"You must spend so much time in your garden" is the phrase I hear most often from the foot traffic that goes by my home. But while it is certainly seasonal, with needs changing from week to week, once my garden is installed for the summer, I never actually spend more than an hour in it per day, and frequently far less than that. This summer I'm practicing radical avoidance, and I've been impressed at how well the garden is managing itself. I simply make sure I get outside once a day and do these three things.
Either first thing in the morning or at twilight, I grab a hod, a five gallon bucket, and my clean pruners, and I walk around the garden doing these tasks:
1. Weed
As you move around the garden, grab any errant weeds. They grow in the beds, alongside the beds, and in the cracks of the concrete. Pitch them into the bucket. If you do this every day, or even most days, it's not an overwhelming chore. Weeding can also mean winnowing down seedlings if you're growing radishes or carrots, so they're spaced appropriately. I don't use any special equipment, I just pull the weeds out with my hands, doing my best to get as much root as possible. Shake off the weed so you rid it of any good dirt that clings to before it goes in the bucket.
2. Harvest
The fruit, vegetables, and flowers change daily in the garden, so the best way to grab everything at its peak is to get out there most days and look around. If you do, you'll also know what to anticipate being ready from day to day so you can meal plan. The produce goes into the hod, ready to come into the house. If you need to ditch carrot greens or radish tops, you can do that outside and add them to your bucket. Before you come in, you can rinse off everything in the hod with your hose—that's why you want a hod and not a basket.
3. Look for pests and problems
This is also your chance to look for any potential issues. If you see leaves that might have blight, fungus, or virus, use those pruners and cut it out. If the problem is bad enough, cull the plant entirely. If you see pest damage, start flipping leaves over and look for the eggs to remove them. Definitely remove pests as you see them, too. If you need to add Sluggo or a foliar treatment to any plant, now is the time. A few notes: If you do have to cut out or cull, that plant should not go in the bucket but should proceed directly to the trash can. Don't put diseased plants into the compost either at your home or for the city. Also, be sure that you clean your hands and the pruners after you do this pruning/culling with antibacterial soap or spray.
There are other tasks you might encounter as you go about your daily walk around the garden, but unless they're particularly time sensitive (like a leaky hose), you can save those for the weekly task list instead.
Plants are simple: They start as a seed then grow stalks, leaves, and stems. Flowers form, but then plants are dedicated to producing seeds. At each stage of this process, the plant is good at focusing energy on the specific part of the plant that needs it. Once a plant dedicates itself to producing seed (sometimes called bolting), it stops putting energy into anything else, including producing more flowers.
Deadheading is a snipping off spent flowers on a plant so that instead of putting energy into producing seed from them, the plant goes right back to making more flowers. In most cases, this works well—most annual cutting flowers benefit from deadheading, including zinnias, snapdragons, and even basil and other herbs. But within the plant world exist some flowers that will ever only produce one stem and one flower, so deadheading the plant means you're effectively killing it.
In most cases, it's not hard to figure out which is which—the seed packet or the plant tag will tell you. Still, a singular stem flower has a lower impact on your garden. It's there for a limited amount of time, so you want to think about whether it's worth growing at all. Most people grow these for cutting flower gardens with high turnover. Here are some you'll want to watch out for.
Stock
This snapdragon lookalike produces perfume far headier than any other cut flower I can think of, making it ideal for indoor bouquets. With so many new varieties hitting the market in recent years, there's a pretty wide variety of soft pastels you can find.
Peonies
Investing in peonies is money well spent, however small the plant you start with. Every year, that plant should grow about 30% larger, and it is one of the reliable plants to sprout up every spring. While you can deadhead peonies to clean up the look of the plant, it will not result in the plant producing another bloom. Peonies set their buds early.
Sunflowers
There are single stem and multi-branching sunflowers, but the classic sunflower you see in a field is likely a single stem. Once you cut the sunflower off, you're not only killing the vibe for every resident squirrel and bird, you're sending the plant to the giant bouquet vase in the sky. In the case of sunflowers, you're best to wait until the entire head forms seeds and those seeds are easily dislodged.
Tulips
It is ironic that tulips can come back year after year, but commercial growers replant bulbs every single year, because in order to cut a tulip for the market, you remove the leaves, which the plant needs to gain enough strength to come back next year. Even if you leave the bottom two leaves of the plant to compost so the roots get the nutrition they need, cutting the flower off once spent won't cause the tulip to rebloom. Tulips are a classic one-and-done.
Alliums
Another flower you'll generally get in bulb form, alliums are actually related to onions, and rise high into the garden, sometimes as much as four feet, and produce one gigantic big puffball of seeds. They're quite a spectacular, sometimes as big as ten inches across. Unfortunately, deadheading them has no effect except to deprive your garden of a lovely looking flower with a bit of staying power.
Gladiola
A member of the flower family I call "tall & spiky" that includes delphiniums and larkspur, gladiolus come in a range of vibrant colors and form gigantic spires of color. Birds and bees love them, and if you could get them to rebloom, your garden would be full of them. But they're single stem, so deadheading is futile.
Hollyhocks
Unlike the glads mentioned above, these tall and spiky blooms have a softer shape but maintain the same single stem feature that makes deadheading kind of pointless.
Celosia
To just buy one at the nursery is a disservice—these fantastical flowers need to be in groupings. Celosia comes in two flavors: a plume or a cockscomb. I am personally drawn to the latter, but either are fabulous, and they come in the most vibrant jewel tones. Everyone stops to ask about them in my garden. Frustratingly, many varieties are also single stem, so they are a limited release in your garden; enjoy them while they last.
In my reckoning, there are four kinds of herbs: tender herbs that go to seed, die at the end of the season, and must be replanted; perennial herbs, which die in winter but come back year after year; evergreen herbs, which somehow manage to remain harvestable through most of the winter; and plain annoying herbs, which spread like mad and aren't all that useful.
Sometimes, if you’re lucky, those tender herbs manage to start self sowing, like dill and parsley. But if you want to take full advantage of the landscaping benefits you can realize from big, shrubby perennial herbs, and be able to harvest them during the winter months, here’s what I would suggest planting (and avoiding).
Lavender
While I personally believe lavender’s uses are oversold (it can be made into an essential oil, but you still need to actually make it, and how much dried lavender can one really stand in one’s home?), there’s no denying the staying power of the shrub, itself. There are a number of varieties, but any will be a favorite for bees, and look spectacular along a fence or gate. It grows upright into a sturdy bush, and lasts well into fall.
Sage
There are more varieties of sage than you can imagine, with a variance of leaves, from soft and fluffy to fine and variegated. If you plant sage, you’ll find it takes root easily and grows prolifically, and is easy to harvest from spring through a mild winter.
Rosemary
Rosemary is a woody perennial that can grow into an absurdly sized shrub, and it is, in my opinion, one of the more utilitarian perennial herbs. Having it near my grill in the backyard, I often find myself clipping some to throw on the grill while food is cooking, just for the smell of it. Like lavender, it’s ideal as an architectural element in your yard too.
Bay laurel
Bay laurel comes in two varieties: a tree and a shrub. While I never used bay often before owning my own shrub, once I did, I found myself running outside to grab bay leaves all the time (I was not at all influenced by Claire Lower). An evergreen shrub, bay can really grow, so it’s worth putting it someplace it has room to expand.
Thyme
Where rosemary is very bold and forward in taste, thyme is delicate and goes with many vegetables and proteins. If you choose the perennial, woodier version of thyme (winter thyme) you should be able to harvest it, yes, through the winter.
Chives
There are plenty of reasons to grow chives. They are shockingly resilient, and tend to survive winter well. They are architecturally interesting, growing in tall blades until they flower into large puffballs of seeds, like any other allium. Chives can be used raw, and I love using their flowers in my cooking too.
Fennel
Fennel doesn’t like to be planted near anything else. Not a single thing. But there’s a lot to appreciate about it There is both bulbing and non bulbing fennel, and both will spread. You can eat the bulb, obviously, but also make use of the fronds, the seeds, and even the pollen.
Oregano
If you plant oregano, it will start growing everywhere in your garden—but don’t let that intimidate you. Unlike, say, mint (see below), oregano is easy to pull up. Oregano also flowers beautifully, making it perfect for pollinators, and its scent is intoxicating.
Sorrel
I was slow to sorrel—it was a gift from a neighbor. But now, one of my favorite things to do on garden tours is give everyone a piece of raw sorrel to try. It is like biting into a lemon. That taste translates whether raw or cooked, and makes the best cream sauce for salmon you’ve ever had. While it won’t exactly spread, it will clump and grow pretty thickly, so I have to tear out several bunches each year to keep it in check.
Three perennial herbs to avoid
Here’s what perennial herbs I wouldn’t plant, and it should be noted that I am a dope who has, in fact, planted each of these and lived to regret it.
Mint is notorious for spreading, and it does so via underground roots. It’s certainly easy enough to tear out clumps of mint, but you have to be really careful and diligent when doing so, or it will take over. If you do plant it, be sure you pick a mint you really, really like, and keep it in a container, bu—though dollars to donuts, it’s probably busting out of that container.
Lovage is growing in my garden because someone gave me some and I was enchanted by the idea you can use the stems as straws. While this is true, lovage doesn’t really have much utility aside from that, and it will grow to be eight feet tall in a year. That’s a lot of lovage.
Lemon balm. Just don’t do it. Lemon verbena is delightful. Lemon balm is a garden troll. It will grow to absurd sizes and spread prolifically, and it doesn’t have much utility either. Yes, you can make a tea from it, but that is true of all herbs, and it doesn’t mean the tea is good.
By definition, perennial flowers come back on their own, year after year. Annual flowers usually don’t, and last only for a season. Except some annual flowers can, under the right conditions, reseed themselves each year. That doesn’t make them perennials—these blooms are less reliable, and because they’re reseeding instead of re-sprouting like perennials, they may (and are likely) to appear in a completely different area than the original plant. Despite their desire to rally against a garden’s formality, self-sowing annuals can go a long way to bulking up the flowers in your garden and help you create the sort of hands-off flower beds that perennials promise.
Which flowers will self-sow is highly dependent on your planting zone and planting conditions. For example, petunias are known self-sowers in some areas, but I’ve had much luck with them, regardless of the zone I’ve been in. The same goes for cosmos, which theoretically should self-sow in the zone I live in now (and I certainly plant them as annuals prolifically).
All that to saw that while I can make any promises, these 11 plants are prone to becoming self sowing.
Sweet alyssum
Credit: Endless luck / Shutterstock.com
Sweet alyssum is one of those flowers you should plant throughout your garden (along with marigolds and nasturtiums), as they are a helper plant: Alyssum attracts parasitic wasps, hover flies, and ladybugs, which are your basic beneficial garden insects, and looks spectacular falling over the edges of your garden beds. While lavender, pink, and blue alyssum have become available in recent years, only white alyssum has been successful in reseeding for me, forming gigantic puffballs that line my garden.
Amaranth
Credit: Svetliy / Shutterstock.com
If you plant amaranth once, it lives in your garden forever. Even if you don’t, birds will drop seeds into your yard, and it’s likely that what you’ve perceived as a weed may, in fact, be amaranth. It's a gorgeous, dramatic flower that drapes in bouquets, and if you’re willing to stay on top of it, it’s a worthwhile addition, but be careful it doesn't take over.
Asters
There are many kinds of asters, and there may even be native asters to your area. They range from small to large flowers with petals that extend like sun rays. They tend to appear late in the summer season and can hold on through the fall. The main concern with them is their ability to spread prolifically—each year, I begrudgingly surrender a larger and larger portion of my front yard to the Douglas asters that are spreading across it.
Bachelor's buttons
Credit: Brookgardener / Shutterstock.com
For a self-seeding pop of blue in your garden, bachelor’s buttons are a good addition. A thistle, the flowers are spiky and have a neat little feature: they contain a compound that will temporarily cause your tongue to go numb if you chew one (they are harmless otherwise). I am always delighted to dare visitors to my garden to try it.
Calendula
Nevermind that calendula can be harvested and used in calms, lotions, and oils. In the garden, this orange and yellow, daisy-ish flower repels tomato hornworms and attracts beneficial insects. Calendula is one of the few flowers from this class (that includes daisies, echinacea and zinnias, all which have a classic “flower” shape) that will self seed.
California poppies
Most poppies are self seeders, though in my experience, your yield of seed to plant is absurdly low—I’ve yielded a few poppy plants in five years after tossing what feels like millions of seeds in my yard. But California poppies are special—they self-sow and spread and are so distinct that people flock to “superblooms” of them from all over the world. Regular poppies tend to be tall, up to four or five feet, but the bright orange California poppy tops out a foot or so about the soil line.
Cleome
Credit: Thongseedary / Shutterstock.com
Cleome was such a delight to discover on a lark a few years ago. A delightful fountain of flowers, it is a hummingbird magnet. Called “spider flowers,” their stem grows tall, and at the top, a firework of flowers blooms, usually in pinks and purples. Cleome can get a little floppy, so when you see it pop up, be sure to support it.
Dianthus
Dianthus is not exactly stunner on its own. This low lying flower spreads almost as a ground cover. But what can turn dianthus into a showstopper is planting multiple colors of of it in blankets of color, creating a woven effect. It’s also worth noting that while you usually use dianthus color, a number of varieties have really striking details on the bloom face itself.
Nigella
Credit: billysfam / Shutterstock.com
Nigella, also called Love in a Mist, has a lovely antique look, with dusty colors and gentle petals, and easily self sows for me. But the best reason to grow it is its dried seed pods, little architectural wonders that are stunning in bouquets.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons are one of the most welcome sights in my garden each summer, and in good years, they come back all on their own. If you are consistent about cutting blooms, you’ll get sturdy, bushy versions topped with consistent "cut and come again" spikes of flowers (like the ones in the photo at the top of this article). There are varieties that top out at almost four feet, and snaps have the ability to really fill in a space.
Sweet peas
Credit: SHARKY PHOTOGRAPHY / Shutterstock.com
I remember reading about sweet peas in Martha Stewart's magazine as a kid, but I lived far out of their growth zone, and had to settle for dreaming of planting them some day. Now, they are the first flowers I plant each spring. Though the flowers and seeds are highly toxic to people and pets, if you ask me the smell of sweet peas is more fragrant than any other flower. They can grow to six or seven feet on a vine, with colors across the spectrum. The flowers are delicate, but make a perfect fleeting bouquet for a day or two. You’ll want to deadhead them often, but at the end of the season, allow the seed pods to form and drop into the soil so they'll return the next year.
Right about now, you should put down the margarita and sunscreen (for a moment) and consider fall planting. While there are a wealth of vegetables to consider so you can continue to harvest into fall—and even have some that will be ready in early spring—it won’t change the fact that the garden looks sad most of winter. All the pops of color from flowers, the greenery, the lawns is largely gone; everything just starts to look really brown.
One way to combat this is fall ornamentals. What I'm saying is that you should grow a ton of kale and cabbage you have no intention of eating—specifically, flowering kale and cabbage, which I suspect you’ve seen in the beds at commercial buildings and not thought much of. I was with you on that until recently.
A few years ago, fed up with the way my yard looked in winter, I endeavored to fill the space with whatever would survive the winter and was shocked by how much color and variety there was in the flowering cabbage and kale world. I placed the starts into the same planters that hold tulips and petunias in summer, and lined the paths of my yard with them. They kept the birds happy, and gave my yard a completely new perspective for the coldest months, tolerating snow, sleet, and ice.
What is shocking to me is the diversity in these ornamentals available now, which allow you to achieve a wide variety of colors across your yard:
A word of warning: A yard full of brassicas is a calling card for slugs and snails. You’ll want to be sure you are treating the yard with Sluggo, a slug and snail treatment.
Coffee is so steeped in modern culture that humans generate about 15 million tons of spent coffee grounds each year. As such, people have been trying to figure out what to do with those grounds for years.
One of the most common uses I read about all the time is that you can toss your used grounds right into your garden. As with much garden advice, there is a lot of nuance to this one: Dumping spent coffee beans into the garden willy-nilly is not a good idea, but there may be some niche applications where it makes sense.
What's actually in coffee grounds?
Let’s start with what’s in coffee grounds. Coffee itself is a bean, and all beans are nitrogen fixers by nature, meaning that they produce available nitrogen for the soil. Aside from the protein in the bean, there’s also oil, lipids, triglycerides, fatty acids, cellulose, and sugars. On top of that, the brewing process can add lignin (an organic polymer), phenolics (an aromatic) and essential oils, none of which are problematic in the garden and can actually be antioxidant. There are three organic bodies that can break down and utilize all of those compounds in the garden: fungi, bacteria in the soil, and earthworms. So far, so good, right?
Debunking common gardening myths about uses for coffee grounds
Myth 1: Coffee grounds will acidify soil
So, to bust the first myth around coffee and your garden, adding it to the soil around blueberries, hydrangeas, and azaleas won’t create an acidic environment, which those kinds of plants enjoy.
Coffee beans create a steeped drink that is acidic, which would be bad for your garden, since you want to keep your soil as close to pH neutral as possible. However, the grounds for coffee actually are pH neutral, or close to it. This is, in part due to the fact that by the time coffee becomes grounds, much of the nitrogen is gone, creating an almost 1:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. Instead, use a fertilizer specifically for these plants, which will help acidify the soil.
Myth 2: Coffee grounds should be used as an can be antimicrobial
Another common piece of gardening advice around coffee is that coffee grounds may help prevent pathogens in your garden, like fungi and viruses. There is a nugget of truth to this, but it is a double-edged sword.
The evidence shows that coffee grounds can provide a modicum of antibacterial and antimicrobial benefit in the soil, but that these results are variable, which makes sense, since there are so many kinds of coffee and much depends on the brewing and roasting process. Remember, though, that microbes are not all bad—and in fact, good microbes like mycorrhizae (fungal structures) are what keep your garden thriving. Coffee grounds can’t discriminate, so if they’re getting rid of microbes, they’re getting rid of all of them.
Myth 3: Coffee grounds make good mulch
Finally, on the notion that coffee grounds make great mulch. Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott is quoted in a piece out of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension as saying that grounds are so finely ground that when left on the soil in bulk, they can prevent airflow and penetration of other elements, which is detrimental to the garden.
Coffee has some additional downsides, including the caffeine, which canstunt plants growth. Plus, even though it has potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and very minor amounts of iron, copper, manganese, and zinc, the available amount of each of these is so small as to be negligible in the garden. As usual with gardening myths, while there are some small truths in each myth, the reality is that there are products that will accomplish the goal much more efficiently. In this case, garden fertilizer.
