The Vacation Watering Quandary

Keeping our beautiful container creations happy while were away is a bit of a challenge, but not impossible. The following ideas can be customized to any gardeners situation; many are simple and

The Story of Iris Part 7- The Big Things That Can Go Wrong.

We have all done it. That wonderful plant you saw and fell in love with dies in your garden. You have to ask why? What did I do wrong? The good news is with iris, unlike most plants, there are f

The Easy Way to Grow in Heavy Clay Soils

I couldn’t afford to have the stumps dug up and surely couldn’t do it myself. My only choice seemed to be to hide them in a raised bed. The only technique I knew was to dig out all th

The Back of the Pack-A Wealth of Information

The old adage you get what you pay for certainly applies when ordering seeds whether it be vegetable or flower. When you go to a dollar store and buy ten packs of seeds for a dollar, dont expect

The Alphabetical Gardener: Organization for an informal garden

I love the informal feel of my cottage garden, but Im enough of a plant geek to want organization, too. Its harder than youd think to plan a random, natural looking garden without having it look

Terrarium Maintenance

Hopefully after reading my past 2 articles on terrariums, you are all hooked for life and have started your own mini jungle in the house. Now that it has been a month or so, there are a few thing

Ten Things to Do When You Cant Garden (But Wish You Could)

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on January 12, 2008. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to promptly

Tater Totes: DIY fabric pots for potatoes & other plants

Tater Container ConceptPotato plants form their tubers close to the soil surface which means they need to be shielded from the sun to keep from turning toxic green and inedible, thus the traditi

Starting water lotus from seed

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on March 23, 2009.) Water lotus (Nelumbo spp.) have a notoriously and unusually long period of viable germination. According to Victoria Ad

Starting Seeds Indoors

(This article was originally published on February 2, 2011. Your comments are welcome but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to respond to your questio

Spring Cleaning in the Garden

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on March 18, 2008. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to respond to

So You Want to Grow Fruit Trees, but You Dont Have the Room

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on February 16, 2008. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to respond

Snapshots of a Winter Garden

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on January 2, 2009. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to promptly respond to new questions o

Simple Perennials You Can Grow

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on May 13, 2008. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to respond to y

Seed swapping FUN for the uninitiated (or The Rules Aint that Bad)

There are many reasons to visit Daves Garden. I know a lot of members first joined for the ability to search PlantFiles, the largest plant database in the world. I did. I subscribed when I got

Seed Starting 101: Seedling Heat Mats and Inexpensive Alternatives

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on January 24, 2008)For some types of seed, warmer temperatures are critical to germination. I successfully used the warmth from my oven lig

Seed Starting 101: Growing Peppers from Seed

Peppers are easy to start from seed. Even if you sow them in pots on a windowsill, without heat or lights or precautions against damping-off, youll probably end up with some plants for your garde

Scare Tactics

For the sake of brevity, were not going to talk about applied repellants here. You could fill a book discussing the effectiveness of various homemade or chemical remedies designed to keep Bambi a

Saving tomato seeds using fermentation

(Editors Note: this article was originally published on March 10, 2007) I love the idea of self-sufficiency in the garden, and heirloom/open-pollinated varieties of vegetables fit very

Rocky Mountain Gardening: Seed starting

(Editors Note: This article was originally published on March 30, 2009. Your comments are welcome, but please be aware that authors of previously published articles may not be able to promptly respond to new questions or