FOUND: 12 - You Need To See This

5 Ways to Turn an Unused Corner Into a Perennial Food Patch

That awkward corner of the yard does not need to remain the place where forgotten pots, a hose, and one suspiciously rusty shovel go to retire. With the right perennial edibles, even a small, overlooked patch can become a dependable source of food that returns year after year with far…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 24

This Invasive Plant Can Cause Severe Skin Burns — Here’s How to Recognize It

Giant hogweed looks like the sort of enormous, dramatic plant that belongs in a fantasy garden, but getting too close can turn a pleasant walk or weekend yard project into a medical problem. Its clear, watery sap contains compounds that can make skin extremely sensitive to ultraviolet light, leading to…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 24

7 Red Flags That an Online Seed Listing May Be a Scam

A packet of seeds can look like a tiny promise in an envelope, especially when the listing shows a rose with rainbow petals, a sunflower shaped like a teddy bear, or a flower that appears to glow from the inside. The problem starts when that gorgeous picture has more to…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 24

What Should You Do When Ground Cherries Fall Before Ripening?

Ground cherries have one wonderfully strange harvest signal: they fall off the plant when they ripen. But when those little papery husks hit the soil while the fruit inside still looks green, the garden suddenly feels like it has changed the rules halfway through the game. The good news is…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 23

6 Crops That Can Be Blanched for Better Flavor

Blanching does more than prepare vegetables for the freezer. A quick dip in boiling water can soften harsh flavors, tame bitterness, loosen tough textures, and make certain garden vegetables taste noticeably more pleasant at the table. It sounds like a small cooking trick, but the difference can be surprisingly dramatic.

Frugal Gardening · Aug 23

5 Edible Plants That Can Replace Empty Patio Annuals

Patio containers do not have to choose between looking good and putting food on the table. Instead of filling every empty pot with another ornamental annual, gardeners can tuck edible plants into those sunny spaces and get flowers, foliage, fruit, or fresh herbs in return. The trick involves choosing plants…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 22

Snakes in the Garden Aren’t Always Bad — Here’s When You Should Be Concerned

A snake sliding through the garden can turn a peaceful morning of tomato picking into a full-blown staring contest. But before grabbing a shovel or sprinting for the shed, take a breath: many snakes provide useful pest control by eating mice, voles, insects, frogs, and other small animals. In fact,…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 22

His HOA Approved His Front-Yard Food Forest — Then a New Board Fined Him $750

A front yard usually comes with an unspoken suburban assignment: grass, a few shrubs, maybe a tree that behaves itself. Michael Sherman of Chino, California, had a different idea, turning his lawn into a productive food forest filled with passionfruit, radishes, calendulas, sunflowers, aloe vera, Swiss chard and banana trees.…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 22

6 Ways to Protect Young Trees From String-Trimmer Damage

A string trimmer can turn a tidy lawn into a masterpiece, but that same spinning line can deliver a surprisingly nasty wallop to a young tree. One careless pass around a thin trunk can strip bark, expose living tissue, and create an injury that may cause problems long after the…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 22

7 Plants You Should Think Twice About Touching With Bare Hands

Gardening usually involves getting a little dirt under the fingernails, but some plants can make that hands-on approach a genuinely bad idea. Certain species can sting instantly, trigger an itchy rash hours later, or leave skin dangerously sensitive to sunlight. A pair of gloves can turn a questionable gardening decision…

Frugal Gardening · Aug 22