Blake Harrison
About the Author
Blake has 14 years of hands-on gardening experience and a strong interest in the tools and techniques that separate a garden that struggles from one that thrives. She focuses on garden planning and seasonal maintenance, and hier writing tends to be direct; she'd rather tell you what actually works than hedge for every possible situation. In his workshop, she builds and customizes garden tools, which has given her a specific understanding of how equipment performs under real conditions and what most off-the-shelf options get wrong.
Blogs by Blake Harrison
A patch of bare soil after scarifying looks worse than it usually is. In most cases, that’s normal. Scarifying rips out old thatch and moss, not healthy grass, though the
Grass-like weeds are the ones I get asked about most, probably because they’re the hardest to catch early. You mow, water, and feed the lawn, yet a few blades never
Building your own garden gate costs less than buying one, and you get to pick the exact size, style, and wood. You can build a sturdy gate in a weekend,
Coffee grounds for plants work, but only for some plants and only in the right amounts. Blueberries, azaleas, and roses respond well to them. Succulents, lavender, and seedlings do not.
Garden productivity comes down to a few decisions you make before the first seed ever goes in the ground. Gardens rarely fail because of bad luck or bad weather. They fail because of poor soil,
You bought a bag of compost. You mixed it in. Nothing happened. This is a common mistake, and an expensive one. Most pick the wrong type for their soil or plants. They spend money and
Every crowded garden is hiding the same simple fix, and most people never think to look up. So what is a trellis, exactly? It’s an open frame that gives climbing plants somewhere to go besides
Lawns on flat ground are generally easy to manage, but slopes are not. If your grass looks thin and patchy on the incline while the rest of the garden is fine, the slope itself is
People who try composting and quit didn’t fail because they were lazy. They failed because they started with the wrong system for their life. They bought a big outdoor bin with no yard, set up