Think you don’t have a green thumb? Think again! This simple garden tip for fuller & bushier plants will transform your garden and really impress those neighbors. Welcome to the Home Adventures gardening blog.
Take a look at some of your herbs, flowers, and vegetable plants. If they have a tiny leaf or stem growing between the main stem and a leaf attached to the main stem, then you have an axillary plant. Axillary literally means armpit! Taking advantage of this type of plant can really improve the shape of said plant.
Axillary leaves on an herb
What Kinds of Plants are Axillary?
There are a whole host of plants that have this stem structure! Here is a list of some common ones:
Flowers
Bee Balm
Roses
Lilies
Hibiscus
Snapdragons
Tulips
Daisies
Marigolds
Zinnias
Peonies
Carnations
Hydrangeas
Lavender
Sunflowers
Lilacs
Vegetables
Tomatoes
Peppers
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Squash
Fruit
Raspberries
Blackberries
Grapes
Blueberries
Strawberries
Herbs
Basil
Mint
Oregano
Thyme
Cilantro (Coriander)
The Ultimate Garden Hack
Developing plants that are fuller, bushier, offer more blooms, and bigger fruit is as simple as looking for the point where you have an axillary point. This is the easiest garden tip I like to look for this early in the season and periodically check back for more opportunities to prune throughout the growing season.
Garden Tip for a Larger Plant:
Growing a fuller plant with either more leaves or flowers involves snipping the main stem at an axillary point, in order to encourage the secondary stems to grow. As you can see in the photos below, by snipping the main stemp (center), you encourage two new stems to grow (left and right photos). For herbs, especially basil, it’s also an easy way to prevent it from bolting (flowering), thus prolonging the plant’s life and use.
Bee Balm Pruning ResultSimply Snip the Main StemHerb Pruning Result
Garden Tip for Larger Fruit/Vegetables:
If you are more interested in larger fruits or vegetables, pruning the axillary stems will help the plan to concentrate more energy into the fruit instead of into growing more stems. You may hear gardeners call the axillary offshoots of a tomato plant “suckers”.
Egglant SuckerTomato Sucker
In the dog-days of summer, these suckers can run wild if you aren’t checking every day. Even then, there might be some that escape your inspection and can start to grow quite large. With tomatoes, you can pick the sucker off and plant it in the ground to start a whole new plant.
Enjoy the fruit of your labor with minimal effort!
Have you seen those cedar garden bed kits at Home Depot or Lowes? Or the really fancy ones on Amazon? Yeah, I did, too. Then I saw the price tag. Yikes! But cedar garden beds don’t have to be outrageously expensive and you don’t even need a full set of tools. I’m here to give you pointers and tips for an easy DIY garden bed that won’t break the bank, either.
You’ve seen the simple garden beds I made the first year of my garden in it’s current location. In 2022, I expanded the veggie garden even more and really gave it an upgrade. Yes, I have some fancy tools, but you don’t need anything out of the ordinary to make your own garden beds. It’s a straightforward process to make these easy DIY garden beds, and I know you can do it, too!
The best thing about doing it yourself? You can customize it into a one-of-a-kind piece that works for you and the space you have. Below you will find an example of an 18″ tall bed I helped a friend make with minimal tools and the 6″ high beds I built in my own garden. Let’s get started!
The basic supply list:
Cedar fence pickets
Garden stakes
Fasteners
Cedar fence picketsWood garden stake
Cedar Fence Pickets
Head down to the home center and pick up some basic cedar dog-ear fence pickets. They are cedar and usually less than $3. They come in 6-foot lengths, which is great for a bed. It’s the cornerstone of this easy DIY garden bed and the piece that is often the most expensive in those kits.
So why cedar? For decades, vegetable gardeners have avoided pressure-treated wood products when building their beds, thanks to a 1991 paper from Cornell (the agricultural experts!). It brought to light the use of arsenic in the pressure-treating process. By the early 2000s, the manufacturing process changed and arsenic is no longer used. So is it safe to use? The risk is significantly diminished since then, but cedar is a fantastic, natural alternative. Cedar is rot-resistant and keeps bugs away.
Personally, try to avoid using any kind of pressure-treated wood in a vegetable garden. If it’s for flowers only, then I do recommend opting for pressure treated boards.
