How to Make Homemade Wind Chimes to Bring Music to Your Garden

You don’t have to buy baby food. You can make, and even grow, your own. With a home vegetable garden and some fruits, it’s possible to make delicious, nutritious, and safe baby food at home.

Are you looking at plants in your garden and wondering why they aren’t flowering?

EVERY YEAR AROUND THIS TIME I ask the same question: What shall we do this winter—during gardening’s supposed offseason? A hoarfrost on the perennials and grass the other morning (above) reminded me that you-know-what will close in sometime soon, so what do you think? In return for your planning help, I’m offering a chance to win a signed copy of my collectible first book, “A Way to Garden.”

When Katherine Tracey and her husband, Chris, aren’t manning Avant Gardens,  their longtime retail and mail-order nursery in Dartmouth, Massachusetts–which I am proud is a sponsor of A Way to Garden, and a friend—they are out helping others make, and refine, their landscapes. Chris is a master dry-stone artisan, so his work is often one signature of their landscapes.The “sense of place” of the nursery (which is also their home), as Katherine describes it:  “Intimate, but not fussy, with a wide variety of plants, but not one of this and one of that everywhere.”In a Q&A, Katherine and I talked about taking a sharper look at our home landscapes with an eye to enhancements.my garden-design q&a with katherine traceyQ. What are the most common reasons h

I WANT TO SHARE a secret about how to make a garden, and also a secret about myself, I guess. The secret is music. More than 25 years ago, when I first bought my then-weekend place, there was no garden here. Every Friday, I’d arrive full of youthful energy to do battle with multiflora rose, wild raspberries, barberry and spiny thistles. Besides my loppers and saw, I’d grab one of my best garden-making tools from the glove-box of the car: Al Green.

Dr. David Shetlar (below left) is a professor of urban landscape entomology at Ohio State. With Dr. Whitney Cranshaw of Colorado State (below right), author of the original 2004 edition of “Garden Insects,” he created the second volume, and joined me to explain who’s in the updated version and why, and how we can get to know them better.Plus: Enter to win a copy of the new “Garden Insects of North America” by commenting in the box at the very bottom of the page.garden insects, with dr. david shetlarQ. What an undertaking this must have been. How long was this collaboration?A. Well, it was kind of interesting, Whitney and

Wind chimes can be created out of so many things, and when it comes to repurposing thrift stores are not my only go to. There are a lot of items at dollar stores that can be repurposed into fun and creative projects.

Have you ever noticed how the best summer gardens seem to shimmer, a quality that’s almost impossible to define but is inextricably linked to the kinds of plants used? Like the gilt on a beautiful picture frame, they give a burnished, almost luminous air to the planting so that it softly glows.

Get ready to light up your front walkway with a unique and charming DIY lamp post! If you're looking for a creative project that will add a classic touch to your home, this is it.

I am happy that spring has finally arrived here in New Jersey! I am loving all the daffodils that are blooming in my front yard. I adore the warmer temperatures. I was feeling crafty recently, so I did a quick and easy craft for my backyard – wind chimes!

Our easy hanging bird bath couldn’t be simpler to make. As a bonus, it also doubles as a bug hotel providing lots of natural materials for insects to hibernate in.

Create wind chime with the old keys and hang it on the entrance. The tutorial is here.