How to Mulch Strawberries for Winter: When, What and How Deep
A strawberry plant can survive a bitter winter beneath a blanket of straw, yet the same plant may suffer damage if that blanket goes on too early. The surprising part …
Garden Design
Road Salt and Your Garden: How to Protect Plants From De-Icing Damage
A sidewalk can look perfectly safe after a winter storm, while the garden beside it quietly absorbs the consequences. Snow melts, salty water runs toward the soil, and weeks later, …
Tension Wood: How Trees Pull Themselves Upright and What a New Study Found
A tree can slowly straighten its own trunk without muscles, joints, or a nervous system. When a young hardwood tree leans, it may produce a specialized kind of wood that …
How to Grow Serviceberry in Containers: Planting and Care Guide
Growing serviceberry in containers is an attractive option for homeowners who want a flowering small tree or shrub without dedicating a large garden bed to it. Serviceberries belong to the …
How to Identify Trees by Bark: Eight Common Species to Learn
A tree can lose every leaf in winter and still reveal its identity through the patterns covering its trunk. Some trees have smooth, pale bark that resembles polished stone. Others …
Poison Ivy vs. Virginia Creeper: How to Tell the Difference Before You Pull
A climbing vine appears along your fence, wrapping around a tree or spreading across the garden. Before reaching for your pruning shears, identifying the plant could save you from an …
How to Graft Fruit Trees So One Tree Grows Multiple Varieties
Imagine walking up to one apple tree and picking a green apple from one branch, a red apple from another, and a completely different cultivar from a third. That sounds …
Espalier: How to Train a Fruit Tree to Grow Flat Against a Wall
A fruit tree does not have to spread into a broad, rounded canopy. With careful pruning and training, you can persuade its branches to grow in an almost two-dimensional pattern …
How to Build a Simple Drip Irrigation System for Your Garden
A simple drip irrigation system can turn daily hand-watering into a mostly automatic routine without requiring professional plumbing. Instead of spraying an entire bed, drip irrigation moves water slowly through …
Why Nasturtiums Make Such an Effective Pest Trap Crop
Bright orange, yellow, and red nasturtium flowers may look purely ornamental, but these fast-growing annuals can play a useful role in vegetable-garden pest management. Used correctly, nasturtium trap crop pest …