How To Fill A Raised Bed With Healthy Soil (& Save Money!)
You’ve built yourself a raised bed (or maybe you’ve put together one of these ready made kits), you’ve avoided all the common raised bed mistakes, but now it’s time to …
You’ve built yourself a raised bed (or maybe you’ve put together one of these ready made kits), you’ve avoided all the common raised bed mistakes, but now it’s time to …
Strongly flavored and incredibly versatile, onions (Allium cepa) are a hardy, cool season crop closely related to garlic, leeks, and chives. Onions have been cultivated and selectively bred for at …
Gardening “up” instead of “down” in raised beds simply means the growing medium is elevated above ground level. At its most basic, raised gardening can be achieved by mounding up …
Ground covers are low-lying plants that spread by creeping along the surface of the soil. Spanning beautiful flowering plants that carpet the landscape to handsome foliage that brings texture and …
Melothria scabra goes by many names but perhaps cucamelon is the most fitting. Also known as Mexican sour gherkin, mouse melon, pepquiño, and sandiita which means “little watermelon” in Spanish. …
The aroma and texture of finished compost – or humus – is a divine thing. Rich, dark, and crumbly, humus has a sweet, loamy, and deeply earthy scent that is …
When you reside in climate with a winter solstice, any way you can extend the growing season is an absolute win. For many, starting seeds indoors will help to jump …
Gardens of the north enter a state of deep slumber from December to March. Covered by a blanket of snow, winter temperatures are often too cold and daylight hours too …
Nature abounds with the perfect materials for decorating the home this Christmas season. Pine cones, evergreen sprigs, leaves, berries, branches, birch bark, and more, can often be found right in …
A mainstay in herbal gardens the world over, basil (Ocimum basilicum) is an intensely fragrant culinary herb in the mint family. Basil is a sun loving plant, native to the …
Native to the Middle East, the pistachio tree (Pistacia vera) is a long lived desert plant that bears clusters of small reddish drupes. Pistachio drupes need long, hot, and dry …
Turning food scraps, yard waste, and other organic materials into free fertilizer is one of the best things you can do to elevate your gardening game. Not only does composting …
Composting is nature’s inherent nutrient recycling system. Anything and everything of organic origin is part of it, where death and decay means a return to life and growth. Over and …
Cardboard is certainly a welcome sight in the eye of the gardener. Often free and fairly ubiquitous, cardboard is a biodegradable and earth-friendly material that enriches as it breaks down. …
Bacon is like no other protein. As a type of salt cured pork, bacon has a unique flavor profile that is above all savory and salty. Made crunchy or chewy, …
A super spicy cultivar within the chili pepper family, the habanero (Capsicum chinense) is like a little ball of fire. Native to the Amazon and domesticated some 8,500 years ago, …
Flowering bulbs (and corms and tubers) are early harbingers of spring, providing some much needed color and beauty after a long and dreary winter season. Aside from buoying our spirits, …
When you live in a part of the world with distinct seasons, dutifully checking the weather forecast every day is a semi-annual gardening tradition. Sudden swings in temperature in late …
Lemons are such an amazing and versatile ingredient, it’s always a good idea to have some on hand. The sweet and sour flavoring of all parts of the lemon fruit …
Broadly defined, invasive plants are non-native species introduced to a particular region where they are able to spread far and wide. Exotic plants from faraway lands may be beautiful but …
Unless you have a bidet, you likely have a constant stream of toilet paper rolls coming through the home. While you can certainly recycle them or tear them up to …
Wasps have earned a reputation for being the absolute jerks of the flying insect community. With menacing looks and an aggressive behavior that fears precisely no one, wasps are equipped …
The key to a low maintenance and low cost garden is to grow a variety of plants that readily self-seed. While most of the typical garden cultivars would require you …
Mushroom growing – or fungiculture – is a fun, fascinating, and rewarding hobby that offers an altogether different experience from cultivating green plants. Successfully rearing mushrooms requires three basic things: …