However, coffee does show great promise as a slug and snail killer
The one thing that coffee grounds can do, apparently, is help with slug and snail control. In a piece from Oregon State University Extension Office, a soil scientist named Linda Brewer reports that research has proven a very mild steeped tea of grounds to water poured in the garden can dramatically reduce slug and snail populations. More exciting, it is more effective than commercial products like Sluggo.
She recommends you prepare a solution of one part water to two parts strong brewed coffee, and then drench your soil with it. You can also use it as a foliar spray if you’ve got slugs feeding on your vegetables, like cabbage. In that case, use nine parts water to one part brewed coffee and spray it on. At these low concentrations, the acidity is mitigated, so it shouldn't be a problem, but you should always try out a solution like this on a small area, on a cloudy day, before applying it to the whole garden.
When you start gardening, you tend to throw plants into the ground without a lot of thought to how that one plant relates to the entire garden. But as you rack up some experience, it's worth considering the "color story" of your garden.
There are four components of garden design to think about: texture, height, seasonality, and color. Most gardeners are guilty (including me) of not thinking about color enough, resulting in what I call the “confetti effect.” This is what happens when you’ve got plants with all kinds of different-colored flowers all over the place, without any real order.
It takes a long time to figure out how to plan for color, particularly when you consider how much your yard changes over the seasons. What's in bloom in May won’t be in November, and you need to plan for both. Here are some ways that I’ve discovered my color story, how I keep working towards it, and how I maintain it.
Where to find inspiration
You already know your taste—what colors draw you in, what appeals to you and what doesn't. And there are flowers and plants for every taste. There are tons of black flowers and plants, as well as white ones, if that’s your style. If you love the whole rainbow, you can plan accordingly. For me, it’s hot colors: I stay within a palette of red, orange, yellow, hot pink and purple.
If you’re looking for color inspiration for your garden, I highly recommend Malcolm Hillier's Color Garden. He covers color palettes by season, and shows how to create powerful tableaus using color blocks of flowers and plants.
I also use color-palette generation tools. Sites like Coolors and ColorMind will suggest palettes, or fill in colors to round out a palette if there is one you want to work with. They can also generate palettes from pictures. These can be incredibly helpful to understand, for instance, complementary colors and how they’ll look against each other.
Avoid nothing but pink and white flowers (unless you like them)
Unless you specifically avoid these colors, you’re going to end up with a lot of white and ballet pink in your yard. The answer is to stop planting white and pink flowered plants, but also remove and replace them in your yard. Swap a white peony for a red one. Have white foxgloves growing? Don’t just prune them, remove them. Same for white yarrow. All those pink snapdragons and sweet peas? Trade them out for more dramatic colors.
A long band of color, even if it’s within the same color family, can be a powerful design element. A long line of tulips that all fall in the purple/red/magenta families, for instance, can create a shape in your yard almost like an actual wall. Hilier’s book is fantastic for exploring masses of color, whether they're analogous or complementary, against each other. One of my favorite examples is a long band of cornflower blue bluebells against a field of bright orange California poppy. It’s a fleeting effect—neither flower will last more than a month or so— but the contrast of them together is so powerful. (Seriously, buy the book).
If you love white and pink, they can work beautifully, but they should be deliberate choices.
Map out your story on paper
Step one is to commit to the colors you want: Document what colors compel you and which do not, and where you want to place them. This is your guide. Remember, you can have different stories for different areas of the yard and for different times of year—but to start, keep it simple. I am unwilling to give up my stargazer lilies, even if I don’t love light pink, so I contain them to an area, and instead, I have committed to go in hard on a mass of stargazers and have the color bands I use everywhere else extend just enough to include that ballet pink.
Divide a space by season
Now take the sketch of your yard and start by season. Start with spring—you can easily add color to the garden by using spring-blooming bulbs like tulips. Imagine your fields of color and fill in your sketch using colored pencils to help you visualize. Now you know what to shop for—you’re looking for plants within those color ranges to fill the space. I work to extend that by also considering early-, mid- and late-blooming bulbs, so I know I can have those colors extend across spring.
Plant deliberately
I document my garden every week or so with video and photos so I can look back and see where plants bloomed or how certain areas looked at any particular time. This is especially useful off-season; once flowers die back, it's difficult to remember where they were. I use my photos to know what to order to backfill later on.
It also helps me understand the color story I’m sticking to, so as I order new plants, I know where I can carve in space, whether for one plant or an entire installation. My friend recently sent me a whole collection of mum clippings from HeritageMums.com and I knew I wanted to create another ombré area, so I arranged them in color order and then carved out the edge of a bed for them, so they’ll all bloom at the same time and tell a story.
Persistence
You’ll be working on this project for years, because your garden changes. Start with spring, and bulbs. From there, you can look at winter, when things are stark, and begin adding in evergreen shrubs and vines that tell their own story. Fall is next—ensure you have enough late-blooming perennials like asters. You will slowly build up a garden that is color hardy, and has moments everywhere of color.
In an ideal world, you could just put plants or seeds into the ground, add water and sunshine, and a garden springs up before you. If you’ve ever tried that, though, you know it can be frustrating when that doesn’t happen and you end up with stunted plants, poor fruit, disease—or nothing at all. You build experience and skills with gardening over time, but when you’re starting out, everyone makes the same mistakes. Here’s how to avoid them.
Poor soil/over fertilizing
I cannot stress enough how important the soil is for successful planting. Garden soil needs to have a balance of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, but also trace elements like calcium. On top of that, it needs to retain water without having so much clay that it doesn’t drain. As a last layer, you need the pH to be about average, neither too basic or acidic. The average person has no good way to know if you’re hitting all those markers, so the best way is to send your soil out for a test. Once you understand what’s in the soil, you can amend it.
On the flip side, if you’ve added too much of one amendment and the soil is too nitrogen- or phosphorus-heavy, that can also negatively affect your plants. Not to mention adding too much fertilizer, which can burn plants.
The solution is the one that everyone puts off doing: Test the soil.
Planting out of season
Peas are not summer crops. They're spring and fall crops, and while the distinction might seem small, trust me, it’s not. Plant peas too early in the spring, you get bupkis; too late, and the heat fries them. Tomatoes, meanwhile, can’t go into the ground until overnight temperatures remain steady at 60 degrees, at least. When you plant out of season, you’re dooming your plants to failure.
To prevent this problem, rely on apps or local planting calendars, which your nearby nursery will have. They will tell you what you can direct seed or plant at any given time. Stick to the list for the best chances of success. Still, it's important to understand that the calendar is a best guess, and the weather changes. Join a local gardening group, in person or online—there, the discussions about when to plant and when to put off will help you strategize at home.
Planting too close together
When plants are smol, it's easy to plant them too close together. Particularly when you have limited space and you want to maximize how much you can plant. However, the recommended spacing is there for a reason. While I, more than most, understand the temptation to “crowdscape” your garden, recognize the downsides. You’re limiting access to resources like sunlight, water, and root space. You’re putting plants at greater risk of virus and fungus since there’s less airflow. There’s also just less room to grow, as every one of your plants is going to at least double in size. While you can play a little fast and loose with spacing, don’t go bonkers, and if you do play fast and loose, recognize the trade-off.
Not watering enough/watering too much/watering the wrong way
Watering plants the right way doesn’t have to be a mystery. Keep some simple guidelines in mind: you want to water early in the day. Sunrise is a good time. You want to water at the root of plants, not overhead, which can cause the water to bounce off the soil and back onto plants, carrying every pathogen in the soil with it. You want to water enough so that if you stick your finger into the soil about six inches down, the soil is moist but not soaking wet. And you want to ensure it remains that way.
To do this, set up drip systems, soaker hoses, and timers. While there’s great serenity to hand watering, ultimately we do more damage than good through this method of inconsistent, overhead water. You want consistency. When you don’t have it, some plants will have curling leaves or turn yellow, or in the case of tomatoes, get tomato blossom rot.
Not knowing when to call it quits
If there is an arrow to the heart of gardeners, it is culling plants. Even thinning radishes hurts until you get used to it—you grew that, and cutting it out to trash it is painful. But experienced gardeners also know that if you do not sacrifice plants that show signs of disease early, they will spread virus and fungus to others, and you will lose the whole lot. Experienced gardeners know that in order for one seedling to grow, you have to chop the other seedlings that are too close. They also know that when you do all this culling, you must do so with sanitized hands and pruners, so you are not spreading more virus and fungus.
Vinegar is one of my favorite household tools. Inside, it can be used as an alternative to most cleaning products, and I go through an untold amount of it during canning season. Outside, though, vinegar has fewer uses. This flies in the face of so much garden lore, and while experience may vary, I’ve tried almost every garden trend there is. Here are some ways you can (and can’t) use vinegar in the garden.
What vinegar is good for
Sanitizing garden tools
This is the number one best way to use vinegar in the garden. Load up a plastic spray bottle with a 5% vinegar solution and keep it near your tools. Wear it on your tool belt and spray your tools (particularly shears or pruners) with it before you cut anything, and then again between plants. People are the best vector for spreading viruses and fungus in the garden, so cleaning your tools, trellises, and seed trays is essential. While you can use a bleach solution or Lysol, I find vinegar to be just as good.
As a treatment
When you have powdery mildew or a fungus on plants, one of the possible treatments—and one I use—is a solution of vinegar and water. Add four tablespoons of vinegar to every gallon of water and saturate the leaves of just the plant in question. The vinegar will shift the pH on the surface of the leaves, which will hopefully help cure your powdery mildew. While powdery mildew is a real problem in summer gardens (particularly around zucchini and other squash) if you keep it under control, its very treatable and doesn’t affect production.
What vinegar is not so good for
Killing weeds
Weeds suck, I know. I’m there with you, and I will try anything to rid my yard of them. But spraying them with vinegar is problematic. If you’re anywhere near a plant you want, excess spray or a little wind can carry the vinegar to that plant, and it will harm that plant, too. The acetic acid in the vinegar penetrates the surface of the plant. I can see it being useful for some limited applications, like on a deck or patio, where you’re far away from other plants, but be careful. Even in these situations, there are a bunch of better, faster ways to get rid of weeds. (Burn them or dig them up.)
As deer repellent
While deer do not like the smell of vinegar, this is a very temporary solution that requires a lot of upkeep and can affect other plants. You need to soak rags or find another way to have enough concentrated vinegar smell to have an effect. If you spray it around, you’re just going to kill the plants that it hits. The rags will likely drip, and who wants a bunch of smelly rags hanging around destroying the view anyways? Deer require long-term solutions like constructed, six-foot fencing or natural fencing (they do not enjoy elderberries, which grow quickly and can make a natural fence).
Killing slugs and snails
While vinegar will kill slugs and snails, so will lots of things, including ammonia and alcohol, but you wouldn’t pour either into your garden. Again, vinegar is not something you want to spray near plants. The best solution for slugs and snails are traps specifically made for them. Also: Sluggo. Lots and lots of Sluggo.
As a fertilizer
The idea here is that you can use a very low concentration of vinegar in a water solution and it can feed your flowers. Except, why? There are so many better ways to feed your garden that don’t involve something that can harm your plants and throw off the pH in the soil. Buy some real fertilizer, it’s a better route.
As a cleaning agent
As I said at the top, vinegar is great for cleaning. If you need to scrub birdbaths, tools, walkways, etc., it might be second nature to reach for vinegar to help scrub. Remember though—runoff is real and that runoff is going into your soil and garden. Acetic acid will change the pH of your soil, and if there’s enough of it, it will kill your plants. So, under the right conditions where you can control runoff, go for it. Otherwise, a gentle dish soap or some simple elbow grease is the best course of action.
Few utilities reduce labor in my house as much as using a voice assistant: I use it for turning out the lights, arming the alarm, summoning the vacuum, suggesting recipe substitutions, or doing math. To that end, I am always within speaking range of a device in my home to catch my requests. If your assistant of choice is Alexa, today is the (prime) day to grab more devices or upgrade the ones you have, as they are being offered up to 50% off.
Not only are these little Pops the cheapest way to put a speaker in each room, I actually prefer them in most cases. These are small enough to stay out of the way, mounted to your ceiling or stowed on a shelf. The speakers are powerful enough to pump music through them at a good level, and they come in fun colors.
A small upgrade from the Pop, the Spot is destined for your nightstand, with a clock on its display face. That face is customizable, and while all Alexa devices can be set up with alarms, this is specifically meant to emulate an alarm clock.
Another Pop clone, the Dot was meant to improve specifically on the speaker aspect, giving more vibrant sound, deeper bass and clearer vocals. The shape is rounder, but it can still be wall or ceiling mounted with the right mount, and looks at home on a shelf.
Moving from purely a speaker to a display, I've come to really enjoy my kitchen Show. Yes, it offers the same assistant as Pops and Dots, but I can also stream video, so I can watch a recipe, or just binge watch The Bear while I do dishes. Pro-tip: get a screen protector. Slippery hands and glass displays, you know?
Even though I had a pretty great mesh wifi system installed before, I was shocked at how much better my home network got when I upgraded to new Google Nest Pro routers.
The switch from WiFi 5 to 6 really does seem to matter: I was able to go from four access points to three given the increased coverage of the Nest Pro (2,000 square feet). Still, the reason most people don't upgrade or get into mesh is the price barrier—seeing the price drop on this bundle of three during Prime Day is the perfect incentive. At 30% off, you could have better home wifi tomorrow.
My car used to be bereft of any tools. A mere flat tire or dead battery would have required me to call someone for help, and that feeling sucked. I polled every car-competent person I knew, and from their recommendations, assembled a kit of what everyone should keep in their car. And Prime Day is a spectacular time to buy these essentials.
A trunk organizer
Having one spot to keep everything organized, easy to reach and in sight will be a welcome change. Plus, your stuff won’t roll all over the place.
Jumper cables are a must, but if you’re not around other people, or don’t want to have to rely on strangers, a jump starter will ensure you can restart your car yourself. I actually have this model and have used it more than once. It’s easier to use on neighbors' and friends' cars than to try and maneuver my car into place to jump them from my car battery.
I had bought manual tire pressure gauges, but was never sure I was using them right. Switching to a digital gauge gave me more confidence. Marrying it with an inflator, so I always knew that my tires had the right pressure, was a game changer.
Hopefully you don’t need to crack this kit open, but even if it's just for a bandaid, it’s nice to know you have it nearby. And $46 is a very reasonable price to pay for first aid.
I tested 23 vacuums this year. I kept three, and one of them is the Samsung Bespoke Jet, which I respectfully submit is better than my previous top pick, from Dyson. Allow me to count the ways this stick vac continues to impress me, months later.
1) I never have to empty it manually. I hate emptying the canister on a stick vacuum. I always get dust everywhere, and I feel like I have to vacuum up afterward. The Jet you simply return to its base, and it self empties. And in eight months of hard use, I have only changed the bag in the stand once. A miracle, if you ask me.
2) The Jet doesn't get clogged. I'm not going to say it never gets clogged, but I can count the number of times it has done so on one hand, and even those clogs were easily cleared without the use of tools or long instruments. My Dyson is constantly getting clogged without resolve, both by micro-dust and larger pieces of detritus, which is frustrating.
3) The Jet is pretty enough that it doesn't need to be hidden away. It has a small footprint and you certainly could stow it in a closet, but you don't need to: The Jet and base are modern and sleek and look a little like a piece of art.
4) It's comfortable to use. I have found Dysons to be too heavy to maneuver comfortably, and while you never use a stick vac long enough for it to be a real problem, I definitely notice how much easier it is to get around with the Samsung Jet.
5) The price, This once $700 vacuum is now $220 off for Prime Day—a 32% discount.
If you have been through the ringer trying to find the perfect garden hose (one that is lightweight, won’t split or burst, is long enough, and will last more than one season), here it is—and it's on sale for Prime Day. This is the third year I've used the Giraffe Tools retractable garden hose reel, and I liked the first one so much I added a second one last year.
These are heavy, durable plastic reels that you wall mount within a few feet of your garden hose spigot. Installation was easy—I did it myself in both cases. The reel swivels from side to side so you can take the hose anywhere across the yard. The hose itself is incredibly lightweight and comes in varying lengths. The handle is fine, but you can change it out if you prefer a different one.
The true magic, though, is that it really retracts. A slight tug and zoom—it is back in the cradle. And because it is in the cradle, the hose doesn’t get hot, and it doesn’t get run over or stepped on. I do advise you to bleed the hose for wintertime, but I have been pleased with how they survived a harsh winter outside; and in my one customer service interaction, the company was very responsive.
I like Giraffe so much that now they’ve expanded into retractable pressure washers and air pressure hoses, I might be making my own Prime Day purchases this year.
Smart doorbells make giving people access (or denying access) to your house easier. Need to let a neighbor in to feed the dog? You can set that up from your phone and then revoke it when you don’t need their help anymore. Plus, you can see who is at your door (and decide if you want to actually answer it), know when packages are delivered, and interact with those at the door when you’re not home using two way video.
During Prime Day, these smart doorbells are discounted as much as 60% off. (Note that Lifehacker has not tested all of these models, but they're all fairly popular and well-reviewed.)
It’s time to get some power banks for your house. There’s a wide range of them in the 1000w-3000w range, and those will help out for a bit, but I recommend you think about a whole home backup system. This is a major battery that can power your whole house for a few days, and if you tie it into existing solar panels or movable solar panels (which all these companies sell), you can rest assured that you can keep your family safe. I’ve been testing two of them, and so far, I’m pretty impressed.
Extreme weather used to be rare. It's not anymore, and you're more and more likely to experience a significant power outage during any given year. This can vary from inconvenient and uncomfortable to outright dangerous, depending on your circumstances. Either way, you don't want to risk it.
The Anker Solix f3800 lives in my bedroom closet, where it is always plugged in. It’s a hefty boi, but you’re not going to move it around much, and when you need to, a handle extends and there are wheels. With lots of outlets for your fridge, A/C, heater, and anything else you can think of, the sheer power of the 6000 watts ensures you can handle almost any appliance.
The second unit I’ve tested is the Ecoflow Delta Pro 3, which is currently living in my workshop. I’ve spent a few weekends throwing everything in there, including my extra freezer, on the Delta to see how it handles things and it's been great for two reasons. First, I know it’s going to handle things in an outage just fine, but even when there isn’t an outage, I am able to power things that my workshop can’t handle the electrical load of on its own. If I want to run a heater while my kiln is running, I just power the heater through the Delta 3. Like the f3800, the Delta has tons of outlets and while also hefty, has wheels for moving around. The Delta 3 is part of an expandable system, where you can add on more batteries to extend the capacity of the backup system. On its own, it offers 4000 watts, which is still more than you’ll need for a few days.
