Beginner gardening, made simple

Grow something you're actually proud of

No fancy setup, no jargon. Just the honest tips I wish I'd had before I killed my first tray of seedlings. Let's get something growing.

A raised garden bed full of leafy greens and young tomato plants in a backyard, with a watering can beside it

Latest from the garden

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A wooden box of damp sand on a garage floor with freshly dug carrots and beets laid in a row on it, green tops trimmed short, and a bucket of sand beside it

How do you store carrots over winter?

Cold, damp and away from the apples. Four ways to keep them crisp for months, how to pack a box of sand, and why stored carrots go bitter.

A low wooden raised bed in late autumn covered with an even layer of shredded maple and oak leaves, a few kale plants at the far end, and a lawn mower with a leaf bag on the grass beside it

Can you put leaves on your vegetable garden?

Yes, if you shred them first. How deep to spread them, when by zone, a leaf-by-leaf chart, and the one tree to keep off the bed.

A gardener's hand brushing soil away from the orange shoulders of carrots still growing in a garden bed, with feathery green tops and autumn light

When are carrots ready to pick?

The tops lie. Check the shoulder instead: the width that means pick, a size and days chart by carrot type, and why fall carrots can wait.

Hi, I'm Priscilla

I've made every gardening mistake, so you don't have to

I write the kind of beginner gardening advice I wish someone had handed me on day one: warm, honest, and actually useful. No information overload, no $400 of gear you don't need. Just real help, one week at a time.

Gloved hands potting a young seedling into a terracotta pot on a wooden table

The books

The Backyard Garden

The complete beginner's path from bare patch to thriving garden. Everything on this site, in one place.

Get it on Amazon →

Chicken Raising

Ready for the next step in backyard self-sufficiency? Start your first small flock the simple way.