Garden stakes
In my previous post, I recommend some garden stakes like these 1×2 stakes. I also like these 2×2 stakes, which I used because my garden is on a hill and the soil is sand. I didn’t want them to move at all!
Garden stakes like these are great because they come in multi-packs. The length you need will be dependent on how tall you want your beds. Technically speaking, you don’t need to make them very tall, but, the beauty of a custom build is a custom design. I believe, for the most part, the garden stakes commonly available are untreated. If you can get your hands on cedar stakes, awesome. It’s possible you might have to replace the stakes at some point if you purchase the untreated stakes, but certainly not by the next year.
Fasteners
First of all, what are fasteners? It’s an all-encompassing word for things that fasten to or fasten things together – aka nails and screws.
As you will see in the next section, the type of fasteners you buy will depend on the type of tools you have access to. One thing that you do need, regardless of tool, is galvanized fasteners. These are designed to be used outside and in all weather. Screws are not the most ideal for this type of board, as it is quite thin and brittle, but it will work if you do nbot have access to a nailgun.
Below I have a couple of examples of ways to build your beds; regardless of your final design, the basic concept remains the same.
Galvenized brad nailsExterior screws
Before You Start:
Safety First
As always, take appropriate safety precautions. Gloves, glasses, and ear protection (with power tools) is a must. Take the time to scope out where you want your bed to live.
Recommendations
It’s very likely that the spot is not 100% flat so using a level is key to really making the beds look nice.
Having a garden shovel or trowel is a great tool to have on hand to help find level.
A mallet or heavy hammer will help make driving the stakes into the ground go by much faster.
If you do not have a saw at home, most home centers and lumber yards will gladly make cuts for you for free.
Measuring tape – you can attempt to eyeball it, but you might end up re-doing a lot of your work. Trust me, I know.
A second pair of hands! Many hands make light work and if you can find a friend to help it will make finding level a lot easier. BUT it’s absolutely possible to do this on your own.
Don’t be intimidated! This is an easy DIY garden bed and once you get the first board set up, you will fly through it. Take your time and if you mess up, then your garden will look like mine! A little wonky but totally authentic and made from my two hands.
Choose Your Adventure
If you don’t have a lot of tools:
Supplies:
Galvanized screws
Garden stakes
Fence pickets
Screwdriver or drill
Hammer or mallet
Level (optional)
Speed square (optional)
Saw (optional) – any kind will do if you have it
Step 1
Start by hammering in the first stake for one of the front corners of your bed. Take it slowly and keep checking that the stake is going in straight, or plumb. To do this, use your level by lining it up vertically alongside at least 2 sides of your stake. Hammer it in approximately as far down as the height of your bed.
Measuring up the depth of the stake
Step 2
Measure out the location of your other front corner stake. Before hammering it all the way in, you will want to see if it is squarely in line with the first stake.
Begin by pushing the stake into the ground far enough that it can just stand on its own. Then carefully hold up your board against both stakes. You can use a speed square or even your level to check for square – do both sides of the right angle on your square touch the wood perfectly? Then you are square!
Getting ready to check for square
If not, you can make an easy adjustment by moving around the garden stake that is not completely hammered into the ground yet. Once you know you’ve got your stakes lined up, sink that sake into the ground exactly as you did in Step 1.
Step 3
Take your board and place it right up against your stakes. It’s time to check for level. Using your level, look to see if that little bubble is right in the center. Depending on the size of your level, you may have to move it around to be absolutely sure that the board is completely level across the top. The smaller the level, the more you will need to move it around.
Leveling with the level
This is where the trowel comes in handy. If you notice a gap between the board and the ground at one end, you can use the trowel to move around the dirt. Either dig into the ground where the board already touches the ground and slightly bury this end or transfer some dirt to fill in the gap.
Step 4
If you’ve opted for a short, single board bed, this part will be easy. If you are going for several boards, you might need some extra hands.
In Step 1, you made an approximate guess as to how far in the stakes needed to go for the height of your bed. You may need to push one or both of the stakes just a little bit further into the ground in order to match the top of your level board. This might mean that one stake is 6″ above ground and the other is only 5.5″. Once the tops of your stakes are in line with the top edge of your top-most board it’s time to fasten.
