The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

I didn’t plan on growing an herb garden when I first began my gardening journey, but eventually I found myself growing nine different herbs. I had no idea the benefits of growing herbs would far exceed my main purpose: saving money. Herbs are still my #1 crop to grow to save money at the grocery […]

If there are two vegetables I can depend on in my blistering southern summers, it’s peppers and okra. And that’s a good thing. With a great harvest, I can freeze peppers to last us all year long (with only a handful of plants), and okra is so prolific we eat it at least weekly during […]

Most gardeners I know make room for squash or zucchini. It’s the perfect summer vegetable. Whether you eat it breaded and deep-fried (my personal favorite), sautéed with olive oil (the healthier alternative), or shredded for quick breads, a good harvest of squash or zucchini always makes the garden season better. But growing squash and zucchini […]

I can vividly remember my very first year as a gardener desperately searching for gardening resources and podcasts. Sadly I didn’t find many that helped me at the most basic level I needed. But there was one I listened to faithfully, and that was the Pioneering Today Podcast by Melissa K. Norris. Melissa and I connected […]

It took me three seasons to finally attempt growing corn. It only made sense to grow it, since one of our main goals for having a garden is to grow as much of what we normally eat as possible. I wish I could tell you it was easy and all went great. Unfortunately, it didn’t. […]

If there’s one plant I’d say I’ve had the most success with since I began gardening, it would be green beans. I never would have predicted it, though, because my mom never grew them. When I began, I started with literally zero knowledge. My first year I grew both pole beans and bush beans, and […]

The past few years I have found myself begging my friends to take my excess cucumbers. I’ve even been known to sneak a bag full on a table at church, hoping someone would take a few home. But growing cucumbers hasn’t always been this successful. My first year I met several challenges — most of […]

The most popular vegetable to grow, tomatoes find a spot in most home gardens. Whether we grow them for canning (like I do) or for fresh eating, a bumper crop of tomatoes can make any gardener feel like a pro. How do we get that bumper crop? Though we can’t control the yearly nemeses of […]

It’s funny how the most obvious garden questions seemed to trip me up in the beginning. What exactly was the difference between snap peas, shelling peas, and snow peas, for example? Though I’m still learning the ins and outs of growing peas, I feel like I’ve finally got a good handle on it. If you’re […]

When I began gardening, I had no idea what tools I would need. Because my purpose for gardening in the first place was to save money, I had no interest in blowing cash on unneeded equipment. But as I soon realized, some tools make a huge difference. In this episode of The Beginner’s Garden Podcast, […]

I’ve lived in the South my entire life — Arkansas to be exact. Let me dispel a myth I’ve come across as I have met people from other states or countries: Yes, we wear shoes. I even wear my shoes in the garden. Good, now that we’ve got that out of the way, the South is […]

Maybe I say this about many plants, but potatoes are one of my most enjoyable crops to grow! They require little maintenance, and they harvest before the hot weather in my area begins to set in. Harvesting, though labor-intensive, is so much fun — and my kids enjoy it, too! It’s like a treasure hunt. I […]

I had no idea what I was doing when I planted my first four blueberry bushes in the ground. Thankfully, the research I did served me well, and now I have more blueberries than I know what to do with! If you long for sweet blueberries from your own back yard today’s episode of the […]

One of the main reasons many home gardeners grow tomatoes is to make their own salsa! Truly there is no better salsa than one made with fresh-picked tomatoes! Planting a salsa garden isn’t difficult. The biggest challenges lie in knowing when to plant and what to do when certain crops come to harvest earlier than […]

If I had to choose one topic about which I get more questions asked, it would be composting. Many of us cringe when we toss our banana peels into the trash, knowing they could be put to good use. We also, if we’ve had a garden for a few years, understand that after the first […]