Garden

A garden should still be a pleasure at seventy, not a second job.

This section is about keeping one you can manage: what to plant so it looks after itself, which jobs matter each season and which can wait, how to deal with pests without a chemistry set, and the tools and raised beds that spare your knees and back. We write for real gardens, small and large, with clay soil and a shady corner, not the ones in catalogues.

The lists name the plant, the month and the mistake, and each ends with the one job to do first. If a shortcut is worth taking we say so. If it will cost you next spring, we say that too.