The top of the stake is at or slightly below the top of the board
Step 5
When fastening, use 2 screws, one above the other. This will help ensure a good fastening but comes in handy in a minute.
Begin with your bottom-most board and check again for level. Slowly, screw in your first fastener; ideally the top one first. Try to avoid getting too close to the edge of your board in order to avoid splitting it entirely. Going slowly allows you some control but also helps to prevent massive splitting of the dry board. Typically, this is why brad nails are the better option, but not everyone has access to a nail gun.
Start with the top screw; if your board goes out of level at this stage, you have essentially created a hinge that allows you to move the board up and down with ease.
Apply the top fastener first to create the hinge.
Step 6
After fastening the first screw, go to your other stake – this is where you will use that hinge you created on the other stake to confirm your board is level. Once it is, you can fasten both screws on this stake and go back to the first stake to fasten the board completely. If you have additional boards to install, you can repeat this process. All subsequent boards should be level after ensuring the first one is, but it’s always a good idea to check. If one board was cut crookedly and then sits funny, it might make the board after it also not level.
Step 7
Repeat this process again from Step 2 all the way around your bed! If you have lengths of board that are longer than 2 feet, add at least 1 additional stake to the middle. This will strengthen the board(s) to hold the dirt and also will help prevent any warping. And just like that, you’ve build this easy DIY garden bed!
View from the insideRemember to screw these in, too!View from the outside
If you’ve got access to a lot of tools:
Supplies:
Galvanized screws/brad nails
Garden stakes
Fence pickets
Drill or nail gun
Hammer or mallet
Level
Speed square
Circular saw
Step 1
Start by hammering in the first stake for one of the front corners of your bed. Take it slowly and keep checking that the stake is going in straight, or plumb. To do this, use your level by lining it up vertically alongside at least 2 sides of your stake. Hammer it in approximately as far down as the height of your bed.
Measuring up the depth of the stake
Step 2
Measure out the location of your other front corner stake. Before hammering it all the way in, you will want to see if it is squarely in line with the first stake.
Begin by pushing the stake into the ground far enough that it can just stand on its own. Then carefully hold up your board against both stakes. You can use a speed square or even your level to check for square – do both sides of the right angle on your square touch the wood perfectly? Then you are square!
Getting ready to check for squareNice and snug
Step 3
Take your board and place it right up against your stakes. It’s time to check for level. Using your level, look to see if that little bubble is right in the center. Depending on the size of your level, you may have to move it around to be absolutely sure that the board is completely level across the top. The smaller the level, the more you will need to move it around.
Leveling with the level
This is where the trowel comes in handy. If you notice a gap between the board and the ground at one end, you can use the trowel to move around the dirt. Either dig into the ground where the board already touches the ground and slightly bury this end or transfer some dirt to fill in the gap.
Step 4
If you’ve opted for a short, single board bed, this part will be easy. If you are going for several boards, you might need some extra hands.
In Step 1, you made an approximate guess as to how far in the stakes needed to go for the height of your bed. You may need to push one or both of the stakes just a little bit further into the ground in order to match the top of your level board. This might mean that one stake is 6″ above ground and the other is only 5.5″. Once the tops of your stakes are in line with the top edge of your top-most board it’s time to fasten.
Slightly above the top boardSlightly below the top board
Step 5
Regardless if you are using brad nails or screws, plan to use at least 2 per either end of each board, stacked vertically. This will help ensure a good fastening but comes in handy in a minute. With any project using thin, brittle board and screws, be sure to go slowly and don’t place your screw too close to the edge, in order to avoid as much splitting as possible.
Begin with your bottom-most board and check again for level. Start at the top of your board and place your first nail; if your board goes out of level at this stage, you have essentially created a hinge that allows you to move the board up and down with ease.
Top fastener firstApplying them vertically
Step 6
After applying your first fastener, go to your other stake – this is where you will use that hinge you created on the other stake to confirm your board is level. Once it is, you can apply additional nails to this stake and go back to the first stake to fasten the board completely. If you have additional boards to install, you can repeat this process. All subsequent boards should be level after ensuring the first one is, but it’s always a good idea to check. If one board was cut crookedly and then sits funny, it might make the board after it also not level.
