Use the smothering technique to make a stable gravel path (and adjacent planting beds) without digging.

Year-by-year account of a small prairie seeded on clay subsoil in Minnesota.

Learn how you can design a satisfying combination of plants for your garden

Use native grasses to replace lawns--as short turf, grassy wildland, or mixed with flowers in a meadow or prairie.

A shaded, mysterious woodland: a place for musing and lazing, your own green, secluded paradise. It's a long-term investment, but the payoff may come sooner than you think.

Hate to fuss with seeds, pots, and soil-less mixtures? Some plants only need the right outdoor environment to make seedlings for you! It costs less than buying plants and requires less work than growing them indoors.

Reduce your personal energy "footprint" and your garden chores by growing some of your own food in a perennial garden.

Mulch can be pricey, especially if you are smothering a lawn. Here are tips for finding free mulch or paying less for it.

You can build this patio over the top of a lawn. You can build it in stages, as finances and time allow. You can also take it up again later if you change your mind.

Feeling ambitious? Try converting an abandoned field into a meadow garden.

In a roundabout way, your plants need exactly the amount of extra water you give them.

Simultaneously give your plants a head-start in life and recapture the childhood joys of playing in the mud.

Understanding your garden's microclimates can help you choose the right spot for a plant on your first try.

Learn key concepts of permaculture and some ways you can transition to a more sustainable lifestyle.

Poet and writer Lenore Plassman writes of how shared labor feeds her family's hearts and souls as it feeds their bodies.