Ground cherries have one wonderfully strange harvest signal: they fall off the plant when they ripen. But when those little papery husks hit the soil while the fruit inside still looks green, the garden suddenly feels like it has changed the rules halfway through the game. The good news is that a few early drops…
garden tips
6 Crops That Can Be Blanched for Better Flavor
Blanching does more than prepare vegetables for the freezer. A quick dip in boiling water can soften harsh flavors, tame bitterness, loosen tough textures, and make certain garden vegetables taste noticeably more pleasant at the table. It sounds like a small cooking trick, but the difference can be surprisingly dramatic. The key lies in timing….
5 Edible Plants That Can Replace Empty Patio Annuals
Patio containers do not have to choose between looking good and putting food on the table. Instead of filling every empty pot with another ornamental annual, gardeners can tuck edible plants into those sunny spaces and get flowers, foliage, fruit, or fresh herbs in return. The trick involves choosing plants that enjoy container life and…
Snakes in the Garden Aren’t Always Bad — Here’s When You Should Be Concerned
A snake sliding through the garden can turn a peaceful morning of tomato picking into a full-blown staring contest. But before grabbing a shovel or sprinting for the shed, take a breath: many snakes provide useful pest control by eating mice, voles, insects, frogs, and other small animals. In fact, some gardeners have a perfectly…
His HOA Approved His Front-Yard Food Forest — Then a New Board Fined Him $750
A front yard usually comes with an unspoken suburban assignment: grass, a few shrubs, maybe a tree that behaves itself. Michael Sherman of Chino, California, had a different idea, turning his lawn into a productive food forest filled with passionfruit, radishes, calendulas, sunflowers, aloe vera, Swiss chard and banana trees. His HOA initially approved the…
7 Plants You Should Think Twice About Touching With Bare Hands
Gardening usually involves getting a little dirt under the fingernails, but some plants can make that hands-on approach a genuinely bad idea. Certain species can sting instantly, trigger an itchy rash hours later, or leave skin dangerously sensitive to sunlight. A pair of gloves can turn a questionable gardening decision into a very uneventful afternoon….
8 Garden Tasks That Become Easier in the Final Week of August
The final week of August gives the garden a funny little shift in personality. Summer still has plenty of heat left, but the calendar has started whispering about fall, which makes this an excellent time to tackle jobs that feel much harder when September arrives in a rush. Some tasks simply become easier because plants…
What Is Causing Mushrooms to Appear Around Raised Beds?
Mushrooms appearing around raised beds can look like tiny garden intruders, especially when a neat vegetable patch suddenly develops a crop of little caps overnight. In most cases, though, those mushrooms point to something much less alarming: moist conditions and fungi breaking down organic material in the soil or mulch. The mushroom itself represents only…
What Should You Do When Okra Becomes Too Tall to Reach?
Okra can start as a modest little garden plant and then suddenly look like it has applied for a job as a flagpole. When the pods start hanging several feet above the ground, harvesting becomes awkward, missed pods turn tough, and that impressive height stops feeling quite so impressive. The good news: gardeners do not…
Can You Grow Saffron Crocus in an Ordinary Backyard?
An ordinary backyard can produce saffron, and the plant does not require a sprawling estate, greenhouse, or secret handshake with a professional spice farmer. Saffron comes from Crocus sativus, a fall-blooming perennial corm that can grow in garden beds, raised beds, and containers when gardeners give it the conditions it wants. The catch comes at…