Simple ways to save money while you garden
Cannas can make an ordinary garden look tropical all summer, with huge leaves and brightly colored flowers that sometimes continue until frost. The problem arrives when temperatures plunge, because these heat-loving plants aren’t equipped to handle frozen ground in colder climates. Their underground rhizomes can be saved and replanted, however, which means a little fall…
Dahlias can bloom spectacularly right into fall, which makes it painful to watch freezing weather turn a thriving plant black almost overnight. The flowers may be finished, but the valuable part of the plant is still underground: the cluster of tubers capable of producing next year’s plants. In colder climates, those fleshy tubers generally can’t…
Hostas put on one of the best foliage displays in a shade garden all summer, but they aren’t particularly attractive once cold weather arrives. After a hard frost, those broad green leaves can quickly collapse into a yellow, brown or slimy mass lying over the soil. That’s normal: hostas are herbaceous perennials that go dormant…
Spring garden centers have a way of convincing us that our soil desperately needs another bag of something. Fertilizer, lime, compost, sulfur and specialty amendments can quickly turn a simple vegetable bed into an expensive project, especially when you’re guessing about what the soil actually needs. Fall soil testing replaces much of that guesswork with…
When frost threatens your pepper plants, most gardeners immediately think about harvesting the peppers—but this may also be your last chance to collect next year’s seeds. Saving seeds from a favorite plant costs practically nothing and can turn one successful pepper into dozens of potential plants next season. The catch is that saving pepper seeds…
That last tomato may be off the vine, but your tomato season isn’t quite finished. What you do with those tired, brown plants now can affect disease pressure, garden cleanup, and even where you should plant next year’s crop. Simply leaving old vines sprawled across the bed until spring may allow infected plant debris to…
Fall garden cleanup used to mean cutting every perennial to the ground, raking out every leaf, and leaving beds nearly bare before winter. We now know that some of what looks like garden debris is actually valuable shelter for bees, butterflies, moths and other beneficial insects spending winter in our yards. That doesn’t mean you…
Those bags of tulips, daffodils, and crocuses appearing in garden centers every fall aren’t being sold months early by accident. Many familiar spring-flowering bulbs actually need an extended period of cold before they’ll develop and bloom properly, which is why gardeners traditionally put them into the ground before winter rather than waiting for spring. The…
One chilly night can wipe out months of herb growth surprisingly quickly, especially when a warm fall suddenly turns cold. Basil is particularly vulnerable, but container-grown rosemary and other tender herbs may also need help when temperatures tumble. Fortunately, protecting herbs from frost doesn’t require an expensive greenhouse or a cart full of garden supplies….