9 Quick Tips to Make Jack-O’-Lanterns Last

A person wearing a blue plaid shirt and an apron carves a jack-o'-lantern, with more large orange pumpkins to the left, on a wood work surface with scattered fall leaves and green foliage in soft focus in the background.

Nothing says Halloween like jack-o’-lanterns, but what good are they if they rot before you can say trick-or-treat? Before you go to the farmers market, read 9 quick tips to make carved pumpkins last longer. From selecting the best to inhibiting moisture, we’ve got ideas you can use, right here on Gardener’s Path.

A Box to Call Home: Build Your Own Bat House with our DIY Instructions

A gray and brown bat house in partial shadow, on a brown unfinished wood table and leaning against a beige stucco wall.

Building a bat box is an easy DIY activity, with a functional and beneficial outcome that provides a home for the nocturnal wildlife in your area. With just a drill – no other power tools required – you can produce a fully functional bat house. Keep reading to learn how to build your own now on Gardener’s Path!

11 Best Easy-Care Exotic Succulents to Grow at Home

Top down view of a collection of various multicolored succulent plants.

Succulent plants are not just for desert landscapes. Cluster them in bright containers to energize a patio, or among river rock for a serene garden bed. Set pots around the house for eye-catching color, shape, and texture. Easy and fun, they add style to any decor. Meet eleven beauties, here on Gardener’s Path.

The Ultimate Way to Support Tomato Plants: Florida Weave

Small tomato plants and leafy greens growing in a wooden raised bed planter filled with brown soil topped with wood chip mulch, with two rusty rebar stakes placed at either end of the bed, with twine threaded between them to create supports, with the base of a wooden deck in the background.

Looking for the best way to support your tomatoes? Using the Florida Weave, all of your plants can be supported with the same trellis. It’s easy to set up, requires very few materials, and can be used for both determinate and indeterminate varieties. Read more now on Gardener’s Path and learn how to make your own.

Make These Easy DIY Raised Beds: The Perfect Solution for Veggie Gardening

A wooden garden planter box filled with brown soil, with a few green seedlings growing in the planter.

For vertical gardens, leafy greens, and especially root crops, or if you simply want improved soil and drainage, a raised bed is the best option. But buying these from the store can really make you question the frugality of gardening. Check out this simple plan to build a small, economical version. Read more now.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones Have Changed: What You Need to Know

USDA Hardiness Zone Changes | GardenersPath.com

Did you know the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones have changed? This introduces a new array of plants that can grow comfortably in your garden while also denying a few old favorites. Read on to learn about why these changes have taken place, and how they may affect new plantings as well as seasoned perennials.

Update Your Landscape: Get Creative with Garden Paths and Walkways

A horizontal image of a garden path between two perennial borders in bright sunshine.

Need a creative DIY project? Garden paths can add interest and practicality to the landscape, and they’re useful and attractive whether you have multiple acres or a small suburban lot. If you’re ready to make some design-savvy changes to your outdoor space, learn how to add walkways to your yard now at Gardener’s Path.

7 Tips You Need to Keep Fresh Flowers Fabulous

Instructions to keep floral arrangements looking fresh | GardenersPath.com

Do you enjoy the excitement of buying or receiving fresh cut flowers, then throw them away in disgust when they wilt in stagnant water? It’s time to learn how to make vase and dish arrangements last. Read on for 7 useful tips from the pros at Gardener’s Path, and keep your blossoms first-day fresh.

What to Do When the Top of Your Tree Dies

Hire a Certified Arborist to Deal with Dead Branches | GardenersPath.com

It is frustrating and alarming when the top part of an otherwise healthy tree dies inexplicably. Want to learn why this happens, how you can treat this odd problem, and how to prevent it from happening to other trees in the future? Our expert tips can help. Read more now on Gardener’s Path.

No Time To Make A Christmas Wreath? Try a Swag Instead!

DIY Evergreen Christmas Swag Tutorial | GardenersPath.com

If you love to make your own Christmas decorations but don’t have a lot of free time to handcraft a wreath, make a swag for the door instead. Fast, simple, and easy, they add a gorgeous splash of fresh seasonal color that will look good for weeks. Join us now for a step by step tutorial!

Bats Beat Bugs: Welcoming Bats Into the Garden

Bats beat bugs in the garden. Learn how to welcome them to your backyard. | GardenersPath.com

Let’s put our hands together for the bats! These flying critters are vital in the backyard and offer their services as bug catchers of the highest caliber. By offering bats a place to roost in your garden, you can encourage them to make regular appearances, offering their mosquito-catching skills. To learn the benefits of bats, plus tips to build your very own bat box, read more now on Gardener’s Path.

