed packets to keep it all tidy. Think of it as a bookshelf end—your seeds won’t fall over. If your box is full, store or toss the blocks.

Yes, it works well. Setting up and getting your seeds all pointing up and in order is easy. It’s also easy to grab and take outside, then bring back in, after you do your seeding. I feel its price is decent enough for what it is.

I would suggest that if you are storing open seed packets, partially used, seal the packets with Scotch tape, so the seeds don’t get shaken out by accident. It’s an excellent policy of mine to check that I have done this every year. Because the truth is, no matter what seed companies tell you, most seeds will germinate for years, as long as you store them out of the sun/heat/cold. They might also not germinate at a high rate, but you will get enough for most uses. That’s a real issue with seeds – you only need a couple of plants, but get 75 seeds? No need to throw them away! You can also, every year, go through your seeds and share last year’s in case you want to buy fresh seeds or new varieties.

FTC Discalimer: This post contaisn affilate links.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Easy Vegetables To Raise In Grow Bags

May 1, 2025 Sarah

When we were full-on homesteading at our place on Whidbey Island, I would periodically get someone posting on Facebook or Instagram, “Must be nice to have land. Most people live in an (insert apartment, condo, no backyard, etc)”. The thing is, I have grown nearly every way there is – that is how deep my love of growing is. As a child, we grew in the ground, tilling every spring. When I left for college and lived in an old house, I put pots on my neighbor’s roof (covered in old tar paper) to grow a few tomato plants I brought home from work (I worked at a K-Mart, and weaseled my way into the garden department for deals). My first place with Kirk was an apartment with a hot south-facing deck, which was tiny. Yet, I had pots on it. It was only at our second house that I built my first homestead – and even then, most of our food was grown in raised beds I built with scavenged bricks and pavers. It wasn’t till our third house that I built massive in-ground gardens. I had land, so of course I was going to use it!

You use what you have in front of you. And if you have a deck that gets sun, use it like crazy.

At our place now, until the garden is built, I have a patio to put containers on. So I did. Last year, Kirk found a super deal on felt growing bags in the 10-gallon size. I feel that to grow well, use at least a 5 —to 10-gallon size, and go for wider versus tall. That applies to all pots—even small ones for flowers and herb plants. On that sale, we picked up multiple orders (it was a crazy deal for 12 bags at under $14). You can find a 6-pack for under $18, which is still great. It takes about 1.5 cubic feet of soil to fill a 10-gallon bag.

What Do I Grow?

You can grow a lot. One of the most essential things is hydration. As long as you water daily in the summer (unless it’s cold or rainy), you can grow so much in grow bags. The bigger the pot, the better the results, but if all you can get are old 5-gallon buckets, even that works fine. Just check every day.

The other is proper support—you will need tomato cages to encourage things to grow up, not out.

And yes, you will need to fertilize eventually. So do watch the pots.

Potatoes:

Throw six soft potatoes in the bottom, cover with soil, and wait. They may not get huge, like in the ground, but you will enjoy plenty of new potatoes in early summer. Plant a second crop in midsummer, harvesting right as fall slips in.

Harvest when the tops turn tawny and flop back. I knock out the containers into potting soil containers and pick through. I reuse the soil for potatoes a couple of times.

Kale:

Cut kale often, and it will keep the plants at a good size. Chop it finely, and it works great instead of spinach. Swiss Chard and bok choy (choi) are also good choices.

Lettuce:

Also, kale is tucked in with the lettuce in this pot. With lettuce, harvest often; romaine grows back easily.Use scissors to cut low.

Tomatoes:

I used 5-gallon buckets in this case, but I also have three more in grow bags. When you plant, be sure to add a cage. I go for bush varieties or cherry tomatoes, as they are often smaller in size. You can also grow dwarf cherry varieties if you don’t have much space.

Peppers:

I have small kale in with the pepper plants to keep it all growing nicely. The leaves protect the pepper plant. Just harvest the kale often. I do find the pepper plants grow better, as they have outside protection from the wind here.

Bush Peas:

Bush peas, especially dwarf varieties, work well in grow bags. Plant 4 weeks or so before the last frost. For early fall peas, they are planted in mid-summer.

Strawberries:

Need I say more? They do so well in containers, and you can keep them up higher so slugs don’t have an easy life.

Bush Beans:

Yes, you can have green beans (or yellow or purple).. Use bush seeds for a quick crop. For best results, use two or three bags. To have plenty, stage them two weeks apart for seeding and to eat for an extended period.

