Gardening

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 …

Do you struggle to get your tomatoes off to a good start? Are you tired of tall, skinny tomato seedlings each year? Does every spring storm have you holding your …

If you’re having your morning cup of joe and decide to do a quick internet search for “using coffee grounds in the garden,” you’ll be met with a deluge of …

I’m a big believer in the fact that plants are excellent communicators. Not in a weird “I talk to my houseplants every morning” kind of way; more in a “I …

Every gardener’s dream is to harvest bucket upon bucket full of sun-ripened tomatoes. Even though tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, they can be finicky, which is why there is …

I know this article is going to catch a lot of heat because GMOs are a hot-button topic among gardeners. But the amount of fear-mongering over non-GMO seeds is baffling …

If you’re planning on sowing a few seeds indoors to get a jump on the growing season, then don’t forget to make room for a few flowers. We get so …

When it comes to flowers in the vegetable garden, marigolds, nasturtiums and calendula are the first blossoms that pop into my mind. I can see them vividly, swaying in the …

Winter is hard on us cold-climate gardeners. The days are short, and the nights so very long. It’s drab and dreary and gray pretty much all the time. The sunniest …

Far too often, new gardeners give up before they even get started because of the cost. Seedlings, bags of compost, hand tools, fertilizers, it all adds up quickly. But most …

Every year, well before the growing season starts, gardeners everywhere decide to waste their time and money starting seedlings for their garden. These gluttons for punishment never seem to learn …

It’s easy to think that nature will just take its course when you’re planting a tree. After all, forests have been growing for millions of years without human help, right? …

Perhaps the main reason why I love houseplants is because they can make any house feel like a home. Bring a houseplant into a room and it will instantly create …

More than a handful of my gardening friends have expressed envy at my mild subtropical climate. However, gardening in a hot and humid region is fraught with challenges. One of …

Raised beds are the darling of the gardening world – tidy, charming, an entire ecosystem contained in a neat box. They lend a sense of orderliness and control to a …