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…
vegetable gardening
Can You Use Old Window Screens to Dry Garden Seeds?
An old window screen can become a surprisingly useful seed-drying rack. Instead of spreading seeds across a plate, paper towel, or cookie sheet where moisture can linger underneath, a clean screen lets air move around the seeds from multiple directions. That simple bit of airflow makes the humble window screen a clever piece of garden…
Those Beautiful Seeds You Found Online May Be Fake — Here’s How to Tell
Those beautiful seeds you found online may be fake, and the most convincing part of the listing might be the photograph. AI-generated images now make it remarkably easy for dishonest sellers to show enormous flowers, bizarre colors, impossible shapes, and plants that look as if someone crossed a rose with a fireworks display. Moneywise recently…
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…
What Causes Green Rings Around the Tops of Carrots?
Carrots usually arrive in shades of orange, purple, yellow, or white, so a green ring around the top can look like the vegetable has wandered into the wrong garden department. That green color usually comes from a simple culprit: light exposure. When the upper part of a developing carrot sits too close to the soil…
Can You Move a Raised Bed Without Replacing All the Soil?
Good news, gardeners: a raised bed can move without sending all that beautiful, expensive soil to the compost pile. The trick involves treating the soil like a living garden resource rather than a box of dirt that happens to sit above ground. Moving the frame usually creates less trouble than moving what fills it. Soil…
What Should You Do With Cornstalks Before They Turn Brittle?
Cornstalks look impressive for about five minutes after the last ears come off. Then they start turning into a towering collection of dry leaves, tough stems, and garden debris that somehow seems determined to make cleanup harder. The smartest time to deal with corn plants comes before those stalks become completely dry and brittle, because…
6 Crops That Benefit From Cooler Nights More Than Cooler Days
Some garden crops do not need the daytime temperature to drop much to appreciate relief. They simply want the sun to clock out, the air to cool down, and the garden to get a little breathing room. For certain warm-season vegetables and fruits, cooler nights can support flowering, fruit development, flavor, and overall plant performance…
Can You Train Cucumbers Across a Fence Late in the Season?
Cucumbers can learn a new direction late in the growing season, and a fence can make a surprisingly useful trellis. The trick involves guiding the vines gently rather than treating them like unruly garden spaghetti that needs immediate discipline. If the plants still look healthy and continue producing new growth, redirecting the vines can help…