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.

A full cottage-style border incorporates tall trees in back, a variety of low shrubs, and finally, shorter perennials and annual flowers.

Gardening Tips

What’s My Garden Style?

Do you know your garden style? Whether you're designing a landscape from scratch or redoing your current garden, landscape designer Liz Jaros is here to help with an explanation of seven popular garden styles, their key characteristics, and recommended plants for each!

A gardener prepares biodegradable seed pots for planting and surface sows seeds.

Gardening Tips

Starting Seeds vs. Buying Plants: Pros and Cons

It’s likely one of the first questions on a new gardener’s mind. Should you buy plants at the local nursery or big box store? Or sift through a catalog, picking out packets to start your plants from seed? Gardening expert Kelli Klein reviews the benefits and drawbacks of each.

A gardener holds two large clumps of roots that have been divided from one large perennial plant.

Basics

When Should I Divide Perennial Plants?

To successfully divide perennial plants without risking their health, you must divide at the right time. Gardening expert Madison Moulton breaks down how to tell when is the perfect time to divide perennial plants.

Drifts of golden yellow black-eyed susans and pink coneflowers bloom in a lush border.

Gardening Tips

11 Tips for a Native Garden with Curb Appeal

Some gardeners are afraid to grow a native plant garden, fearing it will look untidy. There are many ways you can help your garden look great, both up close and from a distance. In this article, gardening expert Liessa Bowen discusses 15 tips to help your native plant garden thrive and look spectacular in the process!

a backyard raised bed contains many varieties of greens to incorporate in a plant-based diet.

Gardening Tips

How to Grow Your Own Backyard Blue Zone

Drawing from the wisdom and habits of some of the world’s longest-living populations, growing and eating your own fruits and vegetables is a vital key to longevity. Check out our guide to growing your own backyard Blue Zone in this article.

A gardener uses red-handled bypass pruners to deadhead a withered yellow rose bloom.

Gardening Tips

How to Deadhead Flowers for Repeat Blooms

You may have heard the term deadheading, but do you know what it means and why it's important? Gardening expert Kelli Klein walks you through the benefits of deadheading and how to successfully complete this regular maintenance to produce more blooms.

In a beautiful English-style cottage garden, pink and purple peonies thrive alongside companion plants boasting white blossoms. The garden's expanse is lush and inviting, creating a picturesque scene of floral abundance.

Gardening Tips

How to Create A Cottage Garden

Interested in creating a charming cottage garden in your yard? In this article, gardening expert Melissa Strauss will walk through the steps and elements of creating a wonderfully wild cottage garden.

Emerging from the rich brown soil, Spring Iris rhizomes display slender, pale shoots. Delicate, lance-shaped leaves unfurl, showcasing vibrant green hues and intricate veins.

Gardening Tips

How Do You Control Plants that Spread by Rhizomes?

Are you growing rhizomatous plants in your garden and looking for ways to control the spread? Then you’re in the right place! Join small-scale gardening expert Jenna Rich as she discusses how these plants spread and tips on how to tame them so your garden doesn’t become overrun.

Adjacent to the sunlit window, potted plants stand with wilting, drooping greenery. The plants appear weak and thirsty, their leaves sagging and lacking vibrancy, yearning for hydration and care.

Gardening Tips

How to Tell If You’re Underwatering Your Plants

Unsure if your plant needs water? Horticulture professional and former organic farmer Logan Hailey can help you identify the key signs of underwatering so you can quickly rehydrate your plants. This article also explores how to differentiate drought stress from other plant problems.

Underneath a glass drinking bowl resting on a brown table, numerous bees gather to sip water. They are small, striped insects with delicate wings, their fuzzy bodies shimmering in the sunlight as they hydrate.

Gardening Tips

How to Create a Bee-Watering Station

Adding a watering station to your garden is a great way to help support and protect local bee and pollinator populations. Read on to learn why a watering station is a valuable addition to your pollinator garden and how you can make a simple one yourself!