The other upside of these systems is that you can actually have some work done to your energy panel so that when the power goes out, you can just power the entire panel off your backup system. Regardless of what system you have, if you can afford it, you should bank on backup for the rough weather ahead.
I'm firm in my belief that a robot vacuum is one of the best ways to cut down on household labor labor around the household. The best ones go about their business, vacuuming and mopping the floor and emptying their own refuse containers, before doing it all over again. The worst ones are still good for giving your cat something to ride around on.
While I haven’t tested all of the models below, they are hands down the best deals to be had on robot vacuums this Prime Day, and all come from brands I have used before and find to be reliable. (If you're feeling hesitant about pulling the trigger on one of these models, remember that Amazon still has a great return policy, and so there's little risk to trying a bot out for a few weeks.)
Of all the floorbots I have tested, this line remains the best, tackling carpet and hard floors with equal aplomb. The mop and vacuum both do a great job of daily maintenance, and are self emptying, which eliminates so much labor.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra Regularly $1,599.99, now $949.99
Roborock S8 Max Ultra Regularly $1,599.99, now $1,199.99
eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11S MAX
This is a bare bones model, which means there’s no fancy tower, and you’ll be emptying this robot manually. Still, this is a great price for an entry level vacuum, and eufy has really invested in making a range of floorbots that all function really well on a basic level. One upside to this model is that it is so low profile it easily slips under furniture.
I haven’t tested this particular bot, but I am in love with the Samsung Jet AI stick vacuum, and so I have a really good feeling about it. It is a vacuum only, so no mopping, but it does have the self emptying tower.
Roombas have been in this space longer than anyone else, and you can trust this entry-level model gives you reliable vacuuming on hardwood and carpet. It’s worth noting that this model still uses “bump and go” to navigate, which can be a plus if you have tight corners or curtained off spaces that LiDAR robots won’t be able to "see."
I am intrigued by the “tri brush” system on this model, as generally, the more brushes, the more debris collected. Shark has a good rep in the vacuum space, and at this price and with Amazon’s return policy, it’s certainly worth trying out.
I actually did test this model, and while I wouldn’t recommend it at full price of nearly $1,100, at $629, I think it’s a smoking deal for a combo mop/vac with self emptying tower. While all the app features are as robust as you'd expect, I found it got caught a little too often on debris—but that will vary depending on your home, and what it's trying to clean up. .
This was Roomba’s first foray into a combo robot, and it has gotten good reviews. I like that it uses a mop pad instead of rotating pads, and has two rollers instead of one.
An interesting mid-range model, 8000pA suction is exceptionally high at any price point. Getting a competent mop and self-emptying tower is also unusual at this value, making this is an intriguing model to try.
It might feel like a big leap to get your first outdoor security camera, but over the last few years, I have found I rarely use the cameras for actual security. Instead, it’s great to be able to see if my dog is in the backyard, or if the gate is open, or get alerted when friends show up or I get a package delivered. The truth is that these cameras are there for more than just intruders—they capture life as it is happening outside your door. While I haven't tested some of these cameras, these are the best deals I found on outdoor security cameras during Prime Day, if you're looking to get one for your own home for the first time.
If you ask me what cameras to buy, I’m going to tell you that eufy Solocams are the ones I rely on when not testing other cameras. I love the dual lenses, and 360 field of view. Also, you can store clips locally if you have a eufy backup hub.
While I’ve not tested this model, I am currently using a similar solar Reolink model and I’ve been really impressed at how well that solar panel keeps the charge. The Reolink app isn’t my favorite, but I still find the camera resolution to be great, the feed comes up quickly, and I have very few complaints on the whole. If you’re putting up a wireless camera, it’s hard to beat 50+% off.
Blink cameras are a little rudimentary compared to other high end security cams, but for $39.99, they’re a smoking hot deal, trust me. I found them very easy to put up, and they keep a decent battery charge with a pretty good field of vision. The resolution is great, and the system is extendable, which I really like. Protip: get a Sync module so you can store clips locally, skipping the subscription.
Ring Floodlight Cam Plus and Ring Stick Up Cam Bundle
I used this stick up cam earlier this year to figure out how my dog was getting out of the backyard, and there are two things I really appreciated about it. The camera started recording lightning fast after motion was detected (this was a flighty doberman, it was that fast). Second, the resolution was stunning. While it looks like a camera that belongs on a shelf, it actually mounts easily to fences and other vertical structures. The wired floodlight is essentially the same camera, with a floodlight.
While I haven't tested the Nest Cam, I like its modern design and that it doesn't require a subscription. If you're tied into the Google ecosystem, these cameras make a lot of sense. Just be aware that you'll need a Gmail account—you can't tie them to another type of email.
I love a pan-and-tilt camera outside, where the eye in the sky can be operated remotely to narrow in on various areas of your yard. AOSU is a relatively new entry into the market, which I will have the chance to test next month. Having opened the box, this is a solid build, and I'm excited to see how it stacks against my favorite eufy Solocams. With a similar design, you're getting 360 degree field of view with a 2600 lumen floodlight.
It's hard to beat 40% off, and as someone with a lot of Ring products at home, I like the level of notifications I can achieve with some adjustments to the cameras settings. This 1080p camera has two-way talk in addition to the security siren.
This late-breaking 50% off deal is hard to beat. I tested this model of floodlight and really liked the high resolution of the camera and how easy it was to install. Changing the battery is pretty simple too—you just pull the camera off to do it. The lights turned out to be a nice addition, illuminating spaces as I walked through them.
Even though I live in a house chock full of smart devices, my front door remained without a smart lock until this year because I was cursed with a 70-year-old "jimmy-proof lock."
When Aqara invited me to test the U200, I waved it off with the same explanation as usual: "smart locks won't fit my front door." It wasn't until the company pressed further that I looked into it and was willing to give it a go. The U200, a result of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, retrofits almost any door. Because it's a retrofit, it's a smart lock that even renters can install.
Installation was far easier than other smart locks I've installed (I have the U50 on my backdoor, with its completely normal locks). Even though I usually just use a pin code to unlock, the U200 is also compatible with NFC tags, keys, Bluetooth, the app, voice control, or temporary codes. A few of my neighbors, who have all held onto a rusty key to my front door for years, have never been happier. While smart locks are a dime a dozen, I also really like this one from Aqara. The app is clean and easy to use, and since Aqara is committed to the Matter protocol, this is also an option for Apple HomeKit users.
The big holiday lighting trend of the last year wasn't holiday lights, but "permanent" lights designed to be left up year round, the intention being that you can change the color and motion to suit the time of year. When I reviewed the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights in December, I wasn't convinced I would like them, but it turns out, they're a hell of a lot of fun. Amazon has them on sale for Prime Day, so if you've been in the market for a good set of outdoor lights, these are worth a look.
First, let's talk about the permanence part: these lights use 3m sticky pads (and ship with tons of them) that stayed up through snow, sleet, rain and the worst ice storm Portland has seen in 20 years. When I wanted to remove them, they came off my gutters without much issue.
These are not shaped like usual house lights, but are downlights—strong ones—so they bounce light and color off the house from an eave. On my house, they looked a little chaotic, which I have embraced for the holidays, particularly St. Patrick's Day and Pride. While I have always found the Govee app messy, it certainly offers an unlimited amount of customization, including music syncing. A lot of companies are getting into permanent lights, but Govee's were the ones I tested, and I was happy with them.
Over the last year, I’ve tested tons of smart cameras, sensors, and robots of every kind, and I’ve developed some favorites. What would be great about smart tech is if it were less expensive, so everyone could realize the accessibility and labor issues it can solve. That’s why Prime Day is a great time to consider one of these devices, since the prices are likely to drop. Here are my favorite smart tech devices from past year that I’d recommend looking at.
Best robot lawnmowers
Credit: Amanda Blum
Having now tested a number of lawnmowing robots, the ease and reliability of the Luba 2 makes it my hands down favorite. Full of features from video monitoring to GPS location if removed from the yard, the Luba even has lawn printing capabilities now (I was underwhelmed by this but did print a bunch of stars on the lawn for the Fourth of July. The only reason to choose a different mower is if your lawn is too small or has a lot of obstacles to mow around. The Luba 2 is rugged and will handle everything from a medium-sized yard to a field with ease. The Luba 2 comes in different capacities, each with their own discount for Prime Day.
Luba 2 AWD 10000 Regularly $4,099, will be 15% off during Prime Day.
Luba 2 AWD 10000H Regularly $4,099, will be 10% off during Prime Day.
Luba 2 AWD 5000 Regularly $2,899, will be 24% off off during Prime Day.
Luba 2 AWD 5000H Regularly $2,899, will be 20% off off during Prime Day.
If your lawn is smaller, you might consider the Segway Navimow. The distinction I make between the Luba 2 and the Navimow is that the Luba is really rugged, but lacks the gracefulness to turn on a dime or tightly navigate around obstacles. For smaller yards, the Navimow is a great option, and incredibly reliable. It does not enjoy a dip in the yard or a hill, so you'll want to ensure the landscape is decently flat, but it handles an incline without a problem.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Navimow i105N Regularly $999, down to $799.20 for Prime Day
Best outdoor security camera
I'm not saying you should hang your string lights off them, but you can. Credit: Amanda Blum
There are lots of good outdoor security cameras, but whenever I’m done testing others, I put my Eufy Solocams back up. There’s lots to like, including the extraordinary range of vision that comes from the spherical pan-and-tilt that allows you to rotate the camera almost 360 degrees. There are actually two cameras in each—one for a macroview and one for a microview. The microview is spectacular for detail: I can actually get a detailed look at individual plants in my yard while I’m away. I love that you don’t need a monthly plan if you get a Eufy hub for storing clips locally, and that the live view comes up reliably each time with minimal wait time. The two cameras on sale are the hardwired floodlights—the S330 and E340. I have both up as we speak, but also be sure to look at the solar powered s340, which is not on sale but is still worth it for spots where you don’t have the ability to hardwire.
I firmly believe that all security cameras should be able to pan and tilt. The ability to move the focus around the room and find what you need is essential, particularly for an indoor camera. It is too frustrating to be away and have something just out of range. For this reason, I have really liked the Aqara 2K Indoor Security Camera E1. Its solid, low profile never gets knocked over, and allows you to sweep a room for exactly what you're looking for.
I wish I could say that all robot vacuums, particularly the expensive ones, were comparable and that you’d probably get a good one if you just spent enough. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been my experience. Even within a brand, the variance from one model to the next can be jarring. However, Roborock models have consistently been my favorites over the last year. If I was going to buy a floorbot tomorrow, it would be from the Roborock S8 line. The S8 Pro Ultra is somehow exceptional on both carpet and hard floors. It has the fewest hiccups in terms of getting lost, getting stuck, or having to clear the rollers. The mopping feature isn’t an add-on—it competently gets the floor clean. The S8 Max Ultra is also a beast with improvements on every single feature above. Extending arms get closer to the wall, there’s a dedicated slot for floor cleaner in the dock, and the mopping even got better. Choose either and you’ll have made a good investment, but in my opinion, you should spend the extra $150 for the Max Ultra.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra Regularly $1,599.99, will be $949.99 from July 15-21.
Roborock S8 Max Ultra Regularly $1,599.99, will be $1,199.99 from July 15-21.
Credit: Credit: Switchbot/YouTube
If you've got a smaller house, an apartment, or just a dedicated space you want to add a robot vacuum to, my far and away favorite is the Switchbot k10+. The diminutive size allows it to get closer to walls and around chair legs than regular floorbots. While technically a vacuum and mop, the mopping function isn't worth bothering with—if you just focus on it as a vacuum, it will impress you.
When I need a smart sensor for almost any reason, I look to Aqara first. Their range is wide, and I’ve found the sensors more reliable than most. They're easy to set up, with a nice clean app interface; I’ve got temperature and humidity sensors and water sensors in various parts of my house.
A lot of things about personal fans annoy me. They’re impossible to keep clean and dust-free, they make you feel like you're sitting in a wind tunnel, and they're ineffective enough that they feel like little more than a stopgap to turning on the air conditioning. But this year, I have become absolutelybesotted with Dreo's line of smart fans, so much that I now own three of them—plus a ceiling fan.
These are not the easily stained white or black plastic fans you've owned before. Dreo's fans are beautifully designed, with a metallic look accented with retro detailing. They are easy to disassemble, so you can actually clean them. And they're smart (meaning they work with an app), which takes them to a whole other new level of convenience. You can use your phone to do more than adjust the speed. If you have a standing fan, the app controls the pan and tilt as well, so you can get the fan pointing precisely where you want it.
But that’s not even the best part. All Dreo fans (tabletop, stand, tower, and ceiling fans) have a setting labeled “natural," which varies the fan's power at intervals to resemble the feeling of an outdoor breeze—and it works. My Dreo fans are installed all over the house: A tabletop fan lives in my kitchen (you should always have a fan in the kitchen); the stand fan in my bedroom that has reduced my air conditioning use by a surprising amount this year; a ceiling fan in my office; and the newest addition, a fan for my chicken coop that kicks on automatically when the temperature gets too high.
One of these fans probably isn’t going to be your biggest Prime Day purchase, but it may be the one that improves your life the most.
I legitimately love to cook, but I am also busy and tired and am known to frequently order from Grubhub. For the last six months, however I have been using the Brava Glass smart oven—which is currently $400 off for Prime Day—and it has made cooking at home way less cumbersome.
The Brava Glass is a smart countertop stove with the same footprint as a large toaster oven, but it uses a series of light tubes to cook everything absurdly fast, and it is almost entirely hands off. You just look up what you'd like to cook via the touchscreen, and then choose your recipe.
There are two temperature probes (a wired and a wireless), and you can use either, though in many cases don't have to use them at all. The oven comes with a slate of metal trays, glass trays, egg trays, and even a really nice earthenware casserole, all for use in the oven. The touchscreen guides you through all the steps, which tray to use, whether to put it on top or bottom, and how to insert the temperature probe, if needed. Once you turn the oven on, you get video of the food cooking via the app on your phone.
The oven handles everything. If you need to flip the food, the oven will stop, notify you and wait for you to do so. Once the food is done, the oven turns off. What's even weirder is that because of the way it cooks, the outside of the oven isn't hot at all.
If you don't find the right recipe on the touch screen, you can simply set the temperature and time for the oven and use it as you would any other. Something about the way the light works makes this so fast and effective—roasted potatoes are browned to perfection in 10 minutes. Any protein comes out perfectly cooked, seared on the outside, tender on the inside. There is no easier way to roast some vegetables or cook a pie. Mostly what I use it for is to just throw a protein and veg on the tray, dress it with salt, pepper, and olive oil and let the oven take care of it. It requires a bare minimum of effort while ensuring an incredibly high level of success.
The Brava Glass is $400 off for Prime Day, and while it's expensive for a countertop oven, if it helps you order delivery a little less frequently—and I think it will—the math works out.
Most robot vacuums aren't exactly huge, but the Switchbot K10+ is about half the size of your standard floorbot. It's like a little M&M running around your floor, but that size works to its advantage—which is why it's my top choice for smaller spaces, and why I've mentioned it every time I've written about robot vacuums this year.
The Switchbot K10+'s tiny size allows it to get around chair legs, into tight spaces, and up against walls. None of that would be a game changer if it was prone to any of the typical issues that doom robot vacuums, from poor suction to easily clogged rollers, but this little gem keeps chugging along without much fuss, picking up everything in it's path before returning to its base to auto empty its bin. The K10+ is technically a mop and vacuum, but you can ignore the mop functionality. It's nothing more than an accessory you tack on to turn it into a robot Swiffer of sorts, dragging around a wet nap. Just use it as a vacuum and your apartment or small home or office will be better for it.
I gifted a K10+ to my neighbors; it now patrols their 1,100-square-foot home, keeping control of the mess made by two large dogs and two small children. The neighbors mention how much they love it every single time I see them. And considering it originally cost about twice the price, its Prime Day drop to under $300 makes it an absolute steal, and an ideal gift (for yourself or anyone you know who will appreciate a cleaner floor).
If there was ever a time when we needed some glee and mirth, this is it. Of all the technology that I have installed in my home over the last few years, absolutely none has brought the pure joy, peace, and calm that Nanoleaf LED lights have. For Prime Day, smart lights from Nanoleaf are 20% off, so it's a great time to check them out.
Sure, these are just LED lights in various shapes and configurations that you place around the house, but where they really shine is when they're used to emulate and extend any sound or picture on your TV. At night, I turn off the overhead lights, fire up the Nanoleafs and write for hours, listening to music. The lights turn the walls of my bedroom turn it into an aurora borealis on command, ensuring a lovely atmosphere for reading or drifting off to sleep.
Start off by getting the 4D system, which is a camera for your TV and a set of lights that go on the back of your TV, bouncing light onto the wall behind it. If your TV is on, it creates a colorful aura based on whatever you're watching. But this system can also serve as the base for your entire room: Add Nanoleaf Shapes to the walls around the room, and they'll sync to the 4D to create an immersive environment where color and motion intelligently play across the different panels.
Extend the lights with Triangles, Lines, Hexagons and Tiles:
I’ve long been fascinated by indoor gardening, but expense and the need to take a winter-long break after a long outdoor season have prevented me from finally diving in. Unfortunately, though, I hate shopping for fresh herbs and supermarket tomatoes depress me. So this past winter, I pulled the trigger and tested a slew of different indoor gardens. While some were hit and miss, overall I was pleased with the results and how different gardens suit different goals. While you could build your own hydroponic garden, prebuilt gardens have a lot of smart features to ensure you stay on top of your new indoor garden. The downside is the expense, which is why Prime Day is such a good time to consider these splurges. If you get your garden set up and tomatoes installed now, you’ll be able to transition seamlessly come fall from the outdoor to indoor.
While I did grow some cherry tomatoes on tiny, mind-blowing eight-inch tall tomato plants in my Aerogarden, I think the better play is to dedicate it to herbs. Specifically, tender herbs like dill, basil, cilantro, parsley, chives, and Thai basil. I was genuinely pleased with how quickly and reliably the seeds from Aerogarden grew, and after buying some empty seed cells so I could plant my own seeds, I found they grew reliably too. The trick is to keep trimming those herbs back every few days, which also forces you to use them. Aerogarden overhauled their app a few weeks ago, and it has made all the difference. Set schedules for when you want the lights to go on and off, and get alerts when the garden needs water or food, which it comes with.
