GARDENING BASICS

I remember how excited I was, as a kid, to see all those autumn leaves floating down and creating a beautiful, colorful blanket on the ground. My mom would rake them up into huge piles on our lawn. I couldn’t wait to bundle up, run outside, and dive right into…

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…

A couple of weeks after starting your seeds indoors, your shoulders sag as you look at your seedlings. They don’t look right. They’re thin, pale, wispy things – all stem, and hardly any leaves. It feels like a seed starting disaster! And you wonder, “can I salvage these leggy seedlings?”…

Do you start each gardening season hoping to get the most from your garden? What if you could grow a garden that thrives, enjoy flowers and vegetables right out of the gate, and not have to toil for hours in the hot sun while mosquitoes dine on your neck to…

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…

This month the garden is winding down for most of us. It’s the last chance for a major clean up effort before the weather turns wintery. And depending on how far into October it is when you’re reading this, you may have had a light frost or two, and if…