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About Home Garden Joy

Contact: jeanne@homegardenjoy.com

Home Garden Joy is a media company built with heart. Since 2007, when award‑winning writer and master gardener Jeanne Grunert planted the first seeds, we’ve focused on nourishing you — mind, body, and spirit. We’re all about helping you grow, settle in, and create a life that feeds your soul.

Home Garden Joy: Grow What Nourishes You

My goal with Home Garden Joy is to help you grow what nourishes you. Beautiful roses? A windowsill full of orchids or African violets? A collection of rose-covered china lovingly acquired over years of thrifting? Your skills as a chef – cooking, baking, and preparing nourishing meals?

We’re each nourished by different things. Here on Home Garden Joy, you will delight in the gardening lifestyle – growing, cooking, sharing your garden’s bounty. You’ll also find a treasure of seasonal recipes and thrifted, vintage treasures. And, because I love to read (I am a writer after all!) I share my favorite cookbooks, homemaking books, and books to nourish your spirit.

Jeanne and Squeaker

My Story: Growing a Life Instead of Making a Living

In 2007, I did something my family and friends thought was crazy. I quit my high-powered executive job in New York City. With my husband John and my cat riding on a tower of pillows in the back seat of the car, we moved from New York to rural Virginia. There, we grew our lives instead of merely making a living.

We cleared three acres. We built a home. I designed a formal perennial garden. We planted an orchard: apple, pear, peach, plum, apricot, cherry, and nectarine trees. My husband helped me plan and build a raised-bed vegetable garden. I taught myself hot-water bath canning and pressure canning, and preserved the harvest. Together, we learned how to live in harmony with nature and with ourselves.

Home Garden Joy is where I share all that I have learned on this wonderful journey from stressed-out executive to full-time entrepreneur. Today, I make my living running Home Garden Joy media and Seven Oaks Consulting, a marketing and writing agency. (Yes, we accept clients. Head on over to learn more!)

Our Gardens Featured in Virginia Gardener Magazine

spangled fritillary butterfly on butterfly weed

Our butterfly garden was featured in a 2015 issue of Virginia Gardener magazine. Jeanne also served as the Ask the Expert columnist for Virginia Gardener until the magazine closed in 2019.

Featured by The American Horticultural Society

Jeanne Grunert was featured on the American Horticultural Society’s “Plant Chat” program. She shared tips on raising houseplants with AHS members.

Awards

Home Garden Joy has won more than six prominent blogging awards over the past decade. In 2026, we were featured as both one of the Best Gardening Blogs and Best Southern Gardening Blogs by Feedspot.

Advertising

We participate in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. We disclose this throughout the blog. When you make purchases from these companies using the links on our website, we make a commission.

We participate in the Grow/MediaVine Advertising network.

We are open to the following paid collaborations:

Product reviews: If you would like us to review your garden, home product, or books, please contact us. We do not charge a fee for reviews. We request a free product to test. You will receive a fair and honest review of the product on our website.

We DO NOT accept paid article placement, guest posts, or link insertions or exchanges. Because we receive so many requests for these services, and clearly state that we do not accept any of them, we do not reply to emails pitching us for paid placements, paid link placements, or free guest posts. We are not accepting submissions from writers.

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a red knockout rose

June Gardening Tips: Everything You Need to Do in Your Garden This Month

I’m sharing these June gardening tips for gardening zone 7B. However, you can easily adapt them to your gardening zone. June is one of those months that feels like there’s so much to do in the garden you don’t know where to start. Fortunately, nature gives you extra-long days and plenty of sunshine! Whether you…

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watering can with plants

Growing Ginger in the Home Garden

Growing ginger is fun. I was surprised to learn that I could grow ginger in Zone 7B, central Virginia. I attended a lecture by Ann Codrington of Nisani Farms several years ago. She discussed growing both ginger and turmeric. Her farm is in Maryland, but I discovered that both plants can be grown in both…

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borage flower

Companion Planting with Herbs: Your Secret Weapon for a Healthier, Happier Garden

Every summer, without fail, I plant basil at the end of the raised beds. These are the beds filled with Roma tomatoes, the ones we harvest by the bushel to make our salt-free organic tomato sauce. My tomatoes thrive. “Did you know that basil repels aphids?” an organic gardener friend mentioned to me casually one…

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chive plants in bloom with lettuce

Growing vs. Wild Foraging Medicinal Herbs: My Perspective

Growing vs. wild foraging medicinal herbs is a real concern among newbie herbalists. The other day, I shared pictures of my herb seedlings (mallow, parsley, and savory) on Facebook. A nervous nellie immediately wrote, “I would be so AFRAID to do that! How can you know they are safe?” Well, first of all, parsley and…

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