Simple Ideas for Better Homes, Gardens & Outdoor Spaces
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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
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
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
A she shed that sits alone on bare lawn looks like a garden shed with a nicer paint job. The same building with a path leading to it, plants softening its corners and a place to sit outside the door looks like a destination. The structure matters less than most people expect. What surrounds it … Read more
The picture on an amaryllis box and the flower that opens six weeks later don’t always match. Most kits are sold by color alone, such as “red” or “white” or “pink”. Within each color there is a wide spread in petal shape, bloom size, stalk height and whether the flower is single or double. Some … Read more
A pink tree in full bloom usually lasts about one to two weeks. A hard freeze or a few days of heavy rain can cut that to a few days, and a nursery photo never shows that. People buy a tree for the picture and then find that it flowers in a frost pocket, grows … Read more
Most Christmas yard displays go up in a single afternoon and get judged at 5 p.m., when the light fades and whatever is brightest becomes the whole show. The usual result is a yard that looks crowded after dark, bare during the day, and tangled with extension cords in between. A better approach starts with … Read more
The first sign is usually one fly on a sunny window in early fall. It’s a little larger than a house fly and slow enough to pick up with a tissue. It seems drawn to the glass, not to anything on the kitchen counter. A week later there are five. By midwinter, a few dozen … Read more
A stink bug on the living room wall in October is rarely a one-off. Brown marmorated stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys) spend summer feeding on fruit, vegetables, and ornamental plants. When days shorten and nights cool, adults look for a sheltered place to wait out winter, and a house with warm south- and west-facing walls and … Read more