Marcus Chen 
Last spring, my tomato garden was an absolute disaster. Three weeks after transplanting, my Beefsteak and Roma plants were already flopping sideways. The wire cages I had relied on for years had rusted through over winter. I needed a replacement…
Three winters ago, I had a patio full of cracked, faded plastic pots and a serious case of plant parent guilt. Every spring, I’d drag out whatever survived — usually not much — and start over. I’d been searching for…
Last spring, I decided to build a small bamboo shade structure in my backyard. I had plenty of poles from a culm harvest the previous fall, and I was tired of watching them sit in a pile. My problem was…
If you’ve ever pulled a sad, waterlogged dumpling out of a pot, you know the feeling. That was me, every single Sunday, for about three years. I’d been attempting homemade dim sum for a while, and my results were consistently…
Last January, I stood in my bathroom staring at a overflowing trash bin. Three plastic toothbrushes sat on top, destined for a landfill where they’d likely outlive my grandchildren. That image stuck with me. I’d been meaning to make the…
Last spring, I made a decision I immediately regretted: I let my neighbor’s running bamboo problem become my running bamboo problem. What started as a handful of shoots crossing the property line had quietly turned into a 40-foot-wide grove practically…
My Garden Path Was a Safety Hazard After Dark…
My Tap Water Problem Was Slowly Driving Me Crazy…
Last spring, I finally got serious about fixing my deck situation. My neighbor’s yard sits slightly elevated above mine, and every time I tried to relax outside, I felt completely exposed. I wanted a bamboo planter box privacy screen deck…
My back patio had a problem I kept ignoring. After every rainstorm, the old indoor rug I’d dragged outside would stay soggy for days. It smelled. It grew mildew. Mud tracked in from the garden stuck to the fibers and…