Gardening

I don’t know about you, friend, but I’m already looking forward to that first juicy ripe tomato come July, which is funny considering there are snow flurries outside my window, …

Nature does her job when we’re not standing over her with a clipboard. But many gardeners want to improve their backyard ecosystem anyway. Everyone who’s gardened for a season or …

Many passionate gardeners are turning to companion planting to reduce pesticide use. Planting different species together can provide benefits. However, some species are allelopathic plants, which means they can seriously …

I love planting perennials.  Above all, I love the fact that there’s a perennial for every garden. For every type of soil. For every type of shade. In any color …

Let me guess, you heard it through the grapevine that spring is a good time to prune your grapevines? I guess they are sending out the same message to us …

Important author’s note: This method works! When I wrote this piece, I didn’t have anything planted in my garden yet as we’re still weeks away from my zone’s last frost …

Have you spent hours planting green beans around your other vegetables to “fix nitrogen” and then wondered why it never made a difference? Same, girl. Same. We’ve all been fed …

On the hottest of summer days, we’re all thankful for a bit of shade, except when it comes to our gardens. Trying to plan a garden around a yard that …

I’ve never been a big fan of super tidy gardens with nary a leaf out of place. I like looking at them and walking through them, but I’ve never been …

I’m curious if this ever happens to you. You think that something you know is so obvious that everyone else knows it too. When, in fact, they absolutely don’t. It’s …

Oh, March, we can always count on you for an adventure. Between the start of daylight savings time (yuck) and the weather whiplash, we all feel a little dazed by …

After a thorough inspection of my garden notes and photo albums from previous years, I’ve now calculated that my hydrangeas will start blooming in exactly eighty-seven days and six hours. …

Spring is a busy time for dedicated gardeners. Seed sowing seems to take up most of our time, as we rush against the calendar to grow healthy flower and vegetable …

Okay, folks, are you ready to get down and dirty? (I mean, we’re gardeners; it’s what we do.) Today, we’re going to settle a debate that has been rumbling around …

But what about hybrids? What? That’s not how you thought this was going to start? Well, I know you guys. I can already hear you grumbling about hybrids. We’ll get …

Pepper plants thrive in my hot, subtropical climate. They flourish and provide tons of delicious peppers year-round. But last fall, I made a tragic mistake. I surrounded the poor things …

I’ve spent the past couple of months (basically since the end of the holiday season) counting down the days until I could do outdoor jobs again. But once the weather …

This spring, while you’re out tidying your flower beds, don’t forget to cut a handful of hosta shoots to go with dinner. Hostas are a classic landscape filler, immediately recognizable …

It’s already March and I have bulbs on my mind. And not just the spring bulbs that greet me every morning as I take my customary garden stroll, coffee mug …

It’s one thing for your daffodils not to come up at all; it’s another when you get leafy stands of green with no buds. Now you’re just teasing. Why all …

Last fall, a fellow gardener from the Midwest made fun of me because she thought I couldn’t grow potatoes. But the joke’s on her — in Florida, it just means …

With warmer temperatures and the lengthening days of spring, everything seems to be growing. Being cooped up all winter, we gardeners tend to struggle with our desire to get out …

This is the year we should all throw in the trowel and quit gardening. Yup, it’s time. The whole grow-your-own-food movement of the past 12,000 years or so was cute, …

Over my many successes and failures in houseplant care, I’ve learned one simple truth: The more light you can heap on your plants, the easier they grow. Pretty astute, I …