Gardening

Around this time of year, your social media feed is probably filled with articles showing you how to close down your garden for the winter. And by now, I’m sure …

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 …

Growing potatoes in sacks or grow bags isn’t anything new under the sun. Yet, we’ve never tried it, and we didn’t know anyone who ever has. Until now. Let’s just …

The most exciting time of year for anyone who has a fruit tree is the period when harvest time rolls around. We have an orchard with a variety of different …

When those first cool days of autumn arrive, those of us with tomatoes still on the vine start watching the ten-day forecast a little closer. Time is running out, and …

Whether you ascribe pumpkin spice lattes to the arrival of fall or not, it’s hard to deny that pumpkins are the harbinger of Autumn. When cooler weather is finally on …

Growing buckets of fresh tomatoes is every gardener’s dream, along with a pantry full of homegrown tomato sauce. But growing what you need is not always an easy feat. In …

Some years it feels like fall comes and goes with a few blinks of the eye. One week there are green leaves on the trees, then, unexpectedly, cold nights come, …

If you’ve got houseplants, chances are you own an aloe vera. Aloes are simple to care for and easy to get your hands on, making them one of the most …

As the temperatures lean toward the cooler side and the growing season is winding down, strawberries are usually the last thing you’re thinking about. However, if you want to ensure …

If you’ve ever seen houseplants planted in LECA and you thought to yourself “why would anyone use cocoa puffs to pot their plants in?”, let me assure you that you’re …

When it comes to a bountiful garden harvest, one doesn’t often stop to think, “the smaller, the better.” Yet, it depends on what you’re harvesting. Everybody loves an enormous pumpkin, …

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 …

Jerusalem artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus) aren’t native to Jerusalem, nor the Middle East, as their name suggests. They have been cultivated as native plants in North America and Canada for hundreds …

Let me start with a weird question: have you ever tried to drink a glass of water while holding your breath? It doesn’t sound like a good idea, does it?* …

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 …

All gardeners make mistakes. It could be sowing all your seeds at once – who has time to spread out planting while at the same time remembering where the seeds …

As summer evenings start to edge on the cooler side to make way for fall, you can put your ear close to the ground and hear the percussive march of …

Have you ever heard of anise hyssop? I hadn’t until a few years ago when a generous gardening friend shared an extra plant she had oversown. That first spring, I …

As it often happens, this article was inspired by a leisurely puttering session in my garden. I was collecting seeds, as you do in late summer, and wondering how many …

I hate to say it, but the end of summer is drawing near. Yup, we all blinked, and here it is. The shadows are growing longer each afternoon, and we’ve …

You know you can stop digging your garden anytime, right? It’s not a must to create a lush, backyard garden full of nutritious edible vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruits. Gone …

What is compost? Compost is, in essence, decomposed matter that can be fed to plants.  We’ve found that many people are overwhelmed by the idea of composting and are afraid …