Not dissimilar to the Aerogarden, LetPot jumps from nine seed sites to 21, which is huge. But I liked that they also had a swappable panel to let you use just two seed sites. The more seed sites and closer together, the more crowded the plants are and fighting for light. Using the two-seed-site panel means you could grow a larger plant, like lettuce (but I still think this design is better for herbs). I also preferred the front panel interface of LetPot and water capacity of the tank, although I thought Aerogarden had the better app experience. LetPot has a bigger footprint than Aerogarden, too, but deservedly so, given how many more plants it accommodates.
LetPot LPH-Max 21 $251.99 (will be 25% off during prime Day, July 16-17)
Lettuce Grow
Lettuce Grow is a tower instead of the tray design of Aerogarden and LetPot. I had one for a while, and people either passionately love or disavow these towers. I’m convinced it’s because they don’t grow the right stuff in them and set themselves up for disappointment. The tower design allows for each plant to get more resources— support, light, air, and individual pruning. So if you really like greens, for instance, a Lettuce Grow would be great for growing lettuce, spinach, arugula, chard, kale, boy choy, and other leafy stuff. It’s not ideal for tomatoes, squash, or melons, and I don’t even think it’s ideal for crops like broccoli and cauliflower, but I do think strawberries would work well. But if cut-and-come-again greens will keep you happy all winter, this is a great investment. A real upside of the Lettuce Grow is that you can move it outside in summer and use it, then bring it back in for winter.
There is a basic reason hydro systems aren’t ideal for tomatoes: In a hydro environment, plants form shallow roots in trays of constantly flowing water and nutrients. It works, but a tomato plant in the wild will form deep roots to stabilize the plant and draw enough nutrients along the entire root. Rise Roma has attempted to disrupt this problem with a design that lives somewhere between Aerogarden and LettuceGrow. Rise looks like an open cabinet, and has plenty of horizontal and vertical space for full-sized tomatoes—and it works. I am growing them in my bedroom, and each morning I wake up and am a little blown away. In between the tomatoes, you can grow almost anything else, but it’s better to set your expectations up for success: Grow lettuce, herbs, or other short crops that are cut-and-come-again. When I reset the Roma shortly, I’m going to give eggplants and peppers a go.
While a green lawn with checkerboard tracks and uniform blades is an iconic symbol of American suburbia, lawns are also a lot—a lot of mowing, trimming, weeding, fertilizer, overseeding, and watering, and all with little benefit to the environment. Which is why I was happy to tear it all out and switch to an eco lawn. I’m now two years into the experiment and I feel a sense of enlightenment and glee when I hear my neighbors fire up their lawn mowers; that is not a thing I have to do anymore. While eco lawns are not “set it and forget it” they are, overall, dramatically less work and investment.
It's surprising how much more inviting eco lawns are to sit or lie down on. Unlike grass, clover provides a fluffier surface. Lying on my lawn is like lying on a cloud. The soil has never been happier; the lawn is drought resistant and winter resistant; dog pee doesn't affect it; and damn, are my bees happy. .
You can still have some fescue in your eco lawn
When it was time to decide on groundcover, I consulted with PT Lawn, which makes eco lawn mixes for all kinds of different conditions and situations. It turns out that in many cases, eco lawns just had different kinds of grass in them, mixed with other seeds, and with different expectations. For instance, in my backyard, I went with a mix that grows tall grass that will flop over, so it doesn’t need to be mowed. There are dog-park mixes with resilient grass, as well. A good eco lawn is diverse, so there isn’t a monoculture. You won’t have this giant uniform groundcover, but a diverse lawn means a more resilient one.
The best start is to completely remove the previous lawn
With three separate areas to convert, I’ve tried almost every method out there, from overseeding to just cardboard mulching before starting new. The method that actually worked was to physically remove all the previous grass, and then cardboard mulch on top of that. This smothered all the grass seed, and the composting cardboard gave a nice boost of nitrogen to the ground after it had been robbed of it from years of lawn. On top of the cardboard, I put about five inches of good, screened compost, then my new eco lawn seed and finally, a grass straw mulch on top, to ensure birds didn’t run away with my seeds and some moisture was retained so the seeds could germinate. Like all lawns, you’ll need to water a lot during germination, or simply wait for the rainy season in fall or spring.
You don’t have to mow, but you can
I mow my eco lawn about twice a summer, when it gets a little long in the tooth. But I don’t need to; none of the seeds in my mix would grow taller than a foot if I let them, and my neighbors enjoy the meadow look of my mix. Trimming it back a few times a year does make it more resilient, forcing the plants like yarrow and daisies to grow back with stronger stems. If having a uniform lawn is important to you, you can still achieve that with an eco lawn by mowing consistently and/or using a limited variety of seeds. For instance, choose a few different clovers for a nice low uniformity. Outside Pride offers Mini Clover, which is a tiny clover bred to give you that nice, low uniformity. If the reason you still have grass instead of an eco lawn is that you think eco lawns are swarmed by bees, you can prevent that problem by just keeping the eco lawn mowed so it doesn’t flower.
You can overseed for annual color
It turns out there are just so many different clovers out there it would blow your mind, from strawberry to crimson to purple, and more. Some of those clovers, like white clover, are perennial, but some, like crimson, are annual. While the white clover in my lawn is going to come back year to year without issue, I like to toss in some crimson and strawberry clover every spring to get those gorgeous pink and red spires of clover blooms for birds and bees. It really is as simple as tossing them into the lawn in April.
You should still fertilize your lawn
While you don’t need to aerate or dethatch your lawn, and clover is a fantastic cover crop, you can still give your lawn some love by feeding it with an extended release fertilizer once or twice a year. I sprinkle Osmocote over the grass in spring and fall and let the rain handle the rest.
Berries are one of the reliable producers in any garden, and people often overlook just how many kinds of berries there are. Since berries bloom at various times all summer, the more kinds of berries you have, the longer your harvest will be. Even within each type of berry, there are early-, mid-, and late-blooming varieties, as well as different flavors, colors and textures.
Early summer
Credit: Amanda Blum
Strawberries are an iconic summer fruit, and come in two types: June-bearing and everbearing. June-bearing cultivars tend to be smaller and sweeter with less staying power, while everbearing fruit will be bigger and will fruit through July, if not later. It’s important to have both types for a full summer of fruit. These plants never reach more than 12 inches off the ground, and grow by throwing runners that will quickly spawn new strawberry plants.
This is my second year with honeyberry shrubs and they’ve proven to be hardy and easy to grow. These upright shrubs bear oblong bright blue fruit early in the season that could be compared to blueberries.
The most popular cane-bearing berry there is, raspberries generally grow on six foot tall, upright, second-year canes. What people often don’t know is how many varieties of raspberries there are, from golden raspberries that bear fruit in fall to black cap raspberries, known for their sweetness. Raspberries spread very easily, so they require a trellis and to be kept in check, but they’re a solid investment.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Usually found near streams, salmonberry bears small raspberry-looking fruit on a sturdy shrub that can grow to 12 feet. The small fruit turns a pleasing pink when ready to be picked, and is quite subtle and sweet, tasting a little like rhubarb.
Another hardy shrub, goji berry forms oblong, bright red sprays of fruit. Known to be packed with nutrients, the fruit themselves are sour and a bit bitter, like a cranberry.
Mid-summer
Not only do blueberry shrubs offer fruit, they also make fantastic garden filler as a plant. More drought-resistant than people think, blueberries prefer less water than other berries. They thrive in both full sun and partial shade, and there are even evergreen varieties. But what I like most about blueberries is the wide variety of them available. They vary in height, size of the blueberry, and when they become ripe in the season—and there are types like Pink Lemonade that aren’t even blue. Consider a hedge of blueberries to fill out the garden.
If you imagine a cross between a shrub and an upright vine, you get currants. These shrubs tend to splay out with their long arms, each bearing sprays of currants in clear, red, pink, or black. These small spheres become surprisingly sweet with more complex flavor than other berries and the shrubs are fast growers.
A cane fruit similar to raspberries but sweeter, tayberries have a similar shape to blackberries but are longer and narrower. Since they grow like raspberries (cane) they can also spread easily and require a trellis.
In nature, huckleberries grow on mountains with dappled light and just the right humidity. But you can actually purchase huckleberry for your yard and try to make a go of it. In particular, the evergreen huckleberry is a great yard shrub. People prize the small, dark spherical huckleberries for the fruit, which is slightly tart but very sweet and makes a memorable pie filling.
I have trouble sometimes telling my gooseberry and currant shrubs apart, but it’s obvious once the fruit appears. Gooseberry grows larger globes that resemble grapes until they ripen into dark maroon spheres hanging from the shrub like ornaments. They tend to be a little more sour than other fruit, sweetening the riper they get.
Late summer
A few years ago I ripped out a few rows of raspberries to replace them with blackberries and boysenberries and it was one of the best moves I ever made. Blackberries spread easily as a cane, but mature later in the summer than raspberries, creating tons of dark, black conical fruit that is incredibly sweet. The boysenberry cultivar is even sweeter, making it the perfect jam fruit.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Elderberries are often overlooked in the garden. Though a shrub, they really resemble trees and are incredibly aggressive growers. Best grown in pairs, they form large puffs of elderflowers early in the season which can be harvested on their own. The flowers that remain form bunches of dark red spheres late in the season. Elderberries have a slight sourness to them, but are full of vitamins and are used in a lot of cordials and syrups. These plants make a fantastic deer-resistant hedge, but must be maintained to not grow out of control.
Mulberry trees are a commitment. They grow prolifically, forming long ruby berries. If not controlled, mulberry trees become quite large and will drop a lot of fruit onto the ground. That said, mulberries are, themselves, wonderful to have. They are a more complex tasting fruit than raspberries, with sweetness but an underlying slight bitterness.
Cranberries grow on low-to-the-ground shrubs that spread horizontally and require a lot of moisture. Though traditionally grown close together in bogs, you can purchase these plants and put them anywhere, as long as they get enough water. Cranberries themselves are known for the unique aspect that they are hollow and will float. While quite bitter, cranberries are famous for their perch on the holiday table in jams and dressings where they are mellowed out by sugar or honey.
Thimbleberries and salmonberries have a lot in common. This bramble berry grows on shrub-like plants, and forms small raspberry-looking fruit in clusters. Thimbleberries are quite sweet and make a really nice plant to have for foraging in your yard.
Starting in late July, some of the crops you planted for spring or summer are going to be done producing and will be ready for harvest. That leaves space for something new. There are vegetables that are “short crops,” meaning that they can be harvested, under optimal conditions, in 60 days or fewer. You might be able to get another rotation of these crops in before fall hits, if you live someplace with a late fall and enough sun and warmth through early September. There are also plants that will do well up until a hard frost, like brassicas. Then there are the vegetables we plant in the fall for the spring, which includes carrots and garlic. In any case, the time to get these seeds started is now, and each year, seed houses have new seeds to get excited about as they innovate and cross breed and try to find new disease resistance, flavors and colors to explore in their seeds. Here’s what I’m excited about.
Brassicas
One of a series of pictures of me with giant vegetables I grew. Credit: Amanda Blum
Fall and winter are prime time for brassicas—cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower—which can struggle in heat but thrive in a bit of a chill. And if these sound bland, you aren’t paying attention: There are so many gorgeous varieties of each out there you can turn your garden into a neon light show if you do it right. Just make sure you’ve got your slug population under control because you are creating a garden of delight for them.
Savoy cabbage is a winter star. I love it in hearty minestrone soups or for cabbage rolls or wrapping fish and grilling. Alcosa is just gorgeous. I love to make sauerkraut in winter, so I put a few green cabbage in, but I tend to prefer sweetheart type cabbage, which have a conical shape instead of a ball. Caraflex is a reliable variety. Out of personal preference, I go hard on red cabbage, which I braise for a dish that my friends love. Continuing the conical trend, because I think they fare better, you can’t deny how gorgeous Kalibos is, and it is a stunner in the garden. Last year I did very well with Ruby Ball Improved for a round red cabbage that was crisp with minimal core.
Cauliflower comes in more colors than you think, from pale green to shocking orange, purple, and then a whole array of white that will blush pink. Grow them all. Clementine for orange,Purple Moon, and Vitaverde for green. I trust Snowball for my white cabbage, since it self-blanches, and Veronica has been my most reliable Romanesco for years.
You can create a color wheel of broccoli, too. Each year my Purple re-sprouting broccoli provides harvests for weeks if you keep cutting it back. Broccoli is generally reliable, so almost any seed you pick up for green broccoli is going to give you great results.
Peas and beans
Think of fall as spring, in reverse. You can get a quick crop of peas or spinach in if you can sustain enough cooler weather with sunshine before the rain sets in. Since you have a shorter runway with fall peas than spring peas, I focus on bush-type peas rather than climbing peas. This year I’m trying Burpeeana, from Burpee.
Each fall I religiously plant fava beans, both because I think fresh favas are an overlooked gourmet treat, and because beans are fantastic for your soil. They’re basically a cover crop if you chop them down before they go to seed and produce the beans, and then let them compost in place. I like the Small Fava from Territorial Seeds—the compact nature of the bush means it’s less likely to get blown over in the fall storms.
Garlic and shallots
No lie, you can usually just plant garlic cloves from your supermarket with a good level of success. But if you want really great quality garlic, you should buy from a nursery or seed supplier. While there are hard and soft neck varieties, like a lot of gardeners I know, I’m a devotee of a hardneck variety called Music that reliably produces hearty bulbs. If you dry your garlic properly, it will last through the spring.
The shallot seed I’m most excited about is the stunning Creme Bruleefrom Park Seeds. While shallots don’t have the lasting storage that garlic does, being able to harvest your own and make shallot jam is something I wish for every gardener.
Carrots
Carrots are hard to germinate, full stop. But once the rain sets in, you’ve got a constant source of watering. Get as many carrots in as you can for spring harvest. Those that overwinter will be sweeter. Although carrots come in all shapes, for wintering over I am a fan of the hardy pie-shaped carrots, and this year I’ll be trying Coventry, from Territorial. But I also love the new seed tapes I’m trying out from Park Seed, and their Little Finger seed tape is one I’d get in early in fall, for hopes of a harvest before winter.
Greens
I have nothing nice to say about kale. I grow it because that’s what gardeners do, so each fall I put out a few starts for the neighbors to enjoy. To those who enjoy kale, the good news is that it is an easy to grow, hardy winter green, which makes sense since it’s basically herbaceous cardboard. Lacinato is a classic, and you can get seeds almost anywhere.
Chard will take a winter hit and keep trucking until serious ice, and has a tendency to perennialize, so I always suggest putting some rainbow chard in. The past few years I’ve only grown Neon Lights from Territorial. The real trick is to make sure you get your seedlings large enough to see the stalk color, so you can choose a variety to put in.
Alliums
Credit: Amanda Blum
For fall, you’ll want to get bulbing onions in the ground. You can purchase onion sets, which are tiny onion bulbs you plant, or you can grow your own from seed. These onions won’t be ready until spring, but the nice thing about them is that you can put them anywhere, since they won’t inhabit space you need for summer and spring vegetables. Make sure they go into well-composted soil with enough space between them to get a nice bulb. The two onions I always make sure to have in the ground are cipollini like these beautiful purple cippolinis from Burpee, and Candy, a particularly sweet Walla Walla onion.
Don’t forget to plant plenty of bunching onions, too, providing scallions all winter long. The great thing about these is that they germinate quickly outdoors. I’m trying Evergreen Long White from Burpee.
If you’re not growing leeks, honestly, what are you even doing? The ability to grab a leek out of the garden all winter and into the spring, when they really beef up in size, is invaluable. They're easy to grow from seed—start them inside in a four inch container. Once they’re three inches tall, chop them back down, and allow them to grow again. When it’s time to plant them, you’ll tease the seedlings apart and plant them six inches apart, as deep as possible. In the spring, dig them up, cut them all to 10 inches long and then replant them nine inches deep. This will produce a leek with a lot of white, rather than green. Some new leek seeds I’m checking out are Oslo, from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
You might have considered recycling water from showers, tubs and the kitchen for your garden. The theory is that it’s free water and whatever was in the water will provide nutrition for the plants. In the most general sense, this tracks—it’s water; you should reuse it. But this advice ignores some basic garden wisdom: You should not reuse water in your garden if there is something in the water besides, well, water.
For instance, if you use leftover cooking water, there’s likely salt in that water. Salting your soil is a terrible idea. Salinity prevents your plants from uptaking H20, which means you are doing the opposite of what’s intended. You salt your garden when you want to kill things. If there’s citrus in the water, it’s going to throw off the pH, and deters earthworms. The acidity could be high enough to burn a plant. The same is true of onions in the water.
Your shower and tub water, meanwhile, is likely to have soap and shampoo in it. In some cases, this is okay—soap isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, soapy water, when applied to the surface of some plants, is a great pest deterrent, such as with aphids on roses. But the ratio of soap to water has to be specific—you don’t want to exceed 2% soap to water, or you’ll burn your plants. What’s in the soap is important, too—usually when used as a pest deterrent, you’re applying a very mild dish soap. If there’s something in your body wash or soap that is toxic to plants, you shouldn’t use the water. Even if it’s not toxic, it can throw off the pH of the soil, and plants usually want a balanced pH.
Consider the microplastics in some body scrubs and shampoos as well, which would be going right into your soil. If you have an outdoor shower that drains into the soil, be careful about what you're using. (By the way, you really don't want to reuse mop water in your garden—the cleaners used are way too harsh.
Since we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, here’s where I think it’s okay to use leftover H20 in your garden. Rainwater is fantastic, and whether you save it in open containers or a reservoir, it’s great to repurpose this free water. And if you use extremely basic cleaning products in the shower or bath that contain no salt, preservatives, or microplastics, you're clear to use that water in the garden.
Plants are living things—and all living things will eventually stop living. The trick is knowing when your plant has either shuffled off this mortal coil or is going to, so you know to stop investing resources or risking nearby plants with something infectious. While a brown, withered plant in a dry planter is as close to DOA as the plant world can offer, it's not the only sign you should pull up roots and move on.
