Best uses for black oil sunflowers include native and wildlife plantings, flower gardens, and microgreens. The disease-resistant plants have striking blooms that produce seeds that appeal to songbirds and pollinators alike. Our tips make it simple to grow your own supply of birdseed for the winter. Read more now.
White roses you grow yourself can be elegant, dramatic, or sweet and fresh. They look beautiful in flower arrangements and bridal bouquets, or planted to contrast with more colorful flowers in gardens and borders. Need inspiration? Learn about 17 of the best white rose varieties right here. Read more now.
Tasty, easy-care edible flowers, pansies come in an array of patterns and colors. Grow them in cool weather to yield edible blooms for garnishes, herb butter, and salads. Our guide provides important safety recommendations for growing flowers to eat, and tips for harvesting pansy blossoms all season long. Read more.
While mustard greens grow quickly and are easy to care for in the home garden, they’re also susceptible to a number of pests and brassica diseases caused by pathogens like fungi and water molds. Our guide explains how to prevent the most common ailments, like downy mildew, and ways to cope with insect pests. Read more.
All parts of the nasturtium plant are edible with flowers available in dozens of appealing shades, from pastels to deep purple, bright orange, and red. Both vining and compact varieties yield blooms for salads or garnishes and seed pods to pickle. Learn how to harvest, and discover tips to encourage the most blossoms.
When zucchini drop their flowers without producing squash, don’t panic. It could be the male flowers dropping after they release pollen, which is harmless. Or the zucchini could be suffering from poor pollination or cutworm damage. Address the root causes and learn to prevent them in the first place with our guide.
One of the easiest edible plants you can grow, wild garlic chives are also one of the most useful. They add a light garlic flavor to fresh and cooked recipes, are simple to preserve, and have edible blooms that attract pollinators. We share the best ways to grow this herb out in the garden, in a container, or indoors.
A vining heirloom tomato that grows tall and produces loads of tiny fruits, ‘Yellow Pear’ is a vintage favorite for the home garden. Our guide shares top tips for growing a bumper crop of these uniquely-shaped, mild-tasting yellow tomatoes. They’re ideal for eating straight from the vine, roasting, or sun-drying.
Grow a taste of Italy in your home garden with ‘San Marzano’ heirloom plum tomatoes. With thick, flavorful flesh, minimal seeds, and thin skins, they’re ideal for sauce, canning, or freezing, but you can enjoy them fresh, too. Read our guide to learn more about their volcanic history and gain some top growing tips.
Collards are delicious, nutritious greens you can grow in the home garden, but they taste best when you pick them at the right size and before the plants bolt. This guide explains how to time the collard harvest for maximum flavor and optimal texture, with tips for picking baby leaves and full-size greens.
Indeterminate ‘Mortgage Lifter’ tomatoes grow tall and produce glorious, meaty fruits over a long period. They got their name from a 1930s mechanic, Radiator Charlie, who paid off his mortgage with the proceeds. These heirlooms won’t pay the bills, but they’re a priceless way to enjoy real tomato taste all summer long.
Scallions are easy to plant and care for in the garden, and they’re one of the most versatile homegrown ingredients. These upright, perennial onions don’t form bulbs, but multiply by bunching. Our guide explains how to plant and care for scallions, and how to harvest them to enjoy in your favorite dishes. Read more now.
Plant peas with edible pods in your garden to yield an abundant supply of sweet, fresh-from-the-vine snacks and salad ingredients. Both snap peas and snow peas thrive in cool spring and fall weather and are easy to care for. Learn about edible pod peas to grow in your veggie garden or containers here. Read more.
Grow spring onions in your garden for an early harvest without much work. Pick immature bulbs in spring to eat fresh and add to savory dishes. We’ll guide you through sowing seeds or planting onion sets, keeping your plants healthy, and pulling these cool-weather garden veggies at the proper time for maximum flavor.
Want to grow your own canning tomatoes for year-round deliciousness? Heirloom or hybrid, huge or snack-sized, each of our favorite varieties has its own unique taste and texture. Discover 15 of the best tomatoes to grow and preserve and to fill your pantry with sauces and salsas to see you through the rest of the year.
Unexpected bad weather or long periods of low temperatures can cause cold damage to outdoor gardenias. Will your flowering shrub survive? This guide tells how to assess the damage, when to prune, and how long to wait for new growth before giving up on your plant. It includes ways to prevent frost damage, too.
Pigeon peas are a multipurpose legume to plant in your garden or containers. The seeds are edible fresh or dried, and the plants also fix nitrogen, provide a source of mulch, and attract beneficial insects. Learn how to grow pigeon peas as annuals in colder regions or as self-seeding bushy perennials in Zones 9 to 12.
