Grow Lights for Beginners: How to Choose the Right Grow Lights for Plants Indoors

/
Grow Lights for Beginners: How to Choose the Right Grow Lights for Plants Indoors

Growing edible plants indoors opens up a world of possibilities. You can start seeds earlier, grow leafy greens year-round, and keep houseplants healthy even during the darkest months of winter. But if you are new to indoor growing, you may be wondering about one of the most frequent questions that arises with indoor growing setups:

Do I really need grow lights for my plants, and if so, how do I choose one?

Read More

Composting During Winter (Including Bokashi Bins)

/
Composting During Winter (Including Bokashi Bins)

Our household only started composting in earnest about a year ago, with the addition of a Bokashi bin to our kitchen (more on that later). Until then, we mainly composted coffee grounds and eggshells, which I added to the garden beds in three seasons of the year. In winter, I stored eggshells I had dried out in the oven beforehand, and dumped coffee grounds in the soil underneath my rose and blueberry bushes. To be honest, I had often wondered what it would mean to compost all of our food scraps, and how I would manage to keep it up in the coldest months of the year. The Bokashi bin has enabled me to compost year-round and more comprehensively, but it’s not the only way you can continue to repurpose food scraps all year long.

Read More

How to Grow Bok Choy Indoors and Outdoors (Beginner-Friendly Guide)

/
How to Grow Bok Choy Indoors and Outdoors (Beginner-Friendly Guide)

Bok choy is one of those vegetables that feels both exotic and surprisingly easy to grow. Crisp, tender, and slightly sweet, this cool-season green (Brassica rapa var. chinensis) grows quickly and adapts beautifully to a variety of spaces — raised beds, balcony containers, kitchen counters, or even a simple Kratky hydroponic jar.

Read More

Why does my lawn have bare spots and how do I fix them quickly?

/
Why does my lawn have bare spots and how do I fix them quickly?

Gazing at bare patches in your lawn? You’re not alone. Those thin, ugly spots are such a pain. They can feel especially frustrating when the rest of your yard looks healthy. Whether they were caused by pets, heavy foot traffic, pests, drought stress, or poor soil conditions, bare spots have a way of showing up at the worst possible time.

Read More

The Complete Guide to Houseplant Pest Control in Winter: Fungus Gnats, Mealybugs, Thrips, and More

/
The Complete Guide to Houseplant Pest Control in Winter: Fungus Gnats, Mealybugs, Thrips, and More

Winter can be one of the most challenging times for houseplants. Shorter days, weaker sunlight, dry indoor air, and unpredictable watering habits create a perfect storm that stresses plants. Stressed and weak plants emit chemical distress signals that attract pests.

Read More

Kratky Hydroponics Indoors: Setting Up a Simple System for Winter Greens

/
Kratky Hydroponics Indoors: Setting Up a Simple System for Winter Greens

When the garden goes quiet for the winter, many gardeners miss the color, crunch, and satisfaction of fresh greens. I used to feel that way, too, and so I started winter gardening about 10 years ago. But after years of growing a garden in the winter, being outside in the freezing weather trying to take care of plants became one more unpleasant chore. So last winter I switched to indoor gardening with Kratky hydroponics. It was a lot easier than I thought, and I was able to keep my family supplied in fresh greens all winter long.

Read More

How to Start a Container Vegetable Garden at Home

/
How to Start a Container Vegetable Garden at Home

With commercially-grown vegetables becoming increasingly subject to contamination by synthetic pesticide residue and deadly bacteria, finding quality produce is becoming more of a challenge. Part of the problem with commercial production are the monopolies by big food companies, which threaten food security and public health. A growing number of people have begun to see growing and harvesting their own vegetables as a way to reduce their exposure to these contaminants and exercise greater self-reliance.

Read More

5 Fall Garden Chores You Should Skip (and What to Do Instead)

/
5 Fall Garden Chores You Should Skip (and What to Do Instead)

As the leaves fall and the air cools, many of us rush to “tidy up” our gardens before winter. We rake and bag leaves, cut back or pull plants, and erase almost every sign of summer growth before the cold season sets in. But here’s the truth: a perfectly clean garden isn’t necessarily a healthy one, and some of that cleanup is doing more harm than good. In fact, many fall gardening chores that seem helpful actually disrupt the delicate balance of your soil, remove crucial pollinator habitats, and make more work for you come spring.

Read More

Winter Prep for Pollinator Gardens: How to Protect Bees, Butterflies, and Beneficial Insects All Year Long

/
Winter Prep for Pollinator Gardens: How to Protect Bees, Butterflies, and Beneficial Insects All Year Long

As the growing season winds down, it’s tempting to tidy up the garden by cutting back plants, raking every leaf, and prepping for a neat winter landscape. But if you want to support pollinators like bees, butterflies, and even beneficial beetles, the best thing you can do might be…a little less tidying.

Read More

Smart Farming on a Budget: What Gardeners Can Learn from AI-Powered Farms

/
Smart Farming on a Budget: What Gardeners Can Learn from AI-Powered Farms

When I got my water bill this month, I was frustrated but not surprised. My bill covered the summer months, when I use more water than usual to keep my crops hydrated and healthy. Even with rain barrels and a timed irrigation system in place, it felt like I’ve been spending more on water than I should be. So I was intrigued to find out that there are now ways I could be using some of the new smart technology to cut my water bill without compromising the productivity of my garden.

Read More

Cold-Weather Color: 9 Hardy Plants That Flower Through Winter

/
Cold-Weather Color: 9 Hardy Plants That Flower Through Winter

Winter is a time when most gardens in cold climates wind down, but what if you could enjoy vibrant color on long-blooming flowers all winter long? With the right plant choices, you can enjoy living blooms and vibrant foliage throughout the entire cold season. Some winter-blooming species not only lift spirits, but also support early pollinators, stabilize soils, and send out not-so-subtle signals that life continues even in the frost.

Read More

How to deal with powdery mildew: 3 organic methods for prevention and treatment

/
How to deal with powdery mildew: 3 organic methods for prevention and treatment

I knew the summer gardening season was really winding down when I spotted the telltale white coating of powdery mildew on the leaves of the squash plant in my raised bed. This common fungal disease makes its appearance around the same time every year. I had to remind myself that seeing powdery mildew doesn’t have to spell disaster.

Read More

How to Successfully Germinate Seeds Indoors and Outdoors

/
How to Successfully Germinate Seeds Indoors and Outdoors

In this blog, we will share some hands-on tips for seed germination indoors and outdoors. We will also talk about a method you might not know about for easily growing plants from seed: the Kratky method. Using these methods, you can grow healthier seedlings that turn into healthy plants.

Read More

Plant a Kitchen Garden in Mid-Summer: it’s not too late!

/
Plant a Kitchen Garden in Mid-Summer: it’s not too late!

As a kid growing up in New York City, I was luckier than most urban kiddos by being able to spend summers with Nana (my nanny) in her trailer and on a small farm outside Kannapolis, North Carolina that belonged to Nana’s sister Aunt Babe and her husband, Uncle Hoy. For five summers I helped harvest collards, corn, beans, and anything else that was in season on their farm, which is where they got most of their food. It was hot, sticky work, and I really didn’t like doing it at the time, but I loved being outside (running around barefoot as much as possible like my friends did), learning what grew best and when, and discovering how a bit of soil could turn into a fully stocked pantry. Those summer memories still shape how I think about food, gardening, and self-sufficiency.

Read More