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There’s a moment every gardener experiences: the first warm days of the year when you begin to think, “It’s time.” That feeling of possibility is powerful, but for a truly productive garden, the work that determines success happens before spring planting begins. The secret isn’t seeds or fertilizer; it’s soil.
Read MoreIt’s seed shopping season, and if you’re like me, you’ve been leafing through garden catalogs and dreaming about your spring garden. Although it’s still miserably cold this time of year where I live, winter is the perfect season for garden planning, including figuring out which seeds you can safely start indoors now. Starting seeds indoors is one of the most satisfying parts of gardening, until your seedlings flop over, stall out, or never germinate at all. A lot of that frustration comes down to the “soil” you used, because seed-starting media is less about feeding plants and more about managing moisture, oxygen, and cleanliness.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever told yourself that gardening starts in spring, you’re not alone. Many people assume winter is the off-season, a time to wait until seed catalogs arrive or garden centers restock and come alive again. Most gardeners are not growing food outdoors in winter unless they live in temperate or warm climates. For the past decade or so, I’ve been growing food outdoors in winter all year round using an unheated greenhouse and frost covers over my raised beds, but even that has been impossible in some years, when everything undergoes an extended freeze and it becomes impossible to harvest much of anything.
Read MoreEvery growing season seems to begin the same way: fresh seed catalogs, ambitious plans, and the quiet hope that this will be the year everything finally comes together.
And then real life happens.
Read MoreI remember the first time I grew my own food garden. It was 1999 and I was living in the Pacific Northwest. My food garden was limited to cabbage in a small raised bed, and that first try was disappointing: I barely grew anything, and the cabbage that did grow didn’t exactly look appetizing (plus, I don’t know what I was thinking by planting a crop I hardly ever ate). Plus, I was trying to finish my Ph.D dissertation, so I was feeling stressed out and overwhelmed most of the time. I was determined to do better. After all, as a child I had spent summers on a farm in…
Read MoreThe pace of modern life rarely leaves much room for stillness. Days are measured in notifications, schedules and productivity, with little space left for quiet observation. Yet step into a garden and time begins to behave differently. Growth cannot be rushed. Light changes gradually. Seasons insist on being noticed. A garden asks us to slow down, whether we intend to or not.
Read MoreIf your shed, garage, or garden corner feels more chaotic than calming, don’t feel bad — it’s more common than not! Garden supplies have a way of multiplying over time: half-used bags of soil amendments, duplicate hand tools, cracked pots, and mystery containers whose labels faded years ago. Reassessing and where necessary, purging your garden supplies is not just about tidiness. It can save you money, protect pollinators and soil health, and make gardening feel lighter and more enjoyable.
Read MoreStarting an edible garden can feel exciting and overwhelming at the same time. You might be drawn to the idea of growing your own food, but unsure where to begin, what to plant, or whether you can really make it work with the space, time, and energy you have right now. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone.
Read MoreGrowing 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 MoreOur 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 MoreThis guide will give you clear, easy steps to successfully grow herbs indoors during the winter season. You’ll learn how to choose beginner-friendly herbs, set up simple growing conditions, and keep them thriving with minimal effort.
Read MoreBok 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 MoreGazing 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 MoreWinter 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 MoreWhen 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.
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