There is one garden habit I only started using fairly recently. For years, I thought pulling plants out by the roots was the right way to clean up my vegetable garden. A neat, empty bed felt productive — like I was finishing the season properly. But what I didn’t realize was that in trying to…
Using Cover Crops in Small Gardens and Raised Beds
As a home gardener, you may not have thought much about cover crops—or maybe you’ve assumed they’re only for farmers with big fields of corn or wheat. The truth is that cover crops can be just as useful in a small backyard garden and raised beds as they are on a farm. Whether you grow…
How to Clean Your Garden for Winter and Boost Soil Health
A student recently asked me in my local garden class, “What do you do with the plants left over in your garden at the end of the season?” Like most gardeners, I love having a neat, tidy garden once the growing season wraps up. But what if I told you that you can have both…