Simple ways to save money while you garden
Before you cut every dead flower stalk down to the ground this fall, consider what’s hiding inside those dried stems. Some of the plants you were planning to throw away could become valuable nesting sites for native bees, including species that help pollinate your flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees. Many gardeners focus on planting flowers…
What if the best thing you could do for your garden this fall was actually less work? While many homeowners spend hours raking leaves, cutting back flowers, and hauling away plant debris, wildlife experts say some of those familiar cleanup habits could be doing more harm than good. Your garden may look like it’s shutting…
Before you grab your pruning shears and start cutting down every faded flower in your garden, there’s something worth considering: those dried, brown seed heads could be providing free meals for hungry birds all winter long. Fall garden cleanup is practically a tradition for many homeowners, but removing every spent flower can eliminate an important…
What if some of the flowers you planted this year could come back next spring without spending another dollar at the garden center? While most gardeners treat annual flowers as one-season investments, certain varieties have a surprising ability to return year after year. The secret is allowing them to complete their natural life cycle instead…
Those scraggly petunias, stretched-out marigolds, and tired zinnias might not look like much by the end of fall. After months of flowering, many annuals become woody, overgrown, or covered in dying leaves, making them tempting candidates for the trash. But before you pull everything out and toss it away, there’s a better way to handle…
Before you toss those drooping sunflower heads into the compost pile this fall, consider what you’re throwing away. Those faded blooms could provide free seeds for next year’s garden, nutritious food for backyard birds, or even a natural alternative to expensive store-bought bird feeders. Sunflowers are one of the few garden plants that continue providing…
That beautiful evergreen shrub you planted in spring might look perfectly healthy now, but winter could tell a different story. Strong winds, freezing temperatures, heavy snow, and road salt can leave expensive landscaping investments looking brown, broken, or completely dead by the time warmer weather returns. Fortunately, protecting vulnerable shrubs doesn’t always require expensive products…
Your boxwoods may look perfectly healthy in October, but by February, those beautiful green shrubs could be covered in ugly brown and bronze patches. It’s a frustrating sight, especially when you’ve spent years growing a neatly trimmed hedge or invested money in landscaping around your home. The culprit is often winter burn, a common problem…
Your evergreen trees may look perfectly healthy in October, but what happens beneath the soil could determine whether they survive the winter without damage. While many gardeners focus on raking leaves, trimming shrubs, and preparing flower beds for freezing temperatures, one important fall gardening task often gets overlooked: watering evergreen trees and shrubs. Unlike deciduous…