If you're curious about how to grow stevia, the all-natural sweetener herb, I've got the answers for you. Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is a plant native ...

If you’ve always wanted to grow your own food but you kill plastic plants, this is the gardening website for you.
Welcome to Home Garden Joy! I’ll teach you how to grow delicious fruit and vegetables, and how to grow and use common herbs for health and wellness. New to gardening? I’ve got you covered with over 1,000 articles on everything from apples to zinnias. So come on in – soon you’ll have a garden to be proud of!


This morning on Facebook, I shared pictures of our fruit tree orchard here at Seven Oaks Farm (that’s where I write to you from…my little farm in south central Virginia.) People seem to love seeing pictures of the trees in bloom, and I often answer a lot of questions about growing fruit. I published an…

What to plant in early spring depends on your gardening zone, but there are many great choices for vegetable gardening that can make your backyard garden productive early in the season. Spring Vegetable Gardening With careful planning, the average backyard gardener in most gardening zones in the United States can grow fresh, organic vegetables throughout…

Beans – whether green beans, snap beans, heirloom beans, or any other kind of beans – are easy to grow organically. They need warm temperatures, full sunshine, and fertile soil to grow at their best. While there are insect pests that will eat the leaves of bean plants, they generally don’t harm the beans themselves,…

How to Test Soil pH If you slept through high school chemistry class, never fear. You can still learn the basics of soil pH for vegetables to ensure a great garden this year. pH refers to the scale of acid to alkaline, a scale developed in the early 20th century by chemists trying to describe…

We were on our evening walk last night when this beauty crossed our path: a polyphemus moth caterpillar. What Is the Polymphemus Moth? The Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is a large and visually striking moth native to North America. It belongs to the Saturniidae family, which includes many of the giant silk moths. Its name…
