Science
by The Explainer You’ve probably tasted tamarind — that enigmatic, tangy flavor hiding in chutneys or stealing the show in pad thai. But nurturing a majestic imli (Tamarindus indica) tree, using its bounty with confidence, and troubleshooting your way from failure to flavor? That’s a different story. If you’
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Step into my early summer garden at 7 a.m. The air is still cool, the world mostly silent except for a staccato flurry of wings—a ruby-throated hummingbird hovers in front of my firecracker plant. This has become a ritual I look forward to more than that first cup
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The first time I tried to keep a plant alive in my apartment—a pothos, picked up during a rainy afternoon at the Union Square Greenmarket—I was convinced it would be easy. After all, everyone says pothos are “impossible to kill.” What nobody told me was that low-light doesn’
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If your backyard garden has ever looked more “oops” than oasis, you’re in good company—because even the most passionate green thumbs trip over watering blunders that nobody seems to mention. Let’s get real: We’ve all over-loved a tomato or starved a sunflower at some point. The
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After more than a decade spent kneeling in backyard soil and running field tests on what actually grows with minimal drama, I can say with certainty: most “easy vegetable” lists overpromise and underdeliver. I’ve seen first-year gardeners quit after their Instagram-inspired kale bolts or their tomato seedlings wither, while