beneficial bugs

8 Insects That Actually Help in Fall Gardens

October 18, 2025 by Brandon Marcus Leave a Comment

Fall might seem like the time when gardens start slowing down, but don’t put away your gloves just yet—and definitely don’t swat at every bug you see. While we often associate insects with chewed-up leaves and plant damage, there’s an entire squad of tiny allies working overtime once the temperatures drop. These unsung heroes protect…

Ladybugs Versus Asian Lady Beetles

October 12, 2020 by Steph Coelho Leave a Comment

Gardeners—especially those new to the hobby—may find it tough to distinguish between bad bugs and beneficial insects. It can take some time to get a hang of which bugs to leave alone and which to squish dead. Unfortunately, some good garden bugs have evil lookalikes. Case in point: ladybugs versus Asian lady beetles. How…

How To Get Free Seeds From The Government by Amanda Blankenship Seeds might seem like a small expense, but any seasoned…
Should I Use Enviro Ice On My Plants? by Kathryn Vercillo Every week, I receive food from Hungryroot. It's a great…
From Trash to Treasure: Transform Shredded Paper Into Garden Gold by Amanda Blankenship Should you use shredded paper as garden mulch? It might…
What Happens to Plants If You Use Enviro Ice on Them? by Amanda Blankenship About a year ago, I wrote our first article about…

Should You Leave Fallen Leaves on the Lawn? Yes and No

For years, the standard fall routine was simple: rake every leaf, stuff the pile into bags, and make the lawn look as though autumn never happened. Now gardeners are increasingly told to “leave the leaves,” which sounds wonderfully easy until a thick layer of wet maple leaves is plastered across the grass. The truth is…

Don’t Bag Those Fall Leaves — They Could Replace 3 Things You Pay for in the Garden

Every fall, homeowners rake up something useful, stuff it into bags, haul it away, and then head back to the garden center a few months later to buy products that do many of the same jobs. Fallen leaves aren’t simply yard debris; they’re a free source of organic material that can protect soil, suppress weeds,…

Can You Grow an Avocado Tree From the Pit — And Will It Ever Produce Fruit?

You finish an avocado, look at the enormous pit left on the cutting board, and wonder why you’d throw away something that appears perfectly capable of becoming another plant. The good news is that growing an avocado tree from a pit really does work, and you don’t need an expensive propagation kit to try it….

The $30 Perennial Is Now $8 — Can You Plant It This Late?

The garden center’s clearance table can become dangerously tempting in fall: that perennial you refused to pay $30 for in May is suddenly wearing an $8 sticker. Saving $22 sounds like a fantastic gardening win, but planting clearance perennials in fall only saves money if the plant survives long enough to return next spring. Fall…