Erin Thomson

An introduction to insectary plants What makes a plant an insectary plant? Insectary plants provide food sources and shelter for beneficial insects, which attracts them and encourages them to stick around your garden. If you’ve already read our article Pest Hunters: Beneficial Predatory and Parasitic Insects, you know that there are many beneficial insects that prey on garden pests. By planting insectary plants we can encourage these predatory and parasitic insects to take up residence in our garden....

After you’ve stocked up on seeds for the growing season and started most of your plants, often you’ll end up with several partial packets of seeds left over. How should you store leftover seeds so they last as long as possible? And how long do seeds last, anyways? Many of us gardeners like to hoard seeds in our seed collection for years, but without proper storage techniques the shelf life of those seeds dramatically decreases....

There’s a few obvious things that plants need to thrive- soil (or a growing medium at least), sunlight, water, and nutrients. What might not be as obvious is the importance of soil pH for healthy plants. If your soil doesn’t have the proper pH for the plants that you’re growing, you’ll need to amend it so your garden can thrive. But before using any amendments to change your soil pH it’s important to have an understanding of what soil pH is and why it matters for your plants....

As an avid outdoor gardener, one ‘gardening’ trend I haven’t experimented with up until now is growing microgreens indoors. Well, that’s not entirely true… A couple of times I’ve thrown down extra seeds into trays lined with moist paper towels or potting mix and hoped for the best, thinking ‘How hard could it be?’ But these half-hearted attempts at growing microgreens always ended in moldy disappointment. I decided it’s time to take a deep dive into microgreen growing techniques to learn how to grow these nutritious (and cute!...

Some gardeners embrace all forms of wildlife in the garden, including birds and squirrels, while others go to great lengths to get rid of them. Regardless of your philosophy on garden wildlife, there’s no denying the fact that birds and squirrels have the capacity to gobble up potential harvests at an alarming rate. So what is the best way to prevent bird and squirrel damage in the veggie garden? Provide alternate food and water sources Information is mixed on whether it’s a good idea to provide food and water for birds and squirrels in the garden....

As the weather warms up and the growing season draws nearer, it’s important to not get so excited by the prospect of spring planting that you neglect properly preparing your garden beds! A well-prepared garden bed will be more productive, so it’s worth taking the time to do things right from the start. But what needs to be done to prepare garden beds in spring? Warm up the soil before planting Even once the warm weather arrives, garden soil can be stubbornly slow to reach warm enough temperatures for seeds to germinate and plants to grow....

Most gardeners know that it’s a good idea to add compost to the garden. Compost helps improve soil structure, feeds beneficial organisms in the soil, and provides a slow-release source of nutrients. The tricky part about ‘compost’ is it’s a catch-all term for many types of decomposed organic materials. Compost isn’t just a homemade compost pile with kitchen scraps and yard waste, there’s also manure compost, municipal compost, worm compost, and more....

Many of us gardeners start getting the urge to get something growing as the gardening season draws nearer. We start to wonder to ourselves ‘When should I start my seeds indoors?’…all the while knowing the answer is more than likely not yet. While it’s a common gardening question, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for when you should start seeds indoors. There are several factors to consider in deciding when to start your seeds indoors....

While there are many factors to consider when planning a garden, it’s important to plan based on the types of dishes you and your family enjoy preparing. If you and your family enjoy cooking food with a global flair, you might want to consider planning a ‘curry garden’. ‘Curry’ is actually a loose, catch-all term that doesn’t properly refer to any specific dish. In its originating culture, each dish would have its own unique name....

In November 2023, the USDA released updated plant hardiness zones. The new map shows that many areas have become warmer in the past decade, with some areas moving up one or two zones. The hardiness map for Illinois. Left side: 2012. Right side: 2023. When starting a garden, understanding the growing climate in your area is an important first step. There are two key pieces of information to know about your local growing climate: your hardiness zone and frost dates....