Gardening

Your patio is maybe eight feet wide. A landlord who frowns on “modifications.” Zero ground soil. And still — still — you want homegrown tomatoes. I respect that completely. Because I’ve been that person, crammed onto a third-floor balcony in a city apartment, arguing with a single grow bag like it owed me money. Here’s … Read more

By mid-July, most home gardens look like they’ve given up. The lettuce bolted in May, the petunias are crispy, and that cheerful spring bed you photographed for Instagram is now a graveyard of brown stalks and broken dreams. I’ve been there — more times than I care to admit. One particularly brutal August, I stood … Read more

My first Arizona summer nearly broke me as a gardener. I planted a bed full of lush lettuce, spinach, and broccoli — the same stuff that had thrived back in Ohio — and watched it all bolt, burn, and curl into sad little brown confetti within two weeks. The soil cracked like a dried riverbed. … Read more

Every winter, I watch my neighbors do things in the garden that make me wince. Piling snow against the base of their fruit trees. Blowing salt-laden slush straight onto their perennial beds. Covering roses with nothing but a prayer. I get it — winter gardening advice is all over the place, and half of it … Read more

My neighbor once walked past my front yard, stopped dead in her tracks, and asked if I’d “given up.” I told her I’d evolved. That’s chaos gardening in a nutshell — a wild, intentional mess that looks like nature did the landscaping while you were on vacation. Except it’s not an accident. Every “accidental” patch … Read more

I once spent an entire Saturday morning planting heirloom tomatoes, only to wake up Sunday to what looked like a crime scene. Dirt was everywhere, my seedlings were uprooted, and a single, fat squirrel was sitting on the fence post, staring me down while clutching a half-eaten root. It’s infuriating when you put in the … Read more

Staring at a brown, shriveled rosemary plant that was supposed to be the star of your kitchen is a rite of passage. Most people think they lack a “green thumb” when, in reality, they probably just put a sun-loving Mediterranean herb in a soggy plastic pot in a dark corner. I’ve killed more mint than … Read more

Stop spending your Saturday afternoons on your hands and knees pulling stubborn weeds that seem to grow back the second you turn your back. I’ve been there, and frankly, my lower back still hasn’t forgiven me for the “Great Dandelion War of 2014.” Weeds are the ultimate garden party crashers, but you don’t need a … Read more

Trying to enjoy a morning coffee on your patio while your neighbor stares at you from five feet away is the quickest way to ruin a Saturday. If you have a small garden, you know the struggle: you want to feel tucked away in a private sanctuary, but you don’t want to feel like you’re … Read more