bird-friendly gardening

7 Plants That Offer Seeds Birds Can Eat Through Fall

August 19, 2026 by Brandon Marcus Leave a Comment

A garden can keep feeding birds long after the last bee disappears from the flowers, and the trick often involves doing absolutely nothing. Instead of cutting every faded bloom to the ground, gardeners can leave mature seedheads standing so finches, sparrows, chickadees, and other seed-eating birds can pick through them as fall progresses. Cornell Lab…

What Is the Best Way to Clean a Birdbath Without Harming Wildlife?

August 15, 2026 by Brandon Marcus Leave a Comment

A clean birdbath gives backyard birds something far more valuable than a fancy garden accessory: dependable fresh water. The best cleaning method removes algae, droppings, grime, and potentially harmful germs without leaving behind soap, chemicals, or other residues that birds can ingest or spread through their feathers. The trick involves less chemistry and more consistency….

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…

7 Fall Vegetables That Can Handle Cooler Nights Better Than You Think

Summer gets all the vegetable-garden glory, but fall quietly has a few tricks of its own. As nights get colder, kale, carrots, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, beets, and radishes can keep producing when heat-loving tomatoes, peppers, and beans start calling it quits. The secret lies in choosing crops that actually like cool weather instead of trying…

You Don’t Need a Big Backyard to Grow a Meaningful Amount of Food

A small backyard can produce a meaningful amount of food, even when it looks more like a postage stamp than a farm. The trick comes down to choosing productive crops, using vertical space, and giving prime growing areas to plants that actually earn their keep. That last part matters more than garden size. A sprawling…

8 Ways to Keep Your Garden Producing After Summer Vegetables Quit

Summer vegetables can make a garden feel like a produce factory with a very short attention span. One week, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and zucchini seem determined to bury the kitchen counter, and then suddenly the plants slow down, look exhausted and start offering little more than yellow leaves and one lonely cucumber hiding under the…

That Expensive Bagged Mulch May Be Sitting in Your Yard for Free

The mulch aisle at the garden center has a way of making ordinary tree debris look like a luxury product. Meanwhile, the leaves scattered across your lawn and the pile of small branches near the shed may already provide much of what those bags promise: moisture retention, weed suppression, temperature moderation, and organic matter for…