Posts By

Katherine Rowe

Katherine is a garden professional with a background in design, conservation, and public horticulture. She holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture and a love of gardens, parks, and natural lands alike. Katherine enjoys exploring gardens and wild spaces through work and travel and designing gardens with nature at the helm.

Close-up of small plant seedlings with oval, jagged, bright green leaves sprouting from seeds in soil blocks.

Seeds

15 Best Seeds to Start in Soil Blocks This Year

Soil blocking is a productive seed-starting method that suits most ornamental and edible annuals and perennials. As the soil becomes both the growing media and the “pot,” healthy roots move easily to the garden at transplanting. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores dynamic varieties for seed blocking this year.

Close-up of winter sowing supplies, featuring a row of white plastic milk jugs repurposed as seed containers, arranged against the wall of a house in a snowy winter garden with patches of green grass.

Seeds

5 Essential Winter Sowing Supplies and Equipment

Now is the time for winter sowing - an easy, resourceful, rewarding way to start seeds working with nature. Using simple containers for homemade “greenhouses,” strong seedlings emerge, ready for transplanting. With a few essentials and repurposed household supplies, we’ll be on our way to (nearly) effortless seed-starting. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in all that’s needed for this streamlined approach to seeding.

Close-up of paperwhites reblooming with clusters of delicate white flowers, star-shaped petals, and small golden centers.

Flowers

9 Ways to Get Your Paperwhites to Rebloom

Our paperwhites ushered in the holidays in the loveliest ways, and now it’s time for post-bloom care. With some experimenting, you may be able to get blooms in future seasons. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe on caring for paperwhites to enjoy a potential rebloom.

Close-up of compact, square soil blocks with visible textured edges and fine particles pressed tightly together made from high-quality soil mix.

Soil Building

How to Make Your Own Soil Block Mix: Growing Medium Recipes to Try

For success with soil blocking, a nutritive potting mix suited to the seed-starting method is essential. With a few ingredients, making your own mix goes a long way, using materials that have multiple garden applications. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in exploring core ingredients and rich variations to boost soil-blocked seedlings this season.

Small green sprouts with oval-shaped leaves growing in dark planting material.

Soil Improvement

The Ultimate Beginner Guide to Soil Blocking

Soil blocking is a rewarding, hands-on way to promote healthy seedlings while reducing material use and saving space. If you’re interested in this historic way of seed-starting, we’ve got the essentials covered. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores everything you need to start soil blocking this season.

A woman's hand picking ripe, orange clementines from slender branches with glossy, dark green leaves in a sunny garden.

Fruits

How and When to Pick Clementine Fruit

Clementines offer a sweet, on-the-go burst of fresh citrus. The small fruits are durable in the home garden, making a fresh harvest that much sweeter. With a long ripening season, a few keys help determine peak readiness. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores how to select clementines for optimal flavor and juiciness.

Vibrant pink, funnel-shaped flower with delicate veining and rounded green leaves with slightly serrated edges, showcasing one of the new seed varieties January gardeners can order.

Seeds

15 New Seed Varieties We’re Ordering In January

It’s seed-selecting time! From reliable favorites to new varieties, there is plenty to be excited about as we dream up our warm-season selections. Explore delicious new seed varieties to look for in January with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.

Uniform square soil blocks with smooth edges, each holding a tiny green seedling, neatly arranged on a white surface, showcasing a soil block without blocker method.

Seeds

How to Soil Block Without A Blocker: 7 Seed-Starting Hacks

Soil blocking is an innovative, resourceful way to start seeds, where the soil becomes both the growing media and the vessel for seedlings. Interested in making soil blocks with a DIY blocker? Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in exploring ways to start seeds without a commercial tool.

Pretty lavender flowers growing in a wooden box outside of a house.

Seeds

13 Perennials You Can Winter Sow In January

Winter sowing gives seedlings a jumpstart in a protected outdoor environment and is a rewarding way to seed many of our favorite perennials. Simple containers like milk jugs become mini-greenhouses, protecting the seeds and allowing them to sprout naturally as the weather warms. Explore perennials to winter sow in January with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.

Close-up of a pothos plant in a white pot, with heart-shaped variegated green and yellow leaves, showing aphid pests on the stems and leaves.

Houseplants

Don’t Let These 5 Pests Eat Your Pothos

Easygoing pothos are usually problem-free but aren’t immune to common houseplant pests. If yours shows signs of stress or damage, scout for feeding insects who have taken up residence. Explore possible invaders and how to best treat and stave them off with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.

Close-up of tiny sprouted seeds that are never sown indoors, displaying thin vertical stems and pairs of rounded green cotyledons emerging from loose brown soil in a garden.

Seeds

13 Seeds You Should Never Start Indoors

Starting seeds indoors is viable and productive. It gives seedlings a jumpstart on the growing season as we move them outdoors in warmer temperatures. But not all seeds are best for indoor sowing. As we plan our spring gardens, explore which seeds not to start inside this winter with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.