Good garden bone structure: what is it and how can you achieve it?

When poked, tunicates will squirt water. Hence, their nickname: sea squirts. But as cute as that sounds, these slimy, gelatinous sea creatures are anything but cuddly.

Q: I’ve always loved growing tulips in my garden but this year they flowered really badly, with stunted-looking yellow leaves and blotchy, distorted flowers. Any advice as to what I’m doing wrong? I don’t want to spend time and money planting them this autumn only for it to happen again. SL, Co Meath

I first learned the fundamentals of kitchen gardening from my mother, who learned it from her father, a passing-on of traditional skills repeated down through countless generations.

Multiseason Garden Bed with Hesse Cotoneaster Get fall garden interest that lasts into winter with this easy-care plant combination featuring a Hesse cotoneaster shrub. Fall into winter with multiseason plants

Nearly one third of the food produced in the world is thrown away. Much of it is damaged fruits and vegetables. If you have your own garden, you may be tossing away less than perfect or even slightly damaged vegetables. In our culture that is skewed toward perfection, even the tiniest pinhole on some kale is often considered food waste and is tossed into the garbage bin. Is it safe to eat kale with holes in it? It often depends on what made the holes rather than the holes themselves. Curious if you can eat vegetables with holes? Read on to learn about eating damaged produce.

When and How to Prune Ficus Trees

Can You Compost Diseased Plants?

Moss, lichen and algae can often be found growing on the branches of established trees, shrubs and hedges, especially in rural areas of the country with high rainfall. In particular, neglected, overgrown hedges where the branches have become overcrowded and/or those that are lacking in vigour as a result of old age or poor growing conditions can be prone to mossy growth. The good news is, however, while it may look unsightly, it’s not actually doing any damage.

Did you know that some trees (such as alder, poplar, willow, ash and the dawn redwood) can “hold their breath” when the ground in which they grow is flooded? Or that others, such as the silver lime (Tilia tomentosa), have evolved ingenious ways of conserving their water supply when confronted with extreme heat and drought, including covering their leaves with a layer of fine hairs to keep them cool in sunny weather?

You may not always think of your yard or garden as an ecosystem, but it is. As the gardener, you are part of the ecosystem too. How you garden impacts the ecosystem and the surrounding environment. It’s important to understand what this means, so you can make the right choices to maintain a healthy garden ecosystem.

If there’s one DIY recipe that’s simple, fun, and makes a house feel (and smell) like a home, it’s a simmer pot. All you have to do is cut some fruit into slices, add it to a pot with some spices, cover the ingredients with water, and simmer it on the stove for a few hours, and voila—you have a warm, inviting home. It’s such a lovely trick that you might consider bringing part of the routine into the rest of your household duties. Like, perhaps, cleaning your pillows?

Fall is here, as is pumpkin and gourd harvest season. We are shopping for gourds, whether green, white, orange, or yellow, smooth, lumpy, or perfectly spherical. What’s a more fun and classic fall activity than gourd painting for Halloween and Thanksgiving? Painting gourds and pumpkins is a safer activity for kiddos than carving, and the decorations last a lot longer. However, are these festive gourds edible when it’s time to take down the decorations? Is it safe to cook and eat painted gourds? Find out here.