First Steps

The road to having a beautiful spring flower bed starts with proper bed preparation. Follow these few easy steps to assure that you – and your garden – have a blooming, colorful spring.

You don’t need a back yard to enjoy the love of gardening. Cultivate your would-be green thumb in a community garden!

Plants, like humans, have their likes and dislikes when it comes to their neighbors. “Companion planting” encompasses a variety of practices that, while often not well understood, seem to encourage growth and discourage pests.

With the New Year fast approaching and a new growing season just around the corner, now’s the time to start thinking of your garden’s future. Here’s what three of our Learn2Grow® members are planning on growing toward in 2008.

Master Gardener Annie Spiegelman (AKA the Dirt Diva) resolves to make the world – or at least the gardening realm – a better place by going green. (And she’s taking others with her!)

Get your New Year’s garden off to a great start. Planning efficient gardening strategies now can save you money, time and effort later. Learn how one garden expert is planning to fill her landscape with color and beauty this year, without breaking the bank…or back.

Lynn Means’ mother always said, “Use your head and save your feet!” Today our Learn2Grow author takes those words to heart – and garden. While Lynn loves working in her yard, she knows when help is needed. Keep your love for gardening strong by knowing when it’s time to call in the professionals.

Growing plants from seed is lots of fun and rewarding for all ages. (Best of all, it’s not that difficult!) Learn the tips to successful seed starting and begin turning your thumb that deep shade of green. (Now let’s get sowing!)

Let’s love our environment! Sustainable gardening can be practiced at home and in the community. Determine your yard’s sustainability quotient using these tips.

There’s much to consider before your vegetables (and other plants) can grow on their way to a bountiful harvest – from soil tests and amendments to container or bed preparation. Here’s what to keep in mind before putting that first little veggie in the ground.

It’s not just a mirage: You can have a beautiful, bountiful garden in tough, desertlike conditions. The trick is picking the right plants, planning out your garden and conserving that precious liquid that falls from the sky. Learn some easy tips to follow – and become water wise!

You can grow beautiful, bountiful gardens in windy, cold, arid conditions. The trick is picking the right plants, planning out your garden and conserving that precious liquid that falls from the sky. Learn some easy tips to follow – and become water wise!

It’s time to get crafty. The window rooter adds a new dimension to windowsill gardening – propagation! Create a custom piece of art that decorates your window and promotes new plants from vegetative cuttings. It’s fun. It’s inexpensive. And it gives you another location to garden!