Step 7
Repeat this process again from Step 2 all the way around your bed! If you have lengths of board that are longer than 2 feet, add at least 1 additional stake to the middle. This will strengthen the board(s) to hold the dirt and also will help prevent any warping. And just like that, you’ve built this easy DIY garden bed.
View from the insideRemember to screw these in, too!View from the outside
If you’re feeling creative and are looking for inspo:
The hydrocarbon you never knew you’ve been using a long, long time.
Commercial Citrus Cleaning Supplies
According to Science Focus, a 2005 Dutch study illustrated the connection in our minds of cleanliness and citrus. Not because we all know and understand some of the chemical compounds found in citrus peel (ahem, d-limonene), but because a lot of us were around and grew up with the growing trend of citrus-scented cleaners developing growing in popularity in the 1980s. TL;DR: we think “clean” when we smell citrus because it’s what we’ve been conditioned to think over the past 40 years. But it’s not all commercial baloney. There is real science behind the use of citrus in cleaning, just like there is for vinegar and baking soda, too!
What is Limonene?
Limonene is a major organic component of citrus peels; in oranges it is, quite literally, the molecules that give off the scent you know as orange. In its concentrated form it is commonly used as a renewables-based solvent in cleaning products. That means it’s excellent at cutting through grease and grime. D-limonene, which comes from citrus peels, also can be found in trees such as cottonwoods, maples, and pines – remember Pine-Sol? It’s such a good solvent, you’ve probably seen CitriStrip at your local hardware store. And yes, it’s related to turpentine, through the terpene chemical compound family. If you can’t tell already, it’s a natural, renewable cleaning agent that cuts through grease and smells great.
Why You Should Love it
When I started down the path of reducing my plastic waste, I knew I really wanted to cut down on the amount of plastic soap and cleaning containers. It seemed like an obvious place to start. Chemistry is an amazing science and I knew if I could learn what already exists in nature and find the right combination of chemicals (because everything is a chemical – remember!). After doing a little research I discovered orange oil. It’s typically sold as a super concentrated cleaning supply. When researching how to incorporate it into a soap base, I learned (the hard way) that it should not exceed 5% of the entire soap mixture. Soap after soap would seize up before I could even get it into the mold! I’ve still got to work fast, but I’m really excited by my limited ingredient cleaning bars. I market them as dish bars, but they can be used for so many things because of that fabulous d-limonene. Dishes? Check. Scrub the floor? Check. Clean the grout? Check! And the tub? Hell yeah.
I was cleaning my shower tub recently and I have used Scrubbing Bubbles or some variation for years. We have a white tub in the upstairs bath and as I was cleaning, even with my trusty scrubber, I could not get whatever greasy soap scum had accumulated on the bottom. In a light bulb moment, I went to the kitchen, grabbed my dish scrubber and cleaning bar and began to suds up. Sure enough, the citrus cleaning bar worked its magic and the scum was gone shortly after I started. Just look at the before and after below! Because the tub is white, it can be hard to see the scum in a photo, so I used the exact same filter and contrast level in the before and after so you could see.
BeforeAfter
I hope you have a new appreciation for citrus and the power of renewable cleaning supplies – I sure did after using it myself. I’ll share some other tips and tricks soon, including how I use my dish bar paste to clean my light-colored bathroom grout.
Solid Dish Soap Kit
Ditch the plastic in your cleaning supplies with this solid dish soap starter kit. Comes with your first bar, ramekin, and bamboo palm brush. Monthly subscriptions for refills are available.
I can’t believe it is almost time for sugaring season. My husband is the one who grew up in the US’s #1 maple syrup producing state (i.e., Vermont) and he did some sugaring on his own as a kid. But once we purchased our home nearly a decade ago, we always intended to tap the meager 2 sugar maples on our property. It didn’t actually happen until 2021, when our daughter was old enough to participate. It started off as just something fun and science-y to show her, but it turned into a great little hobby for both of us. I’m so excited to tap for the second year and take what we learned the first time around into this year.
