Reviews of gardening products of all kinds. If it’s used in the garden, we review it!
Although foodscaping, or edible landscaping, isn’t new, this book opens up new ways of looking at growing plants for food within a typical suburban property. The book covers all the basics, plus provides a detailed description of 40 edible plants that look great in the landscape. Continue Reading
More than 50% of our water consumption takes place in our gardens. Here are 12 smart watering practices to save water with the benefit of stronger plants, less maintenance, lower water bills and decreased demand on natural resources. Continue Reading
If you’re trying to conserve water while keeping your plants healthy, a soaker hose can be a good option. But if you’ve ever fought with a hose that wouldn’t lay flat, spurted water in all directions, and burst after a few weeks, you know that it’s not always easy to find one that gets the job done properly. We were very pleased with the performance of the Dramm soaker hose – here’s what we found Continue Reading
This tumbling composter is made from recycled black polypropylene with steel legs. It’s lightweight but sturdy and takes up much less space than two traditional compost bins would. Each of the two bins turns independently of the other and holds about 3 cubic feet. It’s a nice design but there are some things to be aware of when making compost with it. Continue Reading
Review updated July 2, 2019 If you’re a mosquito magnet like me, you’re always looking for ways to keep the pesky critters at bay. Choices mostly involve covering yourself in smelly sprays or lighting smoky and smelly coils or candles. The Thermacell mosquito repellent “appliance” is neither of those. What is the Thermacell Mosquito Repellant […] Continue Reading
The T301 hose nozzle from Melnor, part of their new AquaFlo Titanium series, looks like a real over-achiever. Not only does it have 7 different spray patterns, but it has a trigger lock and a flow control lever. Plus it's made of heavy-duty metal with a slip-resistant rubberized grip and head. But does it really work? Here's what we found ... Continue Reading
What do you wear when you’re gardening? If you’re like me, it’s probably an old t-shirt, jeans or shorts, and whatever shoes you grab as you walk out the door. But one of the problems with that is that I always got hot and sweaty so I needed a shirt that would keep me dry, give a full range of movement, and be comfortable enough to wear every time I worked in the garden. So Continue Reading
Looking for that perfect Father's Day gift? How about gardening tools? Here are our top recommendations, from gloves and pants to loppers and pruning shears, string trimmers and blowers, and stackable planters. There's something for everyone and all price ranges. Continue Reading
The idea of being able to grow 24 square feet of plants in a 4 square foot space by going up rather than out has a lot of appeal not only as a space-saver, but also to add a dramatic vertical element to the garden, or in my case, a dock. What I wondered was whether, even with drip irrigation, the containers would dry out too quickly, making a stressful growing environment for the plants. Here's Continue Reading
If you’re looking for one glove that can do almost everything, you can’t go wrong with the Bionic ReliefGrip gardening glove. It has some unique features that make it a good choice not only for the typical gardener, but also for those of us with arthritic fingers. Continue Reading
If you live in a condo, townhouse, or apartment this is an easy way to garden in a small space, or in places where homeowners’ associations prohibit any kind of in-ground plantings by residents. The Garden On Wheelz™ can also be positioned in front of windows indoors, in a sunroom, or wheeled out through patio doors for its daily dose of sunshine. It's wheelchair accessible, movable, and grows everything you need for a good kitchen Continue Reading
If you ask me, the hardest part about composting is the effort required to turn the compost pile. As your pile of brown and green materials gets bigger and bigger, turning it over with a garden fork can become quite a workout. And if you stop turning the pile, it'll be a good long time before you get that black gold of crumbly, nutrient-rich compost you were hoping for. The Two-Batch Tumbling Composter from Gardener's Supply Continue Reading
This book from Storey Basics is 88 pages of simple, direct and yet comprehensive text and drawings on the wonderful topic of mulch. For a beginning gardener, it’s got 98% of what you need to know. For an experienced gardener, it’s like a quick refresher course from the local Extension Center. Continue Reading
You may not have heard of the WOLF-Garten brand here in North America, but in Europe the German brand is well-known for making high quality gardening tools and the signature red and yellow colors are instantly recognized. We put the RR900T Telescoping Bypass Lopper to the test to see if it would live up to its reputation. We were pleasantly surprised with the results. Continue Reading
It's not easy to find a pair of gardening gloves that are tough enough to stand up to rugged use (like moving rocks and logs) but flexible enough for more typical gardening tasks. Here's our thorough review of the Duluth Trading work gloves. Continue Reading
