These Are the 4 Commandments of Container Gardening

Dutch Boy

Dylan Chandler

Living in an apartment doesn't have to feel stifling, so long as you have a few space-saving tricks up your sleeve.

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Charming Shade Container Garden Ideas Need new container ideas for your shade garden? Get inspired by this gardener's collection of planters, featuring lush foliage and even a few perennials from her garden. Summer container garden ideas for shade

There is no way to sugarcoat the challenges many of us in the Mid-Atlantic region have faced this summer. The inconsistency of rainfall and the extreme high temperatures have greatly impacted our efforts to garden successfully. Even with valiant efforts to apply supplemental irrigation, I have witnessed a wide range of plant material showing signs of drought stress that I have rarely witnessed in my 15-plus years of gardening in this region. To say it is cause for concern would be an understatement. As a result, in the last few months I have been repeatedly asked how we can prepare our beloved gardens to reduce heat and moisture stress for future growing seasons. One answer to this conundrum is to add organic matter to the soil in the form of compost.

In a recent post on our Facebook page, we asked our readers which they prefer when it comes to drying their clothes: an actual dryer, or air-drying on a clothesline. As you might expect, the answers were varied.

A conversation with Sarah Price about how she designs her planting schemes is fascinating. She works in an unfettered way, with no specific planting plans but an intuitive sense of the plants that will work well together to form the nature-inspired compositions she is known for. Her gardens are like exquisite paintings, comprising layers of detail with a gentle succession of plants that provide interest for most of the year. This summer combination comes from Sarah’s own garden on the edge of Abergavenny. Here, she has created different areas and habitats, including a dry garden in the old walled kitchen garden.

Flanking our waterways in great mops of silver green, the willow is the most poetic and mysterious of trees. In many cultures – including ancient Egypt and ancient Greece – it was associated with immortality, death, and the underworld; old English folklore states that if you sit beside a willow and shed tears, the tree will cry with you. In China, where the weeping willow hails from, it represents strength and resilience, reflecting the instruction in the Tao Te Ching to have a flexible attitude: 'A tree that won't bend, breaks easily in storms.' Being pliant and strong, willow is used for weaving, and its light weight and hardness make it the best wood for cricket bats.

If you’re a fan of the quintessential indoor-outdoor Western lifestyle that comes along with expansive floor-to-ceiling glass, a warm wash of natural light, breezeways that maximize airflow, and surrounding serene landscape, you can thank famed architect Cliff May. Regarded as the founding father of the iconic California ranch house, May’s work has been repeatedly published in Sunset since the 1930s. What made his work stand out at the time was how he designed homes not so much based on architecture but on the way people wanted to live in them. Making the most of the Western climate, his goal was to provide a closer relationship with nature through garden courtyards and blur the line between how we use interior and exterior spaces. May in turn created private sanctuaries where families could relax and enjoy a lifestyle of informal outdoor living. He invented the way most people want to live in the West, and his influence is felt throughout the region some 90 years later.

I SUSPECT I’m not alone when I say that weather extremes in recent growing seasons have made me feel a bit like a stranger in a strange land in my own garden, wondering what will bloom when and when to do what. And most of all, wondering what madness is coming next.

When gardening and landscaping, having the right tools can make all the difference. For moving mulch, compost, plants, or clippings efficiently from one area to another, you need a great wheelbarrow. After all, owning one of thebest wheelbarrowshelps make it possible to grow beautiful flowers or delicious edibles! With so many options to choose from, we know that selecting the best wheelbarrow can be overwhelming. That’s why we put together a list of our favorite wheelbarrows, ones we still love after years of use and that we know will help make your time spent in the garden easier and more efficient. Our Top Picks: Our Favorite Wheelbarrow: True Temper Wheelbarrow – $219.99 at Amazon What Other Gardeners