Your place for garden ideas, gardening how-to articles, and all things backyard gardening

Welcome to my little garden plot online. Home Garden Joy is your resource for all things gardening from vegetable gardening to garden ideas, plus recipes and ideas to use and share what you grow.

I learned to garden in a small backyard on the outskirts of New York City. My father loved to garden and taught me all about growing vegetables in raised bed gardens. I worked at Martin Viette Nurseries, one of the top 10 garden centers in the United States, in the 1990s. My husband and I lived in a tiny apartment on Long Island, New York. I grew vegetables in pots and containers and dreamed of the day I would move to the country. Home Garden Joy and Seven Oaks Farm is the fulfillment of that dream.

We planted over 30 fruit trees here at Seven Oaks Farm including apple, peach, nectarine, fig, and pear trees. My husband built and fenced a 12-bed raised bed vegetable garden for me. I planned and planted an herb garden as well as a formal flower garden which was featured in an issue of Virginia Gardener magazine.

Since my move to the farm in 2007, I’ve become a Virginia master gardener, written several gardening books, and write a popular gardening column for Virginia Gardener magazine. I love to share what I’ve learned, and this gardening website, Home Garden Joy, is my way of inspiring you to grow a beautiful, joy-filled, garden-inspired life.

 

Need Garden Ideas? Explore Home Garden Joy

• The free Gardening Guides section includes monthly home garden tips, guides to composting and seed starting, and ideas for butterfly gardens and more.
• The blog offers over 1,000 gardening and country living articles, recipes, and more to inspire you.
• My books, available on Amazon, help you learn specific gardening techniques or cover topics in depth.