GARDENING BASICS

Has this ever happened to you? You’re standing in the fertilizer aisle of your local garden center, looking at all the packages, and your eyes glaze over. There are too many choices. And you’re not sure which one to buy. When you pick up the first package and glance at…

As I was getting ready to go out of town for ten days, I ticked off the last few items on my travel checklist: Sunscreen Boarding pass Fill wine bottles with water Filling those wine bottles was one of the most important gardening tasks I had to do before I…

Could this happen to you? You get home after a long day. You step into your backyard and harvest herbs and vegetables for tonight’s dinner. On your way back inside you pick a few flowers, and put them in a vase that brightens up your dinner table. You and your…

Sometimes gardening can feel like one long war against the weeds. And even though it can sap your morale, you can’t stop fighting. If you let the weeds outflank you, they’ll steal nutrients from your soil, crowd out your plants and even grow tall enough for the neighbor’s dog to…

Is inorganic mulch ever a better choice than organic mulch? Maybe you need a mulch that doesn’t blow away in high winds, float away in heavy rains, or burn down your house. Newsflash! All organic mulches are flammable. But rock or stone won’t burn. So they’re the best type of…

As you thumb through half-empty seed packets left over from last year, or even several years ago, you wonder if they’re still good. You shrug, plant the seeds, and cross your fingers. If they don’t germinate, you’ll buy some new ones. But here’s my prediction. By the time you notice…