Before you plant a single squash seed, make sure that your garden isn’t missing something important. Squash has been grown in communities for centuries, thanks to the Indigenous farming system known as the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash planted together in a living ecosystem where each plant supports the others. What those farmers understood…
An already strong El Niño continues to intensify across the tropical Pacific, and forecasters say it could become the most powerful event on record since 1950. You may also hear it called a “super El Niño.” That, however, is not an official scientific category. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) classifies events as weak, moderate, strong,…
Your plant looked perfectly fine last week. Now it’s drooping, dropping leaves, or turning a concerning shade of yellow, and you haven’t changed a single thing. You’re watering on the same schedule. It’s sitting in the same window. Nothing in your routine is different, and yet something is clearly wrong. Sound familiar? If you’ve ever…
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…
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…
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 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,…
That gorgeous tree shading your back patio might be writing you a bill that you can’t afford. Foundation damage caused by tree roots is one of the most expensive and least visible threats to a home, and most homeowners never see it coming until doors stop closing, basement walls crack, or a home inspector delivers…
Are you sitting at home, reading this article while nursing a sore lower back from an afternoon in the garden? When I think of spending time gardening, I imagine images of blooming flowers, warm rays of sunshine, cold glasses of iced tea, and wide-brimmed hats. However, if you’ve ever hobbled back into the house with…