Ozark Garden & Home

06/01/2025

Cabbage clearly enjoys endless rain and cloudy days.

06/01/2025

Gardening in the Arkansas Ozarks is difficult and we've had the worst weather this spring. June 1st, and I finally have one cucumber. I have about 5k blooms on my plants, so if they can get a dry day to pollinate, things will be good in pickle land.

04/21/2025

The weather has been so unpredictable this Spring. My little garden has had it rough, but warmer days and nights are in the forecast.
The early plantings have hung on for dear life.

03/17/2025

Initial attempt at cultivating celery. These seedlings are 4 wks old. Progress is gradual, but they will be ready for transplantation in a few weeks.

03/17/2025

These spring beauties are soaking up some mid-day sun. Hopefully, the night time temps will warm up soon. Zone 7a

06/15/2024

Hoss Celebrity Plus variety tomatoes are loading the vines. These indeterminates make canning season easier.

This spring and early summer has been rough on the tomato crop. These survived a hail storm and were still standing after the tornado that blew through our zone a few weeks ago.
North central AR (7a)

05/21/2024

The tomato transplants have been in the ground around 3 wks.
This variety is called Big Zac. The claim is that the variety produces up to 4 pounders. The girls and I grew a few in the 3 lb range last year that out weighed the standard weights for their variety. I'm excited to see how it performs.

05/21/2024

Mabri chose these seed for this Pink Amaranth from the Baker Creek catalog. The greens are great mixed with salad greens or stir fried. The stalks are similar to celery and are very tasty.
These are just beginning to leaf out and form stalks.

05/21/2024

Baby cukes and kohlrabi are slowly taking off. We had late spring frosts that slowed everything down.

05/21/2024

We've had a slow start in the Ozarks (zone 7a), but things are beginning to take off.

05/21/2024

05/01/2024

Use your discarded eggshells in the garden. I bake quite often and use lots of eggs. I rinse the shells and let them dry, then toss them in a large ziploc bag.
When I have collected several, I stick them in the oven at 250° for around 10 minutes to kill any possible residual germs.

Crumble them and pulverize them into powder using a spice mill or blender.

The powder is packed with calcium, magnesium, and other micronutrients that benefit your plants. Tomatoes, peppers, swisschard, spinach, squash and strawberries are just a few that need that extra boost.

I use 1 to 2 Tbsp at transplant or work it into the soil around established plants. It's free and it's organic.

Learn to be a resourceful gardener by putting things that you would normally discard to good use.🍅🍓🥬🥦🫑🍽