You want that sleek, professional look for your flower beds. I get it. Nothing makes green foliage pop like a crisp layer of midnight-dark wood. But before you go hauling twenty bags of black dyed mulch from the garden center, we need to talk. I’ve spent two decades in the dirt, and I’ve seen black … Read more
I went out to the garden last July, expecting to pick enough Early Girls for a BLT. Instead, I found a crime scene. Half a plant was stripped bare. Just naked green stems and a few sad, jagged leaf stubs. No fruit, no foliage, just total devastation. If you’ve seen this in your own backyard, … Read more
I’ve spent thirty years looking at grass, and if there’s one thing that gets my blood pressure up, it’s seeing folks throw money away on “miracle” chemicals. Lately, my inbox is full of people asking why their neighbors are out there with a bottle of Dawn and a garden sprayer in the middle of winter. … Read more
Last week, I saw my neighbor out in his yard with a leaf blower, obsessively chasing a single maple leaf like it was a gold nugget. He blew every last bit of organic matter into a plastic bag and dragged it to the curb. Then, he complained that his perennial hibiscus died over the winter. … Read more
I built my first raised bed in 2008. Spent $200 on cedar boards, another $150 on what the garden center guy promised was “premium garden soil,” and planted 24 tomato starts that barely grew 2 feet tall before giving up entirely. The problem? That “premium” soil was 60% composted bark mulch with almost zero nutrients. … Read more