Search results for: companion

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 …

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 …

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 …

The growing season is still a couple of months away, but I can’t wait. So why not start right now? There are a number of important gardening chores you need …

There’s always a certain sadness when the gardening season comes to an end, but don’t despair quite yet – there are still a number of pleasurable chores to get done …

Whether you know them as bachelor button, cornflower or blue bottle, no cottage garden is complete without these blue flowers swaying on the breeze. With their shaggy blooms, bachelor buttons …

Self-reliance is a very beautiful and practical way of living to strive for, which offers many rewards, mostly beyond the monetary realm. Yet, there are a few intrepid homesteaders out …

The imported cabbageworm (Pieris rapae) is a notorious pest, known by gardeners all over North America. As lovely as they are, seeing the small white butterflies flit about your brassicas …

Tomatoes are, without a doubt, the most popular vegetable grown in backyard gardens worldwide. And while it’s rare to find someone who only grows carrots or eggplant or radishes, there …

If this is your first year of no-dig gardening, congratulations! You are well on your way to less work and more abundant harvests. While this page you are currently on …

Wise gardeners know that herbs make excellent companion plants. And any gardener who enjoys cooking will surely have culinary herbs among their vegetables each year. But many folks don’t realize …

If you’re considering planting fennel in your garden this year, you should probably reconsider. Even though every part of the plant is edible and delicious, planting fennel in your garden …

The climes, they are a-changin’. Depending on where you live, winters might be trending milder or chillier. Frost dates, once fairly accurate, are shifting. The arrival of fool’s spring wakes …

Have you ever noticed how we tend to keep our gardening segregated? Veggies go in one bed, and flowers go in another. Oh sure, we might plant the odd marigold …

When cooking dinner, do you ever wish to pluck a few fresh leaves from the nearest pot of aromatic greens to spice up whatever dish you are creating? If so, …

For many of us, planning our garden is one of the things we enjoy about gardening. For others, planning is less of a priority and more of an afterthought. But …

When it rains, it pours. So much so that heavy rainfall flows quickly off of roofs and onto some form of paved surface, occasionally with unintended consequences. With the installation …

Fittonia (also known as the nerve plant) is one of those houseplants that is both a looker and easy to find for sale (not a small feat in the world …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …