Mike Fitzgerald

May 15, 2023 | themeateater.com | Misty Newcomb |Mike Fitzgerald |Jordan Tony

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking that you must have a lot of space to make gardening worthwhile. But even with a small amount of space, you can actually produce quite a bit of produce by using the square-foot garden method. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a square-foot garden, it’s a method of gardening popularized by author Mel Bartholomew that typically occurs in a small space.

May 10, 2023 | themeateater.com | Misty Newcomb |Jordan Tony |Mike Fitzgerald |Jenna Rozelle

Once the days grow longer and we start seeing little buds on trees and daffodils popping up around the periphery of the yard, it’s easy to want to get some plants in the dirt. And though we can’t grow a lot of the vegetables that require the mid-summer heat to thrive, there is actually a lot that we can still plant–even if it is before our last frost. There’s a whole group of frost-tolerant plants that will not only survive a frost, they will also thrive in cooler temperatures.

May 5, 2023 | themeateater.com | Mike Fitzgerald |Kitty Galloway

Homesteading is whatever you decide to make of it, much like anything in life. But the more I talk with friends, family, and total strangers, the more I realize there are plenty of stigmas out there about homesteading. One person assumed I’m a hippy (only partially true). Another close family member had a preconceived notion that, because I raise ducks and chickens, I must have to shoot all kinds of predators (I don’t).

Mar 15, 2023 | themeateater.com | Jordan Tony |Mike Fitzgerald

Crop rotation is the process of shifting which crops are grown in which beds in your garden from year to year. This process has been used for thousands of years to promote soil health and improve crop yields. The ancient Romans and Mayans used crop rotations to support their civilizations without pesticides and with very few nutrient inputs. Even with today’s technology, using a crop rotation in your garden is beneficial to your soil, your crops, and your pocketbook. Why Rotate your Crops?

Feb 6, 2023 | themeateater.com | Mike Fitzgerald |Misty Newcomb |Jordan Tony

Making the absolute most of our garden spaces is a goal of every spring when the planning begins. But most years I end up planting way too many of one thing and never enough of the other—a battle that is both ongoing and hard to win mostly because so much can happen to seedlings when they’re most fragile. Utilizing the space I have at my disposal took a turn for the better a few years ago when I finally started to look into companion planting.