Indoor plants
If your plant has turned brown and crispy, it’s likely time to call it a day. You can always try to drench the plant to give the roots a chance, trim back the brown leaves and see if, in a few weeks, any new shoots are produced. The roots are really the factor here. If the roots are moldy, smelly or slimy, the plant has gone to the other side. If the roots are just brown and dry, your plant could be dormant. To tell, scratch a branch or root and see if underneath it is green and damp. If so, that plant is on winter vacay and can come back in spring with adequate water, light and food. Plants go dormant for all kinds of reasons, but it’s usually environmental stress like cold weather or a lack of nutrients or water.
Outdoor plants
Since the weather is harder to control outside, you may lose plants, even large ones like shrubs, to extreme heat or cold. We experienced a freezing event this year that took out giant 20-year-old hydrangeas, artichokes and daphne, which I mourned. Heat domes can cause the same problems, and it’s not always likely you’ll see the results of these extreme weather events immediately. The plants may be dormant when the event happens, so you’ll only know when it doesn’t spring back to life in the warmer weather. If you’re in the prime season for a shrub or bush and it is still just brown and unproductive, it is reasonable to perform a scratch test on the bark to see if it’s still viable. If it is following a weather event, it’s likely not. In those cases, while the plant is not hurting anything by staying put, you’re missing the opportunity to replace it. Gardens are always changing. You can cut the shrub or bush at the ground, leaving the roots to decompose in the soil. Be sure to give the soil some food before you plant something new.
The other reason you’ll lose plants outside is disease like viruses and funguses—this is more problematic because it can spread, and in many cases, remain in the soil, where it will infect new plants. There are thousands of viruses and funguses in the plant world, some specific to a type of plant like peach leaf curl, and some which can affect a lot of different types like mosaic virus. Generally, the signs you need to look for are brown or black spots, brown or black ends on leaves or yellowing of leaves. Once that happens, you should immediately cut that vegetation away, using shears that have been sprayed with bleach solution or vinegar to clean them, and ensure you do not touch other plants with the clippings. Put them in a plastic bag and get thee to a nursery to ask what the problem is. Once diagnosed, you’ll know if it’s solvable with a fungicide or other treatment, or if these plants need to get pulled and go in the trash (not compost!). Again, this process should be done quickly—you will be less traumatized losing one tomato plant than all your tomato plants. You’ll also want to ask about how long to leave the soil or how to treat it so that it's safe to plant in next season.
By the way: For many nurseries, you can actually return a dead plant. I’ll admit, I have always found this practice somewhat mortifying, but now that I know nursery owners and workers, I have a different perspective. They encourage the practice because they’re invested in your garden for a lifetime, and it’s likely you’ll buy something else when you return the expired plant.
Trees
Trees are fantastic for shade, fruit, and natural habitat. They are not so good for staying up in storms, getting all the water they need, and being impervious to pests. Trees are expensive and can be dangerous when one is dying or dead—dead trees cause massive damage to structures and are a real threat to people, too. Unfortunately, treating or removing trees is also expensive, and could require permits.
First, examine the trunk of the tree. Look for splitting, cracks or peeling bark. These are warning signs. Are there mushrooms growing near the trees roots or trunk? That's a sign of decay. Finally, are you seeing many branches without any active buds during spring? You may have a dead tree, and that means you need to get a qualified tree trimming company to check on the health of your tree.
Robot lawnmowers excite me. They’re amazing for accessibility, allowing people to maintain a lawn they otherwise might not physically be able to, and they eliminate a household labor, which I am all for. I suppose it’s lucky that the very first few I tried worked pretty well. Since then, though, ve been underwhelmed, plagued by set-up problems, unreliable mowing, missed boundaries and, in one case, a stolen mower. While the Dreame A1 robotic mower (regularly $2,594.98, and currently on sale for $1,899.99) wasn’t a total bummer, it didn’t impress me much at the price point.
Dreame is a company that has impressed me in the past with their robot vacuums, which have consistently been a big deal at CES. The A1 looks like most other robot lawnmowers—a bulky lawnbot on a charging base. The mower itself is hefty but it has what amounts to a handle to lug it around, and it charges on a light base that doesn’t require a garage. The A1 has a big “stop” button on the front, which will pop open the settings panel on top of the mower. However, that also means that every time you want to change a setting, you are prompted to enter a PIN code using a manual dial, since you just hit “stop,” which I found aggravating. The robot comes pre-assembled, so there’s just the unboxing to handle. This robot did not feature an RTK or GPS tower, like my two favorite mowers (Navimow, Luba 2) do. One less piece of equipment to take care of is great; instead, it uses proprietary tech called “Omnisense 3D Ultra-Sensing System,” which is LiDAR (a common remote-sensing technology on board every robot vacuum).
Getting the A1 online was, for lack of a better term, miserable. The first mower I received already had a PIN set that support couldn’t reset or tell me the code for, so back it went. The second mower I was able to set a PIN for, but had hours of trouble getting to pair via Bluetooth or wifi after that. The answer from support was that the only PIN that would work is 0001, which defeats the purpose of a PIN. Once I reset the PIN and suffered through many hours closing the app, dumping the cache, reopening it and getting a tiny bit further in the software updating and pairing process, it was finally time to send the robot out on its maiden voyage.
Robot lawnmowers do this in different ways: Some try to use LiDAR for this purpose (I didn’t find it very effective on the GOAT). But most (and my preferred way) use the app like a remote control, walking the robot around the perimeter of the yard to set the boundary. The A1 combines these two methods, which I think is a good idea. Let users map the boundary and then have the lawnbot use LiDAR to navigate within the boundary. Still, I struggled to get the boundary set on the A1 as well, due to the lack of explanation or nuance in the error codes the robot threw. There’s a pre-flight checklist before you can set your first boundary, and whether your robot is on the charging dock or not (it turns out both could be the problem), it still says, “robot not on dock.” After some more support calls, I was able to get the robot out on a boundary run. I mapped the backyard, which is largely a big open space with one obstacle (a fire pit) in the center.
Once actually mowing, the A1 performs pretty well
The mower did a good job when it was actually mowing, heading out in a U-shaped pattern back and forth (checkerboard enthusiasts will be disappointed, as it’s not an option, but perimeter mowing or spot mowing is). I saw very few stray blades, and the cut came close to the fence. You can set the height between approximately one to three inches. The A1 also did a good job with slight dips and hills, which other mowers, like the Navimow, struggled with—but it was not as resilient as the Luba 2, getting stuck on a slightly more exaggerated dip the Luba sailed over. The A1 did navigate around the fire pit easily, but like the Luba 2, was too conservative in how big a space it left unmowed around the pit. The Navimow was able to get closer to obstacles.
The A1 lets you schedule your mowing too. This feature worked as expected, except when it rained or became dark during the runtime. Usually the robot would return to the charging station at that point, and complete the job on the next run or the next day. The A1 just stopped where it was, stranded, and would not return to the base. This is problematic, of course, because if the mower is stranded on your front lawn, it’s easy to steal. Otherwise, the mower did a good job finding the base when it was done with a run, and though that sounds simple, the GOAT routinely failed at the same job.
Having some success in the backyard, I added the front yard to the A1, since the A1 can handle multiple “zones,” which not all mowers do. This allows you to divide the areas you want to mow so you can treat them differently. This is a far more complicated area, with lots of flower beds to be avoided, and I wanted to see how the A1 would do in terms of avoidance. Minus a few strawberry plants that grew out of their area, the A1 did a respectable job. It struggled around corners of the planting beds, getting stuck on the sides of the bed itself and had trouble dislodging itself. This ability to handle multiple zones means that you could consider sharing this robot with your neighbors.
Lack of security features is a concern
A major swing and miss on the A1 is the security system. If you pick the mower up, it sounds an unpleasant alarm, which is good if it’s a robber picking it up but terrible if you’re just towing it back to the base because it keeps getting stranded. Either way, it’s not a very effective deterrent. The best deterrent, in my opinion, is a 4g sim integrated into the hardware, and an app feature that uses the sim for GPS, ensuring that if the mower is taken, you can pinpoint the location.
Bottom line: It's not ready yet
The nice thing is that all the problems I experienced with the A1 were software, not hardware-related. This means there’s some chance that via updates, the problems could get resolved. In Dreame’s favor, I could always reach phone support, even on a holiday, and even if they were not always particularly helpful. At full price (about $2,600), I think there are better mowers out there right now for ½ acre, which is what the A1 will cover. Grab a Luba 2 that will cover .75 acres for $2,500, or .25 acres for approximately $2,100, or grab a .25 acre Navimow for about half that.
Every summer I grow flats of annual cutting flowers: sunflowers, poet flower, zinnias, stock. I’ve gradually added more and more perennials to my beds so that the beds are mostly full of color and don't require new seedlings every year. Now, I just plant around the perennials with annual color blooms. With the beds established, I’m now trying to ensure the blooms are covering as long a season as possible, both early and late. Here are the long-blooming perennials I swear by.
Spring to mid-summer blooming perennials
I’m attracted to astilbe because it features the same plume shape as one of my favorite annuals: celosia. There are many varieties (and colors) of astilbe but if you grab the right ones, you can have these fluffy cones of color from spring to fall.
If I have any garden-related regrets, it’s not growing perennial salvia earlier (there's annual salvia, too). These colorful spikes are hardy hummingbird gold. Plant them in groupings.
Growing conditions: Full sun to partial shade; prefers well-drained soil
Yarrow wasn’t really my bag for a long time—it was primarily yellow or white and looked a lot like bouquet filler. Now, shades across the red, pink and orange spectrum are available, making this the ideal filler. Yarrow is going to spread, so you want to keep it in check, but it is spectacular in summoning pollinators to your yard, and is one of the first flowers in my yard to pop up and the last to go.
YarrowCredit: Dajra/Shutterstock
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 8
Growing conditions: Dry to medium moisture, well-drained soil; drought-tolerant
One of the only original plants that remains from the garden I took over 15 years ago is rue. Every year, this shrubby plant reliably grows a crown of yellow flowers that remain until the end of fall. As a cut flower, they fill out a bouquet; left alone, they deter mosquitoes.
You just can’t beat roses. They’ll reliably begin blooming in early summer and remain that way until fall. They come in every color and shape and type now, from trees to climbing to miniatures. If you haven’t seen the varieties coming out of greenhouses lately, you should check out a rose grower like Jackson & Perkins—the array is astounding.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3 to 10
Growing conditions: Well-drained soil; high organic matter
Mid summer to fall blooming perennials
Aster, particularly Douglas Aster, is a fast-spreading perennial that is highly reliable for late-season color. It is the last thing to succumb to the winter weather in my garden, and although the blooms aren’t as bright as, say, zinnias, they do help to keep the garden from looking rough come fall.
Zones: 3 to 9
Growing conditions: full sun to part shade; moist, well-drained soil
Coneflower, daisies, rudbeckia and Black Eyed Susans all have roughly the same shape and season. They all come in a wild variety of colors and can all grow to be a fantastic shrub size each summer, helping to fill in the garden. They're a haven for bees and other pollinators.
Echinacea, also known as coneflowerCredit: Kabar/Shutterstock
Zones: 3 to 9
Growing conditions: full sun; well-drained soil
If you’re up for a challenge, Blanket Flower is a tough one to germinate from seed. Once you do, though, it will return year after year with tall blooms that are remarkably resilient. Every year I am sure they're not returning and then, come late June, they appear overnight as if by magic.
Zones: 3-10
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
I think of scabiosa as the Beetlejuice flower of the garden. I love the twisty stems and lovely dark colors you can obtain the flower in, from black to maroon to purple. A popular pollinator haven, pincushion flower (as it's more commonly called ) is a great understory to your coneflower and rudbeckia.
SscabiosaCredit: EQRoy/Shutterstock
Zones: 3-7
Growing conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil
While there are other long-blooming perennials (depending on your zone) these are the ones I've reliably come to trust myself in my garden. Most plants will rebloom if you deadhead them (cut off spent flowers before they go to seed). You can purchase perennials, of course, but you can also grow them from seed and in some cases, grow them from cuttings of established plants.
There are tons of things that kids can love about gardening: digging, picking, identifying color and texture and taste. If you’ve got a small spot of the yard to dedicate to the endeavor, why not create a garden for your kids? You can keep it very simple, using “cut and come again” vegetables and flowers, and vegetables that are prolific and unfussy. You can find all these seeds and plants at your local nursery.
The plants you'll need
Here's what I recommend for your children's garden:
Cherry tomato start
Sunflower seeds or starts
Lettuce seeds
Radish seeds
Beet seeds
1 six pack of green beans
1 six pack of carrot starts
1 pumpkin start
1 cucumber start
Cherry tomatoes are almost guaranteed success, with prolific and enduring harvests. If you went with a full-sized tomato, there’s too much chance of prematurely picking a tomato before it’s done, or a mood being ruined when that tomato is hit by blossom end rot or worms. If you choose a mid-height sunflower, you’ll be able to cut them and have them grow side shoots over the season, or you can simply leave them to bloom and bring the bees. As long as you water religiously, the seeds of lettuce, radishes and beets should germinate easily. Pulling the radishes and beets out can be extremely satisfying for young kids, and you can pick leaves off the lettuce and it will grow back.
I suggest carrot starts instead of seeds because carrots are notoriously hard to germinate and long to come to size. Cucumbers will round out the possible salads from the bed, and a pumpkin will be the pièce de résistance at the end of the season when the rest of the garden is spent. You can save the pumpkin seeds from this year’s jack o’lantern for next year’s garden.
Laying out the garden
In laying out the garden, you want to use the seeds to separate the tomatoes on one side from the pumpkins on the other. Here's my suggested layout. Starting on one side, plant the tomato plant. Remember that tomatoes need support, so use a tomato cage or another trellis and add it early. They’re hard to put on later. Now plant rows of lettuce, radish, beets and carrots and beans across the bed. Make sure the beans are last. At the other end, place the pumpkin at the top of the bed and the cucumber below it. Plant a few sunflowers (no more than two or three) in the corners of the bed. In between the beans and cucumber, place a trellis so the beans and cucumber can climb.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Maintaining your garden
You'll need to water the bed once a day, first thing in the morning. You want to water so you can feel moist soil when you stick your finger about six inches into the bed. Within a few weeks the sunflowers and other seeds should germinate, and a month after planting, it’ll be time to thin the radishes, beets and lettuce to one healthy seedling every six inches.
The crops will all be ready for harvest at different times, but each of these crops offers an opportunity to pick, grab and dig, with lots of different textures and colors. You should be able to make a few salads from the crops, and even have green beans with a number of meals. Everything in this bed can be eaten without cooking, so you can snack in the garden.
July is one of my favorite gardening months, because it feels like a pause. All your vegetables are planted and should be on their way to fruiting. The flowers you got in the ground the last two months should have started to bloom, and the weather isn’t murderously hot yet. There is lots of harvesting to be done, and fall to start thinking about, but I spend a lot of July just walking around the yard, appreciating what’s there.
The daily survey
I wasn’t kidding about taking a daily lap around the garden, which I try to do before the sun is too high in the sky. Each morning, I walk around with my garden hod, and a bucket. Take note of how things are doing and what needs more water or perhaps a fertilizer boost, and look for infestations. If you see a weed, pick it and chuck it into the bucket. If something needs to be harvested, add it to the hod. Top up your water features and bee stations and try to spend a few moments just sitting and appreciating all the hard work over some snap peas or raspberries.
Water, water everywhere
The headline for this month is dialing in irrigation since it’s likely the first time this year you really need it on a consistent basis. As temperatures climb, it’s imperative to have consistent water at the root of plants. Test your irrigation or watering systems if you haven’t yet and get them turned on. Check in for the first week or two and make sure the ground is getting moist about six inches under the topsoil and adjust the water as necessary. It’s never too late to mulch to conserve water and protect plant roots. Remember that you want a nice thick layer of mulch, an inch isn’t going to do much. Make sure to pull that mulch away from the stems of your plants.
Deadhead to create stronger and more prolific blooms
Most of the summer blooming flowers are “cut and come again” blooms. Cut the flowers and a good stem, and the plant will come back with a stronger, branched stem. Some flowers, like stock, are single bloom (they bloom only once, on one stem, so chop it and it’s over). But zinnia, echinacea, and snapdragons thrive from a chop. This means a summer full of cut flowers, but even if you let flowers stay on the plant, be sure to deadhead every day or so.
Turn over peas and other spring vegetables
At some point around now, your peas will start going brown and crispy from the bottom up. This just means it’s time to turn over the space for summer, and hopefully you have some climbing beans or something else to go into the space. Your spinach, boy choy, and spring broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage have all also flowered by now, so those spaces are ready to turn over for summer or fall.
Sometime this or next month, garlic is going to be ready to come out of the ground, too. Wait for three or four brown leaves and then harvest with a hand spade (do not try to just pull them out of the ground).
If you got potatoes into the ground in spring, you can start harvesting them as soon as they plants begin to flower. Use a spade to turn over the earth and then use your hands to find all the baby potatoes. You can let really tiny seed potatoes fall back into the bed, which will help it perennialize.
Succession plant flowers, lettuce, radish, scallions, beets, kohlrabi and other greens
In the newly empty spaces, remember to keep succession planting going. Get seeds in routinely or starts from the nursery. If you go with seeds, you’ll need to work harder to keep them hydrated so they germinate, once they’re in the ground.
Harvest your berries
It is berry season, so be sure you’re getting all of your berries harvested as they’re ready. Raspberries should be coming to an end, with blueberries in full swing. At some point this month, strawberries will be dunzo, which means you can cut them back fully so they can focus on roots for next year instead of runners. I run the lawnmower over them to accomplish this.
Fall planting
You should have your fall starts started by the end of July, if you’re growing from seed. These starts won’t go in for a month or two, which gives you enough time to get a tray of seeds going now.
July is a great time to reset the seeding station at your house. All the summer starts are in the garden at this point, so you have room to put time and energy into succession plantings, fall starts and perennials. Even better, you don’t have to grow the starts inside—you can use your seed trays outside in the sun. I set up a bank of trays in the driveway, in full sun, and ensure they have a bottom-watering tray (that's a tray filled with water underneath the seed tray so that the soil can always draw whatever water it needs). I use tray domes (the clear plastic dome that sits on top of the seed tray to maintain moisture) sparingly because of the high heat outside. On really hot days I remove the domes, so the seeds don’t fry. As soon as there’s even the tiniest show of germination, the domes come off permanently.
Succession seeding
Most years, I get a little cocky this time of year and don’t stay on top of my succession planting—and then regret it. This year I'm starting “Succession Saturday,” where every week I force myself to get out, evaluate what needs turnover, and make sure I plant a few lettuces, radishes, beets and kohlrabi.
