Did you know pumpkins and other winter squash can last all winter long if they're properly cured? No need to can, pickle, freeze, or preserve them! Curing is a simple technique that actually improves their flavor and allows you to enjoy your squash for up to six months after harvest.| Garden Betty
Tired of flimsy metal cages that keep breaking every season or topple over from the weight of your plants? If you want an easy and inexpensive way to trellis tomatoes, let me introduce you to the Florida weave. Also known as the basket weave method, it goes up fast and uses everyday supplies you might already have around the yard.| Garden Betty
The cool thing about bird's nest fungus isn't that it looks like a real nest filled with eggs—it's that it launches its "eggs" like a cannonball through the air to reproduce! These tiny mushrooms show up wherever there's decaying organic matter, so you'll find them in rotting timber, wood mulch, and dead vegetation.| Garden Betty
What to do with an old Christmas tree? Anything BUT throw it out. Even though the holidays are over, your tree still has some life left in it. These 10 clever ideas will have you scheming new ways of repurposing a dead or dying Christmas tree for countless uses around your home and garden.| Garden Betty
When it comes to planting a new tree, spring has become the default season but in most areas, it's actually better to plant a tree in fall. Why? It all comes down to favorable air and soil temperatures, less stress on the tree, and less work on your part to keep it healthy until it grows new leaves.| Garden Betty
Fall leaves are a gold mine in the garden because they're a natural soil conditioner, compost AND mulch—and they're free. So don't just bag them up for the landfill! If you have an abundance of leaves in your yard, here are five easy ways to put them to use in fall and winter. Come spring, your soil will thank you for it!| Garden Betty
If you like the idea of planting something once and enjoying it year after year, then set your sights on perennial herbs, which require minimal care, are much less expensive to grow at home than buy in the store, provide food for pollinators, and fill your garden with amazing scents and attractive blooms.| Garden Betty
If you're new to growing garlic—or maybe you're a seasoned gardener who wants to pick up a few new tricks—this growing guide will tell you everything you need to know about planting garlic. Learn what the best types of garlic are for your climate, my six easy steps to planting garlic, and why it's better to plant a little too late than too early.| Garden Betty
There's a surprising number of culinary herbs that can withstand frigid temperatures—and you can leave them outside all winter long! Zones 3 to 6 can grow many cold-hardy herbs without frost protection, and many of them are perennial so you can count on them coming back in spring. Here's what I've personally grown in my cold-climate garden.| Garden Betty
Growing tomatoes has never been so easy! And you don't need a big space to yield hundreds of pounds of tomatoes from just a handful of container plants. This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow tomatoes in pots with big results—even if you don't have a "proper" garden.| Garden Betty
Ladybugs are an important ally to have in your garden as a form of biological pest control. But unless you know how to attract ladybugs and keep them there, they'll likely fly away before they can make a dent in your aphid problem.| Garden Betty
You might be familiar with fava beans as an edible crop, but this legume is more than just that: It's also a natural organic fertilizer (a green manure) that fixes nitrogen in the soil for other plants to use. By planting fava beans, you can improve soil fertility at the same time without needing to add other fertilizers.| Garden Betty
You know that mulch is a good thing and every garden should have some. But do you know what kind and how much? It all depends on where you're using it, and in some cases, you might even want to leave your soil bare. Here's a breakdown of what type of mulch to use, what it's best suited for, and how to mulch more effectively.| Garden Betty
Cover cropping is the farmer's "secret" for fertilizing and aerating soil naturally, but the practice of growing beneficial crops closely together can easily be done in a home garden. If you want to give your soil a nutrient boost while harvesting a delicious vegetable all season long, try growing Austrian winter peas.| Garden Betty
What should you fill your garden beds with? Not all soil is created equal, and if you were thinking you'd just buy bags from the store, read this first. It's always worth investing in soil for the future health of your plants! Learn what constitutes the ideal soil mix for raised beds, where to find it, and how to build up fertility without fertilizer.| Garden Betty
Help! Did your seedlings suddenly fall over and die overnight? It's not from pests, and it's not because the wind knocked them over. In fact, the problem starts below the surface... not above it. Find out why damping off disease happens to even healthy seedlings and how to prevent this common fungal infection.| Garden Betty