Our garden plants need more than we often think. Learn why and how to site your garden to give them the ideal amount.
Perfect soil is a gardener's dream, but few of us start with it. We build it. Great gardeners grow soil. Healthy plants are their reward. Learn the five characteristics of perfect soil, the dramatic lessons inherent in the true depth and breadth of our plants' roots, and how to grow your own ideal garden soil.
Giving garden plants the right amount of water is essential but can also be easy. Learn the secrets to giving them what they need and using nature's help and a few simply tricks to make it easy and incredibly efficient.
Our plants fall into two main groups: cool-season plants and warm-season plants. Learn how to plant each at the best time for your best windows of their ideal growing temperatures.
Proper plant spacing and a garden layout that helps meet plants' needs have a dramatic effects plant health and production and long-term soil health. Learn how to conserve water, keep soil loose, and keep plants healthy through thoughtful design, layout, and spacing.
Every plant has preferences for which plants grow near it. Learn which plants thrive next to each other, which ones makes strong teams of three or four, and even how to use companion planting to dissuade pests.
Easy Companion Groupings to Get Started To make getting started with companion planting easier, here are three combinations of common vegetable garden plants listed in order of what they do well next to: COMPANION COMBINATION Read more…
Planting Times In terms of their preferred, and in some cases required, growing temperature, plants fall into two main groups: cool-season plants and warm-season plants. Cool-Season Because cool-season plants can take a light frost but Read more…
Finding Your Last Frost Date To find your specific, local average last frost date in the spring, you can click on any of the links below. Each will take you to a page with resources Read more…
The Four Main Needs of All Garden Plants Plants’ Four Main Needs All plants everywhere have four main needs. They need a certain That’s it. Thrive In Correct Combination And each plant on earth thrives Read more…
Gardening Can Be Easy Gardening Can Seem Hard Gardening can seem hard. I know. Every time I try to teach someone about a piece of it, I’m reminded how complicated it can be. It seems Read more…
The Basics: Cool- vs. Warm-Season Plants The Basics Traditional Planting Times Some gardeners wait to plant everything on a certain day (e.g. Mother’s Day). It’s a strategy that has been passed down in gardening families Read more…
How to Tell the Difference between Straw and Hay and Why It Matters People often ask about the differences between straw and hay and which is better for mulching a vegetable garden. Here’s a simple Read more…
Adjusting Mulch Timing and Thickness to Create Perfect Soil Microclimates Using the suggestions for cool- and warm-season plants as a starting point, gardeners can also make adjustments to fit each crop based on your current Read more…
Mulching Cool- and Warm-Season Plants Different plants prefer different growing conditions. In general, cool-season plants like cool and quite moist soil, and warm-season plants like warmer and, often, a little drier soil. Mulch each accordingly, Read more…
