Confessions of a Plant Killer (and How to Stop Being One)
Let me be honest with you. If you have managed to kill a pothos, you have a gift — a reverse gift, but a gift nonetheless. Most plants want to survive. In fact, the seven plants on this list don't just want to survive, they practically dare you to finish them off. Go ahead, forget to water them for three weeks. Put them in a corner where the light hasn't visited since 2009. Water them with cold coffee. They'll be fine. They've seen worse. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO THAT SUPPORTS THIS BLOG!  

By Adam Taylor

I have spent thirty years hauling mulch and fighting stubborn root systems that had no business being that strong. You learn a few things when your knees start popping like bubble wrap every time you try to stand up from a flower bed. Most landscaping advice is written by some twenty-something kid who thinks a weekend spent digging trenches is a "fun fitness (Photo via Pexels) challenge." It is not. It is a one-way ticket to a heating pad and a bottle of aspirin. For those of us who have been around the block, gardening should be about enjoying the view, not auditioning for a manual labor gig that pays in backaches. You want a yard that looks sharp without costing a fortune or requiring a chiropractor on speed dial.

A no-nonsense guide from the ground up — because your backyard is a food factory just waiting to happen.

Let me tell you something that took me years of mud, mulch, and a few spectacular failures to fully appreciate: the earth wants to feed you. That soil sitting in your backyard — or in a pot on your apartment patio — is essentially a living, breathing entity that is quietly waiting for you to give it a little direction. The moment you accept that, vegetable gardening stops being a chore and starts being one of the most genuinely satisfying things you'll ever do. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO THAT SUPPORTS THIS BLOG 

There’s something deeply satisfying about walking into your garden—or your local farmers market—and discovering that the best “medicine” doesn’t come in a bottle. It comes in bright colors, odd textures, and flavors that make you pause mid-bite and say, “Well now… that’s something.”

Today we’re digging into two vitamin C-rich fruits that deserve a permanent spot in your garden and kitchen rotation. One is familiar but often mishandled. The other looks like it crash-landed from another planet—but don’t let that fool you. It’s a nutritional gem.  CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO THAT SUPPORTS THIS BLOG

From Steam Engines to Silicon: A Brief History of the Lawn Mower

The lawn mower has a surprisingly rich history for something most of us push around on a Saturday morning without a second thought. It all started in 1830 when Edwin Budding, an English engineer, invented the first reel mower — a contraption of cast iron gears and rotating blades adapted from textile machinery. 
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO THAT WAS INSPIRATION FOR THIS BLOG.

Let me paint you a picture. It's late winter. You walk past your fruit tree every single day. You tell yourself, "I'll prune it this weekend." Then it rains. Then you're busy. Then — oh look — it's sprouting leaves. Spring showed up, and your pruning window did not get the memo that you were planning to use it.

Here's the good news: it's not a catastrophe. Here's the honest news: if you panic-prune it back to a stump, you'll turn a small problem into a big one. The tree is already in motion — sap is running, buds are breaking, the whole system is firing on all cylinders. You need to work with that energy, not against it.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SUPPORTING VIDEO FOR THIS BLOG (click 'read more' at just below at the right to continue to blog).

Let me tell you something that might surprise you: I’ve walked onto properties where homeowners spent tens of thousands of dollars on landscaping… and it still missed the mark. Not because they didn’t care. Not because they didn’t invest. But because of a handful of very common — and very fixable — mistakes.
The good news? You don’t need a bigger budget. You need a better strategy. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO THAT COMPLIMENTS THIS BLOG.

Let’s get one thing straight right out of the gate: rain is a gift… but it’s not a retirement plan for your irrigation system.

Every year, without fail, we get a stretch of good rain and suddenly folks start giving their irrigation controller the silent treatment. “Nature’s got this,” they say. And sure—nature does have it… for about five minutes after the soil dries out, the sun comes back, and your plants go right back to needing consistent moisture.

So today, let’s talk about irrigation the way it really works in a landscape: not as a one-size-fits-all system, but as a flexible, adjustable, plant-specific strategy.  Today you become an irrigation doctor.  Click the link way at the bottom of article to see what I'm giving an irrigation check up on. But first...read on!

Most gardeners whom spend their time fretting over drought-tolerant natives and whether their bougainvillea will survive another Santa Ana wind event. Meanwhile, somewhere in Long Beach, a church garden is quietly growing one of the most productive — and frankly most delicious — tropical plants on the planet.

I'm talking about sugar cane. Saccharum officinarum, if you want to use the Latin and impress your neighbors at the next block party.  Don't miss the video that supports this blog, click here now!

I had the privilege of visiting a community church garden where a remarkable woman had been managing a thriving clump of sugar cane right alongside lemongrass — in a space roughly the size of a parking spot. I brought a machete. She brought expertise. And between the two of us, we managed to harvest, peel, and eat fresh sugar cane on camera without losing any digits. A win for horticulture, and honestly, a win for my insurance premiums.