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.

Bright orange Cucurbita pepo fruits with deep ridges rest on rich, dark soil among sprawling green vines and leaves, basking in the warm sunlight.

Gardening Tips

How Long Can You Leave Ripe Pumpkins on the Vine?

Your pumpkins may look ripe and ready to harvest, but should you pick them just yet? Leaving your vegetables on their vines has surprising benefits, like boosting flavor and making storage easier. Learn how long you can leave your ripening pumpkins in the field alongside seasoned grower Jerad Bryant.

Child in a yellow long sleeve top and grey pants using a garden hose to water a raised bed in a kids pollinator garden, featuring flowering, multi-colored phlox plants on tall stems with rounded clusters of pink, burgundy, and purple flowers.

Gardening Tips

Planting a Pollinator Garden With Kids: 5 Pro Tips

Planting a pollinator garden with kids is a delightful way to introduce them to the wonders of nature and the crucial role that birds, bats, butterflies, moths, and bees play in our ecosystem. Lindsay Miller, gardening expert and mom, shares her best advice for planting a pollinator garden with kids.

The plant features clusters of delicate, white, star-shaped flowers and slender, lance-shaped green leaves with serrated edges.

Seeds

23 Native Seeds that Require Cold Stratification to Plant in Fall

Although native plants provide food for insects and birds, many of their seeds require a cold period before they can germinate. Planting them in the fall allows them to experience cool temperatures over the winter so they can emerge as seedlings in the spring. Join native plant enthusiast Briana Yablonski to learn some native plant seeds you can plant this fall.

A lovely coastal garden with various plants, appearing to have lush greens and different colored blooms and foliage

Gardening Inspiration

31 Stunning Plants For a Coastal Garden

Coastal gardens present interesting challenges for plants. They have to tolerate salt, moisture, and sandy soils. These 31 species offer choices for any North American coastline, whether you live in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, or the West and East Coasts. Join backyard gardener Jerad Bryant in discovering stunning plants for your coastal garden.

A close-up of an iron watering can pouring water onto a zone 6 vegetable garden bed with growing rosettes of lettuce, featuring oval, bright green foliage.

Gardening Inspiration

How to Start a Vegetable Garden in Zone 6

Half the battle of learning to garden is the beginning steps. Since each growing zone has its nuances, identifying your zone and working within the boundaries is the first step to success. Organic farmer Jenna Rich tells us how to successfully start a vegetable garden in Zone 6.

A picturesque pathway made of stepping stones leading through a well-tended yard, flanked by lush, colorful plants and shrubs, with wooden structures on either side and a background of tall evergreens and soft sunlight.

Gardening Tips

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Clean Up Your Garden This Fall

Fall is a time for refreshing the garden as the cool season begins. But use a light hand—an overabundance of maintenance this time of year detracts from the diverse ecological foundation you’ve created. Autumn naturally provides a wealth of resources to utilize for the good of the future garden and to see it through winter. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in the merits of well-founded (well-deserved) less fall cleanup.

A plant with seeds still attached to the top of the stem with dried buds surrounding it ready for beginner seed-saving

Seeds

A Beginner’s Guide to Seed-Saving in the Garden

When seed-saving for the first time, you may feel overwhelmed with information about hybrids, heirlooms, and proper seed-saving techniques. This easy guide takes you from start to finish so you can confidently collect your favorite plants’ seeds. Learn how magical these tiny living things are alongside native plant gardener Jerad Bryant.

Close-up of a dried seedhead with a cluster of small, fluffy seeds ready for dispersal, supported by a slender, brown stem.

Seeds

9 Native Plant Seeds to Collect Now

Native plant seeds are invaluable treasures. Use them to grow limitless supplies of perennials, annuals, shrubs, and trees wherever you’d like. Native plant seeds appear seasonally, and certain species ripen during the fall. Join native plant gardener Jerad Bryant in discovering these nine seeds you should start harvesting now.