If you’re just getting started, you can find complete cultivation instructions in our growing guide. I absolutely love milkweed. When the towering stalks pop up each summer, I get to watch my garden turn into a monarch butterfly paradise! Milkweed is a central feature in my garden, and I want to make sure it has everything it needs to come back in the spring. Luckily, there isn’t all that much that you need to do – though there are a few tips and tricks that you should follow to ensure the perennial growth of healthy plants with an abundance of blooms....

Want to learn more about plant-based sources of this essential nutrient? Here’s what we’ll cover: Can you build strong bones with… vegetables? For many of us, when we think of calcium, our minds go to the classic “Got Milk?” advertisements, but we can get a surprising amount from many of the vegetables that are growing in our gardens. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

Due to the globalization of our society, it’s become very easy to get plants from different areas of the world, grow them, and sell them to gardeners everywhere. Here’s a list of 16 of the most commonly sold invasive species. Watch out for them next time you’re browsing for a new plant for the yard!​ Wisteria sinensis (Chinese wisteria) Source: imgur It was introduced from China to Europe and North America in 1816 and has secured a place as one of the most popular flowering vines for home gardens due to its flowering habit....

When I first started growing plants indoors and in hydroponic systems, I had no clue what I was doing. Table of Contents There are a lot of concepts to learn as a beginner to hydroponics, but lighting is by far the most complex. There are so many different types of indoor grow lights, let alone learning about the properties of light itself and how plants use it to grow.​ I decided to start with the cheapest, most basic types of light out there: compact fluorescent bulbs, or CFLs....

Or do we? Rhagoletis pomonella Us gardeners tend not to like sharing our fruits and vegetables, especially not with wriggling maggots, and least of all when we find them in one of our favorite types of produce: apples. Unfortunately, flies like Rhagoletis pomonella don’t ask before they lay their eggs on your fruit, so we don’t have much say in whether their larvae chow down or not. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products....

Whether it is to increase the number of blooms, prolong the flowering season, or promote general health and vigor via general periodic maintenance, pruning your Shasta daisies can do wonders when it’s done right. Shasta Daisies, or Leucanthemum x superbum, are known for their plentiful, eye-catching blooms. So, how do you make sure those blooms last as long as they can and help your perennial produce as many as possible throughout the season?...

Table of Contents LED grow lights are a tough thing to understand – there are hundreds of companies selling through different brand names, making outlandish claims, and so on… What’s a grower to do? Today, I’m reviewing one of the most accessible options in the industry. I’m talking about MarsHydro, a Chinese company whose very affordable LED grow lights have slowly gained acceptance among growers. As a Chinese manufacturer of lights, you still have to bridge the America-China gap in communication with the company sometimes, but they are coming a long way....

Table of Contents Your garden is your pride and joy, and you put a lot of time and effort into making it flourish. So you’re going to want a rat proof garden. As a gardener, rodents are one of your biggest nightmares. They eat your crops, leave droppings everywhere, spread disease, and hide in the most inconspicuous places. Not only that, but they multiply insanely fast. In fact, a rodent only has a three-week gestation period....

Propagating succulents from cutting is the best way to expand your plant collection. This method is very simple and takes less time, compared with growing from seeds. Read about the Best Succulent to Propagate from Cuttings in this article. Check out our article on propagating succulents from leaves here! Propagating Succulents from Leaves or Stem Cuttings If you want to increase the number of your established succulents, use the existing plants’ leaves or stems for propagation....

We list the 5 main reasons flowers might not appear when you expect them. You planted your pumpkin seeds and felt that buzz of excitement when they germinated and poked through the earth. They grew into robust vines with huge leaves, but right around the time when you expected flowers, none came. What in the world? If you’re wondering why your pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) isn’t producing flowers, you’ve come to the right place....

Well, I’ve tested all but #1! I hope you enjoy these tricks. Let me know in the comments if you have any of your own! Listen to this post on the Epic Gardening Podcast Subscribe to the Epic Gardening Podcast on iTunes 1. Be Em-bare-assed! Ever heard of the “Bare Butt Test?” Legend has it that many years ago, farmers would go out into the field, pull down their pants, and see if the ground was comfortable enough to sit on for a good period of time....

Read on to discover our top tips to successfully start parsley from seed. Nothing completes a homemade soup or salad like a sprig of aromatic parsley fresh out of the garden. Low-maintenance once established, this often finicky herb does take a bit of patience to get started. Whether you live in a warm climate and you’re eager to sow directly into the garden, or you live in a cold zone with a shorter growing season and you’re eager to get a jump on the preparations to provide a springtime bounty, our guide can help....

If you’ve been following our series on microgreens, you probably have a good grasp on growing plants small-scale. In this article, however, we’re going to focus on how to grow pea microgreens, which go against most of the rules. Don’t worry though, growing pea shoots is still fairly easy – and tasty! Table of Contents Pea microgreens taste much like full-grown peas and are known for being sweet, like snow peas....

Do you already include it in your gardening rotation? Good! You’ll still find some excellent pro tips below, and you can consider this a refresher on how to grow this lovely annual. Lobularia maritima When you find a long-blooming annual eager to mound into a big lump of fragrant flowers, you remember it, add it to your garden year after year, and generally find any excuse to use it that you can get away with....

Fresh homegrown vegetables taste delicious, are good for health, and safe from chemicals. You don’t need to acquire a regular garden to grow them. A Terrace Vegetable Garden will take care of your family’s need for veggies easily! Check out our article on the best plants for the terrace garden here. Terrace Vegetable Garden 1. Creating a Vegetable Garden in Pots In terrace garden containers, you can plant almost any vegetable....

But what happens if springtime comes and your bleeding hearts don’t bloom, or they produce just a few flowers? As a child, I was entranced by heart-shaped lockets. While I still think they’re neat as an adult, I tend to prefer plants over necklaces. One of my favorite types of flowers resembles a lady’s locket: bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis). These members of the poppy family, Papaveraceae, bear heart-shaped flowers on fleshy stems....

We all love carrots and absolutely love to enjoy them in our salads. But what about their greens? Are Carrot Leaves Edible? Can you also eat them as veggie or do they pair well with other vegetables? Let’s find out! Check out our article on best companion plants for carrots here Are Carrot Leaves Edible The good news is, you can not only enjoy the crunchy orange carrots but also their green leaves too!...

Let’s see why! Ficus carica The occasional pejorative use of the term “fig leaf” is wholly undeserved. The leaves of the fig tree (Ficus carica) are quite lovely – large, beautifully shaped, and generous in their provision of shade. It is entirely unjust that the leaves of this lovely tree have been so maligned throughout history, likely due to their part in the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Any plant that gives us food, beauty, and shelter surely deserves our respect and admiration, rather than our scorn....

It is an aggressive grower prized for its late season lavender-blue, yellow-centered blossoms. In this article, you will learn all you need to know to cultivate Tatarian aster in your outdoor landscape. Aster tataricus The Tatarian aster, Aster tataricus, is a non-native perennial in the large Asteraceae family that includes chrysanthemums, daisies, and sunflowers. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission....

As a plant lover and a cat lover, it’s vital for me to know which of my indoor plants are potentially toxic or poisonous. Naturally, I wanted to know: is wandering jew plant poisonous to cats? In short, the answer is a resounding YES. The plant has sap within the stems that will bother your cat’s digestive tract. It’s important to note that usually there isn’t a toxic reaction to consuming the leaves....