Get ready for fall
Hopefully, you now have all your fall planting seeds ordered and received and know what you need to plant. July is when you’ll want to get these starts going, so that they’re ready to get slotted into gardening spots in late August/early September. As your summer plants get cleared out, you’ll replace them with fall. Think about your winter hearty vegetables (which, admittedly, is a little tough when it’s 100 degrees out)—cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, root vegetables, etc.
Perennials
Spend a moment thinking about every expensive perennial you fawn over at the nursery. Unless they're vegetable starts, these plants can really take a tool on your finances. So grow them yourself, either from seeds or from a clipping. If you can find someone with one of these perennials, you can usually grab a healthy clipping, strip the end, dip it in rooting powder and get that little guy into some potting soil. You can also do this to duplicate your own plants. If not, get some seeds and get to work. Instead of paying $30 for a coneflower this summer, grow 10 of them for $5 in seeds. If you start now, you’ll have a four-inch pot sized plant by fall.
House pests crop up during any season, but spring and summer are when I am particularly bothered. Constantly going in and out of the house and leaving windows open leads to house flies and mosquitos, and the part of the country I live in is under ceaseless attack by sugar ants that infiltrate your home absolutely everywhere. The produce and fruit that is in abundance and tends to sit on your counter can often lead to fruit flies. Keeping all of these pests in check without a lot of chemicals has become a summer obsession. I’ve tested a whole bunch of products recently and although I was skeptical, it turns out many of them legitimately work.
For houseflies, get a sticky trap
Man, do flies bother me—there is something about them that screams “dirty home." For many years, I thought swatting them was the best, if the most labor-intensive, solution. Hanging fly traps always seemed like a disgusting solution for a slightly less disgusting problem. Last summer, though, I found these clear fly traps that you affix to your window. They’re invisible (until covered in bugs) but easy to remove and hide behind a window shade. I even added one to my bathroom mirror when i had a stubborn fly who refused to abandon the lighting fixture. I change them out every few days, and they eliminate the fly problem.
For other flying insects, UV light traps do the trick
Zevo sent me a bunch of products to try earlier this year, and these UV light traps have become the workhorses of my household maintenance plan. It’s not rocket science, it’s a plug in UV light with a purple hue that is surrounded by a replaceable sticky trap. The upside is that the bugs it catches are well hidden from sight, and the trap subdues how purple the light looks, so it’s really just an innocuous light you don’t notice much. All the while, it is great for flying insects. Every few years they skip spraying for mosquitoes here, and last year was particularly bad. The Zevo traps really helped to manage the problem inside, accomplishing most of the work overnight.
Immediate relief from ants
If I had to guess, 80% of the Terro sold in the U.S. comes to the PNW. The ants are everywhere. Terro is a clear gel you can apply directly to spots the ants are going to encounter (along a floor, underneath a cabinet, etc) or you can fill ant traps with it. It’s a sticky gel, and you don’t want kids or pets eating it, so it's a good idea to use traps. It's a good way to get some long-term relief, if you stay consistent—but it takes time. The ants swarm the Terro, and then bring it back to their queen, and then the poison kicks in and they all die. But if you want immediate relief, Zevo’s Flying Insect Spray is shockingly effective. It’s pet and kid safe, and smells like mint. Though it’s technically labeled for flies, roaches and ants, I never tried it on anything but ants, and a light spray will kill the ants on contact and buy you a day or two without return. In particular, I use it around my dog’s food station and my sink.
Upgrade your DIY fruit fly traps
Everyone knows you can just wrap a dish of vinegar with plastic wrap, poke some small holes with a skewer and wait for the fruit flies to fly in and drown in the vinegar. The system is imperfect, because you can see the dead fruit flies and if you make the holes too big, they can just fly back out. Last year I tried these commercial fruit fly traps, which are just a manufactured version of the DIY home trap. They look like little red plastic apples. They’re in two parts, so you can dump and refill the vinegar every few days, and they’re small and unintrusive. The holes are exactly the right size, and the plastic hides the death pool within. Toss them in the dishwasher when the problem is gone.
I have written before about how trellises are essential to your garden layout to create height and divide spaces; a trellis takes a garden from flat to immersive. Once those trellises are up, finding the right plants to cover them becomes the next challenge. You want to choose plants that will grow enough to cover your trellis without being so aggressive you still have to constantly prune them. You also want to consider if you’d like the effect of the vining plant temporarily, permanently, or seasonally.
Annual vines will cover a trellis without becoming a problem
An annual plant is only good for the season, and it will die at the end. Sometimes, these plants perennialize, meaning they could come back year to year. For instance, nasturtiums are a wonderful climbing plant if you chose the right variety (there are climbing nasturtiums and trailing nasturtiums) and train them. I use gardening Velcro tape to train the nasturtium shoots up any vertical surface, and they grow magnificently on a tunnel if you spend a little time training them at the beginning, weaving them through the tunnel in the direction you want them to go.
For a noticeably short season, there is nothing that compares to sweet peas. Easy to start, easy to train, these climbing vines can crawl to almost nine feet and if you prune them correctly, will last a few months, bearing incredibly sweet-smelling flowers. The key to keeping the sweet peas alive that long is consistent deadheading. I am out every third day cutting sweet pea blossoms to prevent the plant from going to seed, but that means everyone around me always has a bouquet this time of year.
Vining beans are aggressive climbers, but not so much that they will be a problem for your structure. At best, they survive three or four months, and can grow as tall as 12 feet. Start by ensuring you are growing pole beans and not bush beans. Traditional filet, haricot vert, or shelling beans all thrive on a trellis with some support. Each year I grow massive trellises of white cannellini beans and Greek Gigantes beans. Beans such as pole runners, which are often grown simply as hummingbird bait, have colorful flowers and grow prolifically.
If you like petunias, you will like their lookalike vine thunbergia, also called black-eyed susan vine. A vigorous climber, I really like thunbergia for poles, using Velcro tape or a Slinky hung from the top of the pole to create support. A nice feature of this plant is that when it runs out of support, it flops over on itself instead of seeking out new structure.
Perennial vines come back year to year
If you’re looking to cover a good amount of space and create a feature that will come back year after year, there are a wealth of options. The issue with perennial vines is that they keep growing. That means you must be careful about pruning and ensuring that they are not intruding on the structure they are trellised again, and that those trellises are winter hardy.
Roses may seem pedestrian, but the last twenty years have seen an influx of designer roses, even in the climbing rose variety. They can be deeply scented, and colorful and climbing. I am particularly drawn to Floribunda roses, which look like peonies rather than a stereotypical rose. Roses require some attention because you need to really train and maintain them. They need specific food and specific pruning. But if you have the right space, few things are as majestic as a wall of roses. There are hundreds of varieties; depending on which of the three pruning groups a variety falls into, it can be extremely aggressive or less so. The flowers can look wildly different, from blooms that resemble lilies to tinier flowers that resemble jasmine.
Of all the vines I’ve planted over the last ten years, the passionflower vine was the best choice. It grows aggressively, doubling in size year to year, and requires very sturdy trellising. But the flowers it produces are so interesting-looking and last year I was finally blessed with one picture perfect passionfruit. Passionflower would thrive on a wire wall trellis, but it is not the most winter hardy.
Climbing hydrangea is a slow burn. It won’t grow fast, but it will reliably climb a trellis and spread over the years. What I enjoy about my climbing hydrangeas is that they consistently have a great cover of foliage in spring and summer without requiring a lot of care on my part. I never prune them.
Grape vines are the ultimate climbing perennial. While they will, of course, produce grapes, they can form a gorgeous structure as well, providing edibles through the fruit and the leaves themselves. Grapes need a lot of care, and anyone who plants them needs to be vigilant about maintenance. The grapes themselves can also attract wildlife if you don’t pick the grapes and clean up the fallen ones.
Evergreen vines have year-round foliage
More than just a perennial, evergreen vines will keep some foliage all winter long instead of all the leaves dropping. This opens up some interesting options for long-term vines in your yard.
If you have a yard, that yard should have jasmine in it. While I’ve never been drawn to the artificial jasmine in perfume or candles, real jasmine is magical when you get a whiff of it at twilight, when it is most fragrant. A prolific growing vine, jasmine is surprisingly hardy through the winter, too.
Once you realize you love hummingbirds, it is just a hop and skip to honeysuckle vines. If you buy different varieties, you can always have one in bloom all spring and summer. The flowers vary in color from yellow to red and blazing pink, and the trumpet-like flowers are a siren for birds and bees. Like jasmine, these plants need solid support throughout the year.
One variety of clematis (clematis armandii) is evergreen. It’s a little harder to get ahold of, but if you can find it, this white-flowered vine will stay green through most of winter.
Please don’t grow these vines
There are some vines you should avoid—not just for you, but your neighbors and the local environment. Some vines are just too aggressive to be unleashed in the wild, no matter how much you like them.
Wisteria, though absolutely beautiful, will damage any structure it’s on. It is such an aggressive climber and can grow into attics and through your siding.
Only real jerks plant ivy. Almost all ivy will become invasive, choke out other native plants. A pervasive spreader, it’ll quickly become your neighbor's problem.
No one purchases kudzu, but it may pop up in your yard and is a serious problem across a growing part of the U.S. if you find it in your yard, you need to begin aggressively working to remove it entirely. In some place it is not even legal to keep it.
This is the summer I urge you to ditch those expensive, cheaply made pine trellises you can find at big box stores. They’re never big enough, they rot after a few seasons, and they are never strong enough to act as a decent trellis. This year, let’s commit to making a long lasting wall trellis that looks completely professional and will save the structure of your house from damage by plants.
The fundamentals of wall trellising
A trellis has two functions: First, to give the plant something to hold onto and direct it where to grow, to help give it support and structure; second, to hold the plant far enough away from the structure to protect it from damage. Plants are resilient creatures that seek structure and will cling to your house siding and gutters if that's what's easiest.
No matter what plant you choose to trellis, you’ll still need to provide upkeep for the plant, whether that’s annual pruning, feeding, or helping it along the trellis. When the plant runs out of trellis, it’s headed for your roofline, and you’ll need to keep that in check, too.
Tools you’ll need for a DIY trellis
To create a wire trellis, you’ll need:
Eye hooks to act as anchors and hold the trellis away from the wall,
A crimper to to lock the crimps in. (There are different sizes of wire, crimps, and crimpers, so you should choose based on how heavy the plant will be. As a general rule, I use 20-gauge wire for light plants like Clematis and much heavier 9-gauge for heavier plants like roses.)
Silicone caulk to seal drill holes and prevent water damage.
To plan out the trellis, sketch the wall you’ll be using with accurate measurements. Start laying in where the anchors will go. You don’t need to start your trellis lower than three feet above the ground. You don’t need to cover your entire wall, either; you can choose where the trellis will go to guide the plants. For instance, a trellis could stretch above your windows and across the wall, to give plants grown on either side a path that keeps them off the windows.
For each of the eye hooks, you’ll want to pre-drill into the siding or concrete using the appropriate bit (and anchor, if necessary). Next, add some clear silicone caulk to the hold and then screw in the eye hook. The silicone should seal the hole so water can’t intrude into the house.
With the eye hooks in place, you can now choose the pattern you’ll use for the wire. You can use a plain grid or diagonal grid, but there are no rules for how you string the wire, meaning you can use any geometric shape you choose. While roses might not follow the shape precisely, smaller vines like jasmine likely will, revealing the shape on the wall.
Credit: Amanda Blum
To set your first wire in place, slide a crimp onto the end of the wire and then loop the free end of the wire through your eyehook and back into the crimp, creating a loop. Slide the crimp as close to the eyehook as you can and then use the crimp tool to clamp the crimp onto the wire. Spool the wire to the next eyehook, cut enough to make the loop, being generous, and repeat the step. Make sure the wire is taut before you crimp it. To accomplish this, it’s nice to have a pair of pliers to hold onto the wire to pull it. Now, you just repeat this process over and over until the grid of your choice is done.
Vining plants come from the nursery tied to a wooden stake, so the first thing to do is remove the plant from that stake. Carefully unwind it, and then remove the plant from the plastic pot and plant it at the base of the trellis. Drape the vine onto the lowest rung of the trellis, and secure it to the trellis using velcro tape. The tape should only be tight enough to hold the vine in place. If it's too tight, it will strangle the plant, so give as much slack as you can. The velcro tape can be readjusted in the future.
Maintenance and upkeep
As the plant grows, you’ll train the plant to attach itself to the wires by using the velcro tape and anchoring it in the direction you want it to go. You can treat it as any other plant by making sure it has food and water, and ensuring it gets pruned when it should.
Every year, my stone fruit trees sprout a comforting number of cherries, plums, and peaches. But by the time I should be harvesting, 90% of it is gone. It’s as if I can hear the birds laughing at me. For every perfect strawberry, there are four that have gotten hit by pill bugs before they ripened. Our fruit is highly susceptible to local foraging wildlife, bugs, and even sunburn. Here are all the ways you can protect your fruit so it’s there for you when it’s time to harvest.
Gauze your plants
In order to get fruit, you need pollination. But once that pollination occurs, and you have unripened fruit on your trees or shrubs, you can cover it to protect it. If it’s an entire tree, you can shroud it with a veil, but for individual fruits, you can also use gauze bags specifically for this purpose. The gauze allows light through, but not bugs or birds. I prefer the bags because they’re less likely to trap pollinators or birds. I have started using the bags on my grapes because I found it made them far easier to harvest. You simply plucked the bags away, with the grapes already contained. You can protect your perfect figs or apples, too, using this method. So far, I’ve been highly pleased with the success rate and at the end of the season, I wash the bags.
Kaolin clay on your fruit trees
You can make a slurry of kaolin (a benign powder of refined clay) and spray your fruit trees with it. The clay coats the fruit in a harmless coating that deters pests by disguising the fruit. Smart bugs who can still find the fruit are going to become more occupied with grooming those clay particles off of themselves and will eventually give up and leave. The benefits don’t end there: The kaolin protects the fruit from sunburn, too. This method is more labor intensive, because you have to spray once a week to build up a suitable layer of clay. Since this method can deter the apple maggot, plum curculio, codling moth, European apple sawfly, cucumber beetle, oriental fruit moth, tufted apple bud moth, white apple leafhopper, and pear psylla, I’m going to try it for the first time next year on the apple and pear trees that bear too much fruit to sleeve in gauze.
Distract and deter for strawberries
When bugs aren’t trying to worm into strawberries from below, birds are trying to get to them from above. The birds are easily distracted by red rocks the size of strawberries, painted the same color red, spread around your berry patch. I’m amazed each year at how effective this low-effort method is. Deterring bugs, however, is a little harder. Pill bugs can be deterred by diatomaceous earth (a finely crushed plankton)—but although it’s organic, I try to avoid using it because it can harm beneficial insects in the soil, too. I’ve resorted to elevating the berries to eliminate the problem. Every spring, as soon as the berries start to produce runners, I add a hefty amount of straw to the berry bed, so the berries will sit on top of the straw once they ripen. I’ve also started to plant most of my berries in vertical planters, so they hang, rather than sit on the ground. These two methods have greatly increased my fruit yields.
Shade cloth to avoid sunburn
Sunburn has become a bigger problem in recent years due to heat domes and plants that are not prepared for that kind of prolonged direct sunlight and heat. The most effective way to protect plants is to create an overstory and understory, so your berries (the understory) are protected by trees overhead (overstory). If you can’t do this, it’s time to create some trellises or temporary structures from which to hang shade cloth. This UV-blocking fabric allows airflow but blocks out a percentage of the UV from the sun (it comes in varying degrees of UV blocking). It doesn’t harm the fruit in any way, so long as it’s not on the fruit, but hung above it, creating shade.
Plant sacrificial fruit
Though I have many blueberry bushes, I started with one large one, and I made an agreement with the birds. “You get the top; I get everything else." Now I have enough berry plants around the property that there’s plenty to share. Planting pollination stations with native berries will be a distraction for the local wildlife population.
Traps and beneficial insects
Each kind of fruit has natural predators, and they likely make traps for those insects. Check your nursery for them—they’re usually cardboard and sticky, and come with a specific pheromone. They can be hung in the area of your fruit and be changed out every so often. You can also consider beneficial insects, where you purchase the predators of the problem pest, introduce them to your garden and hope they want to stay.
It is truly luxurious to have a garden where sprinklers and drip irrigation are already present, but that’s not the case for most people with gardens. That means people spend a lot of time and wasted water on cobbled-together systems involving hoses, timers, and those awful oscillating sprinklers. These overhead watering sprinklers aren’t precise, so water is wasted and rain down water hard enough that they can lead to virus and fungus spreading in the garden as the water bounces off the soil and back onto plants—plus, they’re always in the way, with hoses snaking across the lawn. Soaker hoses coming off your hose bibb aren’t much better, breaking down in a few summers and leaking endlessly. A better solution is to water via a real dripline at the root and put sprinklers only where you need them, focused specifically on the small areas they should water. While it is certainly better to have a real drip or sprinkler setup, there are a variety of ways you can accomplish a semi-professional watering system on your own, using the same tools to achieve a much cleaner look in your yard.
Divide up the space into zones
The first thing you’ll need to do is divide your yard into zones. Sketch out your whole garden and all your boxes and grass spaces—anything that needs to be watered. The grass is one zone, and perhaps all your garden boxes are another. The zones can be based on area instead, so you simply divide your yard into four smaller areas. A zone will all be watered at once, so what you’re really considering is what areas need the same amount of water. You don’t want to overload any one zone, since your hose bibb has less pressure than the main water line (you can run a test on your hose bibb to see how much pressure it has). Since you won’t be tapping directly into your waterline, using your hose bibbs instead, the zones must relate to the location of the bibb. Note all the bibbs on your sketch and then look at how each zone relates to that hose bibb. If you had to run a line to that zone from the bibb, where would it go? It’s OK if it just runs on the ground next to the house, but draw it out, trying to arrive at the shortest distances possible, since unlike professionally installed lines, you’ll see these above ground. Minimize how much line you’re using, how many turns it takes, and crossover of lines. Now, go outside to start measuring those lines and visualizing each turn so you can translate that to fittings.
