Check out all our blog posts on Outdoor gardening.
Lotus seeds will sprout in a bowl of warm water within a week, as long as you file through their hard shell first. To grow lotus from seeds, file a small opening in the seed coat, soak the seeds in 75 to 87°F water that you change daily, then plant the rooted seedlings in heavy … Read more >>
Most gardeners think of mushrooms as something that shows up uninvited after a rainy week. But you can plant them on purpose, right alongside your tomatoes and beans. When you grow mushrooms in your vegetable garden, you get a second harvest from shady, unused spaces and richer soil. In this guide, I’ll walk you through … Read more >>
Walk into any garden center and you’ll see walls of shiny tools, each one promising to make gardening easier. Here’s the truth: you only need a small set of the best gardening tools and equipment to grow a healthy garden. The rest can wait until you know what you actually use. In this guide, I’ll … Read more >>
A single pot of petunias is pretty. A pot packed with a tall grass, mounding flowers and a vine spilling over the rim stops people on the sidewalk. Good container plant combinations aren’t hard to build once you know a simple formula and a few rules. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the method … Read more >>
You don’t need an orchard to pick your own fruit. With the right variety and a big enough pot, you can grow lemons on a patio, figs by the back door, and peaches on a sunny deck. Dwarf fruit trees for containers make all of that possible, even if your “yard” is a strip of … Read more >>
There’s a reason so many people say the garden is where they feel most like themselves. The benefits of gardening for mental health are real, and research links time with plants to lower stress, better mood, and a stronger sense of wellbeing. In this guide, I’ll walk you through how gardening supports your mind and … Read more >>
Spider mites on areca palm leaves start as a faint, dusty speckling on the feathery leaflets. Left alone, they spread into fine webbing and yellow fronds. The good news is that a mite problem on a Dypsis lutescens is very fixable when you catch it at the speckling stage. My advice is to isolate the … Read more >>
Yes, you can eat lemongrass. The tender, pale lower stalk of lemongrass is edible once you peel off the tough outer layers and slice or mince it finely, while the green leaves and woody tops are best used for tea and infusions, then strained out. The whole plant is safe for people in food amounts. … Read more >>
Lemongrass grows well from seed if you give it warmth, light, and a head start indoors. To grow lemongrass from seed, press the seeds onto the surface of moist seed-starting mix about 8 weeks before your last frost, keep them at 70 to 80°F until they sprout in one to three weeks, then plant the … Read more >>
Most areca palms die from root rot caused by soggy soil, with dry air, tap water salts, cold drafts, and poor light close behind. You can save a palm that still has firm canes and some white or tan roots. One that has gone mushy at the base all the way through usually can’t come … Read more >>