Grow a bumper crop of shelling peas to eat and freeze when you choose the best variety for your home garden. Different types of English peas offer early harvest, heat tolerance, or short vines. One hybrid produces 13 seeds per pod and others are purple! Learn more about 17 top shelling peas to plant in our roundup.
Snow peas are cool-weather vegetables that even beginning gardeners can succeed with. They taste great in stir fries and salads, and veggie-hating kids love to eat them fresh from the vine.This guide shares growing tips for top yields, picks for the best varieties, and recipes for enjoying snow peas in your cooking.
Pickling cucumber plants produce a bumper crop. Eat them fresh and then harvest a bounty for homemade pickles. The best varieties to grow in your garden include gherkins, heirlooms like ‘Boston Pickling,’ and dwarf types to grow in pots. We’ve rounded up the top choices, so you can pick your favorite and get growing.
Are you wondering when it’s the right time to plant bok choy? These cool-weather crops will bolt easily if temperatures become too hot, and a heavy freeze may kill the plants. Learn the optimal time to sow bok choy seeds or set out transplants for spring and fall harvests in your climate. Read more now.
Mesclun is a traditional French favorite that’s gained popularity with American diners and home gardeners alike. Want to grow your own reliable supply of spring mix leafy greens and herbs? Here’s the scoop on planting and caring for this cool-weather crop, along with cut-and-come-again harvest tips and recipe ideas.
Aerial cucumbers are stars of the summertime vegetable garden. Just a few reasons to plant cucumbers on a fence include saving space, getting better yields, and preventing slug infestation. Our guide tells you how to choose the best site, variety of cucumber, and type of fencing for vertical growing. Read more now.
If you love bok choy but don’t have space in the garden, try growing it in containers instead. These tasty Asian greens are easy to grow in pots on the patio or even an apartment balcony. Learn everything you need to succeed with container-grown bok choy, from sowing to harvest, in this guide. Read more now.
The Worx WG184 Power Share 2-in-1 Trimmer and Edger operates on batteries for up to an hour, plenty of time for weed-eating jobs of up to half an acre. It features instant line feeding at the touch of a button, simple assembly, and nearly double the power of some other models. Check out our review to learn more.
Avoid bolting and say goodbye to scant yields by choosing the best time to pick homegrown leaf lettuce. Whether you’re growing microgreens, baby leaf, or full-size greens, these harvest methods will help you pick the best-tasting lettuce at the peak of freshness. Tasty salads are in your future, so read more now.
Bitter lettuce is such a disappointment. Potential causes include too little water, too much heat, or early-season bolting. In this guide, learn how to prevent a harsh taste when you sow or tend this salad staple. The trick is to select the best varieties, give your plants plenty of water, and harvest on schedule.
Juicy, homegrown slicing tomatoes, fresh off the vine and the bigger the better? Yes, please! This list covers 23 of the best sandwich varieties you can grow in your garden. Get ready for BLTs, fresh salsa, and caprese salads galore once these heirloom and hybrid beefsteaks start producing fruit ripe for slicing.
Tree philodendrons benefit from repotting approximately every two years. These plants like to be a bit rootbound, but may require more room to grow bigger. If you prefer, you can also trim the roots to keep the plant at a more compact size. Learn when and how to safely repot your plant in this guide. Read more now.
Different types of anthurium houseplants offer dramatic foliage or long-lasting color. This guide introduces anthurium species that are most popular with indoor gardeners, including bird’s nest, velvet cardboard, and flamingo flowers. All of these tropical beauties thrive in high humidity with minimal care.
Why does your anthurium look wilted? Causes could include too much or too little water, insufficient humidity, root rot, scorching from direct light, or maybe mealybugs or whiteflies. Here’s how to determine the causes when this tropical houseplant starts to droop, and how to revive your anthurium if it’s possible.
How much water do anthuriums need? These colorful, tropical houseplants require ample humidity and moist soil, but too much water will harm them. Help them to thrive indoors with well-draining soil and proper pots, learn how often to water, and decode signs that your plant is getting too much water, or too little.
Fresh alfalfa sprouts or microgreens grown at home are healthy and tasty. In the cold months, they’re a welcome source of fresh produce. And this indoor gardening project is simple enough for beginners and kids, with results in days. Here are the basic how-to’s, along with advice on food safety and some recipe ideas.
For inexpensive succulent houseplants that grow quickly and are easy to care for, learn to root aloe vera cuttings from single leaves or divide pups from parent plants. The gel from the leaves soothes burns, and the starts you propagate make great gifts for indoor gardeners. Learn how to propagate aloe in this guide.
