If you are looking for information on how to start a vegetable garden from scratch, you may find yourself lost in a sea of advice. I’ll make it easy for your start a backyard vegetable garden by breaking down the steps into four simple categories: Location, Soil, Size, Timing. Where Should You Plant Your Vegetables?…
Learn How to Garden
Welcome to Home Garden Joy, the place to learn all about gardening, self-care with herbs, and home cooking from scratch.
I wasn’t always a homebody. For many years, I thrived in the fast-paced concrete jungles of New York City as a marketing executive. I chose to give up that lifestyle in 2007 and move onto a 17 acre farm. What I gained by giving up is a peaceful existence that is true to my nature – a homebody who loves nothing more than digging deeply into the soil, putting down roots, and blooming where I’m planted.
What Will You Find at Home Garden Joy?
The site is filled with everything you need to know to start a garden from scratch. You can learn how to grow vegetables, flowers, herbs, fruit, and more. And, I also share plenty of recipes to help you preserve, store and enjoy the harvest.
In addition to the Learn to Garden section which has plenty of basic gardening information, I also run the Home GardenJoy Academy on Teachable (gardening classes) and offer books on gardening, too. And my new section called Cooking with Fannie & Me helps you master home cooking with my reviews of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
Meet the Gardener – Jeanne Grunert
Hi, I'm Jeanne Grunert. I'm your host here at Home Garden Joy. I'm a Virginia Master Gardener, herbalist, and writer.
In 2007, I did what my family and friends said was crazy. I quit my stressful job as a New York City executive and moved with my family to a 17-acre farm in rural Virginia, Seven Oaks. There, I dared to grow my life instead of just make a living. I was on the vanguard of what today is called 'the great resignation' and the 'great migration' out of the cities. The pandemic has pushed many other people into making the choice to embrace a home-based, healthier lifestyle and to give up the frantic pace of city life. I hope that my journey over the past 15 years serves as an inspiration to those of you new to gardening, self-care with herbs, cooking from scratch, and working from home.