Gardening 101

Oh Sh*t, I Have A Yard

Leaving the city means no longer pretending to be satisfied with a solitary window box. But once you have more space, what do you even do with it?

by Kristine Fellizar
Experts give tips for how to garden in your first backyard.

Leah Flores/Stocksy

Many years have passed since Carrie Bradshaw declared “I don't do plants” while complaining that her new live-in boyfriend Aidan Shaw “brought a living thing” into her apartment. Millennials love their plants so much that the industry doubled in value between 2016 and 2019, and Gen Z isn’t far behind them (Vox reported in August that #plantsofTikTok has 3.4 billion views on the app). But there’s a big leap from a windowsill collection of planters to a garden of your own.

Robert Kohlhuber/Stocksy
Creating and maintaining your own outdoor space requires effort and know-how, especially if you want to do it without synthetic fertilizers, which can harm water supplies and kill beneficial microorganisms in the soil. Luckily, by snooping, studying, and playing ball with the seasons, your first backyard can still be a joyful endeavor.
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