If there’s one thing my Rural Sprout colleagues and I have in common, in addition to our obsession with composting everything that dares move, is our hatred of waste. I …

Greetings, Witches and Vampires! Welcome, Werewolves and Zombies! The glow of ghostly grins on the front porch means Halloween is nearly upon us. Carving Jack-o-lanterns is a time-honored tradition that …

Oh, my friends, I hope you like basil. Like, really like basil because we’re going to share the secret to growing potted basil taller than you are. In the end, …

We have a beautiful park where I live. No, really, it’s quite something. My friends and I have a running joke where we will wager a guess as to how …

Chrysanthemums, or mums, are definitively the flower of fall. I used to live near a large and popular nursery. Every year near midsummer, they would set up hundreds of rows …

I’m not typically one to tackle DIY projects. Anything that requires a power tool is largely out of my wheelhouse. That was until I found pictures online of a glass …

Aloe vera is likely the most popular houseplant on earth. Even folks who aren’t into houseplants own them, probably because they’re so easy to keep alive. They’re more like furniture …

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 …

When you join the backyard chicken movement, you find yourself doing things you never thought you would be doing. Things like massaging a hen’s breast that has an impacted crop, …

Move over charcuterie; there’s a new bougie board in town – the butter board. This beautiful and easy appetizer is taking over dinner parties and elbowing out the heavy, and …

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 …

Blink, and you’ll miss it. The asparagus season, that is. For gardeners, fresh asparagus and rhubarb are the first two plants to harvest each spring, but only if you’ve taken …

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 …