Basics

Whether you're new to gardening or experienced, everyone needs some gardening basics to get going!

In this category, you'll find a wealth of information that spans a wide number of topics. From seed starting to grow bag gardening, pruning tips to raised bed tricks, you'll find the fundamentals of gardening awaiting you here.

While it's optimized towards new gardeners, even a pro can find useful tips in our Basics category. We all need to get back to basics sometimes, and there are always useful tools and tips that other gardeners have developed along the way to add to your own practices.

Our Basics category can inspire you to new gardening heights, too. Those who have experience with in-ground planting can learn about other techniques such as raised beds or vertical gardening.

Vibrant lilac flowers soak up the golden sunlight, their delicate petals unfurling gracefully. Lush leaves form a tranquil scene, enhancing the ethereal beauty of the blossoms in their radiant display.

Gardening Tips

Never Prune These 13 Plants in Fall

As leaves fall and reveal crisscrossing branches, your first impulse may be to grab the pruners! Fall is an ideal time to prune species that bloom on new wood and cold hardy species. You’ll want to avoid chopping spring-blooming plants that bloom on old wood. Learn 13 of the most common shrubs you should leave alone during the fall alongside native plant gardener Jerad Bryant.

The blooming Yarrow plant has clusters of tiny purple flowers atop tall, slender stems, with feathery green leaves creating a soft, airy texture.

Gardening Tips

25 Perennials to Cut Back in October

The weather is cooling and your perennials are getting ready to go dormant for the winter. Do you know which ones to cut back for the season? Take a guided tour with gardening expert Liessa Bowen to learn about 25 popular perennials to cut back in October to help clean up your garden before winter.

A close-up of a gloved hand using a weeding tool to extract bright yellow dandelions from the soil, surrounded by vibrant green foliage and nearby blooming flowers.

Gardening Tips

13 October Gardening Tasks

Autumn is here! While the garden may be starting to rest and die down, there are some things you can do to keep it in tip-top shape. Get ready to compost, replenish soils, and save seeds before winter frost arrives. Join native plant gardener Jerad Bryant and complete these 13 essential October gardening tasks.

A lush scene filled with vivid purple and pink flowers thriving amidst abundant greenery, with tall plants stretching up toward the sky, partially covering a wooden fence and a small shed in the background.

Gardening Tips

7 Benefits of a Messy Garden

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Messy gardens perfectly represent this phrase, as they create a new standard of ornamental beauty in the landscape. They also save you a ton of work! Join native plant gardener Jerad Bryant to see how a messy garden can boost biodiversity while saving you time and money.

A small glass bowl filled with a dark liquid sits on a wooden coaster, surrounded by autumn leaves and a honey dipper on a light-colored surface.

Gardening Tips

Spraying Maple Syrup on Garden Plants: Useful Hack or Harmful?

Maple syrup has hidden benefits besides being naturally sweet and delicious. Just as it’s the sugary carbohydrate food and energy source for maple trees, it shows similar attributes in the garden. But tapping into its benefits goes beyond a spray treatment, which creates a sticky situation. Explore how maple syrup helps enrich soil and plant health with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.

A large, round, dark squash with light speckles clings to a thick vine, nestled among broad, leafy plants, sitting on soil in a shaded part of the plot.

Gardening Tips

How to Ripen Green Pumpkins

Gardeners plan for big, round pumpkins that are uniform in color, but sometimes you have to harvest them early when they’re still green. Whether you had an early frost or had to protect your precious gourds from disease, you may now be wondering how to ripen green pumpkins. Thankfully, it’s a simple process that only takes a few weeks. Plant biologist Emily Estep will tell you everything you need to know about how to ripen green pumpkins.

A sun-drenched white clover cover crop showcases vibrant green, three-lobed leaves and clusters of delicate white flowers, effectively leaving empty garden beds covered in lush, beneficial ground cover.

Gardening Tips

7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Leave Your Garden Beds Empty at the End of the Season

A clean garden bed is a blank slate for the next round of planting, but it's also an opportunity to enrich soils and habitat while preventing weeds in the “off” season. If you’re giving your raised or in-ground beds a winter break, consider leaving vegetation in place, adding mulch, or sowing a crop cover for added benefits. Explore reasons to avoid a clean sweep with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.