Fall cleanup season has a way of making every overgrown shrub look like it needs a haircut. Before you grab the pruning shears, however, remember that some of next spring’s flowers are already sitting on those branches in the form of buds that developed months earlier. Spring-flowering shrubs commonly bloom on “old wood,” meaning growth…
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Should You Buy Clearance Trees and Shrubs in Fall? Check the Roots First
A $60 shrub marked down to $20 can make the garden-center clearance rack very difficult to walk past. Fall discounts on trees and shrubs can be genuine bargains, particularly when retailers simply need to reduce inventory before winter, but a low price doesn’t automatically make a struggling plant worth rescuing. Plants that have spent months…
Can You Plant Potatoes From the Grocery Store? Here’s the Catch
We’ve all found one: a forgotten potato at the back of the pantry with several determined-looking sprouts growing from its eyes. Throwing it away feels wasteful, especially when those sprouts make it look ready to become an entire crop of free potatoes. Technically, planting grocery store potatoes can produce plants because the potato itself is…
Before You Bag Your Fall Leaves, Try These 5 Free Uses for Them
Every autumn, homeowners rake up something surprisingly valuable, stuff it into bags, and send it away—only to spend money on mulch, compost, and soil amendments a few months later. Fallen leaves contain organic matter and nutrients that can be recycled right where they land, and Penn State estimates that the leaves from one large shade tree can provide…
Can a $2 Bag of Dried Beans Become a Garden Full of Beans?
A two-dollar bag of pinto or black beans looks like dinner, not a packet of garden seed. But dried beans are mature seeds, which raises an irresistible frugal-gardening question: could you take a handful from the grocery bag, put them in the ground, and eventually harvest far more beans than you started with? The answer…
What Happens If You Plant Spring Bulbs Upside Down?
You spent an afternoon planting tulips, daffodils, or crocuses, cleaned the dirt from your hands, and then suddenly had a terrible thought: Were some of those bulbs upside down? Garden instructions usually tell you to put the pointed end up and the flatter root end down, so realizing you may have reversed a few can…
7 Garden Cleanup Jobs That Can Actually Wait Until Spring
The first chilly weekend of fall can make gardeners feel like they’re racing a deadline: cut everything down, rake every leaf, clear every bed, and leave the yard spotless before winter arrives. But that traditional approach can create unnecessary work while removing winter habitat that birds, bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial creatures use until…
7 Garden Problems You Don’t Want Surviving in Next Year’s Compost
Turning this year’s garden waste into next year’s free soil amendment is one of the best money-saving tricks a gardener can use. But tossing everything you pull, prune, or rake into the pile can also turn home compost problems into next season’s garden problems. It’s generally a good idea for home gardeners to leave out…
This Tiny Pest Can Hitchhike Indoors on Your Houseplants This Fall
If your houseplants spent summer soaking up sunshine on the porch or patio, you may be preparing to bring them inside as fall nights get colder. Unfortunately, a plant isn’t always the only thing making the trip through your front door. Spider mites can hide on foliage, and they’re so tiny that you may notice…
Conservatory Blinds That Actually Work: Beating the Heat Without Blocking the View
Conservatories are wonderful in theory. A bright, airy extension of your living space that connects you to the garden without exposing you to the British weather. In practice, however, most UK conservatories spend half the year as saunas and the other half as freezers. The glazed roof and walls that let in all that lovely…