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Welcome to Tough Kraut's Blog
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Here you will find my most recent blog posts. Tough Kraut guides you from city apartments to homesteads. Explore our categories:
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Homestead Chronicles: Follow our journey. Read “A Starter’s Guide” for basics or “Life on the Land” for real stories.
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Cultivate & Thrive: Grow food anywhere. Try “Homegrown Harvests” for balcony tips or “Building Soil” for yards.
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Self-Sufficient Living: Learn off-grid skills. Check “Water Conservation” or “Homesteading & DIY” for practical projects.
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Farm Companions: Use animals and plants smartly. Explore “Natural Pest Control” or “Foraging” for free resources.
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Permie Pantry: Cook and preserve. Start with “Garden-To-Table Recipes” or “Pickle & Preserve” for easy ideas.
Cultivate & Thrive
Grow your garden and organic food with Cultivate & Thrive! From soil prep to harvest, explore practical how-tos, lessons from our land, and tips for raised beds or edible forests. Learn to cultivate food and resilience.
January Winter Sowing & Cold-Hardy Outdoor Planting for Mediterranean Climates
January feels quiet in the garden. Beds look empty. Growth slows. And most advice online tells you to wait. In a Mediterranean Zone 8 garden , that advice leaves food on the table. January is not about speed. It’s about timing, cold tolerance, and trust . The soil is still workable. Frosts are usually light and short. And many plants actually need cold to germinate properly. This is the month where patient gardeners quietly get ahead. If you’ve ever asked: What can I direct
Jan 25
Propagating Fig Tree Cuttings in Late Winter: The Simple “Stick-It-in-the-Ground” Method (Plus 3 Alternatives)
Late winter is fig season for free trees. Late winter is one of those quiet, underrated moments on a homestead. Trees are dormant. The sap has slowed. And suddenly, what looks like pruning waste turns into potential.
This week, I took dormant cuttings from our mature Ficus carica. Some went straight into the ground below the mother tree. Others went into pots and then along our southern fence line. No greenhouse. No humidity domes. No rooting hormones. Just wood, soil, and
Jan 19
January Garden Planning: Seed Orders & Succession Planting for Year-Round Harvest
January has a funny reputation. It looks like a dead month in the garden, but it is the loudest month in your head. Seed catalogs arrive, inboxes fill with “new for 2026,” and suddenly you are convinced you need purple carrots, climbing spinach, and 27 tomato types. January planning means choosing varieties with intention before a single seed hits the soil. Here’s the Tough Kraut truth. January is not for buying more seeds. January is for buying better decisions. And if you g
Jan 15
Garlic Planting 101 for Late-Fall: Clove Selection, Spacing, and Cold-Hardy Varieties for Zones 8–11
Garlic is one of the most forgiving crops you can grow. But it still rewards doing a few things right at the start. Garlic is planted by cloves, not seeds. Larger, healthy cloves give the best results. Late fall is the ideal planting window for garlic in mild climates. Not because of a date on the calendar, but because soil conditions line up perfectly for root development without forcing early leaf growth. If you’re planting garlic for the first time, or want a clean reset
Jan 11
Wood Stove Ash in the Garden: The Safe “Free Fertilizer” Guide
Installing a wood stove is one of those upgrades that quietly changes daily life. After nearly three and a half years living in our mobile home, we finally reached that point in our granite stone house renovation. The cast iron wood burner went in at the beginning of December, and since then the fire has been running almost around the clock. Warmth, comfort, and something else appear almost immediately. Wood stove ash. A jar a day. Sometimes more. If you heat with wood, you w
Jan 8
Winter Garlic Planting in Mild Climates: Soil, Timing, and Late Success
Many gardeners think garlic planting has a hard deadline. Miss it, and the season is “lost.” That idea mostly comes from cold-climate advice. In mild winter regions , garlic follows different rules. The real question is not what month it is, but what your soil is doing right now . If your soil is still workable, not frozen solid, and cool enough to slow top growth, winter garlic planting is still viable , even if you feel late to the party. Preparing garlic planting sites alo
Jan 5
Hardwood Cuttings in Winter: The Lazy Permaculturist’s Way to Clone Your Orchard
Winter looks like nothing is happening. Beds are empty. Leaves are gone. Growth has slowed to a standstill. Most gardeners pack up, wait, and scroll seed catalogs. That’s the illusion. Winter pruning in action. Fresh fig hardwood cuttings go straight from the tree into pots, low effort, no special setup. Because while the garden sleeps, the orchard is ready to multiply . Every winter pruning hides an opportunity. Those bare sticks in your hand are not waste. They are dormant
Dec 26, 2025
Top 8 Low-Maintenance Mediterranean Herbs for Pots (Balcony to Backyard)
Mediterranean summers are brutal. Hot balconies, reflected heat, missed watering, sudden dry winds. On paper, pots should make gardening harder. In practice, they often make it easier— if you follow Mediterranean rules instead of fighting them . “Low maintenance” doesn’t mean no watering. It means sharp drainage, full sun, and deep but infrequent watering . Mediterranean herbs evolved on rocky slopes, not pampered beds. Pots can mimic those conditions better than many garden
Dec 22, 2025
Top 5 Drought-Tolerant Herbs That Like Dry Soil (Mediterranean Garden Staples)
Mediterranean gardens live with a strange contradiction. Winters can be wet, heavy, and unforgiving. Summers arrive dry, bright, and relentless. Many herbs are sold as “drought tolerant,” yet quietly rot away once winter rain settles in. This list is for herbs that prefer dry, well-drained soil . Not plants that merely survive drought, but those that actively suffer in wet, compacted ground. If you garden in a Mediterranean climate, or anywhere with winter rain and summer dro
