Hanging baskets, window boxes, railing planters, and a healthy number of terracotta pots are just the thing to elevate a monotone porch or patio into a heavenly place filled with …
Where I live in zone 5b, the final vestiges of winter are – at long last – behind us. Days past the last frost date, we had some very cool …
I’m of the mind that there are few landscaping problems that more plants can’t solve. Need privacy, better drainage, weed displacement, or to cover up an ugly view? Well, there’s …
Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) is an ancient North American species, wilder than most other plants you can grow in your edible landscape. Having only been in cultivation for about 100 years …
As any seasoned weed-puller knows, keeping on top of weedy growth in the lawn and garden is a never-ending grind. Some weeds are easy, yank them up once and they’re …
The climes, they are a-changin’. Depending on where you live, winters might be trending milder or chillier. Frost dates, once fairly accurate, are shifting. The arrival of fool’s spring wakes …
There’s something uniquely special about trees. Trees give us cool shade in summertime and spectacular color in fall. They help take the dullness out of the winter landscape and are …
Earthworms are among the most beloved residents in the home garden. Tireless in their quest to tunnel, feed, and poop, worms are amazing for aerating the soil, breaking down organic …
The period between 1929 and 1939 was one of widespread human suffering. At no other time in modern history had there been such a drastic drop in standards of living …
The transition from crisp and colorful autumn leaves to crumbly and dark leaf mold is – normally – a very slow process. Do nothing more than rake your leaves into …
A raised garden bed, freshly filled up with healthy soil for the first time, is a wonderful thing. The soil mix is fluffy and porous and an absolute delight to …
A hori hori is really the ideal tool for us easily distracted gardeners. Maybe you know the drill. You set out into the garden with a specific task in mind …
Every spring in temperate climates, shade trees wake up from a long winter’s nap. Their expansive root systems run deep into the earth, pulling up nitrogen and other important nutrients …
Caring for a compost pile is much like tending a garden. We feed it, we water it, we give it good airflow. And in return, we get to see the …
Because chickens have a narrow intestinal tract, they like to eat often but in small portions. This means that chickens are almost always hungry and food obsessed. Keep them well-fed …
Urine is an incredibly valuable resource – one that’s free and readily available to everyone, but it gets flushed down the toilet every day, without a second thought. That hasn’t …
Earwigs are abundant in the moist and dark nooks of the garden. Moving a flower pot or overturning a stone can be a startling reminder of their presence, revealing dozens …
At first glance, plants might appear totally helpless against insects, herbivores, and other leaf-gobbling predators. Like sitting ducks, plants are rooted in one spot so they can’t do the whole …
Learn from my mistakes – always, always survey your working area before packing it in for the day. Or else…this will happen: Yup, gardening tools left outside to weather the …
As gardeners, it’s often necessary to wear different hats for all the various jobs that tending a garden entails. Depending on the day (and time of year), we’re site planners, …
Fruit-bearing trees that are left to grow just as nature intended will become massive over time. Although beautiful, mature fruit trees with large spreading canopies and dense crowns will shade …
A thriving garden ecosystem is like a world in miniature. Right under our noses, there’s a constant struggle for survival going on. Between battles for food and territory, mating rituals …
Raspberries (Rubus spp.) are sun-loving, thorny, rambling plants in the Rose family. It’s absolutely worth a few prickles for the heavenly taste of the sweet, delicate berries, straight off the …
Right up there with ants, wasps, and mosquitoes, house flies are one of the summer’s most annoying insect pests. (Although you really do need to learn to love wasps.) Getting …