I used color lines to divide this area of my yard into zonesCredit: Amanda Blum
Attach timers and run blank line to each zone
Although most people don’t know this, in most places even the driplines or overhead oscillating sprinklers you run should have a backflow prevention device, per city code. This prevents the water, once it leaves the hose bibb, from flowing back into city water. These small devices aren’t hard to install inline; you just attach it to the hose bibb before any timers. You’ll want to control each zone it independently. Since we’re not using a professional watering timer, you’ll use hose timers. There are a number of smart hose timers, and having tested a number of them, the one I prefer is Racchio, which still occasionally has leak issues, but is better than other brands like Bhyve. I also continue to use non smart timers like Orbit, which have the benefit of having multiple outlets, so you can run many zones off one timer. Otherwise, you’ll need a splitter coming off the hose bibb, and then a smart timer on each outlet.
Now we’re going to start laying down the tubing that will take the water from your hose to the zone, and to do that we’re going to use blank tubing. This means there isn’t any holes in it, so it won’t drip. This tubing is usually a golden brown, so it will disappear into the landscaping. It accepts 17mm fittings, so whether you need an elbow, tee, or straight connection, they’re easy to source. Run this tubing from the hose all the way to where your zone starts, making all the connections you need. A final fitting at the start of the tubing will allow you to connect the pipe to the timer. Repeat this for each zone. The goal is to tuck the tubing out of the way by going around the yard. While this isn’t as good as a buried line like a professional install, the tubing you’re using is far more reliable than a hose, and less conspicuous.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Attach micro emitters, sprinklers, and dripline
Now that the line is run to your zone, you can start attaching watering lines. For a dripline, you connect tubing that has holes in it and will slowly leak water out of it. You want to run this in a circle so it gets consistent pressure, but the tubing is the same diameter and style as the blank line, so you just use additional fittings to connect it. This is the ideal way to water a large area like planting beds around your lawn or raised beds.
You can also connect micro emitters for specialty watering needs like planters or a particular plant that needs its own emitter. You will use smaller ¼ line and fittings to connect these emitters to the main watering line. Using a punch made specifically for this, punch a hole in the main line, and then using a straight fitting on the end of the ¼ line and secure that in the hole. Place any kind of emitter on the end, and use a stake designed for this purpose to hold the emitter in place. The nice thing about emitters is that you can adjust each individually. So if one pot needs more or less water, you can make an adjustment or turn it off entirely. The smaller ¼ line makes it easy to jump from the main line up into planters.
You can use the same ¼ line for micro sprayers, which will act as sprinklers here. There are even pop-up micro sprayers, which mean that when not in use, your sprinklers disappear into the lawn. You simply need to dig a hole about three inches in diameter, as deep as the sprayer stake. Place the sprayer stake in, and then backfill the hole. I like this application as you can easily change out the sprayer head to a 90, 180, or 360 degree angle and then position it as needed. The spray is really fine, but it works well for smaller areas.
How to maintain it
At the end of each season, you need to blow out your tubing (with an air compressor), because it is above ground rather than below the frost line: This will ensure there’s no water left in any of the tubing. In spring, you’ll want to test each line and ensure each of the pop-up sprayers pops up and the emitters are in the right position. Walk around and listen to each zone; you’ll hear if there’s a leak or tear in one of the lines and can fix it by cutting the tubing in that spot and repairing it with a coupler.
Although most people idealistically would like to use less water at home, it’s difficult to measure how successful you are on a day-to-day basis. Sure, your water bill each month reports your overall use and compares it to previous periods, but the bill won’t tell you what uses that water went toward. How much water is used on showers, irrigation, or possible leaks? If we really want to get better at conservation, the key is more specific reporting, and now there are tools to help you.
There are two ways water leaves your pipes: on purpose and because of a leak. Smart valves and sensors will look for those leaks and stop them when they happen by turning the water off, and will report, down 1/10 of a gallon, where you used your water. A number of options exist for this technology: A few of the most well-known are the Moen Flo, Phyn, Kohler H2Wise, and Flume 2. These devices are professionally installed along your water line near the turn-off valve (Phyn can be DIY installed), and then synced via wifi to an app on your phone. They report, in real time, where the water is going using algorithms to identify the water destination: toilet, shower, kitchen, pool, irrigation, etc. Every night, it performs a pressure test to ensure there isn’t a leak. When there’s a sudden unexpected water use, the app will contact you, and you can approve it, or it will shut the water off to prevent leaks or water damage.
First, Flo spends a week learning your water use, and setting a baseline of how much water you use and what is typical for your size household. I was using between 500-700 gallons a week during peak irrigation season. What I realized on hearing that was that I had no idea if this was a good amount or not, which tells you how out of touch I was with my own water consumption. Once Flo is done with the training period, the app will set a goal for you, and it gives you updates on how you’re hitting those water usage goals.
For the first few days, I was fascinated by the reporting tools on Flo. When the app misidentifies a water use, you can correct it, and over time, I found Flo got better at identifying where my water was going. Once a week, Flo would send me a report telling me how I was doing, and I was able to identify a few places I could cut down water usage (such as turning the water off while I was hand-scrubbing dishes). Actually seeing how much water an outdoor waterpad for my dog used was helpful. Because irrigation was going off at odd times, I also got to experience what it’s like when Flo thinks there’s a water leak. Not only did I get an email and a text message, but an actual phone call, too. If I hadn’t responded to any of the outreach, Flo would have just turned the water off and then I could turn it back on using the button on the physical unit or my app, but I appreciated how hard they worked to alert me. Even though we’re headed into the hottest part of summer, I’ve cut down my water use by about 15% by just being more aware of where it’s going.
Smart weather watering stations
During the summer, one of the main places your water is going is your yard or pool. There’s an enormous amount of water consumption in gardens and grass, and most people use timers that turn the water on and off at set times, regardless of the moisture levels in the ground or air and whether the plants actually need all that water. Smart watering stations will fix that by syncing to local weather stations and changing the watering based on the temperature, humidity, and rain. My Hydrawise watering station reports daily on how much water was saved by using local weather conditions, and it’s impressive at the end of the season. There are a number of companies making these devices, including:
Water leak detectors aren’t new, but smart water leak detectors are. These sit on a flat surface and act as sensors. When they sense water, they can trigger an alarm, or shut off, or flash lights—any automation your other smart devices are capable of. Since water leaks are a leading cause of home damage, getting to the leaks early is helpful. Placing water sensors under your water heater or sinks are a good idea, but also consider near your toilets, bathtubs, or automated planters.
When everything in nature aligns as it should, plants form flowers, then bees and other pollinators drop in to grab the pollen from those flowers, and as they flit from one blossom to the next, they redistribute that pollen. Some of that pollen will likely have come from a male flower and will end up on a female flower, and boom: pollination. That pollinated flower should now produce a fruit.
But sometimes, conditions aren’t ideal. Whether because of a lack of pollinators or a lack of flowers, sometimes the conditions work against the natural order of things. If you’re nursing an indoor plant where there aren’t pollinators at all, or you’re just anxious and want to control the pollination process, you can do so via hand pollination. Here are four ways to make the magic happen.
Direct flower pollination
Some plants have such big flowers with pronounced stamen (male) and stigma (female) that the easiest way to hand pollinate is to just grab one of the male flowers, tear off the petals and use the stamen like a paintbrush. Lightly brush the stamen against the stigma of any female flower you want to pollinate. This has a really high success rate, because it’s so hard to mess up.
This method works wonderfully on pumpkins, all squash including zucchini, summer and winter squash, and melons. Once you’ve pollinated, just sit back and wait a few days to see the fruit start to develop.
Paintbrush pollination
Though the previous technique includes a paintbrush-like motion, this technique involves a literal paintbrush. Although almost every article you'll read about hand pollination mentions the paintbrush method, I personally find it to not have a high success rate. As such, I only use it when it’s the only method that’ll really work. A great example is citrus, which I hand pollinate in wintertime, inside. The flowers are small, but not as tiny as cucumber or tomato, for example. Every citrus blossom has both male and female parts, so every single blossom can become a fruit.
Using a very clean, dry paintbrush, you softly paint the male portions (which are around the center), then swab it lightly across the female portion, right in the center of the flower. Then do this for every other open blossom. While I have limited success with this method, if you don’t have bees, it may be your only option.
Shaking pollination
Corn grows tassels, which have pollen on them. The wind carries that pollen to receptive corn silks. In big planting blocks, this is a reliable method, but home gardeners don’t plant enough corn to have 100% success. So shaking the tassels by hand, which will cause the pollen to fall directly onto the waiting plant below, is a good way to ensure success. Your corn will have ready tassels for about a week, and I just give them a good, hearty shake whenever I walk by them, at least once a day.
Vibrating pollination
My favorite method, because it is the most successful, fastest and most efficient, is vibrating plants to loosen the pollen and send it airborne so it will land on waiting female flowers. When you have plants with very small flowers like tomatoes, trying to identify female and male flowers and dissect them to get to the pollen is absurd. If you have open blossoms, you can hold anything that vibrates (toothbrush, massage gun, sex toy) against the plant and you will see the air fill with yellow pollen. Do this for ten seconds once a day and you’ll be find high rates of pollination. This method works fantastically on indoor hydroponic gardens that need pollination, but you can also use it outside on peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatillos, and peas.
Once you feel comfortable caring for domestic pets like cats and dogs, taking the leap to farm animals usually starts with poultry. And for good reason: they’re relatively easy to keep in suburban areas, and with a little flexibility, they can thrive in urban areas, too.
The most obvious benefit to caring for poultry comes in the form of those tasty eggs, but poultry can also can become an integral part of your garden as both a way to recycle yard and kitchen waste (food for the poultry) and fertilizer (composted bird poop). While most people immediately think of chickens as their first choice, ducks (not to mention turkey, geese, quail, and pigeons) are also a great choice.
While you could, of course, have both, people generally start with one or the other. I spoke with Jordan Barnes, founder of the The Smart Coop, which sells coops with smart features for both chickens and ducks, about how to choose between the two.
Startup costs (for both) may surprise you
You might think that chickens and ducks are cheap to own (with chicks costing $3 to $5 and ducklings at $5 to $10) but there are ongoing costs, especially when they're babies, that can rack up quickly.
For the first six weeks of their lives, you’ll need to shell out money for a brooder, which is like a mini coop with a more controlled temperature setup. I was sure a simple plastic tote or box would do the trick, but the birds grow fantastically fast, and within a week or two, my flock of four needed bigger digs. You can get fancy brooders for about $100, but you can also source a scrappier one for under $40. The brooder will also need bedding (most people use pine shavings) which will cost about $20 for approximately four cubic feet. For my four chickens, this amount only lasted a few weeks.
Your baby birds will also need a heat source. While many people use heat lamps, a more modern method is a heat plate that the birds can nest under, and that will cost another $30 or so. You will also need a device so the birds can access water ($20) and food ($10). Then, add on the actual food and grit, both of which ducklings and chicks need.
With both chickens and ducks, you’ll spend a lot of time trying to minimize the mess the birds make with their water, but it’s easier with chickens. Ducks actually need to be able to submerge their beaks in the water, which requires a different kind of water device that makes it easier to splash around. Otherwise, there isn’t much cost difference between having ducks or chickens at this stage; both require (sometimes surprisingly) expensive stuff for the first six weeks of their lives that they won't really need moving forward.
When it comes to food and housing, ducks cost more
Between six and eight weeks, your baby birds will be ready to move to their coop. Pinterest loves a fancy coop, but your birds won’t care how the coop looks, which can help you save some money. You can buy commercially made coops for anywhere from $150 to thousands of dollars, or build one yourself for a few hundred dollars. You might make some extra considerations for ducks, in that they like to have access to water; there are fanciful plans for duck coops with moats or ponds and sunpads, for example.
“Chickens need secure housing with roosting bars and nesting boxes," Barnes said, describing each animal's needs. "Ducks, being ground dwellers, need secure, ground-level housing and access to water for swimming and drinking.”
In either case, you’ll still need to account for bedding and feed. “On average, a laying hen eats about a quarter pound of feed per day or 1.5 pounds of feed per week," Barnes said. Ducks at this age require twice as much food, about a half pound per day, and benefit from food that includes Niacin, which chickens don’t require. Niacin (vitamin B3) ensures ducks get the bone growth they need to support their body—but since this water soluble vitamin is eliminated daily and not stored in the body, it needs to be replenished.
In short, chickens may run $30 to $50 per month for food and bedding, but for ducks it will be closer to $70 to $100.
Ducks are a longer commitment, but lay larger eggs
Chickens generally live five to 10 years, but they lay consistently until they're about five years old. Domesticated ducks can live to their twenties. They, too, will lay eggs consistently for about five years, but all egg production will taper off by the time they turn nine.
The eggs that chickens and ducks produce are markedly different in volume and substance, Barnes noted. “Chickens are prolific layers, with high-production breeds giving you around 250 to 300 eggs per year," he said. While some duck breeds, like khaki runners, can produce as many as 300 eggs a year, most duck breeds produce slightly less. Ducks, while laying fewer eggs, offer larger eggs. And while taste is subjective, duck eggs are often considered more luxurious, with a richer taste.
Both are social animals, but ducks are "social butterflies"
Though I was determined not to attach myself to my own small flock, it’s hard to ignore how charming backyard birds are. My chickens have distinct personalities that are easily observed, and though cautious and easily startled, they're are also curious and friendly. They also have a pecking order, Barnes pointed out. My small flock is being managed by a Machiavellian silkie named Cacciatore.
“Ducks are the social butterflies of the backyard," Barnes said. "They’re more sentient and form stronger bonds, especially if you hand-raise them. Ducks are known for their quirky, playful personalities and are often less skittish than chickens. They enjoy being in flocks and can be quite affectionate with their human caregivers.”
How your birds will interact with your yard
Backyard birds are a double-edged sword when it comes to the impact they'll have on your yard. On the one hand, they can provide fertilizer, bug control, and an ideal composting system for your kitchen scraps. On the other, both birds can be rough on landscaping. Chickens scratch up the ground to uncover edible bugs and create dirt baths, and ducks just consume whatever they can reach. However, these problems only exist if you free range your birds.
The benefits to free ranging extends beyond the happiness of the birds themselves, though, so I think it's likely worth it. Free ranging your birds has an immense benefit to the birds, obviously, as they can forage and explore their surroundings, but it also means free pest control. Chickens eat bugs, and ducks love snails and slugs. You just have to balance that with the possible damage to the landscaping they can cause. You also have to remember that wherever birds go, they poop, which is a lot of cleanup.
The good news is that this abundance of poop is fantastic for your garden. A notable difference is that chicken poop needs to go through a composting period before it can be applied to your garden so it won't burn your plants, but duck poop does not. It’s considered “cold” compost and can be applied directly. Since your ducks are going to produce a lot of wet waste if you have a pool for them, a plan for how you’ll use that water in your garden is necessary.
Late June means “summer” everywhere across America, and for most of us, summer gardens are in full swing already. In fact, most farmers have moved onto starting seed for fall and winter gardens. But if you’ve yet to get everything into the ground for whatever reason (and I’m frequently besieged by such reasons) it’s not too late. There are still lots of crops you can plant right now to yield a decent summer harvest. As a general rule, you’ll be skipping spring crops like peas, strawberries, bok choy, and spinach—it’s too hot for them. Instead, focus on buying really good-sized, established starts and succession planting.
Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants
Luckily, it’s not too late to get these crown jewels into the ground, but that time is fast approaching. Peppers, in particular, need a long time to fruit, so only purchase well-established, good-sized plants, such as those in gallon-sized pots. While tomatoes don’t need as much time, I’d still focus on gallon-sized starts, and make sure plant them deep on a cloudy day or at sunset, so they have a little time to recover before being blasted by the full sun. If you can protect them from the sun with some shade for the first day, that’s even better. Eggplants, which tend to fruit later in summer, are fine to purchase in four-inch pots.
Lettuce, radishes, scallions, beets, and kohlrabi
These are succession crops and as such, they are fine to plant all summer long, as they are harvestable quickly (in under sixty days). When planting lettuce, look for packages that say “bolt resistant” or “heat resistant.” Also consider shadier spots for your lettuce.
Carrots
It’s not too late to plant carrots, but they’ll be hard to germinate, since they require constant moisture to do so. It may be worth getting starts at the garden center so you’ll have some to harvest come fall. If you do pick up starts, remember to separate them by hand before planting them a few inches apart.
Beans, pumpkins, squash, melon and cucumbers
Do not be deceived, this is actually the perfect, peak time to plant all of these vegetables. Beans can still be direct sowed (seeded directly in your garden), but pumpkins, squash, melon, and cucumbers should be purchased as starts.
Corn
It’s last call for corn, and if you’re going to plant it, buy starts. Even though corn is easy to germinate (and it grows quickly), you’re running out of roadway. The long-held saying, “knee high by Fourth of July” remains because if the corn hasn’t grown that much by early July, it simply won’t grow tall and husky enough by the time it needs to form ears, resulting in tiny, underdeveloped corn ears.
Flowers
It’s a great idea to think about late-season flowers. You can still direct seed zinnias, sunflowers, and other sturdy, tall flowers. There's still time to plant cosmos and salvia starts for this summer. It’s a great time to get perennials at the garden center and plant them.
Focus on fall
It’s a hard transition to make, but soon, you’ll be planting fall succession crops like broccoli and cauliflower again, and perhaps a fall succession of peas. So even if you’ve missed out on summer, look ahead instead and get seeds started in trays outside for planting out come late summer.
Most of us don’t live on farms with acres to spread out crops, but instead have a few boxes, planters, or a small plot to grow our gardens. As a result, we tend to cram as much as we can into the space. It's called “crowdscaping,” and not only does it stop plants from growing to their full potential, but it also risks an even bigger problem: cross pollination.
Bees and other pollinators are indiscriminate little flirts. It’d be nice if they took pumpkin pollen and made sure to visit other pumpkins first, but they move onto the next flower whether that's a tomato or dill. Usually, it isn’t an issue—pea pollen has no effect on tomatoes, for instance—but that isn’t always true. Some crops can cross pollinate, and the result is a plant with DNA characteristics of both parent plants. In other words: frankencrops.
Let's take corn, for example. Unlike most plants that rely on pollinators like insects, corn is pollinated by the wind. Corn plants grow tassels, which have pollen on them, and the wind blows the tassels and sends the pollen to fall on corn plants of the same variety. That same wind can carry corn pollen as far as a half mile (but generally, 20-50 feet is considered the usual distance, to be safe). In a home garden, you need to have enough corn in a block to have it pollinate itself (a six foot by six foot block is advisable), but you shouldn't plant multiple varieties of corn in your garden because the resulting ears can take on traits from both varieties, and it won't necessarily be the best traits of each. You can also control cross pollination by choosing two varieties that have wildly different periods of pollination, but that's tricky math to master, as pollination phasse are a result of many factors, most of which are beyond our control.
