What do you need to make your home look like it belongs in a glossy real estate listing? Marble fountains? A hedge maze? Often, a few wise landscaping choices, some structural, some simple, can completely change how your house is perceived from the curb. Landscaping can make your place feel intentional, polished, and pulled together …
Gardening
Most gardeners choose their seeds before they choose their layout, and then spend years rearranging beds, regretting pathways, and wishing they’d thought it through first. This time, start with the design. The layout you choose for your raised beds determines how much you grow, how often you actually get out there, and whether your garden …
Most gardeners are killing their zucchini harvest before it starts, and they don’t know it. The problem isn’t pests, bad soil, or a lack of sunshine. It’s the way the plant grows: flat on the ground, leaves resting in damp soil, stems hidden under a canopy of foliage, and powdery mildew creeping in right on …
Beautiful but deadly. Some of nature’s most gorgeous creations can also be some of its most fatal. Don’t be fooled by a delicate blossom or burst of colorful berries – some of these plants can burn, blister, paralyze, or kill. It’s no accident that many of the world’s most toxic plants are also among the …
A flower bouquet? In this economy? With cut flower costs soaring over the past few years, the pace of inflation for cut flowers surged to 9.4% in June of 2024 alone–a vase of fresh flowers on the table feels like such a luxury. But you don’t need to wait for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or …
The Internet is often the first place we seek answers to questions about almost anything imaginable. We can type anything into the search bar, and an endless stream of content populates with various articles and blog posts about the topic, instantly filling us with knowledge, even some we didn’t know we needed. Even this post …
That plant someone handed you over the fence last spring — the pretty one you tucked into the corner of your flower bed without a second thought — might be quietly illegal in your state right now. Not “frowned upon” or “discouraged.” Illegal. The first time many homeowners find out is when a county notice …
Roses have a reputation for being difficult, demanding, and best left to people with more time and patience than the average gardener. That reputation is almost entirely undeserved. The truth that experienced rosarians have known for decades is this: roses are generous plants that will reward almost any gardener handsomely, as long as a handful …
Fans of the great American breakfast have never had things so bad of late. The rise in egg prices has been well documented, but bacon, coffee, and frozen orange juice all hover well above pre-pandemic prices. Those who can access homegrown, fresh produce are ahead of the game. Gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers fall into this …
A South Bend homeowner got her power restored after a June 11 storm, but the repair work left a second problem across her backyard: deep lawn damage. Geraldine Woodard, who lives off Riverside Drive, told WNDU that a storm knocked down a power line in her backyard. Indiana Michigan Power sent a crew to repair …