Growing & Gardening Tips

You want a flower bed that keeps giving from early summer right up until frost, and zinnias are about the easiest way to get there. The catch is timing. Plant too early into cold, clammy soil and the seed rots...

You walk out to the garden, the plant is loaded with glossy green pods, and you freeze. Pick now, or wait? That one decision changes everything about the pepper you end up with, from the crunch to the color to...

You have babied that vine all summer, and now the fruit is fat and heavy and you are terrified of cutting it open a week too early. That fear is well founded, because a watermelon does not keep sweetening once...

You planted those tiny seeds back in spring, watched the feathery tops fill in, and now you are standing over the bed wondering if there is anything worth pulling underneath. Carrots keep their secret well. The part you eat grows...

You have watched that green dome swell for weeks, and now you are standing over it wondering if today is the day or if you should give it one more. Wait too long and the head loosens, the beads separate,...

If you have ever pulled a whole lettuce plant, rinsed off way more than you needed, and watched the rest go slimy in the crisper drawer, there is a better way. You can pick a handful of leaves at a...

You water, you feed, you check on your plants like a proud parent, and then one morning the leaves look dusty and faded with tiny pale flecks all over them. Tip a leaf toward the light and a fine web...

You planted dill, it took off like a rocket, and now you have a feathery green cloud in the garden that you are almost afraid to touch. That hesitation is normal. Dill looks delicate, and a clumsy cut at the...

You walk out to check your tomatoes and the top of a branch is just gone. Bare stems, a scatter of dark green pellets on the leaves below (that frass is often the first clue you spot, before the culprit),...