The most popular product sold to stop weeds is actively making your garden worse. Landscape fabric, or that black woven sheeting lining the beds of so many frustrated homeowners, is a masterclass in solving one problem by creating five others. It leaches microplastics into the soil every time it degrades, which it starts doing almost …
Gardening
Imagine this: roses tumbling over mossy stone walls, foxgloves swaying like cathedral bells, peonies in every blush of cream and coral, and hollyhocks pressing close together in gorgeous, fragrant disorder. Bees drift lazily from bloom to bloom. A weathered iron gate stands half-open, wound through with clematis. It’s something out of a fairytale, but in …
Most home gardeners reach for a bag of synthetic fertilizer when their vegetables underperform, not realizing that certain plants are nature’s own soil-repair crew, rebuilding fertility from the roots up without costing a dime. Depleted, compacted, or nutrient-starved soil is the number one hidden reason vegetable gardens underperform year after year. The tomatoes stay small, …
Growing herbs is the easy part. The real magic is in the harvest. Most people use the “just cut and come again” harvesting method, and it’s no wonder some of the basil turns scraggly, thyme gets woody, and garlic chives give up on life. But if you harvest with a little strategy, your herbs will …
A 2020 survey from the American Journal of Agricultural Economics revealed that Americans waste 30 to 40% of their food each year. What if leftover kitchen scraps, rotting food, and other food waste could be turned into something much more economical? Rich soil for your garden via composting. While the data is old, a 2014 …
Gardening has a rich, storied history that showcases its importance far beyond pretty flowers and tasty tomatoes. One inspiring era for gardening in the U.S. was in the mid-1940s when Victory Gardens came to fruition. Also known as war gardens, these plots of land became lifelines during World War II when people’s resilience was tested …
Most people picture xeriscaping as a gravel pit with one sad cactus gasping in the sun. That image has scared off more would-be converts than any water bill ever could. The truth is that the most stunning xeriscape gardens are dense, colorful, and alive with pollinators, and the plants that create that effect are so …
Most people think a pollinator garden requires tearing up their entire lawn, hiring a landscaper, or knowing the Latin names of plants. They picture something sprawling and wild; the kind of meadow you see in a nature documentary, not something that fits between your driveway and your fence. None of that is true. You can …
A self-taught gardener once grew 180 pounds of fresh produce, including 63 pounds of tomatoes, from containers on a single urban balcony in one season, writes Joe Gardener. Mark Ridsill Smith had no gardening background, a north-facing exposure, and a limited space that most people would write off entirely. If that doesn’t recalibrate what you …
If you’ve ever harvested a pot full of bitter, hollow cucumbers after a summer of work, you already know how wrong this vegetable can go. Container cucumbers have a reputation for being finicky, and for a lot of gardeners, that reputation is earned. Not because cucumbers are actually difficult, but because most people are repeating …