Outdoor Gardening

Climate-aware help for edible yards, native planting, containers, and climbing plants

27 written guides

Guides in this topic

• Grow Mint in a Pot Without Letting It Spread

  Keep culinary mint in its own container, check for escaping growth, and balance watering, harvesting and winter protection.

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• Plant a Bare-Root Peony at the Right Depth

  Find the buds on a herbaceous peony root, choose a sunny site, and plant shallowly enough for good growth and future flowers.

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• Choose a Cover Crop You Can Clear Before Spring Planting

  Match oats, cereal rye or a mulch cover to your raised bed, local winter and next planting date before buying cover-crop seed.

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• Lift and Store Dahlia Tubers for Winter

  Lift intact dahlia clumps, dry them without shriveling, and choose cool, frost-free storage you can inspect through winter.

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• Test Your Vegetable Garden Soil Before Adding Amendments

  Collect a useful soil sample after harvest, keep different beds separate, and turn the lab report into measured changes for next season.

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• Tatsoi for Baby Leaves or Full Rosettes

  Choose a tatsoi harvest before sowing: small leaves for repeated cuts or a broad rosette, with room to grow and protection from seedling pests.

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• Grow Culinary Sage in a Pot

  Give culinary sage a sunny container, harvest the young leaves gently, and protect the roots before winter arrives.

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• A Fall Planting Plan for Spring Bulbs

  Choose a suitable garden site, match planting time to your climate, and set spring-flowering bulbs at a measured depth before winter.

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• Put Fallen Leaves to Work in Your Garden

  Choose where to leave autumn leaves whole, where to shred them, and how to mulch garden beds without burying plant crowns or smothering the lawn.

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• How to Overwinter Perennials in Pots

  Choose a winter home for hardy potted perennials, protect their roots from deep cold, and manage drainage and moisture until spring growth returns.

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• A Pot of Garlic from Fall Cloves to Summer Bulbs

  Plan a container garlic crop through fall planting, winter protection, spring growth and harvest, with room for bulbs and a variety suited to your climate.

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• Culantro for the Shadier Side of the Herb Garden

  Grow sawtooth culantro in a container with warm conditions, partial shade and careful leaf harvests, without confusing it with cilantro or Vietnamese coriander.

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• How to Grow Minari Without Letting It Escape

  Keep correctly identified Korean minari wet, productive, and contained in a managed vessel while preventing its easily rooted stems from reaching natural waterways.

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• How to Grow Shiso in a Pot

  Choose culinary shiso, start it around the frost calendar, grow it in a bright draining container, harvest tender leaves, and prevent unwanted reseeding.

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• How to Choose a Fruit Tree for a Small Yard: 6 Checks Before You Buy

  Choose a fruit tree by climate, chill needs, rootstock, pollination, mature size, and care rather than by the nursery photo. Use this small-space buying guide first.

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• Outdoor Vining Plants: How to Choose the Right Vine and Support

  Choose an outdoor vine by region, climbing habit, mature weight, and maintenance rather than by flowers alone. Match it to a fence, trellis, arbor, or wall safely.

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• Study Finds 4.2× the Flower-Visitor Abundance in Native Los Angeles Yards

  A study of 31 Greater Los Angeles yards recorded 4.2 times the floral-visitor abundance in native landscapes. Learn what the observational result means for a home garden.

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• How to Grow Mustard Greens (Gai Choy) in Beds or Containers

  Grow Chinese mustard greens as a cool-season crop with cultivar-specific spacing, steady moisture, early pest protection, and harvest timing based on leaf quality.

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• Dragon Fruit from Container to Trellis to Harvest

  Plan a container-grown dragon fruit cactus around warm outdoor conditions, a load-bearing support, fast drainage, cultivar compatibility, and realistic overwintering.

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• How to Grow Luffa for Eating or Natural Sponges

  Plan a luffa crop around climate, space, and harvest goal, then support the vigorous vine and pick fruit at the right stage for food or fiber.

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• How to Grow Edamame in a Garden or Container

  Choose a vegetable soybean suited to your season, direct-sow it in warm soil, protect pod fill from stress, and harvest while the green seeds are still tender.

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• How to Grow Daikon Radish: Planting, Spacing, and Harvest

  Grow straight, crisp daikon roots by matching the cultivar to a cool planting window, loosening the root zone, thinning promptly, and watering evenly.

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• How to Grow Yardlong Beans (Chinese Long Beans)

  Grow heat-loving yardlong beans with warm-soil timing, a sturdy trellis, steady moisture, realistic container care, and frequent harvests of tender pods.

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• Jujube Trees from Cultivar Choice to Harvest

  Choose and grow Chinese jujube by matching a named cultivar to local heat and season length, planning pollination, and managing a grafted tree from planting through harvest.

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• The Gai Lan Growing Season from Seed to Tender Stalks

  Grow gai lan as a cool-season stem-and-leaf crop with climate-aware timing, steady moisture, practical spacing, pest prevention, and harvest before the buds open.

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• How to Grow Chinese Eggplant in a Garden or Container

  Grow slender Chinese-type eggplant with a warm start, strong light, stable support, consistent root moisture, and harvest cues that fit the selected cultivar.

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• How to Grow Lavender in Pots

  Grow lavender in a container with a suitable cultivar, strong sun, free-draining mix, and watering and winter protection matched to your climate.

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