Dec 19, 2025
Winter Flowers for Mediterranean Gardens: December Color Guide
December in a Mediterranean garden can feel deceptive. The sun still shines. The soil is workable. But color fades fast. Beds look calm, even empty, and many gardeners assume winter means waiting. That is a mistake. Winter flowers are not about spectacle. They are about continuity. They prove the garden is alive even when growth slows. In our Zone 8a conditions here in Portugal, December is one of the most rewarding months for quiet, deliberate beauty. This guide focuses on w
Dec 16, 2025
December in the Mediterranean Garden: Winter Planting & Planning Guide
December looks quiet at first glance. Frost settles on the beds, growth slows, and the garden seems to pause. But in Mediterranean Zones 8–11, this is not downtime. It’s the month where cold-season resilience meets long-term planning. Morning frost catching the first winter sun. In Mediterranean gardens, December frost is often brief and shallow, more pause than problem. Here on our land in Central Portugal, December is less about harvests and more about preparing for the sea
Dec 12, 2025
Bare-Root Trees & Shrubs: December Planting for Mediterranean Food Forests
Every December here in our Zone 8 corner of rural Portugal, the soil shifts. The first real rains quiet the dust, the nights cool, and the whole landscape feels ready to exhale. This is when planting stops being a chore and becomes an opportunity. Bare-root trees arrive at nurseries looking unimpressive — a bundle of sticks, a few roots, and a lot of potential. But these humble bundles are the secret to building a resilient food forest without breaking your budget or your bac
Dec 9, 2025
Turn Fall Leaves into Garden Gold: Composting Strategy for Layers, Microbes & Springtime Fertility
Every November, gardeners everywhere face the same dilemma: towering piles of fallen leaves and no clear plan for dealing with them. Bags stack up, pathways disappear under a crunchy carpet, and the temptation to burn or dump the whole mess grows by the hour. I’ve been there. In my first autumn on our Portuguese land, a strong storm brought down so many oak leaves that I wandered around with bags and containers trying to collect them all before the wind carried them off to Sp
Nov 30, 2025
November Garden Tasks: Final Preparations & Winter Readiness
November sneaks up fast in a Mediterranean garden. One moment you’re still harvesting late peppers and self-seeded tomatoes, and the next you’re watching the first frost creep across the terrace like it owns the place. This is the month when small, steady actions matter more than big projects. Clear the beds. Protect the roots. Drain the hoses. Trim what needs trimming and leave what helps wildlife. These steps don’t just tidy your garden — they set the foundation for resilie
Nov 24, 2025
November Greenhouse Gardening for Mediterranean Winters
Our greenhouse on the second terrace, soaking up the last warm days before winter’s slow rhythm settles in. November on a Mediterranean homestead can feel like a season of contrasts. Sunlight still warms the afternoons, but nights drop fast. Air stays humid longer. Condensation gathers on greenhouse walls. Tender greens grow one moment and stall the next. This is the month where careful greenhouse management makes all the difference between strong winter crops and a disappoin
Nov 18, 2025
Bare-Root Trees & Perennials: November Planting for Mediterranean
November brings a rare window of opportunity to Mediterranean gardeners. The first rains soften the soil, daytime warmth lingers, and the air smells of change. This is when roots want to move. On our land, this is also when we planted our first bare-root apple and cherry trees . The soil was still warm from summer, the sky generous with drizzle, and thanks to the granite stone house’s previous life as a goat and sheep stable, we had plenty of aged manure to mix into the plan
Nov 15, 2025
November planting guide for Zones 8–11: Your Last 3 Weeks to Plant 35+ Crops Before Winter Slows Growth
Short days. Cold nights. Empty beds. November can feel like the end of the road. In Mediterranean Zones 8–11, it is the opposite. You have about three weeks to lock in spinach, roots, alliums, favas, and even bare-root trees while the soil is still warm. Do this now and winter works for you. Skip it and growth stalls until spring. I have made both choices. The “plant now” choice wins every time. Golden autumn in the hills – Portugal’s quiet villages glow before winter settles
Nov 6, 2025
What to Plant in November: Complete Mediterranean Cool-Zone Planting Guide
Our Mediterranean garden rests and regenerates — November’s planting rhythm in full swing. November may sound like a time for rest, but in a Mediterranean garden it’s the quiet builder of next spring’s success. Soil still carries the last whispers of summer warmth, rains return in earnest, and every small task — from sowing hardy greens to protecting brassicas — adds resilience for the months ahead. On our own Portuguese hillside (Zone 8a), November is when the rhythm slows j
Nov 3, 2025
Mediterranean Autumn Flowers & Herbs: October Color Guide
October in a Mediterranean garden feels like an exhale. The harsh summer glare softens, rain teases the dust back into life, and the air finally smells of promise — damp soil, rosemary, and the first brave blooms of calendula. This is the quiet season when Mediterranean autumn flowers and herbs steal the stage, painting terraces with color while feeding the last bees before winter. On our Quinta, it’s the month of simple rituals: spreading mulch around new plantings, trimmin
Oct 28, 2025
Bulbs, Seeds & Storage: October Harvest and Planning Tasks
The last baskets of squash are stacked, the air smells faintly of earth and rain, and half-forgotten bulb packets stare at you from the shed shelf. October has that deceptive calm — harvest behind you, winter ahead — yet this is when quiet action shapes next year’s garden. Now’s the time to plant bulbs before the soil cools, gather and dry seeds while they’re still viable, and tuck cured roots and squash into cool corners. Label, store, and plan — these simple rituals keep ch
Oct 25, 2025
Guides, tips, stories or recipes directly from our off-grid homestead. From newbie tips to pro hacks, our posts help you grow smarter, not harder.
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