Grow Food

Over the years here at Rural Sprout, I’ve answered hundreds of questions emailed to me by our readers. Quite often, I get asked about feeding tomatoes. There are so many …

I love the idea of seed tape. Strips of paper with tiny, finicky seeds neatly measured out. You only plant what you need, so you aren’t wasting seeds on thinning. …

Once you realize what a game-changer it is to mulch your garden, the quest for the best mulch material begins. Well, you can stop searching, my friends, because I’ve found …

For a while now, there’s been advice floating around that you should always direct sow your zucchini and other summertime cucurbits instead of starting them indoors and transplanting them outside. …

Late spring – mid-May through early June – is a deceptive period of time for most gardeners, vegetable or ornamental. This is that weird time in the growing season, where …

Do you suck at growing peppers? I can fix that with three easy rules. It’s a bold claim, but I used to suck at growing peppers, too. I started paying …

Right now, millions of gardeners are out there digging in the dirt, sowing seeds, and putting carefully tended seedlings in the ground. They’re dreaming of fresh salads made up of …

A huge part of gardening is waiting. Waiting for the soil to warm up in the spring. Waiting for seeds to germinate. Waiting for seedlings to grow. Then there’s the …

Bare root plants are a great way to add to your garden without spending a lot of dough. One look at the display in your local garden center, and you’ll …

Leaf miners, aphids and bolting the second there’s a bit of heat, for such a simple green, spinach can be tough to grow. Sadly, too many gardeners give up because …

Sweet corn is a summertime favorite and an easy vegetable to grow in your garden. But if you want large, juicy ears, studded with row after row of perfect kernels, …

Hold up! Before you put that pepper seedling in the ground, read this. There are a few important things you need to do when it comes time to transplant your …

Get on board with my favorite way to grow spuds – the 5-gallon bucket. Inexpensive and accessible, easy and satisfying, there’s no better way to grow spuds than with the …

Spring is here, and gardeners everywhere are shaking off the winter doldrums and heading out to their gardens. It’s finally time to get cool-weather seeds in the ground. But too …

Whether it’s your first time growing onions and you have no idea where to start, or you’ve never had good luck growing them in the past, we’re going to get …

I must have been ten years old the first time I learned about bonus harvest. Except, of course, nobody called it that, and the lesson came in my life in …

Each spring, as we move our seedlings out into the garden, we have a once-a-year opportunity. But so many gardeners let it pass by. This is your chance to put …

As most of our readers know, when it comes to anecdotal gardening lore, I approach it with a raised eyebrow and a grain of salt. But there is one truly …

Marigolds always hog the spotlight when it comes to tomato companion plants. Unfortunately, most of their tomato-protecting traits are severely over-hyped, yet they continue to be the gold standard when …

One of my biggest pet peeves with kale is the long, hard stem that runs up the center of the leaf. It’s the most bitter part of the leaf, and …

You’ve probably seen this popular hack on social media recently. You save the rice water from rinsing and soaking rice and water plants with it. (You do soak your rice, …

If you’re tired of skimpy, leggy tomato seedlings that get knocked over by the tiniest breeze and take forever to harden off, or your tomato seedlings get stuck after you …

There are some pretty great reasons to grow perennial vegetables. For one, having access to things like fresh asparagus and rhubarb, you’ll always have better quality than what you can …

We live in a day and age where one can procure blueberries at the supermarket any time of the year. That doesn’t mean they will taste great or be picked …