If you’ve ever grown a dragon fruit plant and then watched in mild despair as a gorgeous, basketball-sized flower opened at 10pm, glowed magnificently until 4am, and then quietly closed forever — you already understand the central challenge of growing pitaya. The bloom is the most spectacular thing the plant does, and it’s over by...
If you’ve ever looked at a pile of fallen logs in the corner of your yard and thought “I really should do something with that,” hugelkultur might be the most satisfying answer you’ll find. It takes what most gardeners treat as a disposal problem — downed wood, branches, garden debris — and buries it at...
Every gardener has seen it: someone on social media crushing eggshells around their tomatoes, claiming it prevents blossom end rot and deters slugs. The advice sounds sensible enough. Eggshells are free, they’re abundant if you cook much at all, and calcium is real — plants genuinely need it. So what’s the problem? The problem is...
If you’ve got a fallen tree, a section of old log, or even a fat piece of firewood sitting around, you have the raw materials for one of the most genuinely attractive planters you can put in a garden. Log planters look like they belong — because they do. They’re also absurdly simple to make,...
Most gardens are designed for daylight hours. Which is fine — except that summer evenings are arguably the best time to actually be outside. The heat breaks, the light goes golden, and then everything gets dark and you’re left staring at a garden you can’t see. A moon garden solves that. It’s a planting scheme...
You walk outside one morning and there’s a seething, basketball-sized mass of bees hanging from your apple tree. Thousands of them. Moving, humming, clustered together like something out of a nature documentary. Your instinct says: run. Here’s the thing — that instinct is almost certainly wrong. Swarming bees are one of the most misunderstood events...
Ducks are sold as the easy alternative to chickens. Friendlier, hardier, great foragers, amazing eggs — all true. What people don’t always mention upfront is that ducks are also genuinely messy, surprisingly loud if you pick the wrong breed, and going to be part of your life for the next decade or more. A Pekin...
Every spring, millions of gardeners walk out of a garden center with a flat of zinnias or marigolds, plant them, love them all summer, and then watch them die come November — slightly confused about whether they did something wrong. They didn’t. That’s just what annuals do. Understanding annuals changes how you plan a garden....
With fall in full swing and Halloween around the corner, social media is abuzz with all sorts of tips and tricks to keep your pumpkins looking fresh and vibrant for as long as possible. One of the most popular suggestions making the rounds is to bleach your pumpkins to prevent them from rotting. It seems...
Perennials are one of my favorite types of plants to have in my garden for the simple fact that they keep coming back every year, year after year. Some perennials, like peonies, can actually continue to regrow after every winter for 100 or more years! A perennial garden is easy to keep up and will...
When we think of beneficial insects for our gardens, we often picture ladybugs, bees, and butterflies. However, there’s an unsung hero in the insect world that you might not be familiar with: the hoverfly. This incredible insect not only helps with pollination but also acts as a natural pest control agent. By understanding and encouraging...
Chickadees are delightful little birds that bring joy and vibrancy to any garden. More importantly, these feathered friends are incredible at controlling garden pests. As a gardener, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching these active birds flitting about, knowing they are helping keep harmful insects in check. Attracting chickadees to your garden can lead to...
