Simple Ideas for Better Homes, Gardens & Outdoor Spaces
A gardener’s fall is split in two. Half the yard is winding down: tomato vines collapsing, perennials going brown, leaves piling up. The other half is quietly getting started, because fall is when garlic goes in, spring bulbs get buried, and some seeds do their best work after a cold winter. A gift basket that … Read more
Most bedrooms are a poor environment for plants. The curtains stay closed in the morning, the room is dimmer than the living room, and nobody walks in at noon to check whether the soil is dry. Yet bedrooms are also where people most want the calm that greenery seems to promise, so they buy a … Read more
A committed gardener already owns the trowel, the gloves and probably three watering cans. Anything from the garden-gift shelf is a gamble on her taste, her soil and the tools she is already loyal to. A handmade gift avoids most of that gamble, but only if it is something she will use or display rather … Read more
A leaf with a few ragged holes tells you very little. The same hole could come from a slug last night, a caterpillar this morning, or a beetle that has already moved on. Most “natural pest control” advice fails at this step, because it hands you a remedy before you know who you are dealing … Read more
A lawn that turns straw-colored in July looks like it needs water. So you water it. Two weeks later the patch is bigger, or it hasn’t changed at all, or it has gone from tan to a darker, dead-looking gray. That is the point where drought stops being a good explanation. Drought stress has a … Read more
Most advice about pest-repelling plants promises more than a plant can deliver. A row of marigolds along a vegetable bed will not stop aphids from finding your kale. A pot of basil beside the patio table will not clear the air of mosquitoes. What these plants can do is narrower, and in some ways more … Read more
Most garden gifts fail for one of two reasons. Either they’re decorative things a plant person already has too many of, or they’re cheap versions of tools that frustrate the person using them. A gnome with a solar light ends up in the garage. A flimsy trowel bends the first time it meets clay. A … Read more
Most garden pests are hard to catch in the act. Many feed at night, hide on the undersides of leaves, tunnel inside stems, or live in the soil where nobody looks until a plant collapses. By the time an insect is easy to spot, the population is often large. The plant, meanwhile, has been leaving … Read more
A yard planted mostly for summer has a predictable winter problem. The leaves drop, the perennials get cut back or collapse, and what remains is mulch, a fence, and a few bare sticks. Most people respond by looking away from the garden until April. The fix is rarely more flowers. A winter garden depends on … Read more
Most weekend garden projects go wrong in one of two places. Either the materials were never meant to sit outside in rain and sun, or the thing got built before anyone decided where it would live. A planter that dries out in a day, a trellis that leans after the first windy week, a compost … Read more