Covering Ground

Your Brain on Houseplants: Consider the Research

Houseplants for better mental and physical health? Here's a sample of studies that, one by one, make a positive case for plant life in the great indoors. (Also please see: "Winter Doldrums? Put Your Brain on Houseplants.")
Broomsedge meadow grasses and pathway on November 4 Lawn Alternatives: Some Options

In some parts of the U.S. today, the lawn is disappearing due to droughts. In other places, pesticide bans are pushing both the willing and unwilling towards organic lawn care. Concern for pollinators and the lack of time for meticulous lawn care inspire others to ask a once-unthinkable question:

"To lawn or not to lawn?"
Foliar Feeding at a Tree Farm Take a Microbe to Lunch

It's mid-summer. Should we declare a National Be Nice to Soil Microbes Week? Several soil health experts would probably encourage it. 

Microbes, after all, form a complex underground community and offer plants much of the sustenance they need.

And if that surprises you, how about this?
Out With the Old, In With the New Garden Beds

Maybe the lawn is so full of weeds you can't stand to look at it anymore. Maybe you're dreaming of a colorful garden bed along the stone wall you can see from the kitchen window.

Starting over may seem daunting. But sometimes it's the only way to go. 
Icy sidewalk When ice melt products meet lawn and garden

Simplicity is a beautiful thing, but you won't find it among ice- and snow-removal products. A bewildering array of ingredients pop out of these bags when we're on that mad dash down the driveway.
Nancy Ballek Mackinnon It's winter. Are houseplants happy?

Can we lose the insects and still keep the flowers? According to greenhouse grower Nancy Ballek Mackinnon of Ballek's Garden Center in East Haddam, CT, we can. She and her team grow several thousand indoor species at their retail greenhouse where, on a recent visit, I found myself in a riot of flowering houseplants.
Spear Head Spade The sharpest shovel in the shed
Years ago, my mom gave me a book called "Everything You Can Buy in Garden Centers." I used it for a long time as I learned the difference between pruners and loppers, spades and shovels, grass rakes and garden rakes. I used the book until it fell apart--and by that time, I knew my tools pretty well. 
 
Farmer's Market Display Thirty years: How gardening has changed

It was about this time of year in 1984 when I put my first home garden to bed. At the end of that season 30 years ago, I had a thousand questions about how to garden better in 1985. Now, after three decades, some questions remain unanswered. As Thomas Jefferson said, "But tho' an old man, I am but a young gardener."
Five myths about mulch

Got mulch? I hope so. Winter mulch is like giving your garden and landscape a nice new coat for the weather that's coming. But there are some pesty, persistent myths that don't do us any good. Want to see if any of these are keeping you from getting the most out of your mulching efforts?
Fall: Time to sow next year's meadow

I've had a half-acre meadow for the past 18 years. I wonder how much lawnmowing that has saved? Meadows are a great way to replace lawn—and they’re great for the bees, butterflies and birds as well.

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