Oh, summer. How I love you. It’s mid-July, and the breeze here in the mountains feels like a warm hug. Most folks are busy harvesting courgettes the size of baguettes and, no doubt, cursing their once-again runaway mint. I’m standing in my garden with a fresh cup of (yes, mint) tea and a question: What do I want to eat in the fall? Because while summer is in full swing, this is actually the secret season to sow again....

Growing up with fairytales, I came to believe that love is everywhere. Sometimes, you just have to look a little closer to notice it. It doesn’t always look the way we expect. It can take different shapes and happen in places we’d never think to look. Even… in your veggie patch. Let me explain. As you prepare for a season of abundance, you’ve been nurturing your zucchini plants for weeks. The vines are sprawling, the leaves are lush, and then: boom, flowers!...

We’ve all envisioned the perfect garden—neatly trimmed beds, clean lines, and not a leaf out of place. Perhaps you’ve admired the stunning show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show, with their carefully curated designs and lush plantings (I have). These spaces are beautiful and attract a diverse range of wildlife. But step into a wild woodland, meadow, or desert wash, and you’ll notice something different: there’s litter. Twigs, seed pods, spent blooms, and fallen leaves carpet the ground....

2025 has been a year full of changes for my husband and I and our four kitties. We moved to a new home, took on renovations, and started a market garden (small-scale farm). Who doesn’t love a challenge?! We moved in the dead of winter, which in Ontario, Canada presents unique obstacles. For example, some of our furniture had to live in the garage until the snow drifts melted down enough to carry it in the (wider) back door!...

Using Woody Cuttings for Plant Trellis Many plants — beans, tomatoes, peas, and more — grow best with support. Trellises and supports can add up in cost, and it’s not always easy to find the right one. Here we’ll run through some tips and ideas for using woody plant cuttings (and plants themselves) as growing supports. If you don’t have any trees or shrubs in your garden, consider asking a neighbour or friend....

If you planted a hardneck variety of garlic last fall or late winter, you might have noticed the tops are starting to get curly. These curvy tops are known as scapes. When scapes form, the garlic bulbs begin to create their flowering heads. Softneck varieties do not have scapes, and their stalk stays soft. Garlic scapes are sought after by professional and home chefs alike because they are delicious and only available for such a short time period....

A well-planned flower bed can be a visual delight and a haven for pollinators. But crafting a beautiful bed can feel daunting—no one wants to lose plants after all that work! Here’s a 4×8 ft layout that balances structure, color, and bloom succession—plus tips to adapt it for your space. This flower bed is best suited for zones 6-8 (with some wiggle room on either side), and is based on two garden beds I grew a few years ago in the UK....

I’m gardening in the Pacific Northwest, USDA growing zone 8b, specifically Oregon on the west side of the Cascade mountain range. We get a lot of rainfall from autumn through spring, but our summers are typically hot and dry. Living in the Willamette Valley means I’m fortunate to have so-called mild winters and very fertile soil. That also means I have a lot of weeds trying to move into my garden all year round....

An introduction to insectary plants What makes a plant an insectary plant? Insectary plants provide food sources and shelter for beneficial insects, which attracts them and encourages them to stick around your garden. If you’ve already read our article Pest Hunters: Beneficial Predatory and Parasitic Insects, you know that there are many beneficial insects that prey on garden pests. By planting insectary plants we can encourage these predatory and parasitic insects to take up residence in our garden....