Growing & Gardening Tips

You tear a handful of leaves labeled only "basil," stir it into a curry at the last minute, and something tastes flat and clove-heavy instead of bright and anise-sweet. That is not your cooking. It is the wrong basil. One...

You hung the basket by the door in May, and by the middle of June it already looks tired. Sound familiar? A hanging basket lives one of the hardest lives in the whole garden. Lifted into the air, it catches...

You spot a pale, winding trail across a spinach leaf, almost as if someone doodled on it with a white marker. That squiggle is the calling card of a leaf miner, and once you know what you are looking at,...

By Maxim Kaufman You blend up a batch of salsa, taste it, and it is perfect for about ten minutes. Then a puddle of pink water pools at the bottom of the bowl and your chips go soft before the...

You picked out a packet of zinnias because you wanted color, and plenty of it. Here is the good news from years of growing them: zinnias are about as forgiving as a flower gets. The better news is that a...

You walk out to check the garden and the leaves look like green lace. The beans, the roses, and the grape vines are chewed down to the veins while the beetles sit there in shiny clusters, copper and green, munching...

You want a porch full of pumpkins by October, and right now you are holding a packet of seeds wondering how a flat little kernel turns into a hefty jack-o'-lantern. The good news is that pumpkins follow a predictable rhythm....

So many more melons than the two at the store If your idea of a melon starts and ends with the netted cantaloupe and the pale honeydew stacked by the checkout, you are missing most of the good stuff. The...

You want cucumbers, but the seed rack throws a dozen names at you and none of them explain what you are actually buying. Some cukes are bred for fresh eating, some for the pickle jar, and a handful are just...