Outdoor Living
How to Lay a Flagstone Path: A Step-by-Step Guide
To lay a flagstone path, you excavate about 6 inches of soil, compact a 4-inch base of crushed rock, spread a 1…
Outdoor Living
Your backyard can be the most-used room in your home. This section is about turning ordinary yards into places you actually want to spend time — patios and decks, fire features, lighting, shade, low-maintenance lawns and the planting that ties it all together. Expect practical ideas for every budget, whether you’re starting from a bare slab or refreshing a tired garden.Begin with our pillar guide to outdoor living and backyard landscaping, then browse the projects and gear that make the space inviting after dark and easy to maintain.Popular guides in this category:Backyard landscaping & outdoor living ideasThe best fire pitsThe best solar outdoor lightsSmall backyard ideas on a budget
Outdoor Living
How to Build a Gravel Patio: Step-by-Step DIY Guide
To build a gravel patio, you excavate 6 to 8 inches of soil, lay landscape edging to hold the shape, add and…
Outdoor Living
How to Blanch Vegetables for Freezing
Blanching is the step that separates garden-fresh frozen vegetables from the limp, faded, off-tasting bags that put people off freezing in the…
Outdoor Living
How to Build a Root Cellar
A root cellar is one of the oldest and most reliable ways to store a harvest, and it runs on nothing but…
Outdoor Living
How to Freeze Vegetables From the Garden
Freezing is the easiest way to put up a garden glut, but doing it well takes more than tossing produce into a…
Outdoor Living
How to Store Fresh Herbs
Few things are more frustrating than picking a beautiful handful of basil or cilantro and finding it slimy and black in the…
Outdoor Living
How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
Frost is coming and the vines are still loaded with green tomatoes. The good news is that most of them will ripen…
Outdoor Living
How to Cure Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are the one harvest where curing does more than extend storage life. It transforms the crop. A sweet potato dug…
Outdoor Living
How to Cure Onions for Storage
A freshly pulled onion looks ready to store, but it is not. The neck is still thick and green, the outer skins…
Outdoor Living
How to Cure Garlic for Storage
Curing garlic is the simple, unglamorous step that decides whether your harvest lasts three weeks or ten months. Pull a bulb from…