Techniques

  • deer-resistant plants
    Design

    Episode 155: Deer-Resistant Favorites

    One of the worst sights you can ever see in the garden is a plant that has been browsed by deer. (Note: We don't love the gentle word “browsed” in…

  • cover seedlings to protect from pests
    How-To

    The Dos and Don’ts of Direct Sowing

    Sowing a seed directly into the ground, nurturing it, and reaping the rewards is one of the easiest gardening activities you can do—yet many gardeners don’t do it. There are…

  • water saving tips in southwest garden
    How-To

    Water-Saving Tips for Southwestern Gardens

    For most of the Southwest, “dry” is a normal state of affairs. We live in a complex mosaic of arid, semi-arid, and seasonally arid zones that make most generalizations impossible.…

  • garden bed with gravel mulch
    How-To

    How to Pick the Best Mulch for Your Mountain West Garden Beds

    Since entering horticulture professionally over a decade ago, I’ve noticed a correlation on the Colorado Front Range between wood mulch (also called arborist chips) and water-wise gardens. A beautifully designed…

  • new gardening tools
    How-To

    Novel Garden Tools to Get Excited About This Year

    For at least 12,000 years, humans have been clearing brush, digging dirt, planting plants, cultivating, weeding, growing, and harvesting—in a word, gardening! And for almost as long, these same humans…

  • scooping top-dressing from a wheelbarrow with an aluminum scoop
    How-To

    Reader Tips for Simplifying Early Spring Chores

    Here’s the scoop on top-dressing I prefer to top-dress my flower beds while my perennials are napping safely underground, but I often find myself doing this while the plants are…

  • Corona extendable DualLINK bypass loppers
    How-To

    Essential Garden Tools for Spring

    Prune effortlessly with these adjustable loppers A good pair of loppers can make spring pruning a breeze. However, most loppers seem to make even a strong person feel pathetically weak…

  • pollinator garden tips
    Design

    Tips for Installing and Caring for a Pollinator Garden

    Choosing a palette of plants that will sustain pollinators throughout the growing season is a great start. However, the way you plant and care for your selections can provide additional…

  • tree die back
    How-To

    Garden Pest and Disease Watch: Eastern Filbert Blight and Elm Zigzag Sawfly

    Question: My 30-year-old Harry Lauder’s walking stick (Corylus avellana* ‘Contorta’, Zones 4–8) is starting to die back. Some leaves are chlorotic and then turn brown, with the branch becoming dry…

  • tips for growing heucheras
    How-To

    Tips and Tricks for Growing Heucheras Successfully

    Heucheras are somewhere in between plant-them-and-forget-them perennials and high-maintenance divas. At home in garden beds and superstars in containers, they will reward you handsomely when given proper conditions and care.…