John Cox

Blogs · @wyome

Tagged gardening · everything

www.gardenista.com

Homegrown Limoncello: Preserving a Precious Meyer Lemon Crop

The author shares a recipe for homemade limoncello made from homegrown Meyer lemons, explaining the process of infusing lemon zest in vodka for two weeks before mixing with a simple sugar syrup. Beyond the recipe itself, she discusses the pleasures of growing your own citrus—knowing exactly what chemicals (or lack thereof) touch the fruit—and the seasonal timing of making the liqueur now, in winter citrus season, to enjoy its frozen, digestif-like sips months later in summer.

Permalink recipesgardeningcocktailswinter

Bob Vila

The 25 Best Plants for Hanging Baskets

This is a comprehensive guide to 25 plants suitable for hanging baskets, with specific care instructions for each. The article begins with general care tips for hanging plants—including frequent watering, regular fertilizing, pruning, proper positioning, and companion plant selection—before detailing individual plants ranging from petunias and lobelias to succulents and ferns. Each plant entry includes its scientific name, visual description, specific light and water requirements, and any special considerations for optimal growth.

Permalink gardeningplants

Dwell

You Should Try a Gravel Garden

Gravel gardening—a technique that replaces traditional soil with six inches of gravel to grow drought-tolerant perennials—has converted skeptics like Jeff Epping into advocates after he witnessed its remarkable low-maintenance benefits, including minimal water needs, weed suppression, and no requirement for fertilizer or mowing. The method, pioneered by Beth Chatto in England 30 years ago, works best in sunny locations with well-draining soil and suits various home styles from modern minimalist to rustic farmhouse when paired with native plants and appropriate gravel colors. Beyond aesthetic flexibility, gravel gardens solve practical problems in problematic spaces—from shade-heavy Los Angeles yards to tiny urban courtyards—while supporting pollinators and ecological sustainability.

Permalink sustainabilitylandscapinggardening

Savvy Gardening

Vegetables to Plant in August: What to Sow for Fall Harvests

This guide outlines which vegetables to plant in August for fall harvests, including turnips, kale, beets, cilantro, bok choy, radishes, mizuna, salad greens, broccoli, and carrots. It explains the practical timing considerations for late-season planting, such as counting backward from your first frost date and adding extra days to seed packet maturity estimates to account for shorter days and slower growth. The article also covers soil preparation, seed germination in hot summer conditions, and specific variety recommendations based on the author's experience gardening in zone 6a.

Permalink gardeningdiyadviceagriculture

Google News

www.aol.com

I Lived in Asheville, North Carolina, for Over a Decade—and This Flower-filled Gem Is the City’s Most Serene Spot

A native's profile of Flora Botanical Living, a West Asheville plant shop-turned-gathering-space founded by Melissa Thomas, tracing its evolution from a home-based floral studio into a hybrid boutique, design studio, wine and coffee bar, and workshop venue. It highlights the shop's curated, sensory approach—locally grown flowers, artisan goods, a flower bar, and even an overnight barn stay on a working farm—as an antidote to Asheville's more high-energy attractions. Worth keeping as a specific recommendation for a slow, tactile detour in a city usually associated with hiking and breweries.

Permalink gardeningnorth carolinatravel

www.homedit.com

Not Roses, Not Hydrangeas: The Purple Plant That Turns Gardens Into Bee Magnets

This piece makes the case for lavender as a landscaping workhorse rather than just a fragrant herb, citing its ease of bee/butterfly attraction, tolerance for drought and poor soil, and year-round structural presence even after blooms fade. It runs through practical design applications—curved brick borders, gravel gardens, mass plantings, and pathway edging—to argue lavender belongs in mainstream landscape design, not just herb beds. Useful reference if you're weighing low-maintenance, pollinator-friendly plantings for a sunny garden area.