Houseplant Primer: A Guide to Basic Care and Durable Plants

Durable Houseplant Growing Guide | GardenersPath.com

Don’t give up yet – there’s hope for your houseplants! Tropical greenery cures our indoor doldrums, but many of us are fearful that we are agents of black-thumbed death, forever doomed to a plant-less lifestyle. Gardener’s Path has the solution – our guide to basic houseplant care, plus a selection of excellent houseplants that can take one heckuva beating. Keep reading to learn all about it!

“Ish” Gardening: Planting with Purpose

"Ish" gardening with pansies. | GardenersPath.com

“Ish” gardening is a perspective that encourages more awareness while in the garden. From old-fashioned tricks to planting with purpose and even making friends with the plants outside (no, really!), “Ish” gardening offers a fresh approach to getting our hands dirty. Read more now on Gardener’s Path.

Why More Young People Should Get Into the Garden, with Joe Gardener

Gardening show host Joe Lamp'l encourages everyone to grow their own food | GardenersPath.com

TV gardening personality Joe Lamp’l says modern edible gardening is becoming the wide availability of tools and products make modern gardening easier and more appealing to a larger variety of people around the country. Read our interview with the gregarious Joe Gardener on Gardener’s Path now.

How to Rid Your Garden of Cockroaches

Learn how to rid your yard and gardens from disease-carrying cockroaches | Gardener's Path

Are cockroaches — much to your horror — running amuck in your garden? Check out Gardener’s Path for advice on discouraging and killing these vile creatures. We’ve got ideas for natural deterrents, as well as tips for bringing out the big guns, if you really have to.

Grow Indoor Air Plants for Living Wall Art

Tillandsia Wall Sculpture | GardenersPath.com

Need to energize a ho-hum space? Do it with tillandsia. These unique air plants require no soil, and add color, interest, and texture to any décor. Create exotic tropical arrangements and vary them to suit your mood. Learn about this intriguing flowering species from your friends at Gardener’s Path.

Propagating a New Species: A Man, a Tree, and a Legacy

Developing a new tree species. | GardenersPath.com

Meet Bob Piaschyk, a smart and determined Texas nurseryman whose sharp eyes identified a beautiful and unusual tree. With luck, its propagation could lead to the financing of his grandkids’ educations. Learn about his quest now at Gardener’s Path.

Do I Need to Cut Back Bicolor Iris?

Get lovely blooms from trimmed bicolor iris plants | GardenersPath.com

Should you cut back your bicolor or African iris every winter, as you probably do with your ornamental grasses? It depends on a few factors. Learn more about when and how now from Gardener’s Path.

Leave the Butchery Behind: How to Properly Prune Crape Myrtle Trees

Pink crape myrtle blooms on properly pruned tree | GardenersPath.com

The crape myrtle is celebrated for its abundant groupings of colorful and delicate flowers in hues from white to deep red. If you know anything about these trees, you know that pruning them is a subject of great debate. To learn the proper way to trim crape myrtle trees, read more now on Gardener’s Path.

10 of the Best DIY Greenhouses and Cold Frames For Your Backyard

Season Extension Greenhouse | GardenersPath.com

Want to boost your garden’s productivity throughout winter, early spring, and beyond? Visit Gardener’s Path and learn about season extension: how to build greenhouses, cold frames, hoop houses, and more to protect your crops from the cold – with tips from beloved gardening and homesteading bloggers.

Make a Romantic Blooming Heart Centerpiece in 6 Easy Steps

Make a Romantic Blooming Heart Centerpiece in Easy Steps | GardenersPath.com

Are you looking for a quick and easy holiday decoration? Make this Blooming Heart Centerpiece for your Valentine’s Day table. All you need is a visit to your local produce market for flowers, a run to the craft store for floral foam and ribbon, and about half an hour to put it all together. Read on for easy directions from your friends at Gardener’s Path.

Your Go-To Guide for Gardening with Children

Your Go-to Guide to Gardening with Children| GardenersPath.com

Are you gardening with children? You’ll love this guide from Gardener’s Path. From seeds to harvest, there are suggestions for kid-friendly flowers, veggies, supplies, methods, and activities that will please the children at your house, and teach them a few things about mother nature in the process.

Teaming with Microbes: A Fresh Review for Today’s Gardeners

Close up of a white beneficial fungus spreading across the soil.

Teaming With Microbes was a landmark guide for raising awareness of the soil food web in 2006 – and promoting more environmentally aware, chemical-free gardening techniques – fueling an organic food revolution. Does it still apply today? Read more on Gardener’s Path now, and find out why you should toss out those chemical pesticides and fertilizers!

Pruning Ornamental Trees and Shrubs

Pruning Ornamental Trees and Shrubs| Foodal.com

It was brought home to me one afternoon as I looked out my bedroom window to see if I could find any flower buds on my Magnolia campbellii that bloomed so heavily last year. I saw no newer buds but I did notice some of my other plants were taking up much more space than …

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