How to prevent frankencrops
Unlike corn, cross pollinating squash will affect next year’s crop instead of the current one. The vegetables formed by cross pollination won’t be altered, but the seeds will be. If you save seeds and plant them, next year’s crop will have traits of both parent squashes. I’ve seen it in practice, and it can be both interesting and frustrating: Friends grew mammoth squash one year, each weighing in over 100 pounds, but they were utterly tasteless and watery.
The good news is that this only happens within one species; cucumbers and squash don’t cross pollinate even though they're both cucurbits, for example. The following groups will cross pollinate each other and should be separated by as much as a half mile. Since that's impractical in most home gardens, it’s wiser to simply not seed save these crops:
Butternut, Buttercup, Banana, Hubbard and Turban squashes
Muskmelon, Cantaloupe, Charentais; Honeydew; Casaba; Armenian Cucumber; Snake melon (gourd)
Be careful with companion planting
In addition to cross pollination, you also want to consider which plants do and don't benefit from companion or co-planting (planting near each other). Some pairings can have a dramatic effect on how well each plant flourishes. The term for these plants is "allelopathic," which just means they produce chemicals that are problematic for other types of plants. Planting members of the nightshade family (eggplant, tomato, pepper) near cruciferous plants (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale) risks both plants. However, some plants, like beans, benefit almost every other crop by being nearby.
As you plan your garden, be aware of how you space your plants and what seeds you save. For some crops, like squash, you want to ensure you are getting every single fruit, no matter how small, into the compost pile so it doesn’t have the ability to sprout. Even if you don’t intend to save seeds, paying attention will prevent you from mangling a crop through cross pollination or bad companion planting.
Plants come in two varieties: annuals, which will survive for a season, and perennials, which should come back year after year. Many of the plants in your vegetable garden, from carrots to tomatoes, are annuals, but you can grow quite a lot of perennial crops too.
In my book, growing your own perennial food forest—an enduring source of nourishment— of perennials is a sign of a true gardener. Here are all the edible perennial plants I recommend adding to your yard. (Note: Plants are all susceptible to weather, so which plants will "perennialize" is dependent on the USDA planting zone you live in. In some places with harsh winters, artichokes are treated as annuals, for instance. Talk to someone at your local garden center to learn what perennial plants will thrive in your zone.)
Berries
Most berry plants are perennials, including strawberries (in most ones). Planting a diversity of both June bearing (that is, plants that fruit in June) and ever bearing (plants that fruit all summer) strawberries mean you should have a full summer of berries. But strawberries aren’t the only game in town: Blueberries are outstanding shrubs that thrive in full sun or partial shade, and don’t require too much water. There are hundreds of varieties, and if you plant a mix of early, mid, and late varieties, you’ll have blueberries from June to August.
Other berries grow on bushes as well, from currants, goji berries, thimbleberries, gooseberry, honeyberry, salmonberry, huckleberry, and more. Elderberries grow on shrubs that can reach 30 feet tall within a few years. Then there are all the cane-based berries, like raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, marionberry, loganberry and tayberries; these plants need support, like a trellis, but will grow prolifically and spread easily (with a little care, you can keep them in check).
Fruit and nut trees
Well cared-for Apple and pear trees will last for generations, providing harvests year after year. The same is true of stone fruits like apricot, peach, cherry, and nectarine. I’d can't imagine my garden without a fig tree in it—although like elderberry, they can grow to immense heights if you don't keep them under control.
Within each type of fruit are many varieties that provide variance in terms of taste and timing of harvest. The same is true for nut trees—including almonds, walnuts, pecans, filberts, and other nuts. These trees can also provide a canopy over other parts of your garden, benefitting plants that thrive in the shade.
Asparagus
An absolutely fascinating vegetable, asparagus is generally planted as a root in a ditch; each spring, it will send up the shoots we recognize as asparagus. (While you can grow asparagus from seed, it takes a few years for the spears to be ready to be plucked, so most people purchase crowns instead.) Watching my asparagus bed reappear each April is a delight; the crowns keep coming back, and an asparagus plant can live for 15-20 years.
Rhubarb
A funny looking plant prized for its stalks, rather than its leaves or fruit, rhubarb grows from a rhizome. The stalks will have a green-red color, but you can blanche them stalks early in the growing process to get those prized cherry red stalks. Rhubarb is harvestable from spring through early fall, and is slow to spread. It’s an ideal plant to put under trees (in the understory), as the less sunlight, the brighter red it will be.
Horseradish
Unlike rhubarb, horseradish is a taproot, and spreads quickly via a network of underground roots. Every spring it will shoot up tall green leaves which can also be eaten. At any time, you can dig up one of the roots to harvest it. As horseradish loses its spice the moment you cut into it, having fresh horseradish at your disposal is a real delight. You can even replant part of a root; it should take hold and produce more plants. Like rhubarb, horseradish is a great plant for an understory.
Artichokes
I dreamed of a garden full of artichokes my whole life, and now that I have one, it is as wonderful as I imagined. Artichokes slumber all winter, but come early spring, they come to life, growing as tall as seven feet, with sprawling silver-grey leaves. Shoots then appear, and at the end of each shoot, an artichoke. Each plant will produce a large artichoke, and then each successive one will be a bit smaller. Artichokes you don’t pick will open and flower into magnificent purple bee havens. They make a spectacular border plant when clustered together.
Fennel
You can’t kill fennel. I’ve tried. And it can’t be grown with anything else, as it will keep other plants from flourishing. Even worse, it grows via a taproot and spreads easily. So why do you grow it? Because fresh fennel is lovely, and when fennel is allowed to go to seed, it produces bright yellow pollen you can harvest to use in cooking (and to save your own fennel seeds). Bees also adore fennel.
Egyptian walking onions
The most fantastical vegetable there ever was, walking onions throw up a singular green stalk from the onion bulb in the soil. At the end of the stalk, three tiny onions will grow, flopping around in the air, until they are heavy enough to lean the plant over, where they will implant themselves in the soil and start over—hence the “walking” name. You can harvest either the bulb in the soil or the ones at the top of the plant. (I give my walking onions more space than I should because when I’m waiting for other things to sprout or fruit in late May-early June , the architecture of the walking onions keeps me amused.)
Saffron
The red stamens used to delicately flavor and color rice are actually from crocuses. You can buy them as bulbs and watch them flower, and then harvest the red stamens for your own saffron bounty. It’s important to put these bulbs where you can watch and access them so you don't miss your shot at a harvest, so planting boxes are a perfect choice.
Herbs
Perennial herbs are the ultimate edible perennial staple. Bay leaves, rosemary, lavender, sage, mint, thyme and plenty more can be grown year round as hardy shrubs. In some cases, you can successfully perennialize herbs like parsley and dill, which means that they continually seed themselves and come back on their own, though this requires continually seeding in the same place for a few years until they take hold, and a bit of luck.
Ramps
A relatively recent development, you can now purchase ethically farmed ramp bulbs specifically to grow in your own garden (I usually find them on Etsy). This means you'll have your very own ramp patch that will grow every year (if you're careful about harvesting them). Ramps need dappled light and a lot of moisture, so grow them alongside mushrooms.
Mushrooms
There are a multitude of ways to grow mushrooms, whether in buckets, on logs, or just by throwing spawn down on your wood chipped pathways. Having access to mushrooms, which flush in waves, is economical, if nothing else, and there’s something magical about going outside and find new shiitakes or wine cap mushrooms in my yard. Mushrooms require dappled light, which means you have to make them an understory plant.
Other plants that may perennialize
Other edible plants can become perennials if you can get them into a cycle of reseeding themselves, including potatoes and sweet potatoes—if you leave some small potatoes behind when harvesting, you’ll find the bed will regenerate come spring. Radicchio will often find a way to come back year to year, and onions may perennialize if you allow them to go seed, as might celery. I've had less luck with broccoli species that are claimed to return each year.
One of the best ways to define a garden space is with a path. Before considering hardscape options like concrete or stones, consider some cheaper options. Softer options like wood chips, clover or recycled pavers are all going to be better for the garden, easy to upkeep, and richer visually.
Wood chips are an ideal ground cover for walkways
There’s just no end to the benefits of wood chips in your garden. They’re easy to get for free, they have superb drainage so they’re easy to walk on even in wet weather, and as they compost, they feed your soil. Use enough of them and they’re a weed suppressant, and mulch the ground so it retains moisture and soil. The contrast of color they have to grass, clover or other ground cover help to define a pathway. Upkeep is as simple as raking them out so they're flat, and occasionally topping up the pathway with new wood chips (I’ve found once a year is sufficient).
Start by defining where the walkway will be, using something long and flexible, like a garden hose. Remove grass or other groundcover in the space, and then use flattened cardboard as a base to smother any remaining seeds in the ground. Cover with four to six inches of wood chips, and rake them to be nice and flat. You can simply walk back and forth over them to settle them in. Large chips stay in place really well, but you can use garden edging to maintain lines if you prefer.
Clover makes a luxurious pathway to walk on
Everyone always thinks of grass for soft, green garden paths, but grass is expensive to upkeep, a lot of work to maintain and terrible for the soil. Worse, it’s miserable to walk on when it’s wet. One winter can kill the grass and make the path a muddy mess. Instead, use clover. It requires no mowing, very little water, and if you use a perennial variety like white clover, creates an incredibly thick mat that will stand up to the rain and snow. You can mow it, like lawn, if you’re a masochist who loves their mower. Otherwise, just let it grow and feed the bees and other pollinators. Clover will spread, so keeping it in line using curbing makes sense.
You can always get recycled pavers for free
Someone in your neighborhood is trying to get rid of pavers, right now. Check NextDoor, Craigslist or Facebook: I guarantee you someone is currently dismantling a wall or chimney or just has a random pile of bricks that’s been in their backyard, and it can be yours, for free. For straight pathways, bricks and the grid they create can be a powerful architectural detail in your yard. For curved spaces, you can place the bricks straight on and then easily cut the curves out of the finished pathway, or align the bricks to the curves using a formula. In either case, you’ll want to dig out any grass or other groundcover, and start with a base of compacted sand that is level. This is followed by the bricks, and then the bricks can be filled in with paver sand, which actually locks the pavers in place.
I’ve built raised garden beds out of railroad ties or cedar fencing, 2x4s, bricks and even a beautiful woven lattice. But when I got serious about not having to build new raised beds every few years, I developed a simple, sturdy design that anyone can follow.
It is the only way I’ve bothered making raised beds for the last 10 years, regardless of where I was building them—the Arizona desert, rainy Pacific Northwest or suburban Georgia. This design will provide you with a financially reasonable and technically easy way to get beds together quickly for any sized space. It offers a better amount of bed depth than most plans I see, and requires very few tools. The sturdiness of the beds mean they won’t move over time, lean over, and are impervious to getting dinged up by your wheelbarrow.
Use the right wood
The most common mistake I see for raised bed building is not choosing the right wood. A lot of time is often spent on considering pressure treated (PT) wood versus untreated, or what variety of wood—cedar versus redwood. But the biggest problem is that people generally get lumber that's too thin and/or small. Messing around with cedar pickets, which are thin and flimsy, or 2x4s, which don’t give you any vertical height, doesn’t serve you long-term. The answer is to go large: I use 2x12s or 2x10s. This means that you need fewer planks of wood stacked vertically. I don’t use pressure-treated wood, because even though the methods they use currently to treat the wood aren’t considered toxic, I go out of my way to not introduce unneeded chemicals into my edible garden.
While you can use variety you want, and hardwoods or cedar will certainly last longer, it’s not essential. Using pine or redwood, in planks of wood this beefy, will still last eight years or longer. When the wood breaks down, it benefits your garden because it’s essentially compost, and by keeping the beds inexpensive and easy to make, creating new ones in eight to 10 years won’t seem cumbersome.
Check out suppliers other than big box stores
Big box stores aren’t the only game in town for getting wood. Look specifically for lumber stores and get some prices, or—my favorite hack—hit up Craigslist for independent millers selling “rough cut” wood.
The benefit of independent millers (people with their own saw mill or setup) is that the wood is likely to be cheaper, and you might get a deal for all the cuts you need. Also, independent millers don’t cut everything down to the same length just for uniformity, like you get at Home Depot. As they’re slicing a tree into 2x12s, if the plank ends up being 15 feet long, and you only need 12, they don’t chop the last three feet off, because it’s just more work, and there’s no benefit to doing it. As a result, you get longer cuts for the same price, while supporting someone local. While I don’t see it as a downside, this wood is usually “rough cut"—it hasn’t gone through a sanding process to make the sides smooth. They also have not been kiln dried as they would be for a big box store, meaning they still hold a lot of moisture. For the purpose of building raised beds, neither of these issues is a problem. The raised beds will live outside under constant watering, and really doesn’t require the smooth sides. I actually prefer the rough cuts; I think it makes the beds less inviting to pests.
Determining the size of your beds
A raised bed is a rectangle. That rectangle can be any length you want; you are limited only by the length of wood planks you can obtain (12 or 16 feet is common). However, in terms of the width of the bed, you want to think really hard about making it any wider than four feet (but anything in the two to four foot range is fine). There’s a simple reason: You have to be able to reach everything in the middle of the bed, and anything wider than four feet makes that quite difficult. The height of the bed will always be 22 1/2” tall, because we’ll use two 2x12s stacked vertically (and 2x12s are actually only 11 ½” once dried). Consider, as you are designing the beds, if the space you are putting them in slopes dramatically, as this might mean breaking a long bed into two, so you can terrace the ground for each bed. Make sure you allow at least three feet between beds, but four feet is better. This will allow you to maneuver a wheelbarrow through the aisles, which you’ll find really helpful. Don’t be afraid to grab some landscaping flags to lay out where the beds will go and just walk around, making sure you can reach everything and it’s comfortable to walk around.
Sketch out the entire space, laying out the final dimensions of the beds. This is going to help you visualize the wood you need. For each bed, you’ll need one 2x12x16 for the shorter sides, and then two 2x12s for each of the longer sides, at whatever length you design the beds to be. Ideally, you get planks a little longer than the beds, so you can square off the ends of the planks.
Credit: Amanda Blum
Determine how much wood you'll need
The planks you lay horizontally will need vertical supports to keep the bed together. You’ll place these in every corner, and then every four feet of length along the long side. For an eight-foot-long bed, you need one additional vertical support in the middle. For a twelve-foot bed, you need two additional supports. This support is just a 2x4 that is 20” tall (roughly the same height as the beds). Add up the lengths to determine how much vertical plank you need. For instance, on an eight-foot bed, you need six vertical supports, which is 144” or a 2x4x12’ plank. For beds that are longer than 12 feet, I like to put in some additional bracing in the middle of the bed, all the way across the width. This helps stop the bed from bowing in the middle over time. The brace is just additional 2x12s, stacked vertically, the entire width of the bed.
Credit: Amanda Blum
The tools you’ll need
The beauty of this design is that you need very few tools. You’ll benefit from a chop saw, but a circular saw will do in a pinch. Also: a power drill, wood glue, 2 ½” construction screws and a power sander, and the sander is optional. While you can get your cuts done at a big box store, you’ll save a lot of money doing it yourself, and it’s very likely you’ll make at least one mistake on the cuts you need, so having the ability to make cuts where you’re building is very helpful. The sander is used on corners to round sharp edges. This helps reduce clothing getting caught or getting scratches as you walk around the corners of the beds, but isn’t essential. Since you’ll be using construction screws, you won’t be pre-drilling anything (and construction screws come with the right drill bit in the package), but a decent power drill, even a hammer drill, is absolutely essential. While not essential, I benefited a lot from buying corner clamps so that I could get a real 90-degree corner on my beds.
The build
This is obvious, but lumber is dimensional: You’re not joining up two sheets of paper. Where two pieces of wood meet in a corner (where they join), you have to be deliberate about which piece of wood is on the “outside,” through which you’ll screw into the other piece of wood. The shorter pieces should always live on the outside, and you screw through the short side, into the longer piece of wood. Because of this, when accounting for the real length of the wood you need for those long sides, you deduct the three inches (1 ½ inches from either end) because the width of the short end of the wood makes up the difference. In an eight-foot bed, rather than the long pieces of wood being 96”, you’d make them 93”. When they butt up against the short sides of the bed, they end up being 96” total length.
Start on a flat surface, and build the first level of the bed. Join one corner, using the clamps if you have them, making sure the short length of wood is on the outside. Take the time and care to make sure the cuts are all 90 degrees, and the wood is lined up precisely. Use wood glue between the two pieces of wood. Using your drill, screw through the shorter piece of wood into the longer piece of wood. Use two screws for this, one four inches off the ground and a second about eight inches off the ground. Be sure to place the screws an inch away from the edge of the wood, and ensure you are screwing perpendicular to the wood, so it goes in straight. Continue going around the bed screwing the corners together until you have a complete rectangle. Do this a second time, so now you have two rectangles. You can usually just put the second one together on top of the first, as they should be replicas of each other.
Where to screw through woodCredit: Amanda Blum
Next, put in your vertical supports. Place a 2x4 cut to 20” in each corner vertically. Put the longer side of the 2x4 along the longer side of the bed. Now, screw through the bed from the outside, into the vertical support, placing four screws on each side of the corner. Go around and do this in all four corners, and then every four feet along the length. The vertical support won’t be as tall as the bed—it should be a little bit shorter. This will hide the supports once you have soil in the bed, for a cleaner look.
Where to put screwsCredit: Amanda Blum
If the bed requires bracing in the middle, take another measurement of the distance between the width of the bed, and then cut two 2x12” inch pieces to that length. Put them in place with wood glue, and then screw from the outside of the bed into the ends of the 2x12s.
Now, move the bed into place. What I like about this process is that once you put the bed down, you’ll see precisely where you might need to level the ground a bit and can just do so with a shovel, with the bed in place. Lift the bed, dig it out a bit, and put it back down. You don’t need to be precise about pre-leveling the space. Fill the beds with good soil, and you’re ready to go. These beds are sturdy enough that you can tip a wheelbarrow into them and not damage the bed.
You can take a sander to the corners to smooth them out a little—a power sander makes very quick work of this. I don’t stain or seal my raised beds, because I don’t want to introduce anything that can leach into the soil. However, there are whey-based stains that are okay to use in this instance.
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