The essentials for living your best life.
The essentials for living your best life.
Gardening nurtures more than plants—it supports healthier people, stronger communities, and a thriving planet. From conserving water and storing carbon to boosting biodiversity and creating wildlife habitats, sustainable gardening turns even small urban spaces into powerful environmental sanctuaries.
Turn ordinary wood chips into garden paths that suppress weeds, hold moisture, and nurture beneficial fungi. As the chips break down, they build richer, healthier soil while creating a comfortable, low-maintenance walkway between your beds.
Turn everyday yard waste into a powerful soil amendment with backyard biochar. When charged with compost and beneficial microbes, it helps retain water and nutrients, improve soil structure, support plant health, and lock carbon into the soil for years.
Soil testing is the simplest way to take the guesswork out of gardening and get a true picture of your soil health. With the right results, you can choose smarter soil amendments, improve mulch maintenance, and build a healthier garden season after season.
Soil testing is more than a one-time check—it’s the foundation of smarter garden records and healthier beds year after year. When you track results over time, you can make better decisions about soil amendments, mulch maintenance, and overall soil health with far less guesswork.
March gardening works best when you start with the soil: the right amendments can set the stage for stronger germination, healthier roots, and easier spring growth. From cool-season crops to careful pest inspection, a little planning now helps your garden get off to a steady start.
January gardening is the perfect time to step back, make smart choices, and set your garden up for success before spring arrives. From garden planning and winter pruning to soil testing and seed ordering, these quiet-season tasks can save time and lead to healthier, more productive plants later on.
Compost around trees and shrubs can do wonders when it’s placed in the root zone, not piled against trunks or buried too deeply. With the right landscape compost application, you can improve soil health, boost moisture retention, and give woody plants the support they need to thrive.
September cover crops can turn an empty bed into a living shield before winter settles in. With the right cover crops by hardiness zone, you can boost fall soil improvement, prevent erosion, and set the stage for a healthier spring garden.
Regenerative gardening and no-till gardening overlap, but they are not the same. Learn how soil health, cover crops, composting, and biodiversity set them apart.
Wondering whether sheet mulch or compost topdressing is better for building healthy soil? Discover when each no-dig method works best—and how combining them can transform neglected ground while keeping established beds fertile and productive.
Blossom end rot isn’t always a calcium deficiency—often, inconsistent watering and stressed roots are the real culprits. Learn how steady moisture, healthy roots, and balanced nutrition can keep tomatoes and other crops thriving.
Foliar feeding can give stressed plants a quick, targeted boost—but it isn’t a magic cure or substitute for healthy roots and soil. Learn when a leaf spray truly helps, when it’s mostly hype, and how to use it safely.
Living mulch can transform bare soil into a living layer that suppresses weeds, holds moisture, and supports healthier garden beds—but only when matched to the right crops and timing. Discover where it helps, where it competes, and how to manage it successfully.
Not sure whether your soil needs lime, sulfur, or nothing at all? Learn how to read a soil test, match pH to your plants, and make the smallest adjustment for healthier growth without chasing a “perfect” number.
Manure tea and compost tea may sound similar, but they serve different garden goals. Discover which brew is better for quick plant nutrition, healthier soil biology, safer application, and the needs of your favorite crops.
Save water without compromising your harvest. Learn how to use graywater safely in edible gardens, from choosing the right plants and cleaning products to protecting soil, roots, and the food you grow.
Fallen leaves are more than yard debris—they’re vital habitat that shelters insects, feeds soil life, and supports birds, amphibians, and pollinators. Discover simple ways to leave room for leaf litter while keeping your backyard tidy, healthy, and wildlife-friendly.
Compacted garden soil can slow growth, but deep tilling isn’t the only fix. Learn how a simple broadfork alternative and targeted aeration can improve soil structure and root penetration without turning your beds upside down.
Discover how to prevent pest outbreaks before they start by designing a resilient, balanced garden. With beneficial insects, diverse plantings, healthy soil, and thoughtful habitat, nature can do much of the pest-control work for you.
Turn your garden bed into a living, self-renewing ecosystem with a worm-rich compost zone. Learn how to layer scraps, leaves, moisture, and mulch to improve soil structure, recycle nutrients in place, and grow healthier plants with less effort.
Grow more from the space you already have with intercropping—a smart way to combine compatible crops, reduce bare soil and weeds, and potentially cut garden costs. Learn how to pair plants effectively without creating competition, crowding, or extra work.
Prepare productive no-dig beds with less work by using tarps to suppress weeds, terminate cover crops, conserve moisture, and protect your soil’s living ecosystem. Discover how long to tarp, how to secure it, and when to remove it for a clean, nutrient-rich seedbed.
Discover how mustard cover crops can naturally suppress weeds, loosen compacted soil, and release biofumigant compounds that help control soil pests and diseases—while enriching your vegetable beds with organic matter.
Finished harvesting peas? Keep your garden growing with the right spring cover crop. From fast-growing buckwheat and oats to nitrogen-rich clover and vetch, discover the best options for protecting soil, suppressing weeds, and preparing your bed for what comes next.