What if I told you that if you want your perennial herbs to grow faster, fuller, and more productive, you actually need to cut them more frequently? Regular pruning will reward you with new growth and softer and larger leaves all season long. Here's what you need to trim right now (and how to do it correctly).| Garden Betty
Winter doesn't have to mean a brown and barren garden. Many plants actually wait for temperatures to drop before they put on their best show! If you want to add a pop of color to your winter landscape, plant one of these cold-weather bloomers that will not only survive, but THRIVE in snow!| Garden Betty
Just because your radish plants started flowering doesn't mean they're done for the season. Harvest the green seed pods (yes, they're edible!) and quick pickle them for one last hurrah from your crop. Radish seed pickles are uniquely delicious with a peppery crunch.| Garden Betty
Patchy germination, stunted growth, woody roots, forked legs or cracked carrots? If your carrot harvest was less than stellar this season, here's help to improve your crop on the next round! I cover the nine most common carrot-growing problems and what you can do about them.| Garden Betty
If you're looking for something to add zest to your garden as well as your meal, you cannot go wrong with edible flowers. You might even be growing some of these flowers already and had no idea they were edible! This is a huge list of my favorite plants that bloom their heads off and add beauty and flavor to drinks, desserts, and other dishes.| Garden Betty
The secret to getting flowers all summer long is knowing when (and how) to prune your plants. Deadheading your annuals and perennials not only keeps them healthy and beautiful, it can encourage continuous blooms or a flush of new flowers later in the season.| Garden Betty
You know that water is critical for the health and growth of your plants, but how much water do they actually need? Too little can cause drought stress and nutrient deficiencies, while too much can lead to root rot and other diseases. Use my plant watering calculator to help you determine the proper amount of water your plants need each week, based on plant types, soil composition, and climate conditions.| Garden Betty
As temperatures soar in summer, it may feel like your garden's come to a screeching halt. Stunted growth, misshapen fruit, and dried-up flowers are among the common problems caused by extreme heat, and while you can't change the weather, you can definitely do something to help your plants through the season.| Garden Betty
Have you ever wondered why your squash plant is full of flowers but no fruits? Or tiny fruits that keep rotting and falling off the vine? The problem isn't pests or diseases—it's the birds and the bees (or lack thereof). Learn how you can hand-pollinate squash plants yourself in the absence of pollinators and multiply your harvest.| 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
What happens when a seed germinates? Learn about the magic of seed germination, the process of a seed swelling and rupturing (what we call sprouting), and how to identify all the different parts of a seed and seedling (so you can understand why a seed might not germinate).| Garden Betty
If you love to curl up with a seed catalog and devour it like a good book, this is my roundup of the best seed catalogs that I order from year after year for my vegetable, herb, and flower gardens. You'll find heirloom seeds, certified organic seeds, open-pollinated seeds, and hybrid seeds.| 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
