Simple ways to save money while you garden
Late-summer travel can create a surprisingly awkward problem for gardeners: the suitcase gets packed, the itinerary looks fantastic, and the tomato plants remain at home silently wondering who will handle their hydration. A few days without attention can stress containers, newly planted shrubs, vegetables, hanging baskets, and thirsty houseplants, especially when heat and wind accelerate…
Peaches have a spectacular talent for creating a very specific kind of gardening panic: producing a mountain of gorgeous fruit at exactly the same time. One afternoon, the tree looks ordinary, and a few days later, the branches seem to have joined a conspiracy against the household refrigerator. The good news is that an overflowing…
Summer lettuce can be a bit of a drama queen. Give it too much heat, let the soil dry out, or ask it to keep producing when the thermometer starts climbing, and suddenly that promising patch of crisp green leaves turns into a bitter, bolting mess. Mâche, also called corn salad or lamb’s lettuce, offers…
A garden shed roof can quietly collect a surprising amount of free water, but that does not mean the shed needs a full gutter system. With a few clever additions, gardeners can guide roof runoff into barrels, buckets, storage tanks, or even directly toward thirsty garden beds. The trick involves controlling where the water lands…
Celery should deliver crisp crunch and a clean, fresh flavor, not the experience of chewing on green fishing line. When garden-grown celery turns tough, stringy, bitter, or unusually strong, growing conditions usually deserve some suspicion, particularly moisture and heat. That matters because celery can look perfectly healthy above the soil while quietly struggling around its…
The hottest part of summer can make the garden look like it has officially checked out for the season, but late summer brings a useful opportunity: dividing crowded perennials. As temperatures begin to moderate, several established plants can handle division with less stress than they would during a sweltering midsummer afternoon. Division does more than…
Brussels sprouts grow in a wonderfully odd fashion, with little cabbage-like buds tucked into the leaf axils along a tall central stalk. The lower sprouts mature first while newer ones develop higher up, which makes leaf removal more nuanced than grabbing pruning shears and giving the plant a haircut. A few well-timed cuts can make…
Late summer can turn a young fruit tree into a very thirsty little drama queen. While an established apple, pear, peach, or plum may have roots reaching into a larger volume of soil, a recently planted tree still works with a smaller root system, so several hot, rainless days can create serious stress before the…
When summer tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and potatoes finish their garden careers, those floppy grow bags often end up looking like sad little gardening pancakes. Before tossing them into the trash, take a closer look because a quality grow bag can serve the garden for several more seasons, provided you clean it, inspect it, and store…