Does the smell of tomato leaves make you swoon? Imagine putting that rich, deep, viney essence in your favorite foods! Tomato leaves are one of the most surprising edible greens from a garden, and if they're used well, they can really kick up the flavor (without overpowering a recipe). Here are seven of my favorite ways to cook with tomato stems.| Garden Betty
If you've ever spotted a weird-looking flower on your tomato plant, it's probably a megabloom! These mutated flowers are relatively rare but are known to produce monster tomatoes with bizarre bulges. Here's how (and why) megablooms happen, and what you should do if you find one.| 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
Vegetable "scraps" aren't just for the compost bin or for soup stock. Go zero waste in the kitchen (and discover new flavors and textures) simply by learning how to use the whole plant from top to tail. You might be surprised by what you can eat from everyday vegetables you already buy or grow!| Garden Betty
You already know it's necessary to keep bees around, but do you know the best way to keep them coming back, season after season? It's all about the types of flowers you grow and how much nectar they have. These are my top picks for the best plants to grow to attract bees to your garden.| Garden Betty
This post is in partnership with DripWorks. All thoughts and words are my own. In summer, keeping a vegetable garden well watered means keeping an open tap like you haven't seen since your last kegger| Garden Betty
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
Just because it's getting colder doesn't mean it's time to put your garden hose away. Your plants are still thirsty! If the ground isn't frozen and you're not getting enough rain or snow to soak the soil, perennials and overwintering annuals will need supplemental watering to make it through winter—even if they aren't actively growing.| 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
The "1 inch of water" a week you've likely heard as a gardener is as helpful as it is confusing. How do you measure an inch of water? And how does that translate to real-life watering scenarios using a garden hose, soaker hose, drip irrigation, or sprinklers? Let's break down the math and get you some real answers!| 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
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
Succulents have earned a reputation for being impossible to kill because of their easy care and low-maintenance needs as far as houseplants go. But have you ever thought about growing a succulent for its flowers? There are actually hundreds of succulent species that produce beautiful blooms, and some of these desert plants even bloom in winter!| 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 have grass or landscape borders in your yard, a string trimmer is a necessity to keep things tidy. But which one should you get, and why should you go with a battery-powered trimmer over a gas-powered model? Keep reading to learn about the best cordless trimmers and weed eaters on the market.| Garden Betty
If you have a raised garden bed that you need to fill, here's an easy way to calculate exactly how much soil (or compost or mulch) to get. These simple soil calculators also work for round beds or triangular beds! (And if you have other shapes to fill, I've got some tips to help with that too.)| 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
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
If you're new to seed starting, this foolproof beginner's guide to starting seeds indoors will take you step by step from seed to harvest, quickly and easily. You don't need any fancy gear or grow lights to get started, and you can even upcycle small containers to put your seeds in.| Garden Betty
Timing is everything when it comes to seed starting and transplanting. Too soon and your seedlings could stall, but too late and your plants may not make it before summer's heat or the first frost. Get your timing right the first time with my printable planting calendar, customized for your own first and last frost dates.| Garden Betty
Tall, spindly seedlings are common with garden seeds started indoors, but they can be saved if the problem is caught early. If it looks like your seedlings keep getting taller (and weaker) as they stretch toward the light, read on to learn my simple tips and tricks for fixing your leggy seedlings before it's too late.| 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
Gardening made easy, life made simpler. Straight up advice and creative ideas from a plant lover who's grown hundreds of varieties of vegetables and thousands of pounds of food in her backyard—from the city to| 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
Prime Days are back in this massive summer sale event, and I’ve got you covered with my favorite deals on backyard essentials. Check out my Prime Day picks for gardening tools, home improvement items, and outdoor products worth buying, plus an exclusive opportunity to win one of two $500 Amazon.com gift cards.| Garden Betty
You're not the only one wilting in triple-digit temps—your plants are too. Many warm-weather crops like tomatoes and cucumbers can't take the heat like we think they can, which makes it tough to grow anything in summer. But you don't have to shut down your vegetable garden altogether—you just have to grow the right kind of plants that truly thrive in high temps. Here's what works in hot climates like Texas, Arizona, and other parts of the southwest.| 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
Organic mulches are the foundation of every healthy garden, and they have many benefits over other ground covers like rubber or pea gravel. Almost anything can be labeled as a mulch, so how do you know which one to use? And where? Let's break down my 12 favorite options for vegetable gardens, flower beds, and landscapes.| 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 usually means growing a crop after your last harvest and returning it to the soil for its soil-building benefits. But you don't have to give up your veggie bed completely: these six edible cover crops are not only good for the garden, they're delicious too.| 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
Make sure your brand new plants are ready for the world! When they make the transition from indoors to outdoors, your plants need time to acclimate. Learn how to harden off seedlings in seven days or less with my proven method, or try one of these shortcuts to get your plants in the ground even faster.| 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
Seed storage doesn't have to be complicated. The two things you need to remember when storing your seeds are: low humidity and low temperature. These are the ideal conditions to make sure your seeds last the longest. I'll give you a peek into how I personally store my seeds too!| Garden Betty
Have you ever dug into a pile of old seeds and wondered if they're still good, or whether you should buy new ones? How long do vegetable seeds and herb seeds last anyway? The short answer: It depends. Here's what you need to know about seed viability vs. seed vigor.| Garden Betty
Saving tomato seeds may seem straightforward, but here's a little secret to boost your chances of germination and help speed up the process: fermenting tomato seeds. Adding this simple extra step to your seed-saving routine can help you get a head start on next year's plants!| 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
