What to Plant Even if You Have a Black Thumb

If you're trying to grow you're own food and find yourself struggling ~ take a deep breath because today I've got some suggestions that might just help you to get you're foot in the door and turn your black thumb to green!

My husband happens to come from a family with natural green thumbs. Growing their own food has been a way of life for generations ~ and it never was called 'homesteading' ~ growing their own food was simply how they put food on the table. Now, my husband didn't grow up actively involved in his family's large gardens, but he was around and has inherited an amazing green thumb. Me, I'm from the opposite end of the spectrum, and to say I have a black thumb is putting it mildly. I am getting better at it and over the years I have gleaned some wonderful gardening wisdom from my husband's family of master gardeners.

I've come to realize that no matter how gifted of a farmer one may be, they can't ever outdo the Almighty Good Lord Above. For it is only through God's mercy and grace that anyone can grow anything. Drought, flood, pestilence, frost, and a host of other annoying nuisances can destroy a crop quicker than you can blink an eye. Yes, there are things you can do to help lesson the effects of such gardening attacks, but sometimes your crops are simply doomed to die.

When it comes to learning the art of growing your own food, I highly recommend searching out fellow farmers in your region to find out what grows best. Making friends in the homesteading world is a major blessing and we would not be where we are today if it weren't for the help of those who've traveled this road before us. Learn from them, do not be afraid to ask them sincere questions, most folks like us love to 'chew the fat' over our gardens, lol! We are all in this together and share a passion like none other.

Ok, now on to the ONE crop I believe everyone should have on their homestead because it's nearly fail proof and will yield copious amounts of produce every year with little to no effort. Sounds pretty awesome, huh? The number one plant I believe all homesteaders and even backyard gardeners should have on their property is berry bushes. Yes, I said berry bushes! Now each region is going to have their own berries which grow best, but over the years I've heard numerous amounts of fellow homesteaders having great success with a variety of different berry producing bushes.

In our region it's nearly impossible to kill blackberries. So, we grow blackberries. I'm not kidding y'all when I tell you we pick gallons of blackberries a year and we do nothing to them, but let them grow. We've actually tilled up a blackberry patch to plant something else in that spot and if we weren't diligent to continue tilling that area, they would come back. My parents who live in Ohio and struggle to grow a typical garden have raspberry bushes, and y'all they produce like CRAZY! Now, we can't grow raspberries down in our area ~ we've tried to no avail. So when I say search around and find what grows in your region, do that, and I'm confident your gardening efforts will show vast improvements.

Growing your own food can have tedious learning curves, but I'm a firm believer it is well worth the effort. Most of the times it seems gardening is simply trial and error. Never give up, never lose hope, and keep trying. When one method fails, try another. And to be frank sometimes it's not even your gardening methods, sometimes it just wasn't meant to be for a particular crop to grow. I can't tell you how many crops we've lost over the years. Yes, it can be discouraging, but that's when you have to dig your feet in deeper and keep plugging away. Continue remembering your reasons why ~ You've got this friends!

With Love & Hope,
Jennifer