Blog
The crop guides, companion-pairing pages, and zone calendars on this site are built for quick, specific answers. These posts are where we go deeper on the method itself - why companion planting works the way it does, how to read a frost date, why certain pairings are lore rather than evidence, and the reasoning behind bed-layout decisions that a single reference page doesn't have room to unpack.
Start with the first post below if you want the full picture of how this site rates evidence before diving into individual crop or pairing pages.
What You'll Find Here
- Deep-dive explainers on specific companion-planting systems (like the Three Sisters)
- How-to guides for reading frost dates, succession planting, and crop rotation
- Honest breakdowns of what's evidence-backed vs. traditional lore across whole categories of advice, not just one pairing at a time
- Seasonal posts tied to real gardening tasks, like fall cleanup and cover cropping
Publishing Cadence
New posts are added periodically rather than on a fixed weekly schedule - we'd rather publish a genuinely researched, in-depth piece less often than pad out a content calendar with thin restatements of what the reference pages already cover. Several posts here tie into seasonal timing (fall cleanup, cover cropping, starting seeds indoors) and are worth revisiting year to year as your own planting calendar comes back around.
If you'd rather browse by topic than by post title, the Companions, Zones, and Layouts hubs are still the fastest route to a specific answer - these posts are for going deeper once you already have the basics down.
- Companion Planting 101: What Actually Works (and What's Folklore)
- The Three Sisters: Why Corn, Beans and Squash Actually Work Together
- Evidence vs. Lore: How We Rate Every Companion-Planting Claim
- Reading Your First and Last Frost Date (Without Getting Burned)
- Succession Planting for a Longer Harvest Window
- What Not to Plant Together: The Real Antagonists
- Starting Seeds Indoors: A Zone-by-Zone Timeline
- Crop Rotation for Small Backyard Gardens
- Trap Cropping Explained: Sacrificing a Few Plants to Save the Rest
- Raised Bed vs. In-Ground: Which Is Right for Your Yard
- How to Read a Seed Packet Like a Pro
- Fall Garden Cleanup and Cover Crops for Better Soil