Garlic:

Garlic grows well in containers, particularly if you are spring planting. Keep an eye on the mositure level.

Onions:

Green onions will be your best bet, followed by smaller onion types. Of course, I ignored my advice and grew sweet onions. Harvest as you like. I usually overfill, then eat some young and let the rest mature.

Blueberry Bushes:

Blueberries? Yes. You have two choices: grow low varieties, which love containers, or grow standard high bush types till they get too big (three or four years in). Then, if you don’t have room, you can always gift the plant to be planted in the ground. Since I know I will plant in-ground blueberry plants here, I am letting them grow a year. I will plant them very early in the fall. It is buying me time and allowing the plant to grow and become stronger.

I like to tuck in Nasturium plants, giving me more green but also edible flowers. In the first year of growing a gallon-sized blueberry, you should remove all potential berries so that the plant puts its energy into growing the plant and roots.

Most Herbs:

Herbs like pots. Basil is a good one. Most annual ones do well in pots/bags. Rosemary and Sage will want to be potted up or in the ground after the first year. The first year, they can go into a one—to three-gallon container.

~Sarah

Gardening · Herbalism · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Review: Survival Garden Seeds Ultimate Medicinal Herb Collection

April 30, 2025 Sarah

A few weeks back, I saw a packet at Walmart for Survival Garden Seeds Ultimate Medicinal Herb Collection. I was at one of the largest Walmart locations I have visited, here in West Virginia, and they carried a number of the Survival Garden Seeds products on the shelves inside the store’s garden section (not outside in the seasonal garden area). Online, it retails for $35.88 currently. I have only seen it in person at the biggest store; the other Walmart near us is an older “super” with a much smaller gardening department.

On Amazon it is $39.97.

I bought it from Amazon, and they delivered it not even 12 hours later to my doorstep.

Includes:

Alfalfa, Angelica, Anise, Holy Basil, Bergamot, Black Cumin, Borage, Calendula, Catnip, Cayenne, German Chamomile, Curled Chervil, Clary Sage, Dandelion, Echinacea (Purple Coneflower), Elecampane, Evening Primrose, Fennel, Fenugreek, Feverfew, Horehound, Hyssop, Lamb’s Ear, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Lovage, Marsh Mallow, Motherwort, Oats, Oregano, Peppermint, Red Clover, White Smudging Sage, Stinging Nettle, Toothache Plant, and Yarrow Seeds.

It gets each packet down to $1.11. Will I use all 36? I doubt it, but even if I grow 18 of the herbs, I have come out ahead. Herb seed packets are $3 to 5, on average. I liked it had Horehound (great for throat lozenges) and Marshmallow. Calendula, Chamomile, and Echinacea are all great for pollinators. Toothache plant has an interesting look when it is blooming, and Feverfew isn’t liked by pollinators, but is hardy and survives even the deepest cold winters, and grows huge with zero care. Having edible kitchen herbs like lovage, fennel, anise, and peppermint is handy. These are plants I had growing as perennials at our previous homestead.

ONE WARNING:

You may wonder why this product won’t ship to Washington State if you live there. It is because of the Clary Sage. I would say this: Why did they pick an herb that is downright banned? It is a Class A noxious weed that cannot be sold as seed or plant. I don’t typically see herbs as “bad,” but having researched it, I can see why. West Virginia doesn’t ban it, but begs one not to plant it. It seeds efficiently and spreads like crazy. You might be OK with it, but I opted not to seed it.

I want to see how they will grow in the short and long term. Will they germinate quickly or slowly?

I set up a grow table outside. It’s been in the 80s this week, so it is go time. We had rain last night after it was 84 during the day. This weather should cause quick germination.

In general I did one 4 to 6″ pot per type, though I seeded more for Chamomile and Calendula, as they will be used for flowers as well.

I aim to have all the plants I want for an herb spiral. Last year, when we were taking a permaculture class, I came out in June ready to build one, and then I had my fall at the end of that month. With a temporarily destroyed arm, that herb spiral got bumped. But now I am back to planning it!

This will be a long-term set of posts to see how they grow this spring and summer.

It is pretty convenient to buy seeds sealed in an outer Mylar bag for storage, as one usually doesn’t use all the seeds in a year (unless you are growing plants for sale). The remaining seeds are sealed up and stored for later use.

~Sarah

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