So you want to grow your own fruit. Maybe some berries. Possibly even nuts. But you don’t have a farm, or acres of land, or any real idea where to start. Same. That’s exactly why I picked up Backyard Farming: Fruit Trees, Berries & Nuts by Kim Pezza, and that’s exactly what this blog series is about.
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
We’ve gone through the whole book. From the history of vegetable gardens to planning your layout, building your soil, planting seeds, fighting weeds and pests, preserving your harvest, and putting the garden to bed for winter. That’s the full cycle. So what’s the verdict?
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
The growing season ends. That’s just how it works for most of us. But ending well matters as much as starting well. What you do now sets up next year’s garden. Pezza dedicates this chapter to closing out the season the right way.
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
You did it. Your garden produced more food than you can eat this week. Now what? This chapter is all about making that harvest last. And if you end up with way too much, Pezza even covers how to sell it.
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
So you’ve got your garden planted. Seeds are in the ground. Now what? This is the chapter where Pezza gets into the daily grind of keeping a garden alive. And honestly, this is where most beginners either level up or give up. Maintenance isn’t glamorous, but it’s the whole game.
You’ve planned your garden, picked your type, and decided what to grow. Now it’s time to actually build this thing. Chapter 5 of Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza gets into the hands-on work of creating your garden from the ground up.
So you’ve got your garden type picked out. Now comes the fun part: deciding what to actually grow in it. And this is where a lot of first-time gardeners overthink things.
You know what’s going to happen in this chapter. You figured out where your garden goes. Now you need to figure out what kind of garden it actually is. And there are more options than you might think.
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
Before you buy a single seed or touch any dirt, Pezza wants you to sit down and make a plan. And she’s right. The number one mistake new gardeners make is jumping straight into planting without thinking about what they actually want. Then they end up with thirty zucchini plants and no idea what to do with them.
This is part of our series retelling Backyard Farming: Growing Vegetables and Herbs by Kim Pezza (ISBN: 978-1-57826-460-5).
Pezza starts the book by making a simple but important point. Gardens aren’t just about making your yard look pretty. For most of human history, gardens existed for one reason: food. Flower gardens and decorative landscapes came later. The original purpose was survival.
So you want to grow your own food. Maybe you scrolled past one too many “farm to table” posts on Instagram. Maybe you’re tired of paying five dollars for a single bell pepper. Or maybe you just want to know where your food actually comes from. Whatever your reason, you’re in the right place.
Book: Backyard Farming: Composting | Author: Kim Pezza | ISBN: 978-1-57826-587-9 | Hatherleigh Press, 2015
We made it. Twelve posts later, we’ve covered everything from ancient Egyptian worm decrees to DIY bin plans to the science of thermophilic bacteria. And honestly, I think composting might be one of the most underrated things a person can do.
This is a retelling of Chapter 9 from Backyard Farming: Composting by Kim Pezza. Consider this your quick-reference guide for when something goes wrong with your pile. Because something will go wrong eventually. That’s just composting.
This is the last post in the series, and I want to end with something personal. Not my story. Kim Pezza’s.
Book: Backyard Farming: Composting | Author: Kim Pezza | ISBN: 978-1-57826-587-9 | Hatherleigh Press, 2015
Okay. This is the chapter most composting books skip over, and honestly, I get why. It’s not a comfortable topic. But if you keep animals on a farm, death is part of the deal. It just is. And when it happens, you need a plan for what comes next. Pezza addresses this head-on in Chapter 5, and I respect that.
So you’ve seen the DIY options from the first half of Chapter 3. Cool. But maybe you don’t want to build something from scratch. Maybe you want to just buy a bin, set it up, and start composting this weekend. That’s totally valid. Kim Pezza covers commercial bins and placement in the second half of this chapter, and there’s more to think about than you’d expect.
Book: Backyard Farming: Composting | Author: Kim Pezza | ISBN: 978-1-57826-587-9 | Hatherleigh Press, 2015
One of the first excuses people make about composting is space. “I don’t have room for that.” Pezza shuts this down early in Chapter 3. Whether you’ve got 30 acres or a studio apartment, there’s a composting method that fits. No excuses. Let’s talk about the systems you can build yourself.
Before you bring home a single pig, you need somewhere to put it. And not just “a spot in the yard.” Pigs need real shelter, real space, and real fencing. Get any of these wrong and you will have a very bad time.
Book: Backyard Farming: Composting | Author: Kim Pezza | ISBN: 978-1-57826-587-9 | Hatherleigh Press, 2015
So I picked up this book about composting. And honestly, I wasn’t expecting to get this into it.
So you want to grow your own food. Maybe you are tired of reading ingredient labels that look like a chemistry exam. Maybe you want to save money on groceries. Or maybe you just want to know exactly where your tomatoes came from. Whatever your reason, you are not alone.