Ponds in the desert. ALSO: Know your tomato types—determinate and indeterminate; the virtues of Umbellifers.
—by Alice Toler

In life, love and in the garden.
—by Adele Flail

Check out these great workshops and classes to get you gardening like a pro!
—by Lacey Ellen Kniep

The garden tours of Salt Lake (and some tips on spying on your neighbors’ gardens). 

Many summers ago, the Utah Museum of Fine Art offered annual (or perhaps it was biennial) tours of elegant home gardens. Thousands of garden snoops would traipse through strangers’ artfully done backyards, gleaning for good ideas or just open to inspiration. I, myself, developed a crush on an alpine garden near the zoo that I tried to duplicate in my lower-altitude, shady plot; I was young and foolish, and it ended ridiculously, but inspiration takes its chances, yes?

Growing greens in the gray of winter.

In the arid high desert, planning ahead will help you make the most of your precious water.

Despite the fact that many of us have watched animals stroll two by two toward a large boat in the west desert over the last few months, we actually live in high desert country and are entering a dry spell. July is usually the driest month in Salt Lake City with an average of .72 in. total precipitation for the 31 days. Utah is the second driest state in the nation, bested only by Nevada. Given these facts, it’s increasingly important to become water-wise if you’re not there already.

Here are practical pointers that will help you make the most of your water resources—and, if you really want to know what’s going on out there—a microcosmic peering into the cellular life that’s raging in your very own plot.