Permalink backyardlandscapinggardening

www.tastingtable.com

Growing Onions Inside A Water Bottle In Your Kitchen Is Actually Pretty Simple

Repurposing a plastic bottle turns regrowing kitchen scraps into a genuine indoor growing system: the piece explains how to keep green onion roots alive in water on a windowsill for repeat harvests, then escalates that into a vertical "onion tower" made from a punctured bottle filled with potting soil, capable of producing both scallions and full-size bulb onions. Worth keeping for the specific staggered-hole-spacing technique and the practical care notes—watering, light, and monthly feeding—that make the vertical version actually work rather than just look clever.

Permalink gardeningdiykitchenvegetable

www.homedit.com

20 Backyard Design Ideas for 2026 Where Simple Gravel Replaces Traditional Concrete Patios

A roundup of gravel-based backyard layouts arguing that loose stone, not concrete or pavers, is becoming the go-to ground material for flexible, low-cost outdoor design. It walks through roughly twenty real examples—circular dining patios, sunken lounges, fire pit zones, framed budget patios, and gravel paths through planting—showing how the material adapts to small spaces, drains well, and lets furniture and garden beds shift without permanent construction. Worth keeping as a reference/inspiration list for planning a patio redo without committing to hardscaping.

Permalink low-maintenancebackyardlandscapinggardening

www.apartmenttherapy.com

I Turned a Secondhand Filing Cabinet Into My Dream Outdoor Planter — So Easy!

A DIY before-and-after piece where the writer converts a thrifted metal filing cabinet into a raised garden planter, walking through the painting mishaps (glossy enamel vs. matte hammered finish), fixing a missing bottom with scrap wood and drainage holes, and layering the interior using a hugelkultur-style method of wood and organic debris under soil to cut costs and boost plant health. It's a practical upcycling guide worth keeping for the specific technique tips — paint choice, drainage fix, and soil layering — rather than just the concept of "repurposed furniture planter."

Permalink sustainabilitygardeningdiyfurniture

www.theguardian.com

10 of the best fruit and vegetables to plant now for a hassle-free harvest

A gardening guide that pushes back against the temptation to choose show-catalogue vegetables, arguing that reliability, yield and flavour matter more than novelty. It runs through ten specific low-fuss crops—vine tomatoes, mangetout, courgettes, chard, rhubarb, autumn raspberries, winter squash, kale, beetroot and French beans—naming tried-and-tested cultivars for each and giving concise sowing/spacing instructions. Worth keeping as a practical, cultivar-specific shortlist for planning an easier, more productive growing year rather than a general "how to garden" piece.

Permalink foodgardeninglifevegetable

www.wikihow.com

3 Ways to Make a Terrarium - wikiHow

This is a comprehensive guide to building and maintaining a decorative plant terrarium, covering everything from selecting appropriate plants based on their environmental needs (woodland, desert, or tropical) to assembling the layered structure of drainage material, charcoal, moss, and soil. It explains how to choose containers based on moisture requirements—open dishes for succulents that need dry conditions and closed vessels for tropical plants that prefer humidity—and provides detailed care instructions including watering frequency, light placement, and maintenance tasks like removing mold and pruning overgrowth.

Permalink gardeningdiyhome

www.gardendesign.com

Backyard Landscaping Ideas

This guide provides comprehensive advice on planning and designing a functional backyard as an extension of the home, covering essential steps like evaluating your site, considering how you'll use the space, and choosing appropriate plants and hardscape materials. It emphasizes practical design principles such as dividing yards into garden rooms, planning for privacy, choosing styles that complement your home, and considering maintenance requirements. The piece includes numerous real-world examples of transformed backyards—from small urban spaces to larger suburban properties—illustrating how techniques like layered plantings, vertical gardening, lighting, and strategic furniture placement can maximize enjoyment of outdoor areas regardless of size.

