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.

Different vegetable seeds like corn, radish, and beetroot are scattered on a white table from craft bags with inscriptions, reminding gardeners to order seeds December for the upcoming planting season.

Seeds

5 Benefits of Ordering Your Seeds in December

While next year’s gardening season may seem ages away, it will be here before you know it. So, get a jump on your garden by ordering seeds in December. Farmer Briana Yablosnki shares five benefits of ordering seeds early.

Close-up of a starting seed tray with young Snapdragon seedlings showing smooth oval cotyledons and emerging heart-shaped true leaves, sprouting in December.

Seeds

17 Seeds With Long Germination Times to Start in December

If you’re wondering what to sow in December, take note of seeds with long germination times. Since these seeds take multiple weeks to germinate, planting them in December allows you to end up with healthy transplants by the time planting season arrives. Farmer Briana Yablonski shares vegetables, flowers, and herbs that you can plant in December.

Young lupine sprouts, showcasing native plant seed germination, feature slender stems, rounded cotyledons, and emerging soft, palmate leaves growing from the soil.

Seeds

7 Tips to Improve Native Plant Seed Germination

Native plants are often easier to sow than non-native ornamental species—they adapt well to local climates and sprout with little assistance. If you’re sowing them and notice sparse sprouting, use these seven tips from native plant gardener Jerad Bryant to boost their germination rates.

Bright red Euphorbia pulcherrima bracts stand out against dark green foliage

Seeds

Can You Grow Poinsettias From Seed?

Are you crushing on that stunning poinsettia you picked up for the season and want to propagate? Gardening expert Melissa Strauss explores whether you can grow these plants from seed and what other possibilities there are for propagating it.

A serene winter garden features a house surrounded by bare bushes and trees blanketed in soft white snow.

Gardening Tips

11 Winter Tasks To Do Now For An Abundant Spring Garden 

As we ready the garden for winter, there are a few activities to accomplish now for a solid foundation leading into spring. Setting these in place lets nature continue the work for us in the quiet season. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in a look at winter tasks to improve the future garden.

A person in sturdy boots scattering tiny grains over freshly tilled soil in an outdoor garden.

Seeds

How and When to Start Seeds Outdoors

It may be chilly now, but spring will be here before you know it, and along with it comes planting time. Join gardening expert Melissa Strauss to discuss direct sowing seeds in your spring garden.

A fuzzy bumblebee with bright yellow and black stripes gathers nectar from a vibrant pink flower with thin, pointed petals.

Gardening Inspiration

9 Beneficial Garden Insects That Overwinter in Fall Leaves

Autumn’s leaf drop presents a renewable resource straight from the garden. Fall leaves make an excellent mulch and soil conditioner full of nutrition, and they also create valuable habitat to foster overwintering pollinators and other beneficial insects. Explore how leaving the leaves is pollinator-friendly with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.