Modern plastic sap bucket, traditional metal sap bucket, and traditional metal taps
Getting Ready
Like I said, I didn’t grow up sugaring and my husband picked it up when he was in high school as a hobby (despite living on a ton of acres, it wasn’t something his parents did before he started). I got to experience my first sugaring when I went to visit him during a college spring break week some March many, many years ago. Little did I know, it was peak sugaring season. He spent that week boiling outside from sun-up to sun-down and then a little longer indoors after dark.
I learned that they boiled in March because the days were “warm” (think above freezing to mid-40s F) and the nights were “cold” (below freezing). This got the sap running. You knew it was sugaring season by looking at the snow around the base of the tree; if it started to pull away from the trunk, it was time to get those taps in and boil. As we all know, the climate is changing and winters aren’t quite so predictable as they once were. We also live a little bit further south of where he grew up, plus we are not at the same altitude and we are river-valley adjacent. That means our winters can be more variable in temperature. Not something we really paid attention to until it was our first sugaring season!
Our First Season
In 2021, we just went by the rule of thumb that we knew from sugaring in Vermont. Come March, it’s time to boil, so we didn’t put our taps in until the beginning of March. That was our first mistake. Whether it’s the changing climate or our geography (likely a combination of both!), we were already behind the 8 ball by the time we got started.
As is typical in the Capital Region of New York, we experience a bit of a deep freeze at the end of January/beginning of February followed by a bit of a thaw. This time of year is also very tumultuous and can result in quite a few Nor’easters. But it can also mean that sugaring could start in February. By the time we drilled our first taps, we had already seen a few of those warm days/cold nights that indicate sugaring season is upon us.
We did well for our first year – just shy of a gallon of sap from only 2 trees – but we probably could have had more if we drilled at the start of February. Ultimately, we probably had about 10-14 days of sugaring before the nights stopped dipping below freezing on a daily basis.
Take Two
This year, we made a point to start as early as we could in February. After a ridiculously cold stretch where the worst day saw a high of 11 degrees, we pulled out the buckets and tapped the trees the first day above 32 degrees F – February 5th!
Now this is far from a how-to post on sugaring. I’m certainly no expert, but I do highly recommend getting a sugaring book if you want to give it a go yourself. We use the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual by the Ohio State University Extension in Cooperation with the North American Maple Syrup Council. I have no idea where this book came from, but a quick Google search showed me that there are lots of options out there and I’m sure your local library can also help!
Getting Started
Last year, we ended up with more taps than buckets; my father-in-law had procured these buckets in late spring 2021 and this was the random assortment that he had obtained. We purchased a fourth bucket from Leader Evaporator Company. Tapping the trees is a fun activity for kids, so we also invited the neighbor kids down to use the power drill and hammer to hang the buckets. They have all claimed their buckets and regularly debate whose bucket is producing more.
That Escalated Quickly!
Looking ahead at the weather on tapping day, I knew we would probably start to see some sap, but I expected boiling wouldn’t happen until either the following weekend or even the one after that. Yikes was I wrong! It was the perfect sugaring weather. Even when it was cloudy, the days were above freezing and definitely below at night. On Wednesday, it was particularly sunny and around 40 degrees. I had a sneaking suspicion that the trees would be producing well that day, especially our big tree with the two taps.
That’s a lot of sap coming out
By 2pm that day I had at least a gallon in each of those two buckets and a bit less in the third – I didn’t check on the random other maple we tapped this year. Sure enough, I had 2.5 gallons. Normally I wouldn’t think we’d need to boil right away. The storage bucket is a 5 gallon one from Home Depot and we stuff it in the snow in a shady part of the lawn to act as an outdoor refrigerator during the week. The problem? There was rain forecasted for Thursday and the day and night temps were expected to stay in the 40s. My natural refrigerator was going to melt and if I didn’t boil, I was also going to have more than 5 gallons of sap on my hands with nowhere to put it.
Here We Go
I can now say it is the start of our sugaring season. I had plans to host a maple open house-type day with our friends in late March, but at this rate we will be done by then. I was so unprepared, I had to use the propane from our grill and I used some large 16″ tiles to create a wind buffer because it was also quite windy.
My thrown together boiling situation
That rolling boil
Some fancy grade A
As you can see, my thrown together boiler worked out just fine but I do want to put together something that blocks the wind a bit better. I started out with my sap in a turkey roasting pan, to get as much surface area exposed for evaporation.
