Seasonal tips, companion planting, care and self-sufficiency — from practice, short and to the point.
Swiss chard is the underrated marathon runner for balconies: tough, pretty and far more frost-tolerant than you'd think. With a few simple habits you can keep picking fresh leaves for quite a while yet.
Before winter sets in, take a look back: if you note down now what grew where, you can plan next year's crop rotation much more calmly.
Not every apple is made for storage. With the right variety, the right picking time and a cool spot, your apples can last well into winter.
Phacelia and mustard are past their window, but your empty beds don't have to face winter bare. Winter rye can still go in until early November.
A handful of bulbs and two small helping hands are all it takes to get your raised bed buzzing in late winter – long before the first sowing begins.
Brussels sprouts turn milder after the first cold nights. Here's how to spot the right moment and pick them properly.
Plant winter onion sets now and you can harvest in early summer – even on a balcony. Everything you need fits in a single box.
Onions are said to keep carrot fly away — you will find it in many companion planting guides. Why that is only half the story, and what your garden journal has to do with it this October.
The first frost often arrives overnight, and with it comes a risk for your favourite pots. Three small steps now lower the risk through winter considerably.
Jerusalem artichokes need almost no care and deliver fresh tubers well into spring. Here is when to harvest and how to keep them from taking over your garden.
As your beds empty out, you still remember exactly what worked. Use that memory for a plan you simply follow in spring.
In mild regions you can still sow spinach until mid-October that survives the winter and is the first thing ready to pick in spring. A few numbers are all it takes, no greenhouse needed.
Lamb's lettuce is the harvest for the dark season, and early to mid-October is your last sowing window. Keep it shallow, firm and evenly moist.
A pumpkin that looks perfect isn't necessarily ready for storage. Two weeks of patience and a warm spot will keep it good well into winter.
They're said to repel aphids and ease the load on the soil – but what's true about marigolds? A sober look before you clear them away this October.
Wherever your tomatoes grew this year, something else should take over next season. A three-step bed plan helps you take away blight's foothold.
Sow broad beans now and you'll be picking them in early summer, while the bed gets a free nitrogen boost. Here's what matters for variety, depth and winter protection.
A good rhubarb crown stays put for ten years or more. Plant it this autumn and you lay the foundation – and planting depth is what matters most.
Thyme, sage and friends usually get through winter on the balcony just fine – as long as you don't overdo the kindness. Three small steps in October make the difference.
Before frost arrives, carrots and beetroot move into a crate of damp sand. It's fun to bury them, and it keeps your harvest crisp well into spring.
Many gardeners dig every bed over in October simply because that's how it's always been done. Here's when it makes sense and when you can skip it.
Late September is one of the last good moments to set up a balcony box for the cold season. Winter purslane thrives in cool weather and gives you leaves well into winter.
Many harvest parsnips too early — missing out on the sweetness that only frost brings out.
Clear, cold nights are exactly when the first frost strikes. This quick check tells you what needs rescuing tonight — and what can happily stay outside.
That small currant bush looks harmless today – in five years it could be shading your lettuce bed. Rootivo's 3D view shows you exactly where the shadow will fall, before you ever pick up a spade.
Every autumn, bags of leaves end up in the green bin – yet leaves are the free mulch your beds need over winter. Here's what to watch out for.
Planting garlic in spring means losing growing time. Set it in October and it roots before winter – then rewards you with solid bulbs next summer.
Slugs lay their eggs in autumn. Find the clutches now and you'll have far fewer slugs on your seedlings next spring – and far less work.
You plant in October — but you choose the spot now. What you settle in the next four weeks shapes a decade of harvests and more.
Young strawberry plants leave plenty of room between the rows in September. Fill that space wisely now and you'll save yourself a spring reshuffle — and you'll know which two neighbours are off the table entirely.
The nights are turning cold, nothing more is happening on the plant – and yet the trusses are still full. Here's how to turn those green tomatoes into a real harvest.
Mint, comfrey and chives practically multiply themselves in September – all you have to do is split them. Five minutes per plant, and you save yourself a trip to the garden centre next spring.
While the other beds are emptying out, chard just keeps pushing new leaves. With the right harvesting technique you can keep it going into the first frosts — and with a bit of luck, all the way to spring.
Pick too early and the apple stays sour; pick too late and it turns mealy and won't keep in storage. One simple move at the tree tells you when the moment is right.
Cover crops are supposed to be good for the soil, full stop. Not quite: mustard and oil radish are brassicas themselves, so they belong in your crop rotation plan.
Not every leftover belongs on the heap. With some crops, composting the wrong material invites the problem straight back into next year's beds.
When the foliage collapses and turns brown, the best treasure hunt of the gardening year is waiting underground. Here's how to harvest in September – and keep your potatoes sound well into winter.
Overwintering onion sets root through the cold months and mature weeks before spring-planted ones. The planting window is opening right now, while the soil is still warm.
By September, balcony plants rarely look the way they did in June. The photo scan tells you in seconds which plant you're looking at – and what's bothering it.
Your raised bed was filled to the brim in spring, and now there's a ten-centimetre gap. That's not a mistake – and autumn is the best time to fix it.
You planted it in summer and you'll harvest from October — but the leaves that carry you through winter are forming right now. Here's what matters in these weeks.
September ripens more than fruit — it ripens seeds too. Three beginner-friendly crops let you lay the groundwork for your 2027 garden without spending a cent.
The first nuts are dropping, and everything in the bed below is sulking. Juglone is part of the story, but not all of it.
A few rows now, and you will be picking from October well into March. Corn salad is the least demanding plant in the autumn raised bed, and kids love harvesting the little rosettes.
The best moment to sow is usually the one you forgot about. A small bell in the plant library reminds you in time — and it factors in your climate zone.
