Iowabackyardfarmer

Iowabackyardfarmer Follow us as we grow a beautiful landscape filled with 100's of edible and delicious plants in our suburban backyard. Check out our spring plant sale too!

04/15/2026

Today’s greenhouse update - greenhouse #3 is now full of newly transplanted tomatoes!

It's almost time to build the flower baskets! What is your favorite type of flower to have in a hanging basket?
04/11/2026

It's almost time to build the flower baskets! What is your favorite type of flower to have in a hanging basket?

Have you ever seen such an odd tomato name? Don’t worry, we are not selling these as plants. These are tomato rootstoc...
04/05/2026

Have you ever seen such an odd tomato name? Don’t worry, we are not selling these as plants. These are tomato rootstocks for grafting. This year are are trying our hand at grafting these incredibly disease tolerant root stock with the tops of other tomato varieties that we all know and love to give them super powers over root diseases and improve stress tolerance and production. We trialed a couple of grafted tomatoes that we purchased online last year and while they arrived looking pretty subpar, they surpassed their non-grafted equivalents by mid year so we are trying our hand at it this week.

Do you have a particular favorite tomato you would like to see us try grafted vs not-grafted? Do you have any you want us to graft for you? Let us know in the next day or two!

Gonna be a cold one tonight with our backyard forecast for the upper teens. Luckily the plants in the greenhouse should...
03/28/2026

Gonna be a cold one tonight with our backyard forecast for the upper teens. Luckily the plants in the greenhouse should stay warm and cozy with the heaters on and all the rest of the plants are still inside basking under the glow of their grow lights. Can you spot your tomato plants in the picture?

We filled our first greenhouse on Saturday! Definitely jumped an energy level with 91 degrees on Saturday (a record hig...
03/23/2026

We filled our first greenhouse on Saturday! Definitely jumped an energy level with 91 degrees on Saturday (a record high for that date) and 25 degrees this morning.

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being very high, how anxious are you to get something planted in your garden?

Look what’s growing today!
02/27/2026

Look what’s growing today!

And so it begins! The 2026 season seeds have arrived, and the 2026 Plant Sale Preorder list has been posted. One major ...
02/09/2026

And so it begins! The 2026 season seeds have arrived, and the 2026 Plant Sale Preorder list has been posted. One major change is we switched suppliers for the seed packets we offer. This year we are offering MIgardener seed packets and plant food. MIgardener has a much better selection of varieties and a much better price, so please check both our plants and seeds!

We are taking preorders starting now with pick up available in May. We’re looking forward to growing great gardens with you this year!
Check out the list here: https://www.iowabackyardfarmer.org/springplantsale.html

10/11/2025
Seeds are dark brown and the taste and texture are perfect. Time to pick our McIntosh apples!
09/06/2025

Seeds are dark brown and the taste and texture are perfect. Time to pick our McIntosh apples!

We’ve canned all the pears we’ll need this years. What’s left are past their prime but might make some chickens happy. ...
09/06/2025

We’ve canned all the pears we’ll need this years. What’s left are past their prime but might make some chickens happy. Let us know if you would like some!

Today was the first Saturday in more than two months in which we didn’t have commitments to be somewhere else. It felt ...
08/24/2025

Today was the first Saturday in more than two months in which we didn’t have commitments to be somewhere else. It felt great to finally get back to the garden and get a little bit of harvesting done. What did you harvest this weekend?

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3006 SE 22nd Street
Ankeny, IA
50021

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A Little Back Story on the Backyard

Steven grew up on a farm, has a Masters degree in Agronomy, and is a Certified Crop Advisor. I have gardened my whole life, worked at nursery centers, and love the beauty of the outdoors. We met in an agricultural accounting class in college where I was getting a Landscaping Horticulture degree. We fell in love, got married, and had six wonderful children. ​

Growing up on a farm Steven knew the value of good hard work in the outdoors, and we wanted that experience for our family. We thought we needed a big space in order to have these opportunities for our children, but they were growing up so fast and land is expensive. So what could we do? We were already living in a great neighborhood, and were close to church, schools, shopping, and friends. So, what we could do with the space we already had in our suburban lot? We scaled up our regular garden, added edible landscaping, and planted a small orchard to see just how much we could grow in one backyard and still have a lovely place to play in. Our kids help out by planting, harvesting, eating and preserving the food we grow.

We wanted to grow things in a sustainable and regenerative way. We avoid spraying pesticides because we want the freshest, cleanest produce we can get. Our goal is to be able to find something to eat every time we go outside.

​ We wanted it to be a beautiful spot that would add value to our community. From daffodils and tulips in the early spring to a field of summer daylilies and fall asters there are annual and perennial flowers in bloom all season long.