The Rainforest Garden

Writing is easy when you’re honest and happy. I’ve never had a problem writing about gardening when all I felt was wonder and unbridled enthusiasm for the natural world, just as it was ea...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2017/02/the-importance-of-being-selfish.html

I'm writing this for anyone who has ever been told that they were not good enough to succeed in life, especially those like myself with learning disabilities, social anxiety or an inability t...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/09/my-guidance-counselor-said-that-i-was.html

Whenever I try feeding birds with those cheap suet basket feeders, I either end up with a gooey mess or find that some squirrel has run off with the thing within hours. However, I’ve also fou...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/05/make-vertical-garden-from-cheap-suet.html

During my first year as a father, I struggled to adjust to my new life and felt disconnected to the activities that once made me happy - even gardening. But I eventually got the hang of it and ...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/04/how-to-garden-with-baby-or-toddler_29.html

Big changes are underway in my garden, and over the last month or so I've been hard at work planting new beds, rearranging, laying paths and composing vignettes. You know, gardening stuff. I'll...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/04/my-elevated-planter-and-other-new-stuff.html

Now that I've made some headway on my own dry creek bed, I feel prepared to share a few of my tips for making it look better than an awkward ribbon of rocks. It isn't finished and probably neve...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/04/how-to-design-dry-creek-bed-10-tips.html

As someone who's spent almost all of the last several years working from his bed or couch, I can't tell you how liberating it is to finally have a devoted workspace where I can draw and write w...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/01/a-behind-scenes-look-at-my-new-art.html

So-called Frosty Ferns have been popping up at retailers this Christmas and selling like gingerbread hotcakes. The bad news is that they probably came with no care instructions whatsoever, but ...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2016/01/how-to-care-for-frosty-ferns.html

Low-maintenance, lusciously textured and lush groundcovers can turn a backyard into a patchwork of greenery. They now blanket most of my yard, cutting my work in half and saving me the countless...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/12/8-reasons-to-plant-groundcovers.html

I've titled this post 'Our New Family Fall Traditions' in the hopes that my wife will continue baking hundreds of muffins every year. Maybe I should have called it 'Our New Monthly Family Tradi...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/10/new-family-fall-traditions.html

You may have noticed that I've taken a bit of a hiatus here recently, but I have some very good reasons. First of all, getting anything done in the garden (or home) with a toddler is a lot hard...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/10/why-im-becoming-childrens-author-and.html

If I can grill a creative and delicious dinner on the fly, then anyone can do it. I love to cook but as a rookie work-from home dad, cooking alongside an impatient toddler can be pretty stressf...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/08/mango-habanero-pork-chops-and-grilled.html

Everyone makes mistakes, including myself. The problem is that rather than learn from those mistakes, self-proclaimed 'Black Thumbs' get turned off to gardening just because they kill a few pla...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/08/10-mistakes-florida-gardeners-make.html

My garden isn’t perfect by any means, but I can at least take some credit for turning a really ugly backyard into something that looks halfway decent. Apart from a slate path that I installed...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/08/7-ways-to-fix-ugly-garden-with-plants.html

Do you have a hard time finding ingredients for your favorite Southeast Asian cuisine? Whether you want to cook Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian or Filipino food, all you have to do is grow...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/07/grow-your-own-thai-food-30-vegetables.html

It's been a long time since I've posted about what's blooming in my garden, and it might have something to do with the fact that I've been a lot more focused on the foliage and overall design l...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/07/whats-blooming-in-my-july-garden.html

I'm making a rain garden and dry creek bed to collect, filter, absorb and divert all of the runoff that had been flooding and eroding my backyard, and wanted to share how I'm turning a muddy an...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/07/from-puddle-to-rain-garden-ditch-to-dry.html

In a hot summer, your backyard can either be a haven or a hellhole. Since I've been busy tidying up my own backyard for summer, I thought I'd share some ways to get your patio and garden cookou...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/06/5-things-to-do-in-summer-garden.html

It's our second week of quitting takeout and since there's just too much for one post, I'll break it up so that I can focus on the recipes and ingredients. I used a lot from the garden this wee...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/06/savory-kale-and-sausage-skillet-recipe.html

Last Monday I packed my bags and hesitatingly waved goodbye to my family to fly out to Little Rock, where I would join an all-star team of bloggers for the fifth annual Garden2Blog event at P....

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/05/garden2blog-2015-part-one.html

Fast food and takeout have always been a big part of our busy life, but now that I'm a work-from-home dad with a veggie garden at my disposal, cooking just makes more sense. We've been using th...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/05/taking-out-takeout-week-one.html

To prepare for my trip to Garden2Blog at P. Allen Smith's  breathtaking Moss Mountain Farm  this week, I've decided to share some inspiration and tips that were inspired by my visit during l...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/05/9-garden-design-tips-from-moss-mountain.html

Gardening is a lot different now that I have a kid. I used to spend so much time anticipating the unfurling of each new leaf and flower petal on my balcony, viewing the little miracles of natur...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/04/giving-garden-tours-to-one-year-old.html

It's hard to find time to garden when you're a dad who works from home, but sometimes it's even harder to justify putting forth the time and effort in the first place. I started to feel insecur...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/04/impatience-is-virtue.html

I'm proud to announce that I've teamed up with Tuesday Morning to share some creative tips for whipping your garden into shape this spring. This post was originally published on their blog ye...

http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2015/04/refreshing-patio-for-spring.html