Garden questions, answered.

Stick your finger one inch into the soil. If it comes out damp, do not water. If it comes out dry, you can water. The plants that die fastest in our experience died because somebody was watering on a calendar instead of checking the soil.Yellow leaves with mushy stems are usually overwatering. Crispy brown tips are usually under-watering or low humidity. The two failure modes look almost opposite, which is part of why beginners mix them up.

Bright indirect light is light strong enough to read by but not strong enough to cast a sharp shadow on the wall. A spot a few feet back from a south-facing window in the morning, or right next to an east-facing window all day, qualifies. Direct sun on the leaves does not.If you cannot tell, hold your hand a foot above the plant. If you see a soft fuzzy shadow, it is bright indirect. If you see a crisp shadow with sharp edges, it is direct. If you see almost no shadow, it is too dim.

For most plants, tap water is fine. The exceptions are calatheas, prayer plants, orchids, and a handful of other species sensitive to chlorine and minerals. If you see brown leaf tips on a sensitive species, switch to filtered or rain water for a month and watch the new growth.Letting tap water sit out for 24 hours used to be common advice for chlorine evaporation. Modern municipal water uses chloramine instead, which does not evaporate. So sitting it out does not help. Filter or use rain water if it matters.

Deep enough that water reaches six to eight inches into the soil. Shallow watering trains roots to stay near the surface, which makes the bed dry out faster and the plants weaker.The simplest test: water, wait an hour, then push a finger straight down. If the soil is moist past the second knuckle, you watered deep enough. If it is dry past the first knuckle, you watered too little.

Two ways. At-home meter: an analog probe (about $15) gives a rough reading in a minute. Useful for monitoring trends, not precise enough for amendment math. Lab kit: your county extension office runs soil tests for $10 to $30 and returns a real lab report with pH, nutrient levels, and amendment recommendations.Use the at-home meter weekly during the growing season. Send a lab sample once a year, in the fall, before you amend.

To lower pH (make it more acidic, for blueberries): elemental sulfur is the slow option, aluminum sulfate the fast one. Pine fines and peat as a top-dress also nudge pH down over a season.To raise pH (make it more alkaline, for most vegetables): pelletized lime is the standard. Application math depends on starting pH and target. Use the soil-test report to calculate; do not guess. A typical lawn application is 25 to 50 pounds of lime per 1,000 square feet.

Two to three parts browns (dry leaves, shredded paper, straw) to one part greens (kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, coffee grounds), by volume. The EPA publishes this ratio because it produces the carbon-to-nitrogen balance that lets the pile heat up to 130 to 160 F and break down in three to five months.Smelly pile? Too many greens. Slow pile? Too many browns. Adjust by volume, not by precision; the system tolerates some range.

Three to five months for a maintained pile (turned weekly, kept moist as a wrung-out sponge). About a year for a neglected pile that just sits there. The volume drops to roughly one-third of the starting volume by the time it is finished.You can tell it is done when it smells like forest floor (earthy, not sour) and looks dark brown and crumbly, with no recognizable scraps left. If you can still see banana peels, it is not done.

It depends on whether the cultivar blooms on old wood or new wood. Bigleaf and oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood, so prune them right after the first flush in summer (June or July). Cut back too late and you remove next year's flower buds.Smooth (Annabelle) and panicle (Limelight) hydrangeas bloom on new wood, so prune them in late winter or early spring. They will form flowers on the current season's growth.

Late winter, before bud break, when the tree is dormant. Remove dead, crossed, or weak branches first. Then thin the canopy so light reaches the inside; figs ripen slowly in deep shade.Avoid summer pruning when the tree is fruiting. If you have to cut a branch in summer (storm damage, for example), seal the cut quickly because fig sap attracts ants and beetles.

Above an outward-facing bud, at a 45-degree angle sloping away from the bud. The angle sheds water away from the bud so it does not rot. Outward-facing means the new growth will go away from the center of the plant, opening up the canopy.For tree branches, cut just outside the branch collar (the slightly swollen ring where the branch meets the trunk). Cutting flush against the trunk damages the tree's natural sealing zone. Cutting too far out leaves a stub that decays.

Bypass shears for living wood. Two blades pass each other like scissors, making a clean cut that heals fast. Anvil shears for dead wood. One blade crushes against a flat anvil, which works for dry branches but bruises living tissue.If you can only own one pair, get bypass shears. For most home gardeners, that single tool covers 90 percent of pruning work.

Start with the three suspects in this order: old gas (drain it and refill if it has been sitting more than 30 days), spark plug (pull it, check for fouling, replace if it looks black or wet), and air filter (pop the housing, replace if visibly dirty).If those three are clean and it still will not start, the carburetor is probably gummed up. Carb-cleaner spray often fixes minor varnish; for serious gumming, the carb needs to come off and soak. Check the owner's manual (Briggs and Stratton, Honda, Toro all publish full procedures online).

For most vegetables: 12 inches minimum, 18 inches preferred. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash do well at 12. Carrots, parsnips, and tap-rooted crops need 18 to 24 to develop properly.If you are building over grass, double the depth recommendation. The bottom four inches will pack down within a season. Deeper beds also dry out slower in summer, which means less watering.

One-third compost, one-third topsoil, one-third aeration material (perlite, vermiculite, or coarse sand). The compost feeds the bed for the first season, the topsoil holds the structure, and the aeration prevents compaction.Buy the cheapest topsoil that is screened (not bagged 'garden soil', which is usually peat heavy). Use bulk delivery if the bed is more than 4 by 8 feet; bagged is only economical at small scale.

Per the ASPCA toxic-plant database: safe for both cats and dogs are spider plants, Boston ferns, prayer plants, calatheas, money trees, parlor palms, and African violets. Toxic are pothos, peace lily, philodendron, monstera, snake plant (mild), aloe vera (mild), sago palm (severe), lilies (severe for cats).If a plant is on the safe list and your cat eats a leaf, you do not need a vet. If a plant is on the toxic list and your pet ate any of it, call your vet or the ASPCA hotline regardless of how much was consumed.