Plus, how to make a cup of tea straight from your harvest.
If your 2024 New Year’s resolution was to finally start that home garden, but that soil you purchased is still sitting unopened in a closet, you probably think you’ve missed the boat by now. The weather has cooled, and you haven’t built that cute little garden you’ve always wanted. Well, we’re here to tell you that you’ve still got a chance to join the pack of home grown enthusiasts with tips and tricks from Bailey Van Tassel, author of Kitchen Garden Living: Seasonal Growing and Eating from a Beautiful, Bountiful Food Garden. She shared some simple pointers for getting started later in the year — or after the holiday season, if you end up punting your goal to grow your own food to 2025. Either way, your FOMO will fade after you’ve gleaned inspiration from Van Tassel’s expertise. And if you’ve already got a garden going, she’s got some really original ideas on how to use your bounty for seasonal decorating.
Bailey Van Tassel’s gardening advice for beginners
Simply seeking gardening inspo that can get you outside and planting? Don’t start from scratch: “My biggest tip is more of a release of obligation,” Van Tassel says. “Start with transplants and not with seeds. It doesn’t make you less of a gardener. Buy a little four-inch seedling starter plant from the nursery and go from there.”
While you’re at the nursery, Van Tassel says you can make sure to pick up some quality dirt — the extra effort will pay off. “Always invest in good soil. If you have good soil, the odds of whatever you plant thriving are much, much higher.”
Always have trouble with plants drying out? “There’s a little rule of thumb, or I should say a rule of index finger: Push your finger down into the soil and pull it back up. If your knuckle is completely dry, your garden needs to be watered. If there’s damp soil clinging to your finger, it’s good.”
Lastly, Van Tassel points out that — no matter how green your thumb may be — failure is just part of the process. “I also like to tell every single gardener, no matter how long they’ve been doing it, that you’ll fail. We have bad seasons. Your tomatoes get blighted. There’s so much that is actually out of your control. So failing fast and honing your instincts is a part of the process.”“At the end of the day, grow something that excites you, something that you’ll eat, and something that’s pretty,” Van Tassel advises. Now, that’s a guideline we can get behind.
Can you start a garden in fall and winter?
We often think of gardening as a warm-weather activity, which can lead us to procrastinate planting until spring. But Van Tassel says that that doesn’t have to be the case.
“It depends on where you live in the country. Some people absolutely can start gardening in the fall. The U.S. is broken into roughly seven hardiness zones, starting with U.S. Zone 3 going to U.S. Zone 10. Those are the most common, with the outliers being subtropical like Hawaii or quite north like Alaska.”
While that sounds pretty complicated, you only need to know your own hardiness zone. Luckily, the USDA has put together a handy hardiness zone guide; simply type in your zip code and you’ll learn where you stand. Once you know your zone, you can pinpoint which plants will grow best at which time of year in your own particular climate. After all, there’s going to be a big difference in what you can grow in sunny California versus snowy Connecticut.
“For people in zones nine and 10, fall gardening is going to be an exceptional time to start gardening,” Van Tassel adds — these zones are known for mild winters, so more plants can thrive during colder months.
“For the rest of the country, you certainly can be gardening later in the year,” Van Tassel assures us. “But if it’s your first season, it’s a little trickier. You want to have some plans in place for overwintering your vegetables and cold protection. Have mulch or wire hoops ready to go — the hoops create a little arc over your beds, and putting some fleece on top protects them from the elements.”
Van Tassel elaborates: “Overwintering — or protecting a plant during winter — is really cool with vegetable gardening because the cold actually enhances and spikes the natural sugar content in any root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, and beets. So when you leave them in the ground and protect the foliage from actually touching snow, you should be able to keep those veggies alive. Then they get really naturally sweet and will be the most exceptionally tasting veggies you’ve ever had.”
She adds, “there are other ways to garden in the winter, like having perennials in the garden. If you grow a perennial like artichokes, for example, you’d want to just cut those back and mulch them.”
How to recycle garden waste
So you’ve started your garden, which means you’re also cleaning your garden pretty regularly. Before you toss those cuttings in the trash, though, think about putting them to use: “People love to clean up debris, but instead of discarding everything, I urge them to create something called a bug snug — a really cool insect habitat. Use all the fallen leaves and extra sticks, all those cuttings from pruning perennials — save all of that, stack it up, put it in a little tipi formation, or create some really cool live hedges.”
“All the insects that need to overwinter can stay cozy in those,” Van Tassel says. “You’ll still get to clean everything, but then you’re moving any of that debris that seems rather healthy and repurposing it for the winter. It’s also a really good family activity — if you have kids around, have them go get all the sticks, and they can make that lovely little tipi shape and then start stacking everything.”
How to use your harvest in winter celebrations and holidays
“Harvest happens in the fall,” Van Tassel says. “If you let some things go, you can use them for decoration.” In other words, experiment with leaving some of your plants out in the elements, past harvesting time, to see what they might become. “For example, we see people decorating for fall with big, tall, beautiful, dried-out corn stalks. That’s because they harvested their corn, and then they let the stalks sit and dry out.”
“If you want to decorate a beautiful fall harvest tablescape, cut some of your extra sunflowers for the table,” Van Tassel adds. “Then, leave some of those sunflowers out for the birds. Finally, take some of those big sunflower heads and grill them to eat. Make it a 360-degree experience.”
Looking for unique details to add to that fall dinner party? “If people are coming over for dinner, I’ll tell the kids, ‘OK, go collect 10 of the prettiest leaves you can find and bring them in, and we’ll write people’s names on them for place cards.’ It’s so thoughtful to people because we’ve become so accustomed to Amazon place cards or buying things from Costco in bulk.”
“Another fun winter treat is to snag a cutting of chocolate mint. It’s a special variety of mint that has a chocolatey taste to it, reminiscent of a peppermint pattie. Put a couple of sprigs in your coffee and feel your body sink into the winter season naturally.”
Speaking of cozy, hot beverages, Van Tassel lent us some tea recipes that she makes with a variety of home-grown herbs. Not able to start your kitchen garden anytime soon? You can also buy these dried herbs to get in on the action.
Bailey Van Tassel’s DIY tea blends
These three tea blends can be made with plants that grow well in a kitchen garden. The plants to grow are roses, chamomile, mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, and tulsi. All of these do very well mixed in with your vegetables or on their own. They’re also typically available in a garden center to buy as transplants, so you don’t have to start them from seed. They have many beneficial properties, but the below blends carry some of the most common benefits.
Homegrown Sleepytime
- 1 Tablespoon dried chamomile
- 1 Tablespoon of dried lemon balm
- 1/2 Tablespoon of dried mint
Steep this tea in 8 oz hot water (but not too hot so as to damage the volatile oils) for about seven minutes.
Anti-Anxie-Tea
- 1 Tablespoon dried lemon verbena
- 2 Tablespoons of dried lemon balm
Steep this tea in 8 oz hot water (but not too hot so as to damage the volatile oils) for about seven minutes.
Beauty Blend
- 2 Tablespoons of dried rose petals
- 1 Teaspoon tulsi
Steep this tea in 8 oz hot water (but not too hot so as to damage the volatile oils) for about seven minutes.