After I went through the entire bucket of sap, I then reduced down to a large canning pot where I sat and watched (essentially) water boil for another hour. Now, it’s been a year and I forgot how the sap can stall out temperature-wise right before it turns to syrup. So I made the mistake of bringing it into the house to finish at around 215 degrees Fahrenheit. It boiled indoors for another HOUR. You might think, at least you were inside. But the steam that comes off of the pot has sugar in in it and I was not interested in coating the kitchen in a thin layer of maple syrup.
I was also hoping to use the hydrometer to determine when the sap had finally become syrup, but we didn’t have the skinny cup to actually use the hydrometer. I quickly placed an order for one, but we were going to have to rely on the thermometer for this one. In the end, we were able to boil down 2.5 gallons to just shy of a pint. Got some lovely sugar sand in there, too. This is just some crystallization from the boiling process. While we do filter the syrup at a couple of different stages, it just happens sometimes. While aesthetically not desirable when selling commercially, we aren’t fussy and we will still enjoy this tasty Vermont gravy.
End of season update
It was a very successful sugaring season for us this year, with nearly 40 gallons of sap boiled down to a gallon of syrup. I love how the color of the syrup darkens as the season goes on, making a lovely little maple syrup rainbow on our storage shelf. I can’t wait for next season!
If you saw my post from 2021, you will remember my affordable and DIY alternative to those fancy cedar garden beds. I was so happy with my previous creation, that I decided to do an entire vegetable garden upgrade and add some more beds and put up a more permanent fence.
The TL;DR:
Vegetable Garden Upgrade Back to Basics
I’ll be honest, when I went back to my original beds from last year, I have no idea why I measured the depth of each bed less than 36″. To make things easier, I decided to go with 36″ because it was half a full board. Building more beds behind my original beds was super simple and only took 3 cedar boards per bed. I also decided to shore things up a bit more and add 24″ stakes as the main supports and one in the middle of the front boards to prevent warping.
My 2021 Garden
No More Free Lunch
I love where we live, especially the wildlife that pass through our property. I don’t love how they often think of my property as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Our biggest offenders are deer, rabbits, and gophers. Now that I think I have the final footprint of my vegetable garden mapped out, I am ready for a more permanent fence.
I put together a total of 8 garden beds, with some room for 2 more beds at the back for another year (I just ran out of time ahead of the growing season!). To solve for the gopher problem, I committed to digging a 24″ trench around the entire garden area. Why 2 feet? From what I’ve read online, 18″-36″ is the key depth to keep those pesky critters from digging into the garden.
The first giant tree root
I purchased this galvenized fencing to put in the trench. I went with a 4-foot tall fence so that some stuck up above ground to dissuade any gophers that are inclined to climb and stop bunnies from nibbling their way in. This was a critical step in my vegetable garden upgrade. There is nothing worse than watching , waiting, and tending to the garden only to have it completely sabotaged by some furry friends who don’t even have the decency to finish eating that squash.
Let me tell you, getting this fence into the ground? This was the hardest part. And my soil is sand. But when I get an idea in my head, I go all out. I will NOT lose this game to some furry residents. I also had to contend with tree roots. Some of these roots were easy to remove with hand clippers, others required the Sawzall. But boy, oh boy, I was getting a work out removing some of the heftier roots by the biggest stump. It was completely unavoidable. This is the sunniest spot on the property where I can put a garden and I was all in on this vegetable garden upgrade.
The one that almost defeated me
The Deer Fence
From there, keeping the deer out was relatively simple! These green t-posts were perfect for the job. Because this fence is for keeping visitors out, I installed each post with the studs pointing out. Each post is also 2-feet below ground, leaving me with a 4-foot high fence. A simple deer barrier was hung on the posts. The barrier came as an 8-foot wide roll, so I just doubled up the fencing as I went around the garden.
The end-of-season result. Well worth the effort!
The Final Steps in the Vegetable Garden Upgrade
To get in and out of the garden with ease, I made a simple door by attaching the end of the barrier to a garden stake. This attached to the middle post with clips. You could get an extra t-post and make an actual doorway, but I’m not fussy and the deer don’t have that kind of dexterity!
Voila! My vegetable garden upgrade is complete. Just in time to plant the carrots, too.
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