You can stake a tree if you want, but it’s not all that necessary. There are really only two times to stake a tree. One is if it’s been planted as a bare-root tree and therefore lacks sufficient root mass to keep it upright. And the other is if you live on a hilltop where strong winds blow. Otherwise, there’s no real benefit to staking a tree. In fact, when left to sway in the wind trees develop stronger trunks. But if you do stake a tree, remember to remove the stake after the first year.

Is it really? I don’t buy it. And the folks who recommend it are mostly those who sell lawn services. Mowing is a destructive process, which is why one of the cardinal rules of lawn care is never to remove more than one-third of the grass blade each time you mow to minimize stress on the turf. Scalping removes far more than that, which reduces the amount of leaf blade available for photosynthesis. If too much leaf tissue is removed, the grass will respond by redirecting energy into new leaves rather than roots. Scalping also exposes dormant weed seeds to sunlight, hastening their germination. 

Sorry, but that just isn’t true. Plants eat photons, particles of light from the sun, to produce their own food in a process called photosynthesis, and they don’t need our help (you don’t see anyone fertilizing the forest do you?). But they sometimes need a boost in nutrients, and that’s where fertilizers come in.

When a plant looks sickly, your first instinct may be to fertilize it. But that’s often the last thing you should do. A plant in poor health absorbs fewer nutrients than a healthy plant, so adding fertilizer can actually backfire by leading to an accumulation of excess nutrients and salts in the soil that can burn tender roots and cause leaf discoloration.

Instead, you should first try to zero in on what the real problem is, including pH imbalance, pest or disease problems, drainage issues, poor watering practices, and so on, all of which can inhibit the absorption of nutrients, making the addition of fertilizer a complete waste of money.

This one’s been around for years, unfortunately. The idea behind it is that gravel at the bottom of the pot improves drainage and reduces the likelihood of root rot. But in fact, it actually increases the chance of root rot, because water doesn’t move easily through the potting mix to the gravel. As a result, water builds up in the potting mix and is only released into the gravel when it’s saturated, like a sponge that can’t hold any more water. So when planting things in a pot, use only potting mix.

(The technique, by the way, is known as crocking, and soil scientists have known for over a hundred years that it doesn’t work. Said another way, crocking is a crock.)

The idea behind the use of pruning paints is simple enough: the cut surface of a stem or branch is like an open wound, and by sealing the wound the threat of rot or disease is eliminated. But in fact, pruning paints actually increase the threat by interfering with the natural healing processes.

When a stem or branch is cut, trees form scar tissue to keep pathogens out. Not only do pruning paints prevent the formation of scar tissue, they can also seal in water along with various pathogens that lead to decay.

If you mix clay with sand and add water, you get something akin to a brick, and that’s not a good thing, unless of course you’re building a home. In the garden, the only way to improve clay soil is by adding organic matter – compost, shredded leaves, grass clippings, barnyard manures, and so on. It may take several seasons and repeated applications to truly transform a clay soil into something akin to loam, but you’ll get there.

Here’s the deal -- all pesticides, be they organic or synthetic -- are chemicals. Period. Organic products are derived from natural sources (such as plants, animal byproducts, and bacteria), whereas synthetic products are man made. But they’re all chemicals, and there’s no getting around that fact. And just because a product is labeled as organic doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safer than a synthetic product.

This myth just won’t go away! The often-cited NASA studies on the ability of houseplants to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air were conducted by placing plants in air-tight, gaseous chambers, and not under normal conditions found in homes. Subsequent studies have concluded that while houseplants can indeed remove VOCs, you’d need roughly 12,000 plants to impact air quality in a 1,200 square-foot home.

This one has been around a long time, and debunked time and time again. The idea behind the claim is that water droplets can act as magnifying glasses and burn leaf surfaces, but it just isn’t so.

Succulents are some of the coolest plants on the planet, thriving in areas with high temperatures and low rainfall (kind of like Green Country in August!) as well as areas where temps drop well below freezing. They're also among the most foolproof of all houseplants.