The first beds are clearing in late August, and right now you still remember exactly what grew where. That makes it the ideal moment to lock in next year's rotation.
Late August is far from the end of the season. Radishes need about four weeks, mizuna a good five - which means fresh greens in your raised bed well into October.
The first winter squash ripen in late August — but harvested too early, they rot in storage. Four signs tell you when the moment is right.
You sow lamb's lettuce, spinach and salad leaves in late August, and nothing happens. Usually it isn't the seed's fault — it's a few degrees too much down in the bed.
August is when the harvest really rolls in — and with it the most useful data of your gardening year. Write it down now, and next spring you'll plan from facts instead of a hunch.
Your tomato keeps growing and setting new flowers while the fruit below stays stubbornly green. In late August, one cut decides what actually ripens.
Strawberries don't go in the ground in spring – they go in now. Plant in August and next year you'll pick full bowls instead of the odd berry, as long as you get one thing right: the planting depth.
After garlic, early potatoes and lettuce, August often leaves bare patches behind. Sow a cover crop now and you'll feed your soil – and save yourself real work next spring.
Mid-August opens the best sowing window for autumn spinach. Sow now and you'll be harvesting from October – and with one simple trick, well into winter.
Your bush beans are loaded with pods? Now your picking rhythm decides how long the plants keep producing — and how tender the beans end up on your plate.
Companion planting works in containers too: some herbs support each other, others make life hard for their neighbors. Here's how to pair them well.
While the summer harvest is in full swing, what ends up on your plate in October is decided now. Winter radish is the easiest way to fill beds that have just opened up.
By late July, zucchini plants produce faster than you can cook. With the right harvest rhythm and a few storage tricks, nothing goes to waste.
Weeks of heat, then a heavy thunderstorm – and suddenly your best tomatoes split open. Here's what's going on and how to protect your harvest.
High summer is harvest time – and right now is when the most valuable insights for next season happen. Write them down, and your winter planning gets twice as smart.
Mild, crunchy, and ready in about eight weeks: kohlrabi is the perfect vegetable for kids — and mid-July is your last ideal sowing window.
Picked the last of your summer raspberries? Now's the time to grab your pruners: cutting right after harvest sets up next year's crop.
July is when broccoli, savoy and friends move into the bed – right as the cabbage white butterfly hits peak season. One old bed partner helps; two popular myths don't.
Leaves drooping at noon, soil bone-dry by evening: potted plants are the first to suffer in a heatwave. These four simple moves will get your balcony garden through high summer.
Early potatoes, garlic and onions are clearing out of your beds right now — and that's exactly your opportunity: three autumn salads want to go into the ground now.
In early July the bushes are loaded. Pick your currants truss by truss at the right moment and you'll save work — and enjoy the harvest far longer.
Lettuce harvested, radishes long gone — and suddenly your raised bed has gaps? Sown in July, Swiss chard fills them reliably and keeps you in fresh leaves well into late autumn.
By late June it shows up almost overnight: a mealy white film on the leaves. With the right care you can slow powdery mildew down — no chemicals needed.
Pull too early and the bulbs stay small; too late and they split and barely keep. Here's how to nail the timing.
A spot, a hole, a white film — and you have no idea what's going on. Rootivo's photo scan gives you a first hunch in seconds, instead of helplessly googling.
In late June the carrot fly's second generation takes flight — and right now it decides whether your carrots stay sound. One simple pairing helps more than most people think.
In high summer it's not the amount of water that decides your harvest, but when and how you water. Three mistakes cost you effort, water and plants — and all three are easy to fix.
Side shoots cost your tomato plant energy without adding a single extra fruit. Pinch them out regularly now and you'll harvest bigger tomatoes on healthier plants.
Pluck single leaves and you'll soon be left with a bare stem. Cut it the right way and your basil grows back denser — and keeps giving well into autumn.
Radishes and early lettuce are out, and the empty patch tempts you to refill it with the wrong thing. One simple crop-rotation rule keeps your soil healthy and productive into autumn.
Radishes harvested, spring lettuce gone to seed — and now there are gaps in your bed. Instead of stuffing in whatever's left, the Magic Wand gives you a thought-through replanting plan in seconds, with companion planting and crop rotation already baked in.
Big seeds, fast germination, a generous harvest: bush beans are the perfect June crop for beds with kids. Here's how to direct-sow them — and which neighbour makes them thrive.
Sticky leaves, curled shoots, an army of tiny suckers: aphids boom in June. Here's which beneficial insects and companion plants actually help — and three popular tips you can skip.
Head lettuce loves to bolt in June and turns bitter. Loose-leaf lettuce, on the other hand, gives you leaf after leaf for weeks. Here's how to keep it thriving even in the summer heat.
Once the heat arrives, bare beds dry out fast. A layer of mulch saves you litres of watering all summer long — and a lot of work.
A single zucchini plant can feed a whole family — and in June there's still plenty of time to get one going. Here's how to make it thrive, even in a raised bed.
Mid-June is peak strawberry season. Pick the right way and you'll get far more flavour from your patch — plus three easy ways to preserve whatever doesn't get eaten on the spot.
While everyone is focused on the summer bed, experienced gardeners are already planting the second wave. What goes into the soil in June will feed you long after the tomatoes are gone.
Muggy nights, warm rain, dense foliage — perfect blight weather. The next three weeks decide whether you harvest in August or watch bitter streaks spread.
Combine your plants right in June and you will harvest deep into October — with less watering, less fertilizing, and almost no pest control. Seven classics from practice.
Half your lettuce gone overnight? We separate what actually works from what is just internet folklore — and show you the best combination for the next two weeks.
Sunday is Garden Day. Before you just sit with a coffee between the tomatoes: these three little rituals turn the day into a real anchor for your season.