Keep the harvest going with a thriving, joy-filled garden through fall. 
A Note from My Garden Gate By midsummer, my tomato plants are sun-fatigued, the lettuce is long gone to seed, and I’m eyeing every empty square in my raised beds like a puzzle waiting to be solved. I used to think the garden…
How to revive your garden beds and set the stage for a thriving fall harvest By the time July rolls around, our garden soil has been through the wringer. Tomatoes, peppers, squash—all those heavy feeders have been working overtime, and the blazing heat doesn’t help. If you’re in Zone 9 like me, you know we’ve…
Keep your squash patch happy, healthy, and bug-free—with natural, proven strategies that really work. If you’ve ever walked out to check on your squash and found wilted leaves and creepy gray bugs lurking under the foliage, you’ve met the infamous squash bug. These pests are relentless in warm climates like Zone 9, and if you…
There’s nothing worse than waiting forever for your tomatoes and peppers to ripen, only to pick them too early… or too late. Over the years, I’ve learned to tune into my plants like I’m on their frequency—and once you get it, harvesting becomes one of the most rewarding parts of the season. This guide walks…
Let’s be honest—tomatoes are drama queens. They sprawl, they break, they steal sunlight from their neighbors, and if you don’t give them structure, they’ll end up flopping all over your garden beds like rebellious teenagers. But when you train them to grow vertically? Magic. 
You get healthier plants, fewer pests, easier harvesting, and a…
January may feel like a slow month in the garden, but don’t let that fool you—this is the foundation-building season. While the rest of the country is bundled up indoors, Zone 9 gardeners get a head start on the growing year. This is the time to plan, prep, and plant so that your garden thrives…