Permalink designbackyardlandscapinggardening

stylebyemilyhenderson.com

The 2021 #ShowEmYourDIY: 22 DIY Ideas to Transform Your Sad Backyard Into Your Favorite Place - Emily

This is a collection of 22 reader-submitted DIY backyard projects ranging from simple painted deck murals and stenciled patios to ambitious builds like greenhouses, pergolas, and custom outdoor furniture, with costs from under $100 to several thousand dollars. The posts showcase various skill levels and budgets, featuring before-and-afters alongside detailed instructions, material lists, and budget breakdowns so readers can replicate projects from painted faux marble floors and modern wall panels to stock tank pools and stucco sofas. The emphasis is on inspiring homeowners to tackle their own outdoor spaces using creativity and accessible materials, whether renting an apartment in Brooklyn or owning a home with significant yard space.

Permalink backyardlandscapinggardeningdiy

www.nytimes.com

I Saved More Than 2,000 Pounds of Food Waste From the Landfill With This Simple Composter

The author describes six years of effortless composting using a simple plastic bin that requires no turning, watering, or maintenance—just dumping kitchen scraps inside and occasionally harvesting the resulting material from a bottom hatch. Despite deliberately doing nothing to manage the pile and ignoring conventional composting wisdom, the bin's insulated black plastic sides and ventilation have successfully broken down roughly 1,900 pounds of organic matter (including substantial coffee grounds) without attracting rodents or producing odors. Even the imperfect final product, which still contains visible eggshells and plant fragments, qualifies as a usable soil amendment, proving that passive composting can work for the truly lazy gardener.

Permalink sustainabilitybackyardgardeninghome

camillestyles.com

20 Ideas to Bring Your Dream Backyard to Life (and a Backyard Tour Video!)

This practical guide walks readers through creating a backyard they’ll actually use, starting with a simple formula to name top needs and wants and moving into actionable ideas for small spaces, budget-friendly upgrades, low-maintenance planting, and weekend DIY projects. It emphasizes defining zones, using vertical space, native and drought-tolerant plants, and hardscaping options, and suggests accessible upgrades like string lights, a fire pit, and outdoor seating. Tips cover container gardening, drip irrigation, and entertaining essentials—shade structures, lighting, serving stations—plus 2025 trends such as plunge pools, outdoor kitchens, and warm neutral palettes. Throughout the piece the author ties inspiration to visual prompts on [[Pinterest]] and weekend trips to [[Home Depot]] and invites readers to tour [[Camille's Backyard]] for ideas to adapt to any yard size. Practical product suggestions and step-by-step projects make it easy to start this weekend.

Permalink low-maintenancebackyardlandscapinggardening

Wirecutter: Reviews for the Real World

Raised Garden Bed Options to Optimize Your Garden

The author tested seven raised garden bed options—including five commercial kits and a DIY alternative—by assembling them at a school and evaluating them on durability, ease of assembly, aesthetics, and soil depth capacity. The top pick is Gardener's Supply Company's Deep Root Cedar Raised Bed for its elegant cedar construction and straightforward assembly, though the article also recommends metal options like Vego Garden for longevity and elevated planters for accessibility, each with trade-offs depending on what plants you want to grow and how much you're willing to spend.

Permalink backyardgardeningdiyhome

Saveur

I (Basically) Stopped Weeding Thanks to This Game-Changing Gardening Method

The author describes how she transformed an overgrown London allotment using the No Dig gardening method, a technique developed by Charles Dowding that layerscardboard and compost over weeds rather than digging or using chemicals, thereby preserving soil ecosystems while suppressing weeds. Within months, the formerly unusable plot became highly productive, yielding over 30 varieties of vegetables with minimal labor and pest problems, and the practice fundamentally changed her relationship with gardening from a dreaded chore into a daily pleasure.

Permalink gardeningdiy

Angus Thompson

landscape and garden design - angus thompson design

This appears to be the homepage for Angus Thompson Design, a landscape and garden design practice based in Oxford. The site showcases their work on various projects across the UK and emphasizes their collaborative approach to creating thoughtful, multilayered gardens and landscapes that reflect each site's unique character. Without full access to the detailed content, the page primarily serves as a portfolio introduction highlighting featured works like "The Cart House" and projects involving glass, concrete, and stone elements.

Permalink designgardeninginteriorlandscape design