It might seem a bit silly to start talking about frost dates now, but it’s something that gardeners should keep in mind all year long. So what exactly is a frost date? There are two types that gardeners are primarily concerned with: the first frost and the last frost. These are generally given as average…
You’ve put in a lot of hard work, and hooray, it’s time to harvest! So how exactly do you do that? Every plant has a different way to know when the peak ripeness has been reached, and there is no way for me to cover all possibilities. This is one you’ll probably have to use…
The fun thing about a garden is that it’s outside. You know what else is outside? Animals. Know what animals like to do? Eat the stuff in your garden. We’ve already talked about some of the pests that might like to chow down on your plants, but they are definitely not the only critters that…
I briefly mentioned deadheading when I talked about pruning, but I think it deserves its own separate post. Deadheading is mostly referring to flowers, instead of vegetables or other types of plants. It’s kind of what it sounds like – removing the dead flower heads from the plant. But do you know when and how?…
What even is mulch? To put it simply, it’s anything you can use to cover your garden. It can be wood chips, pine straw, grass clippings, or even gravel. Now most people tend to use organic materials for mulch, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that. The purpose of mulch is to cover…
Some people like to use compost on their soil and plants. It can have lots of good nourishment for your plants, so it’s not a bad idea. You can buy it in bags commercially, or you can make your own. I remember my grandfather’s huge compost pile, and as a child it seemed a little…
Your plants are growing! That’s a great sign, and obviously we want to keep them growing. In most cases, bigger plants are better. The way to do this is fertilizing your plants. But when do you do that? How? Where? Let’s dive into the how to’s on fertilization. When to fertilize First let’s look at…
No matter how perfectly we take care of our plants, sometimes you just have to prune them. This means that you are removing part of the plant, and there are several different reasons why you might do it. You might want the plant to stay a certain size or shape, you might want to encourage…
You’ve worked really hard to grow these little plants, but now they are starting to outgrow their initial potting area. It’s time to transplant them! They might be transplanted into larger pots or the ground, depending on what type of gardening you are doing, but the basic transplanting process stays the same. Let’s go over…
You’ve grown something! Hooray! Well, a couple somethings. In the same pot. Uh-oh. This is normal. Typically when we plant from seed, we’re going to put a couple seeds in each hole or pot. Not every seed is viable, so this helps ensure we will get a plant from that pot. But now we have…
