Gardening

It may be just March, with 30 degree weather and snow on the ground, but here at Frugal Upstate I’m in the midst of some serious vegetable garden planning.  I just can’t wait until May when the ground is thawed and I can dig my hands into the dirt and get going. There are so… Keep Reading

Gardening season is upon us in the North East. Well, almost. Ok, it’s still just a tad early except for peas & spinach. For everything else you need to watch the weather forecast like a hawk and hope that there isn’t any frost predicted until after Memorial Day. But still-it FEELS like gardening weather. Even… Keep Reading

This is just such a good tip that I have to post it annually! I am still using these same whiskey barrel planters, 3 years later. I’ve just added a bit more soil every year and some fertilizer. Here is the article, originally posted in June of 2006 ************************************************ Garden season has officially hit upstate… Keep Reading

Spring has finally sprung in upstate NY! For the first time since we moved, I think I got my snowpeas in the ground early enough to really take advantage of their proclivity for growing in the cooler weather. So in honor of that, I thought I’d repost a quick but good tip: ***************************Need a way… Keep Reading

Memorial Day is official planting day here in Upstate NY. You plant anything other than pansies and petunias before that at your own risk! So in honor of that I want to re post this oldie but goodie about an inexpensive way to fill those deep planters. I reused this technique on 3 or 4… Keep Reading

I’m away at a blogging event today-the Stouffer’s Lets Fix Dinner Blogger Roundtable. So I’m pulling an oldy but goody from the archive. It is just getting to the season where we clean up and prettify our flowerbeds here upstate, so republishing this post on how I was able to get a ton of free… Keep Reading

Every year I learn a bit more about gardening and I get a bit better at it.  I just keep adding to what my mentors in the Army always referred to as my “Tool-Kit”.   Most of the time that’s my knowledge and skill tool-kit, but sometimes it’s my physical tool-kit. This fall thanks to my… Keep Reading

Springtime is always exciting after the long, cold, dreary winters in Upstate New York.  We are all starved for sunshine and warmth!  I love when the snow melts and you start to smell the damp fresh of grass and soil. One of the most satisfying thing for me about spring is getting our vegetable and… Keep Reading

Just thought I’d give you a quick update on what’s going on in the garden.  Yes, the garden, in December, in Upstate NY! Back in September I wrote about the nice new coldframes that Yankee Bill had made me out of reclaimed lumber and some old doors.  I planted them up with small plants from… Keep Reading

This one falls in the “honey, are you crazy” realm for poor patient Yankee Bill.  There are just some thing I do in the course of following the frugal path that he sighs and shakes his head over. Using my car as a dehydrator to dry herbs (lovage) is one of those things. You see,… Keep Reading