Even now, I have a flock of 50 or more, and my garden plots seem to multiply every growing season. Every few years or so, I’ll see an article in a magazine, glamorizing the “chicken-friendly garden.” It will include idyllic photos of small red Bantams plucking beetles from a new squash vine. There will be talk of how simple it is to skip the middleman and allow the birds to fertilize the garden directly....

Who wouldn’t want this gorgeous specimen in their landscape? Also called frangipani, it’s worth the effort to bring its bright, stunning blooms and interesting structure home, but you may be thrilled to learn that the work required is minimal. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Without further ado, let’s talk about planting, growing, and caring for plumeria!...

Not only is it incredibly crisp and delicious when fresh, but it is one of the rare perennial vegetables that, when cared for and picked appropriately, will continue to produce bountiful harvests for years. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. So how do you know when and how to harvest asparagus to ensure a continued crop?...

However, it’s possible to combat many of these invaders yourself, without enlisting the help of a professional exterminator. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Basic Colony Structure Ants form colonies – some composed of millions of insects, others with as few as several dozen. The ants you normally see trailing around your kitchen are female workers....

Invasive species can spread to your woody ornamentals and hardwood trees and leach away their resources, which leaves them stunted, damaged, and vulnerable to health issues and pest infestation. For those who had no idea, it’s a tough pill to swallow, that – in the garden, at least – these plants are often our enemies. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

Blossom colors include cream, pink, purple, red, yellow, and white, often accented by throats of a lighter hue, or speckles and mottling. Digitalis is a genus in the Plantaginaceae or plantain family that contains about 20 recognized species. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Let’s meet common foxglove! Cultivation and History In 1755, English doctor William Withering used a folk remedy to treat a patient with a heart problem....

Suited to gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 5 to 8, these plants are fast-growing and range in height from 12 inches to 10 feet tall. In this article, you’ll learn how to cultivate and maintain forsythia in your outdoor living space. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Let’s find out how this ornamental shrub made its way to the American garden....

If you do have a garden that large, I am sincerely glad. The thought of a massive melon patch is immensely cheering. But those of us with limited space need to get creative. We’ve got to train our melons to climb skyward. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. So don’t shy away from growing these delicious melons (Cucumis melo var....

So many people have a cherished memory of sipping the sweet nectar from the flowers, or reveling in the perfumed summer air. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. But these days, you’re just as likely to hear about the not-so-sweet side of honeysuckles as you are about the memories that the scent of the flowers bring....

Bred to look attractive, it is edible, but generally has a bitter flavor. A biennial plant is one that blooms in the second year. Since ornamental kale is typically grown as an annual, there is no true flower formation during its one year of vegetative growth. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. In this article you will learn how to cultivate and care for annual flowering kale....

Also called Southern globe thistle, this flower is native to Europe and Asia. Its most noteworthy features are its blue to blue-purple color, tall stature, and prickly foliage. Cultivated varieties expand the color palette to include white. The Echinops genus is a broad one containing many species, including the blue, E. bannaticus; great, E. sphaerocephalus; and tall, E. exaltatus, varieties. The most noteworthy differences among them are color, size of the flower heads, and height....

Or are you debating whether it’s worth it to buy and contend with such a pokey plant for the potential of a future harvest? A lot of people who have tried nopales think it’s well worth it, myself included. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Harvesting pads, or nopales, from members of the Opuntia genus can be a little intimidating....

All that work cracking them open just for a tiny slice of heaven inside? Not for me. Or so I thought… After enjoying the large, glorious yellow blooms of my very own sunflowers all summer long, I harvested my own homegrown seeds for the first time. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. And instead of reaching into a bag of store-bought seeds that are perched on the console, I’m delighted again and again by the plastic baggie filled with seeds from flowers that I grew and harvested myself!...

A favorite of leafy green fans, this vegetable is a nutritional powerhouse that’s typically eaten fresh when the leaves are small and tender. And fully grown, the glossy, crinkled leaves are enjoyed as a fresh wrap or lightly sauteed, steamed, or added to simmering dishes. The pretty leaves are broad and savoyed, creating a canopy of crinkly colors from mid- to deep green, and burgundy to purple for some of the colorful varieties....

The result: scarred flowers, deformed leaves, and discolored fruit. Not exactly what you had in mind when you planted your garden this year, is it? If you’re growing flowers, vegetables, or fruits, you’ll want to know a few things about Thysanoptera pests. That way, if they do appear, you’ll understand what they are and how to deal with them. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

Upon closer inspection, you discover that something has gone terribly wrong. Your fruits have a hideous deformity! What is going on? Fear not – they are not under siege from a pathogen that could ruin your entire crop. In fact, if the fruit have not split open, they are perfectly safe to eat. However, you certainly can’t sell them or show them off. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Winter can be bleak and lifeless – unless, of course, your garden is graced with a camellia. When most plants are dormant or have died off, camellias become a prolifically blooming feature, showing off both blossoms and evergreen foliage. In climates that don’t experience harsh seasonal conditions, pollinators can be active through mild winters and camellias will offer important forage for them. There are more than 45 species of this flowering plant in cultivation, 30,000 named varieties, and more than 3,000 hybrids....

It looked like an ordinary seedling you might buy from a nursery. But the owner of the store told me that it had been propagated in a lab. When you purchase boysenberry plants to set out in your garden, you will usually have an option of a dormant bare root, or a small plant propagated in the nursery by one of four methods: a rooted cutting, tip layering, root division, or micropropagation in a lab setting....

When someone asks me how I do it, I usually provide a simple answer: put a cutting in some water. The end. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. Case in point: the first time I propagated my Swiss cheese plant in water was entirely accidental. I had taken some cuttings from my unruly, overgrown plant and put them in a vase for a display for my book club that was about to meet at my house....

And, if your garden is suffering, you’re just starting out as a gardener, or you’re a serial fertilizer, I recommend the same. Understanding your soil’s nutrient composition and pH can help you to troubleshoot issues and fertilize appropriately, which can have a huge impact on the overall health and productivity of your garden. But how in the world do you test your soil? Well, you probably shouldn’t – professionals should....