Category Archives: Gardening Basics
Spotting Early Spring Natives
Learn how to identify early spring natives as they emerge, supporting pollinators and planning a healthy, thriving seasonal garden.
Cold Soil Vegetable Favorites
Learn cold soil vegetable planting for early spring crops like peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, carrots, beets, kale, and chard to get a head start.
Secrets of Spring Bees
Discover how a spring native pollinators garden helps bees thrive by preserving habitat, planting early flowers, skipping pesticides, and offering water sources.
Rotating Your Vegetable Crops
Whether you just plant a few tomatoes, herbs and some lettuce or an elaborate garden complete with exotic selections of lesser known veggies, you’ll want to rotate your crops each year. All types of vegetable crops – brassicas, onions, legumes and root crops – require a slightly different blend of nutrients and trace elements, even […]
Family Gardening: Attracting Wildlife to the Garden
Attracting wildlife to the home garden is an enjoyable and creative way to teach children about nature, evoke their respect for the environment and provide meaningful family together time.
Holiday Tree for the Birds
Celebrate the season with your feathered friends by decorating a tree in your yard, or even one in a container, with special treats they'll love.
The N-P-K of Fertilizer
Once upon a time, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary grew her garden with silver bells and cockleshells, but nowadays, most gardeners use some other forms of fertilizer that are better formulated than nursery rhymes.
What to Do During a Drought
Dire warnings about drought conditions can worry even experienced gardeners, but there are easy ways to save water and save your trees, flowers, vegetable patches, herb gardens and decorative landscaping at the same time.
Summer Watering Tips
As the days heat up, watering can become a dreaded garden chore and too many gardeners use wasteful techniques that use plenty of water but don't give their plants the moisture they really need. Make watering plants easier and more efficient with the proper practices and tools...
Color Combinations
It can be tempting to create a rainbow of riotous shades in container gardens, but are they as pretty as you imagine? Too many colors can be distracting and disjointed, giving your containers a haphazard, messy look.


