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 beautiful sloped garden features a natural rock path and swathes of purple and yellow-blooming ground cover plants.

Gardening Tips

19 Tips for Gardening on a Hill or Slope

Wondering how to plant a garden on a steep hill or a slight slope? Well, it’s not the same as growing on flat ground. Check out gardener Briana Yablonski’s tips to help avoid erosion and end up with a beautiful hillside garden.

Close-up plan of a garden with deep pink Astilbe blooming. Astilbe features feathery and finely divided plumes of flowers that rise above its lush, fern-like foliage.

Gardening Inspiration

25 Beautiful Plants for A Firewise Landscape

As wildfire seasons get longer and more intense, you need landscaping plants that retain moisture and reduce burnable fuel near your home. Former organic farmer and horticulture expert Logan Hailey digs into 27 gorgeous firewise plants for a variety of climates, aesthetics, and uses.

Composting for beginners. Close-up of two gardeners shoveling fresh compost from a compost bin into a small wheelbarrow in the garden. The compost container is tall, plastic, black. The wheelbarrow is green.

Gardening Inspiration

Compost 101: How to Start Composting for Beginners

With so many bins, methods, and theories, composting can seem like complex mysticism. What do you add, what shouldn’t you add, and how do you make your compost like that rich, quality stuff you can buy at the garden store? Former organic farmer Logan Hailey demystifies the composting process using reliable science and layman’s terms.

Close-up of raised beds filled with fallen leaves in an autumn garden. Raised beds have a metal frame and an oval oblong shape. The leaves are dry and come in a variety of shapes, textures and colors including gold, orange, pink and purple.

Gardening Tips

Can You Use Fall Leaves to Fill Raised Beds?

Those looking to save space and money on soil have probably considered using fall leaves to fill raised beds. But what impact does this have on growth? Gardening expert Madison Moulton answers the question – can you use fall leaves to fill raised beds?

Close-up of a gardener's hands installing drip irrigation on a garden bed with growing cabbages. The drip irrigation system is a connection of thin hoses to a drip sprayer for watering plants closer to the roots.

Gardening Tips

How to Install a DIY Drip Irrigation System in 9 Easy Steps

If you’re tired of dragging a hose through your garden or looking to cut back on your water bill, drip irrigation could be the solution. These systems may seem complex, but designing and installing a system is simple. Join vegetable farmer Briana Yablonski as she explains how to add drip irrigation to your garden.

In the hands of a creative artisan, red berries become focal points in festive wreaths crafted from fragrant fir branches. The wooden table serves as a canvas, hosting an arrangement of these handmade wreaths, lush greenery, red berries, and pinecones.

Gardening Tips

15 Best Plants To Make DIY Holiday Wreaths

If you want to flex your creative muscles over the holidays or save on your décor expenses for the holiday season, making your own DIY wreath is the answer. Gardening expert Madison Moulton lists 17 plants you can use to make the perfect holiday wreath.

close up of a plant that features large, ovate to lance-shaped leaves that are often smooth and green, with prominent veins. There are elongated, drooping clusters of purple berries growing on bright pink stems.

Gardening Tips

28 Invasive Plants to Avoid in the Pacific Northwest

Do you live in the Pacific Northwest and want to grow a healthy landscape without any invasive species? Invasive plants can take over your garden, invade nearby natural areas, and compete with native species. In this article, gardening expert Liessa Bowen shares 28 invasive plants you should not introduce into your yard or garden.