Skip to main content

Author: Thomas Nelson

Browse all articles by this author

17 min read Gardening Tips

Part of successfully growing a garden is knowing your USDA hardiness zone. USDA plant hardiness zones are the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at any given location. Some plants are able to survive outside of their hardiness zone, but can only survive for one growing...

20 min read Gardening Tips

Part of successfully growing a garden is knowing your USDA hardiness zone. USDA plant hardiness zones are the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at any given location. Some plants are able to survive outside of their hardiness zone, but can only survive for one growing...

18 min read Gardening Tips

Part of successfully growing a garden is knowing your USDA hardiness zone. USDA plant hardiness zones are the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at any given location. Some plants are able to survive outside of their hardiness zone, but can only survive for one growing...

14 min read Backyard Livestock

We recently wrote a guide on how to hatch duck eggs, but not all breeds of duck are the same! Incubating Muscovy duck eggs is a little bit different, and the differences involved I think are worth writing a separate piece on. If you’re getting ready to hatch your own Muscovy duck eggs, you should...

3 min read Gardening Tips

I’ve never been much of a lawn guy – I’d prefer it if my property was a biodiverse food forest. But a little bit of grass is a nice thing, and I maintain a small patch of it to enjoy sitting on during the warm, summer months. And just like a garden, a patch of...

3 min read Gardening Tips

There are few things more frustrating to a gardener, beginner or experienced, than finding out your garden is being consumed by some unwanted pest. Nature has a way of throwing a wrench into our plans, but take a bit of comfort in knowing that, if your garden is being eaten by something, it’s a healthy...

3 min read Gardening Tips

Plants are into weird stuff. They like being sprayed with the hose and having poop thrown around them. It really gets them growing happy and healthy, even if it doesn’t sound like a good time for you and me. One fertilizer that I’ve used countless times and keep coming back to is fish emulsion. It...

3 min read Gardening Tips

Visit the gardening section of any major retailer that sells gardening products and you’re likely to be bombarded with tons of different products. Some are organic, some aren’t, and it can be difficult to make heads or tails of it. One of the products you may see in the gardening section of your local market...

4 min read Trees and Shrubs

Black oak trees are a type of tree native to east and central North America and is extraordinarily common in its native range. It can be found from Maine to Texas and inland toward Michigan and the Great Plains states as well. It is a close relative of the California black oak (Quercus kelloggii). These...

5 min read Trees and Shrubs

White oak trees are stunning, large, sturdy oak trees with a native range in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. They have a stocky trunk with a wide berth of horizontal limbs. Summer leaves are dark green and fall leaves are red, but slowly turn brown. White oak trees are good acorn producers, but only have...

5 min read Trees and Shrubs

If you love tall oak trees that have a rich red, almost burgundy autumn leaf color, then the northern red oak tree is the tree for you. These trees are just the perfect addition to any property that needs a splash of red oak leaf color every fall. In this article, we’re going to go...

7 min read Trees and Shrubs

When I plant a deciduous tree, there’s one thing I always have to know: what do its autumn leaves look like? The truth is, fall is my favorite time of year. I absolutely love the explosion of color, the fall crops that I harvest, and watching the leaves fall gently from the trees. One of...