July is great! I’m always ready to eat my body weight in sweetcorn and watermelon. The fireflies are floating up from the grass at night. And my flower beds are…well, …
I don’t know what it is about tomatoes, but they bring out the competitive gardener in me. When it comes to my tomato plants, I want earlier tomatoes, more tomatoes, …
As gardeners, there’s often this weird belief that if we don’t get our gardens planted within weeks of that all-important final frost date, the whole season is lost. But that’s …
Every spring, I’m amazed by my peonies. It still blows my mind that such a massive, frilly blossom comes from a bud roughly the size of a large marble. Aren’t …
Tomatoes are the drama queens of the vegetable garden. One minute, they’re growing along nicely, filling out with flower clusters and beautiful fruit; the next, they’re throwing a full-blown tantrum. …
If you’re growing tomatoes (whether it’s your first year or your fiftieth), you’ve probably noticed that as the season progresses, the leaves towards the bottom of the plant turn yellow. …
When was the last time you took a good look at your landscaping? If it’s been a few years, you might be wondering how well your landscaping has aged. Here …
Who doesn’t love hydrangeas? With their giant mopheads of icy blue, soft mauve or creamy white flowers, it’s no wonder they’re one of the most popular flowering shrubs out there. …
Growing lavender means happy buzzing bees and patches of fragrant blossoms in dusky purple. Not to mention glasses of lavender lemonade. But if your lavender is looking lush and leafy …
Your tomatoes are doing great! They’re filling out and growing sturdy and strong, and you’ve got blossom clusters popping up. It won’t be long until you’re enjoying fresh tomatoes. But …
RoundUp is a bad word in our house. Thankfully, this sentiment is spreading. More people are becoming aware of the dangers of using long-lasting chemicals, such as glyphosate, that have …
Okay, I admit that headline is a bit much, but it’s true. Buzzing your tomatoes at noon will lead to a larger harvest of fruit. You may have even heard …
Irises are often the first flower to kick off the summer perennial season. So it can be incredibly frustrating when that tall crop of sword-shaped leaves ends up being just …
Indeterminate tomatoes are like that friend who runs marathons. They just keep going. Once they finish one marathon, they’re already training for the other. From the time you pick that …
Peonies always make me think of weddings. They’re such a romantic flower, so frilly and beautiful in shades of creamy white, soft pink or magenta. What bride wouldn’t want a …
June is a bit like coming up to the top of the first drop of a roller coaster ride. It’s that slow and steady rise above the daffodils and crocus, …
Last weekend, my friend and I were at Home Depot picking up bags of Quikrete. He was helping me reinstall my clothesline after a tornado went through my yard in …
I could spend hours at my local garden store. I find it infinitely relaxing to look at what plants they have in store and imagine the possibilities, the layouts, the …
Determinate tomatoes are the scrappy, short guys of the tomato world. These compact, bushy varieties have been bred to grow to a certain height, set all their fruit within a …
There comes a moment every spring when my garden threatens to run away from me. One minute, everything is barely waking up, and then I blink, and I’ve got a …
There’s nothing quite like the taste of the first strawberry picked straight from the vine. Reaching under those scratchy leaves to pick a ruby-red berry, warmed by the sun. With …
One of my plant-buying pet peeves is when plants come with labels that do more harm than good. Most of the time, it’s just confusing or incomplete information. (Such as …
If you’re tired of flavorless mesclun mixes that spoil the day after you bring them home from the store, you’ll want to keep reading. Even if, like me, you’re a …
I love gardening. But I like sitting on the porch admiring my garden a whole heck of a lot more, especially when the mercury starts to climb. As summer cranks …
If asked to sum up zucchini in one word, I would say “prolific.” It seems as though once it takes off, it doesn’t stop until that first frost at the …