Special reports

Always a hassle around the picnic basket, sometimes even a painful sting, the wasp doesn’t seem to manage positive vibes, does it? But did you know its larva devours incredible amounts of insect pests that would otherwise damage our plants? So, unbelievably, the wasp is a beneficial insect in the garden, a big help that […]

One of the most important beneficial insects in the garden is the ground beetle family. This fearsome predators have a voracious appetite which will certainly serve you well to control pests in your garden.

A voluminous body, a louder-than-usual buzz, and colorful fuzz all around – the bumblebee is easy to identify! A particularly active beneficial insect in the garden, it is a diligent pollinator that runs in the same class as the common honeybee: the heavyweight class!

Lavender oil is a famous liniment. It’s used in perfume and to heal small ailments. There are two ways to produce oil from lavender:

Savoring the garden without spending hours mowing or weeding it is the unfulfilled Quest of all gardeners. Though we dream about it all the time, reality must be acknowledged: the perfect zero-maintenance garden doesn’t exist.

Coastal climate batters seaside garden plants with many hardships: strong winds (even hurricanes), sea spray, dry summers, poor soil…

Deck, hedge, plants, lawn, garden furniture… Setting up a garden often runs up quite a bill, especially when moving in. Turn into a landscaping pro with these few ideas that’ll help landscape a garden for cheap.

Winter is cold and unsuitable for plant growth. When spring comes around, everything bursts into bloom! How do plants set their clocks to bloom at the right time? Vernalization is one of the mysteries

As soon as the word wasp is mentioned, we all shudder at the thought of that insect that somehow always finds ways to turn a nice family picnic into a frenzied gaggle of panicked people! But did you know there were a great many wasp varieties? One of which is particularly interesting: the predator wasp.

These feed on pests, help plants reproduce, and give the soil better structure. Beneficial insects really give us a real hand in the garden!

Raised gardening gets a resounding “yes”, doesn’t it? Now, the time has come to select the best layout for raised garden beds. Square, rectangles, curves

Be they simple or sophisticated, white flowers are great all-purpose plants in the garden. They pair well with all other colors and fit right into every garden style. You can add them to a colorful arrangement in a flower bed, or go the whole nine yards and make everything white.

No need to worry about whether colors match and pair well. Perfect harmony is so hard to master! A clean, white garden is pleasing in its simplicity. The goal? Introduce as many white blooms as can be, without forgetting rich, textured foliage to give the eye a focal point.

Our grand-mothers keep saying they used the roots of a soap plant to build up a foam to wash their laundry. Saponaria is a perennial that’s quite common in our areas, and it helped solve a lot of people’s daily needs: shampoo, skin care, medicine…

From North to South, along the vast oceans of the world, French coasts are among the most beautiful in the world. They have mild, temperate climates which means that a great many plant options are open to their seaside gardens – botanically speaking!

Guttation is the expelling of excess water or nutrients through tiny openings on leaves and stems. This biological process enables plants to restore balance

Gardening with the moon, sure! But how? Gardeners have always observed with fascination the impact of the moon on plants they were growing.

To transform your growing beds into spots of high ecological value, here are a few simple tips and solutions. Common sense applies and points the way to sustainable gardening.

Do you throw coffee grounds away? Not anymore! Coffee grounds have many uses that can boost your garden and flower beds, just like it gives you a boost

Knowing your soil type, delicately working the ground, associating plants and protecting them without using fertilizer or pesticides, all these tips will lead to healthy organic soil.

Before leaving to go on holiday, a few good tips can ensure that your garden plants will still be in great health when you get back. But in case of dry spell, watering must be both carefully planned and not excessive. Are you traveling away from the garden for a week or more? Start with […]

Near the house or on a balcony, growing potted plants are an excellent way to add color and greenery to your home!

Adapt your garden to summer climate conditions with eco-friendly watering solutions and practices to give your plants the upper hand on drought.

If there’s enough space, it’s perfectly possible to set up a comfortable patio, deck or terrace.

