It’s a warm Charleston evening, you’re relaxing on your back porch, and you realize your yard is completely open to the neighbors and the street. Maybe you’ve got kids or pets who need a safe place to play. Maybe you…
The first time I cut a spear of my own asparagus and had it on my plate twenty minutes later, I understood why gardeners talk about this vegetable with something close to reverence. It was sweeter than anything I’d bought…
My neighbor Carol once told me she wanted her tomatoes to be “the best on the block.” So she fed them fertilizer every single time she watered, figuring more nutrients meant faster growth. Within two weeks, the leaf edges had…
I still remember the first time I chopped fresh cilantro into a pot of homemade salsa and realized the grocery store stuff had been lying to me my whole life. That bright, citrusy punch was nothing like the wilted bunch…
Owning a vacant mobile home may seem harmless at first, but an unused property can quickly become a financial and maintenance burden. Even when no one is living in it, you may still be responsible for taxes, insurance, lot rent,…
I still remember the first time I planted a row of sunflowers along my back fence and watched them turn their giant faces toward the sun every single morning. That’s the thing about flowers that start with S. They tend…
Have you ever tried naming flowers alphabet by alphabet, just for fun? It sounds silly until you get to the letter R, and suddenly you realize how many gorgeous blooms are hiding there. Roses are the obvious one, sure. But…
If you’ve ever tried to name a flower for every letter of the alphabet, you already know the letter Q is where things get interesting. Flowers that start with Q are genuinely rare, and that’s exactly what makes them so…
The first time I planted a peony bush outside my kitchen window, I had no idea I was about to fall into a full blown obsession with flowers that start with P. One bloom led to another. Pansies showed up…
It’s a familiar scene for a lot of Marietta homeowners. A summer thunderstorm rolls through, and afterward you notice a few shingles in the yard, a soggy patch on the ceiling, or gutters overflowing where they shouldn’t. Suddenly you’re googling…