Last fall, I turned the strip of yard abutting my reclaimed brick walkway into a gorgeous flower bed for my azaleas using the sheet mulching technique. Sheet mulching involves using cardboard to carve out previously grassy lawn space for a new flower bed. Simply, a gardener plants some new plants and then lays down cardboard…

With our raised garden beds built and garden gates hung, garden security moved to the forefront of the project. Living in a rural area has brought us a large amount of animals: foxes, armadillos, gophers, and rabbits, to name a few. But the animal with the highest probability of doing the most immediate damage to…

It’s possible that I was lured into gardening simply because of pictures of pretty garden gates. You’ve probably seen a few floating around the Internet yourself. Lush arches covered in climbing roses. Creaky, rusty iron gates. Handmade signs announcing one’s arrival into a “secret garden” of sorts. Ok, so maybe I’m not gardening solely for…

I have spent so many years dreaming of perfect raised garden beds and sketching out the ideal garden. In fact, quite a few years ago, I even tried out a different type of garden bed box that ended up a bust. But we have to start somewhere, right? And the project taught me so much…