Rajesh Chaudhary 
A few years ago, my neighbor Carlos knocked on my door holding a small, wrinkled yellow mango. It looked nothing like the big red ones I’d been buying from the grocery store. He said, “Try … Read more
My friend Sarah called me last spring in a panic. Her Swiss Cheese Plant — a gorgeous Monstera she’d been growing for three years — had gotten so leggy it was practically crawling across her … Read more
Last summer, I grew a row of Mammoth sunflowers along my back fence. They were supposed to be a privacy screen and a pollinator magnet. They did both jobs well. But when those giant heads … Read more
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a durian in person. A grower named Heng in Homestead, Florida, had been nursing his durian tree for over a decade. He invited me over when his … Read more
A friend of mine — let’s call her Priya — grows a massive jackfruit tree in her backyard in South Florida. She started it from seed about eight years ago. For the first few years, … Read more
My buddy Marcus grows tropical fruit trees in his backyard in South Florida. A few years back, he finally got his durian tree to fruit after nearly a decade of babying it through cold snaps … Read more
Last spring, my neighbor Doug walked over to my garden bed holding a mesh bag of onion sets and a confused look on his face. “I bought these at the feed store,” he said. “Now … Read more
Botanically, butternut squash is a fruit because it: However, culinarily it’s classified as a vegetable due to its savory taste and cooking uses. Both classifications are technically correct depending on context. What you’ll learn in … Read more
Last summer, my neighbor Karen knocked on my door holding a basket of tomatoes from her garden. Beautiful, deep red Brandywines. But she looked worried. “My sister told me these are nightshade vegetables,” she said. … Read more
Last summer, I brought in a basket of perfectly ripe tomatoes from my garden. Three days later, my kitchen looked like a science experiment gone wrong. Tiny flies swarmed every surface. They hovered over my … Read more
A woman at our community garden in South Florida brought in a bag of star fruit last fall. She had a tree in her backyard that was producing more than her family could handle. Probably … Read more
My uncle used to call lettuce “crunchy water.” Said it was pointless filler. Just something restaurants put on plates to make the food look bigger. He grew tomatoes, peppers, beans—anything with obvious substance. Lettuce? Waste … Read more