Widely known for its attractiveness to cats, catnip also attracts beneficial insects while repelling many pests. This makes it an excellent companion plant in the garden! When choosing companion plants for catnip, consider what problems you may have had in the past and how catnip can help solve them. Catnip contains an oil called nepetalactone …
Gardening
You tuck cucumber vines into the soil while dreaming of the fresh, crunchy fruits and tart pickles to come. And then one day, you walk into the garden to find holey, sickly plants in place of the lush foliage you expect. Upon closer inspection, you might notice the tiny insects infesting your beloved plants: cucumber …
At this point in summer, it might feel like everything is wilting, including your will to water your garden. But when it comes to sowing seeds, you haven’t missed a thing. Some crops actually do better when planted now, after the soil has warmed up, the frosts are behind you, and the weather has stopped …
Did you know that you can grow your own all-natural, luxurious bath sponges, right in your backyard garden? You don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy them from a high-end boutique. If you wonder how to grow luffa gourds, I’m here to tell you it’s not that hard. You WILL need a …
Help! I’m drowning in zucchini! How can I preserve some for later? If you ask me, freezing is my favorite method of preserving my harvest. Wondering how to freeze zucchini? You can freeze zucchini whole, sliced, shredded, and spiralized. It’s so easy! See below for details on every method of freezing zucchini. Zucchini is a …
Not a common color among flowering plants, blue adds a unique beauty to the garden. Its calming hue invites wanderers to pause and take notice. Blue annuals are especially versatile, offering bold pops of color that refresh your garden design from season to season. Whether you want to accent a serene cottage border, enhance a …
Have you noticed that people who spend their golden years fussing over petunias and pruning tomatoes often look like they’ve stumbled on the fountain of youth? It may be hidden behind the compost pile, but it’s undeniable. It’s more than grandma’s garden lore; researchers have been snooping around the science of it, and the results …
Tomatoes are the crown jewel of the summer garden—bursting with flavor, glowing in the sun, and showing off their juicy charm in salads, sauces, and sandwiches. But with all the advice out there, it’s easy to get tangled in tomato-growing myths that do more harm than good. Should you prune every sucker? Water daily? Only …
Deadheading—removing faded blooms—is often touted as a must-do gardening chore to encourage more flowers. And for many annuals and perennials, it really works! But not every plant benefits from this snipping ritual. In fact, some flowers are self-cleaning, meaning they drop spent blooms on their own. Others have an indeterminate bloom pattern, and cutting their …
There is an astonishingly long list of plants poisonous to cats! So, as a cat owner, you may be wondering: Are aloe plants poisonous to cats? If you are a keen gardener and cat lover, it’s best to know which ones to avoid, particularly if your feline likes to chew on things. Aloes make a …