Preparing cuttings is a simple plant propagation technique that works for many plants. Its main advantage is that it allows you to reproduce the same exact plant

Mason bee, Osmia, solitary bee… all these names designate the same pollinating insect. And don’t be fooled by its tiny scale! It is indeed able to pollinate as many flowers as its more famous cousin, the common honeybee.

The hoverfly: even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve probably seen them before and wondered what kind of insect this was. In spring and summer, one often sees them flying around, hovering at a standstill around melliferous flowers and trees.

Layering is a way to multiply plants quite easily, where a plant branch is buried to produce a new specimen.

Which flowers to plant in a garden box for spring? Perennials, bulb flowers and annuals mix & pair very well for blissfully colorful potting arrangements.

If planting is one of the most enjoyable things to do in the garden, it is also one of the most crucial phases in the life of a plant, tree or shrub. We owe it to them to plant them well!

What is more pleasant on a sunny than spending a few moments to relax in the garden.

You live the urban life in an apartment but would nonetheless love to make your own compost?

Getting back home after the summer holidays makes September a special month. Adults get back to work and children prepare their supplies for school. But in the autumn garden, there’s quite a lot to do, too!

Fall is usually the season when the purchasing of a chipper shredder comes to mind, with all the pruned shrubs and trees leading to mountains of branches. Since it is now often illegal to simply burn the branches in a huge bonfire as was done before, and we usually lack of space to let it […]

If a certain corner of the garden is rebellious and resists all the plants you’ve tried growing in it, don’t give up! No need to let weeds

Setting up an outdoor kitchen opens up a whole new space where friends and family can gather outdoors. Welcome everyone to your garden around a delicious meal where each guest can pitch in and help out!

Fermented tea, maceration, infusion, decoction… garden tansy sure shares many benefits! Pest repellent and fungicide, it’s also an interesting flower that fosters biodiversity.

A sensory garden has a simple goal: maximize the sensory experience of its visitors. Designing such a garden isn’t very difficult. You can follow various themes, set portions up into dedicated areas, or fuse all the experiences together as a whole. They’re generally very guest-friendly and inviting,

Zero efforts to convert food and plant waste into rich organic fertilizer, a dream come true? Yes it is! Go for vermicompost, it produces and excellent soil mix without any smelly side-effects.

Did you know you could grow a new pineapple from the leafy tip of the fruit itself? Making this pineapple cutting is great way to get a perpetual supply of this fabulous vitamin-full fruit! Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a fruit that is now famous the world over. Though best results will happen in tropical countries […]

Breakthrough research is analyzing the effect of guttation on the spread of plant diseases. In some cases, guttation is bad for plants.

After choosing your bare-root tree and its spot in the garden, make the most of November. Gardeners know that the Saint Catherine Feast day (on Nov 25th) is best to succeed your planting. (Editor’s note: it’s possible to plant in spring for specimens purchased in pots or containers.)

Mulching, composting, natural and organic products and produce… Are you hoping to learn more about environment-friendly gardening practices? Start right this winter or during the next dry spell!

Should you plant here, or rather there? What if you relied on dowsing to find the perfect spot and hope for a bountiful garden? Why rely on dowsing? Dowsing is the study of the relationship between an environment and its inhabitants. When used to set up an ornamental garden or a vegetable patch, it helps […]

Early fall, protect your soil and your plants from winter frost spells.

A prickly invader… but also one of the best medicinal plants of all! The nettle, as useful in the kitchen as it is in the garden, is worthy of our highest esteem.

Succulents are attractive for the ease of care, their great diversity and their waxy or velvet-covered leaves.

After the last tasks of fall and before putting them away, it is important to thoroughly clean your tools

Birds, insects, hedgehogs… These small animals are very useful to help manage gardens in a natural manner. It makes a lot of sense to provide them with housing and shelter before winter sets in.

Nice weather usually means eating more delicious fruits and vegetables. Why not seize the chance to grow your own together with your children?

Raised garden boxes, elevated planters and other solutions are quite convenient for those who want to garden but can’t bend over!