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.

Fe EDTA tablets arranged on a table.

Gardening Tips

How to Use Chelated Iron in the Garden

Although gardeners often apply nitrogen and potassium fertilizers to plants, they sometimes overlook micronutrients like iron. Join farmer Briana Yablonski to learn about iron fertilizers and how chelated iron can help your plants.

Closeup of a gardener deadheading wilted flowers of a plant using pruning shears.

Gardening Tips

11 Garden Tasks To Do In August

There’s still plenty of summer to enjoy, with harvests, flowers, and buzzing birds and pollinators. Late summer is a time of managing water and plant health, weeding out unwanted volunteers, and shaping leggy, ragged stems. It’s also an opportunity to make plans for the coming cool season. Learn about August garden maintenance with gardening expert Katherine Rowe to extend the season.

The cottagecore garden with a large brick mansion features a charming mix of wildflowers, climbing roses, and rustic pathways, surrounded by lush greenery and cozy nooks for relaxation.

Gardening Inspiration

9 Ideas For Creating Your Fairy Tale Cottagecore Garden

Cottagecore offers swoon-worthy florals, foliage, and fragrance in loose, informal displays. Evoking lovely and functional village and countryside gardens, contemporary cottage themes combine plant selection with pollinator services. With a bit of planning, the romantic style is within reach. Here, garden designer Katherine Rowe explores how to achieve the dreamy aesthetic.

A beautiful, orange Lepidoptera sitting on a buttonbush flower head with pretty white petals, among enormous green leaves.

Gardening Tips

11 Ways to Attract More Butterflies to Your Garden

Would you like to entice a steady stream of beautiful butterflies to visit your garden? You don’t need a huge space or major expenses to attract plenty of butterflies and other pollinators to your landscape. In this article, gardening expert Liessa Bowen shares 11 easy tips to attract more butterflies to your yard and garden.

The atlantic rainforest, boasting greenery with a variety of plants, dense vegetation, with an abundance of trees.

Gardening Tips

How Ecoregions Can Help You Select The Right Plants For Your Garden

Ecoregions resulted from a cooperative effort between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, where expert ecologists grouped the regions of North America into distinct environments. Take advantage of these guidelines, and use this study to help you select garden plants. Join native plant gardener Jerad Bryant as we tour the top ecoregions in the United States.

Green lawn with healthy variety of plant bushes with a rocky path.

Gardening Inspiration

15 Landscape Design Ideas for Challenging Gardens

Challenging sites let us flex our gardening chops. They’re opportunities for creativity, aesthetic enhancement, and site improvement. If you’ve got a tough spot, there’s likely a plant, accent, or tip to improve it. Join garden designer Katherine Rowe for a look at working with less-than-ideal sites.

A group of light orange, Agaricus bisporus, clumped together, growing at the bottom of a tree.

Gardening Tips

12 Common Mushrooms You Might Find in Your Yard

Mushrooms seem to come out of nowhere, peppering our lawns with pops of color and unusual shapes. Most folks don’t give them a second glance, having no idea which mushroom is which, but their identities don’t have to be a mystery. Amateur mycologist Emily Estep names and explains 12 common lawn mushrooms that you might just see after a rainy day

A moss lawn showcases a soft, velvety carpet of lush green with a low, even texture.

Gardening Tips

How to Plant, Grow, and Care For a Moss Lawn

Do you have a shaded yard where turf grass doesn’t grow well? Consider planting a moss lawn as a low-maintenance, sustainable alternative to a traditional grass lawn. Gardening expert Melissa Strauss covers the basics, benefits, and drawbacks.

Person holding a mini hand held shovel with sodium bicarbonate with their garden in the background.

Gardening Tips

Is Baking Soda Safe for Plants?

You may have heard that household baking soda can treat plant disease, deter pests, and improve the soil. But is this true? Join farmer Briana Yablonski to learn whether baking soda is safe for plants.