When the growing season draws to a close, it can be a bit dreary to think about not being able to garden for several months. Although outdoor growing might be on the downswing, that doesn’t mean you have to completely give up on gardening until next year. There are plenty of ways to keep the garden passion alive through the frosty weather! So don’t spend the winter months staring longingly at your garden through the window… Grab a cup of hot cocoa and read on for ideas to keep the growing going postseason!...

The gardener’s true bane: after months of hard work, your well-earned gains have to be used quickly at risk of spoiling. Why not spite winter and preserve your fruits and vegetables for the season? Canning is a wonderfully rewarding routine for the end of the season to continue to enjoy your produce past its time! If canning is already a skill well in your wheelhouse, here’s another Growing Guide listing a few alternative methods of using up your end-of-season produce!...

Don’t let shorter days and crisp fall weather deter you from getting out in the garden! There’s almost as much to be done in the garden in fall as there is in spring. While gardening in the fall might not have the ‘new and shiny’ feeling that gardening in spring does, every garden chore you manage to get done in the fall will help make your garden even more successful next year!...

One of my favorite things about summer is enjoying fresh salsa from the garden. It’s sweet, spicy, and best of all…fresh, so it tastes better than store-bought salsa and lasts longer in the fridge (if I don’t eat it first!). This year, I wanted to maximize my chances of successfully harvesting every major component to make fresh salsa, so I dedicated a good portion of my veggie plot as a “salsa garden”....

Early in the growing season, finding one ripe tomato or pepper feels like finding a precious gem. As the season carries on it can get to a point where it’s hard to keep up with everything your plants produce (…I’m looking at you, zucchini). But if you stop harvesting, your plants might stop producing or you could end up with veggies going bad right on the plant. As gardeners we sometimes need to get a bit resourceful to find ways to use up an extra-abundant harvest!...

Why Go Natural with your Colors? Have you ever tie-dyed with your family or friends? It’s a fun and creative activity, and many synthetic dye kits are available on the market! However, there are several good reasons to try dying with plants; put simply, natural dyes are more eco-friendly than those on the market. You reduce your ecological footprint every time you choose to reduce your packaging waste or avoid introducing chemicals to the water system; choosing homemade alternatives is a great way to do both!...

It’s hard to believe that the hot summer weather is already starting to give way to cooler fall days! Fall can be a super-productive time in the garden, but even the most cold-hardy plants can use a bit of help to survive once the temperatures really start to drop. Don’t just give up on your plants as soon as the cold weather hits; use season extension techniques to keep on growing!...

Are you looking for some relatively easy plants to grow? Maybe you’re a beginner when it comes to gardening. Or maybe you just want to grow a low-effort garden due to your busy schedule. While a challenge in the garden can be a fun experiment it’s great to have some reliable plants that are easy to grow and useful in the kitchen. One thing to note is that all plants can be difficult in some way in the garden....

The Benefits of Beneficial Insects Natural predation can help take care of pests instead of using chemicals! Not only are pesticides becoming less effective on pests due to developing resistances in the insect populations, they wreak havoc in the environment. Pesticides can ruin the soil and seep into the water sources nearby, causing harm to the local ecosystem. Pesticides also aren’t selective; not only do they kill pests as intended, they’ll also kill beneficial insects and harm creatures that feed on the dead insects....