Laura Bennett

Planting dahlias at the wrong time is the fastest way to lose every single tuber you bought. Too early and the cold, wet soil rots them before they ever sprout. Too late and you run out of growing season before the first bloom appears. The tricky part is that the right planting window is completely … Read more

If you have a spot in your yard that turns into a swamp after every rain, you have the perfect location for a rain garden — and building one is simpler than you think. A rain garden is a shallow, planted depression designed to capture and absorb stormwater runoff from your roof, driveway, and lawn. … Read more

Mint is the herb that every gardener loves and every gardener fears in equal measure. It tastes incredible, smells amazing, grows effortlessly — and will absolutely take over your entire garden if you let it. Those innocent-looking little mint plants send underground runners in every direction, popping up between your tomatoes, through your flower bed, … Read more

Every spring I watch gardeners reach for chemical pesticides at the first sign of a nibbled leaf, and every time I want to gently take the bottle from their hands and say: there is a better way. I have been gardening without synthetic chemicals for years, and my garden is healthier, more productive, and more … Read more

The first flower bed I ever planted looked amazing for exactly two weeks. I had filled it with tulips and daffodils, and when they bloomed together in April it was stunning. Then they all faded at the same time, and I spent the next five months staring at a bed of wilting leaves and bare … Read more

Companion planting is one of the oldest gardening techniques in existence — the Native American ‘Three Sisters’ method of planting corn, beans, and squash together has been used for thousands of years because the three plants genuinely help each other grow. Corn provides a trellis for beans to climb, beans fix nitrogen in the soil … Read more

You do not need a green thumb to grow your own food. You need a sunny spot, a bag of compost, and the right vegetables. Some crops are practically bulletproof — they germinate fast, tolerate mistakes, laugh off a missed watering, and produce so much food you will be giving bags away to neighbors by … Read more

You do not have to live in California or Florida to grow lemons. A lemon tree in a pot can thrive anywhere — you just bring it indoors when temperatures drop. The Meyer lemon in particular is perfectly suited to container life: it stays compact, produces abundantly, and the scent of lemon blossoms in your … Read more

A cottage garden is the kind of garden that looks like it has been there forever — overflowing with flowers, slightly wild, impossibly romantic, and full of happy surprises around every corner. It is the antidote to rigid, perfectly manicured landscaping, and I genuinely believe it is the most joyful style of garden you can … Read more

Every new gardener makes the same five mistakes. I know because I made all five in my first spring and watched a garden full of potential turn into a frustrating mess by June. The tomatoes went in too early and sat there doing nothing. The lettuce all ripened the same week and bolted before I … Read more