When you grow lemony perennial sorrel in your garden, you’ll have a supply of baby greens and fresh herbs all year long. Garden, French, and red-veined sorrels are standouts for container gardeners and edible landscaping, too. Our guide covers planting from seed, preserving, and dividing this versatile herb. Read more.
Fragrant gardenias will grow and even bloom indoors, but only if you pay close attention to their requirements. These include humid air, ample sunlight, and temperatures between 60 and 75°F. Our guide shares tips that will help indoor gardeners grow and care for these evergreen flowering shrubs as houseplants.
When you garden in an area where gardenia shrubs are not cold hardy, you can keep them alive and flowering year-round by overwintering them indoors. This guide explains how to protect gardenias from frost, when to move them inside ahead of freezing temperatures, and how to care for them indoors during the cold months.
What causes pothos leaves to turn yellow? Improper watering can lead to root rot that can kill your devil’s ivy houseplant. Find out when a golden color is natural, why plants might get sick, and what to do about it when you see yellow. To avoid root rot and keep pothos plants healthy, follow these preventive tips.
Some of the best kohlrabi companions may provide pest control, enrich the soil, or conserve water, and they look appealing next to this purple or light green cool-season veggie too. Our guide shares the most beneficial companions to plant next to this offbeat above-ground brassica, and which plants make bad neighbors.
he Worx WG584 40V Power Share Turbine leaf blower has all the cordless electric advantages and its battery lasts up to an hour – three times longer than similar models. Three speeds and a Turbo function handle multiple lawn chores with one-handed operation. Read our review to learn if this model is right for you.
Harvest the tastiest mustard greens by picking early and often. These fast-growing Asian and Southern greens may be best at microgreen, baby leaf, or full size, depending on the variety. Just don’t let them get too large and bitter. Here’s how to pick broadleaf, tatsoi, and mizuna types at their peak.
Don’t let homegrown pumpkins rot before you can cook or carve them! Store the pumpkin harvest in a way that maximizes shelf life and flavor. This guide tells how long you can keep competition, pie, and jack-o’-lantern pumpkins after picking, and shares tips for storing them through Halloween – or even December.
Petunias are not cold hardy, and they grow as perennials only in Zones 9-11. But even in cooler climates, you can maximize their blooming season outdoors with a few preparations. Follow these strategies for preparing petunias for cool weather, and you’ll have waves of blooms well into autumn. Read more now.
Collect, sort, dry, and store pumpkin seeds from open-pollinated varieties and you’ll have an abundant supply to sow for years to come. Some will still germinate after six years! Find directions here for timing and storage techniques, along with cautions about varieties that don’t work for seed savers. Read more.
When you grow oleander in your landscape, beware! All parts of the plant, from roots to stems and blooms, are poisonous if ingested, with a potentially fatal reaction for people and animals. Learn more about oleander poisoning and what precautions to take when you grow and care for these shrubs in your garden. Read more.
Okra grows readily from seed, and you’ll have an ample supply of the best open-pollinated varieties when you collect and dry seeds at season’s end. This guide covers which types are best for seed-saving, and how to collect and dry them. Just a few pods will yield enough for a bumper crop and more to share with friends.
Do mustard greens make good vegetable garden neighbors? If you’re growing corn or dill, sure! But choose mustard green companion plants carefully – these quick-growing veggies don’t always play nice with others. Learn about the top companions, plus a few tips on what to keep away in this guide. Read more now.
No garden space? No problem! You can grow dwarf and mid-size varieties of sunflowers in pots or planters. This guide includes the best container growing tips and techniques. Choose the top sunflowers, a full sun spot, and sow wisely, and soon you’ll have your own pot of golden flowers for seed or floral arrangements.
Homegrown lima beans or butter beans are tastier than any you could buy in a store. This guide explains how to grow baby or large limas in your garden, and gives harvest and storage tips, too. Plant a bumper crop of bush or vine cultivars, and cook or freeze the harvest for side dishes, hummus, or casseroles
Plant summer alfalfa as a cover crop in autumn, or grow this nitrogen-rich legume as an annual or perennial source of mulch and compost. If you have enough space, you can also grow it as animal feed for horses and cows. Learn the basics of planting, tending, and harvesting homegrown alfalfa in this guide. Read more now.
Among the best sunflower varieties to grow in the garden, some are perennial and others annual. Our guide explains how to tell the two apart using botanical names and other clues. Then, choose the type that will work best for your growing situation. Is your sunflower a perennial? With these tips, you’ll know for sure.
Pests like pickleworms, and even a fungus that causes belly rot, can leave holes in garden-grown cucumbers. Learn how to identify the culprits, cope with an infestation, and prevent repeats in the future. Our guide also addresses the all-important question: whether or not you can eat a cucumber that has a hole in it.
