I spent two summers hand-squishing aphids before someone pointed out I was doing a job nature already had covered for free. Planting a few cheap, easy-from-seed flowers and letting some herbs go to bloom brings in hoverflies, lacewings, and parasitic wasps that handle pest control without costing you a thing.
June in the PNW is prime time for tomato care. Here’s how to sucker, stake, mulch, and feed your plants without spending much, and why mulching right now is the highest-payoff move of the whole season.
Letting basil do whatever it wants is how you end up with bitter, flowering plants by July. A simple pinching habit every couple of weeks forces bushy growth, delays flowering, and can double or triple your leaf harvest. Plus you can root the cuttings for free new plants.
June in Redmond means slugs are everywhere and white butterflies are shopping your brassicas. Here’s what actually works cheap for slug and cabbage worm control in the PNW, and what the internet keeps getting wrong.
Most gardeners stop growing in October. Fifth season gardening treats those shoulder months as free growing time instead of dead time. Here’s how to stretch your harvests year-round without buying much.
Making seed bombs costs almost nothing, and there are plenty of neglected spots that could use a little help. Here’s how to make them, what to plant, and how to do it without being a jerk about it.
I killed a lot of tomato plants before I admitted it was my fault. These are the most common summer tomato mistakes I kept making, and the cheap fixes that actually helped once I stopped ignoring the problems.
I replaced a miserable lawn patch with native plants for almost nothing, and it might be the lowest-maintenance thing I’ve ever grown. Here’s how to prep the site cheap, find plants for free or close to it, and actually keep them alive the first year.
Native plants look expensive at a regular garden center, but there are way cheaper options if you know where to look. From native plant society sales to conservation district programs to free divisions from neighbors, here’s how to fill your yard without spending much.
Small space, no problem. Containers can grow real food even if all you have is a patio or a fence line. Here’s what actually works and what to skip.
Starting a vegetable garden doesn’t have to mean expensive nursery starts or anything fussy. These beginner-friendly vegetables are cheap from seed, forgiving of mistakes, and actually produce food you’ll want to eat.
Renting doesn’t have to mean watching concrete sit there doing nothing. Here’s how to build a portable, no-dig patio garden on the cheap using fabric grow bags, vertical shelves, and the right vegetables for small spaces.