A bank of beautiful, deep jade green cucumber leaves dotted with lively spots of summery yellow makes for a lovely garden backdrop. But if all you’re finding among those leaves are more flowers and ...

I like big berries, and I cannot lie. You other brothers can’t deny. And that’s about as far as I can go with the blueberry-Sir Mix-a-Lot crossover. But yes, I’m obsessed with jumbo-sized blueberries.

I got a message from a friend this week saying, “My cucumbers are covered in flowers. I’m so excited! I’ve never grown cucumbers before. I have no idea what to do. What should I do?” My first thought ...

I’ve been making switchel for decades. Quite a few years ago, I introduced this summertime drink to the Rural Sprout community, and our readers loved it. As we head into the dog days of summer, I ...

When the forecast calls for extreme heat, there are some easy and quick ways to stay cool that don't involve the high ...

Excuse me! Yeah, you, standing next to the tomatoes. Please, put down the hose and step away from the plant. (At least for now, anyway. You might do more harm than good.) Grabbing the hose or the ...

It’s mid-March, and the soft magnolia buds are getting plumper and plumper. Any minute now, the fuzzy shells will no longer be able to contain them, and every single velvety bud will open up into a ...

Ah, the humble crab apple. How many of us have walked right past these tiny little apples growing in our yards and parks? Sure, they have beautiful blossoms, after all, isn’t that why we grow them?

Both the garden and I get a second wind in September. After the mellowness of summer months, and leisurely August pastimes, my mind craves a refocus and regroup. It’s not quite the back-to-school ...

If you had to guess how many hydrangeas were sold in the United States in a year, what would you go for? Maybe 100,000. Perhaps half a million. Shall we push it to a million or two? That was close to ...

There comes a point in every blueberry lover’s life (usually when you’re at the U-pick farm or the farmers market) where you think, “Why don’t we grow our own blueberries?” This thought leads to a ...