All posts

A wooden box of damp sand on a garage floor with freshly dug carrots and beets laid in a row on it, green tops trimmed short, and a bucket of sand beside it

How do you store carrots over winter?

Cold, damp and away from the apples. Four ways to keep them crisp for months, how to pack a box of sand, and why stored carrots go bitter.
A low wooden raised bed in late autumn covered with an even layer of shredded maple and oak leaves, a few kale plants at the far end, and a lawn mower with a leaf bag on the grass beside it

Can you put leaves on your vegetable garden?

Yes, if you shred them first. How deep to spread them, when by zone, a leaf-by-leaf chart, and the one tree to keep off the bed.
A gardener's hand brushing soil away from the orange shoulders of carrots still growing in a garden bed, with feathery green tops and autumn light

When are carrots ready to pick?

The tops lie. Check the shoulder instead: the width that means pick, a size and days chart by carrot type, and why fall carrots can wait.
A wooden crate of green and blushing tomatoes picked ahead of frost, sitting on a kitchen counter in soft autumn light

What do you do with green tomatoes?

Only some of them will ever ripen indoors. Here's how to tell which, three ways to ripen them, the canning rule to never break, and what to cook.
An October garden bed with young lettuce and spinach under a low row-cover tunnel, garlic cloves waiting beside the soil, and fallen leaves in soft autumn light

What to plant in October

Warm zones still have a sowing window, cold zones are down to garlic and cover crops. Here's which October you're in, and what to put in the ground.
A supermarket garlic bulb broken into cloves on a wooden table next to a larger hardneck seed garlic bulb, with autumn soil and a trowel beside them

Can you plant grocery store garlic?

It will usually grow. Here's what actually happens: sprout inhibitors, year-old bulbs, real disease risk, and when seed garlic is worth the extra few dollars.
A tired late-August tomato plant with yellowing lower leaves and a bowl of green tomatoes picked from it sitting on the soil in low afternoon light

When should you pull your tomato plants?

Yellow vines, no new flowers, nights under 55F. Here's how to tell the season is over, when to top the plant instead, and what to do with the green ones.
A September garden bed with rows of young spinach and lettuce seedlings, a bowl of harvested radishes, and garlic cloves waiting beside the soil in low autumn light

What to plant in September

Some zones still have a sowing window, some are down to garlic and cover crops. Here's which September you're in, and what to put in the ground.
A ripe red tomato on the vine with a split running down its side after heavy summer rain

Why are my tomatoes splitting and cracking?

Cracks after a downpour come from uneven soil moisture. Here's how to prevent them, and whether a split tomato is still safe to eat.
Newly sown fall garden rows with young spinach and lettuce seedlings coming up beside a board laid over one row for shade in late summer light

What can you plant in August?

August is fall planting month. Here's what to sow now by zone, what to buy as transplants, and the frost date math behind it.
A large zucchini plant collapsed and wilted flat over the soil in a sunny summer garden bed

Why did my zucchini plant wilt and die overnight?

Collapsed with no warning? There's a caterpillar in the stem. Here's how to confirm it and the five-minute surgery that saves the plant.
A large, lush green tomato plant full of leaves but almost no fruit in a sunny backyard garden

Why your tomato plant is all leaves and no fruit

A big, leafy plant with barely any tomatoes? Usually it's too much nitrogen. Here's how to steer its energy back to fruit.
Freshly sown garden rows with young seedlings emerging in warm July sunlight, a watering can at the edge of the bed

Is it too late to start a garden in July?

Short answer: no. July opens a second planting window. Here's what to sow now and how to keep it alive in the heat.
A watermelon in the garden turned to show its buttery yellow field spot, with a dried tendril on the vine beside it

How can you tell when a watermelon is ripe?

Watermelons don't ripen after picking, so you get one shot. The field spot, the tendril, and the rind tell you when to cut.
A basket and counter pile of fresh green zucchini in a bright kitchen

What to do with too much zucchini

Buried in zucchini this July? Here's how to freeze it, pickle it, bake it, and actually use up the glut.
A tomato plant with yellowing lower leaves and healthy green growth in summer light

Why your tomato leaves are turning yellow

Yellow leaves aren't a death sentence. Where the yellowing starts tells you why, plus the simple fix for each cause.
Yellow tomato flowers on a healthy green plant in soft morning light

Why your tomato flowers are falling off

Blooms dropping in the summer heat? It's not your fault. Here's what's happening and how to get fruit set going again.
Watering potted tomato and herb plants on a sunny patio

Why your potted plants are always thirsty

Containers dry out shockingly fast in summer heat. The simple routine that keeps them alive through July.