Bachelor’s buttons are easy to grow in early spring, but you can still help them along by deadheading spent flowers. The technique is simple, but it’s important to know when and how to trim dead flowers from these old-fashioned annuals. Make cornflower plants fuller and discourage reseeding by following these tips.
Also known as cornflowers, bachelor’s buttons are fairly simple to grow from seed when you follow these instructions. They’re pretty and practical, great for edible blooms, container gardening, and attracting pollinators. This tried-and-true seed-sowing advice will help you get more blooms and avoid rookie mistakes.
Healthy harvests of the Asian green mizuna are just weeks away when you follow these gardening tips. This mild mustard green is great for impatient gardeners and those with short growing seasons. You’ll enjoy the baby leaves 21 days from sowing, and full-size greens three weeks later. Quick and tasty, that’s mizuna.
When your easy-care, cheerful sunflower plants refuse to bloom, the cause could be a disease, poor location, or a sunflower variety that takes a while to flower. To get to the root of the problem, check out these possible explanations and what to do for each. Here’s how to coax your sunflowers to bloom. Read more.
Garden cucumbers grow fast and have high yields, so prepare for a bountiful harvest. These expert tips and techniques will help you pick the fruits at their tastiest, and extend the harvest, starting on day one of the growing season. Avoid rookie mistakes and pick with ease with this guide to harvesting cucumbers.
What should you plant with cucumbers? The best companions maximize space, discourage harmful insects, and suppress weeds. Beans, marigolds, and corn are beneficial, but steer clear of potatoes and sage! This guide will help you grow good companion plants for cucumbers, and avoid any that compete or encourage disease.
If your living or work space would benefit from low maintenance indoor greenery, pothos plants are ideal. These trailing, variegated tropical vines are fast-growing and thrive in low light conditions, with sparse water, and forgetful owners. Learn how to grow and care for pothos houseplants in this guide. Read more now.
Oleanders are drought-resistant shrubs with colorful blooms in shades of pink, red, or white. These robust plants thrive in poor soil and warm weather conditions. There are a number of different types available – from dwarf shrubs to large trees and hedges. Learn about 9 of the best oleander varieties for your landscape.
Bring the New Year’s good luck tradition into your garden when you grow black-eyed peas. These tasty legumes condition the soil, and thrive in average dirt, high temperatures, and even drought, making them low labor additions to the summer garden. Learn how to grow your own black-eyed peas in this guide. Read more now.
Pansies love cool weather, but these fall-planted flowers still need winter care to bloom their best in spring. Learn how to help pansies form strong roots and survive the snow and frost with mulch, water, and TLC. Follow our tips for winterizing pansies for a carpet of colorful blooms. Read more now.
Looking to spice up your veggie patch? Mustard greens are a fast-growing, great-tasting addition. The microgreens can be ready in just 7-10 days, and full-size leaves mature in 45 days or so. From tender mustard spinach to Asian greens like mizuna and tatsoi, here are 13 of the top choices to grow in spring or fall.
How well do you know your mustard greens? Some varieties may come as a surprise, since this category includes Asian greens, Southern-style broadleaf mustard, and crunchy tatsoi. Most varieties that you can plant in your garden are green, but some are red! Learn how to plant and care for this fast-growing favorite now.
Daffodils do best with companion plants that will look great while they’re both in bloom. Good companions will also cover the unattractive faded daffodil leaves at season’s end. Check out the best flowering plants and veggies to grow with your daffodils, and the ones to keep far away from these spring-blooming bulbs.
For huge, double-petalled blooms on shorter plants, sweet, sunny ‘Teddy Bear’ sunflowers are a colorful addition to the summer garden. This easy-to-grow dwarf cultivar adds texture to borders and beds, and is a cutting garden favorite. Find top tips for growing ‘Teddy Bear’ sunflowers in your landscape. Read more now.
Are wildlife pests trying to make a meal from your sunflowers? Try these kind and effective tricks to protect sunflower blooms from squirrels and birds. Nets (for the flowers!) and scary Mylar are two of the best ways to preserve your flowers for yourself, and seeds for the songbird feeder. Read more now.
You can save money and spread even more joy when you save your bachelor’s button seeds to grow again next year. Follow a few simple steps and you’ll have so many cornflower seeds to plant and share. Start planning when the cheerful blooms appear, follow up with the perfect storage spot, and you’ll be set next spring.
Carving is cool, but it’s also fun to grow pumpkins that are great for cooking. From heirloom giants to hybrid minis, these 11 pumpkin picks are a home chef’s dream. Try them in your favorite fall soups, breads, pancakes, and even pumpkin lasagna, and freeze the excess from your bumper crop to enjoy all year long.