The first time I strung a slackline between our backyard maple and the neighbor’s oak, Mrs. Lopez...
I bought my little brick fixer‑upper for its big maples and squeaky porch swing, not for its lawn...
Every April I drag our patio furniture out of the garage and promise myself I’ll keep the cushions...
It’s mid-August, the tomato vines look tired, and seed packets sit accusingly in a drawer. Good...
Patio containers are the divas of the garden world: gorgeous on camera, but demanding backstage. A...
My Fence‑to‑Forest Backstory When we bought our 1950s bungalow, 60 ft of sagging chain‑link...
Why I Ditched the Plastic Three winters ago, I wrapped my cedar beds in shiny greenhouse plastic...
A Quick Personal Note Two summers ago my “pick‑your‑own” tomato patch became an open buffet for...
Introduction Last June a hungry groundhog mowed my lettuce patch to stumps overnight. The next...
A Quick Personal Note I didn’t set out to become “that neighbor with the tomato jungle.”In April...
Why Bother Sun-Mapping? Ask any gardener why tomatoes sulk or hydrangeas burn and you’ll hear the...
Introduction Last spring I retired my shovels-from-the-ground veggie patch and built a single raised...
Introduction Summer afternoons, chirping birds, the crack of a bat against a whiffle ball—few things...
Introduction Few things derail a summer barbecue faster than a swarm of whining mosquitoes. Beyond...
Introduction Nothing bonds friends and family quite like shared laughter under open skies. A...
Introduction Few home upgrades deliver as much year-round joy as a thoughtfully designed patio...
I grew up in the Gulf Coast, where humid evenings and mosquito welts go together like tea and sugar...
I discovered the tell-tale orange freckles one spring morning while padding across the path to my...
“If you dig it, they will come.” That was the promise my older brother made when he showed up on a...
The first time I tried growing vegetables, I attacked my backyard like an archaeologist unearthing...
I remember the exact moment the idea took root. It was a late-July afternoon, the kind where even...
When my partner and I bought our 1950s ranch, the “patio” was a hodge-podge of cracked...
The first chilly evening after my partner and I moved into our fixer-upper, we tried to roast...
I grew up in a desert suburb where the only tree on our block was a spindly ash kept alive by a...
The first summer after we bought our fixer-upper, the patio was little more than a cracked slab and...
I used to think “decorating” meant draping a few string lights and hoping for the best. Then, one...
I still remember the first backyard picnic BBQ I tried to host on my own. I’d just bought my starter...
I used to think composting was only for people with sprawling country gardens and time to spare...
When my partner and I bought our first home, the backyard was a blank slate—just a patch of...
A few years ago, I stood in my backyard, staring at a patchy lawn, a couple of struggling rose...
There’s something timeless about a hammock swaying between two trees. Whether it’s the allure of a...