Ice and Trees: Can Your Trees Recover?
Ice and trees do not mix well. A fact that we’re seeing all over Tennessee. The recent ice storm that barraged the state left people all over in varying states. A lot of people lost power due to fallen trees and ice. A lot of…
Stop Losing Cuttings! 10 Tips for Success with Hardwood Cuttings
Have you tried rooting hardwood cuttings only to have them rot or fail to grow? Don’t give up just yet. Hardwood propagation is one of the most rewarding ways to grow your garden for free, but there are a few “make or break” steps that…
32 Plants You Can Propagate from Hardwood Cuttings
Hardwood cuttings are cuttings that are taken from trees and shrubs that are fully mature, dormant stems. These cuttings are normally taken during the late fall or over winter several weeks before spring growth will begin. Hardwood cuttings differ from softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings. While…
Starting Tree Seeds Outdoors: A Simple Guide to Diverse Landscapes
Trees are the anchors of our landscapes. They enrich the soil, provide oxygen, offer shelter and food for wildlife, and deliver incredible seasonal beauty. My goal is to diversify our property by replacing invasive plants with a variety of beautiful, beneficial trees and shrubs. In…
How to Start Tree and Shrub Seeds in the Fall (Seed Prep)
Fall is the perfect time to start preparing tree and shrub seeds that need a period of cold weather before they’ll sprout. When seed starting tree and shrub seeds I use two techniques that help to trigger better germination rates. The first technique is simply…
American Beautyberry – Callicarpa americana
Every so often, I come across a plant I’ve been hunting for and I get pretty excited. That was the case this week when I finally tracked down American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) a native shrub that’s been on my wish list for quite a while….
With Dogwood Tree Cuttings Shorter Cuttings Work Best
A couple months ago I managed to root a dogwood tree from cuttings. Only 1 of 3 cuttings rooted but I still considered it a success. After all it was the first time I had managed to root a dogwood tree from a cutting. You…
‘October Glory’ Maple Tree (Acer rubrum)
Over the weekend I planted an ‘October Glory’ maple tree. I chose this tree as one of my first fall plantings of 2025 for a several reasons. One of those reasons was a little sentimental. You see when my wife and I bought our first…
Maple Varieties and Fall Color
Fall color is one of the main reasons I garden. If you followed this website for a while you may remember the Fall Color project I hosted where Garden Bloggers from all over posted about their fall color and we shared our autumn experiences. For…
15 Perennials to Divide in Fall
Fall is a great time for many garden activities and could be considered one of the best times to divide perennials. The temperatures in fall drop and plants are finishing up their growing for the season. Dividing now allows them time to regenerate roots and…
What to Do in Your Garden in Late August | Late Summer Gardening Tips
Late August is an important time in the garden. The summer heat is still with us, but cooler weather is on the way. For gardeners in zone 7, this is the point where preparation meets transition—wrapping up the summer season while setting the stage for…
Viburnum nudum: A Native Alternative to Invasive Shrubs
If you’re looking for a versatile, wildlife-friendly shrub with four-season appeal, Viburnum nudum absolutely deserves a spot in your garden. Commonly called possumhaw viburnum, raisin tree, or witherod viburnum, this native plant brings glossy green leaves, colorful fall foliage, and clusters of berries that both…
Thank you for visiting Growing The Home Garden! I started Growing The Home Garden in 2007 as a way to chronicle my experiences in the garden.
All the content here is based on my personal experiences and research. A lot of my content is focused on raised bed gardening and plant propagation.
There is also a YouTube Channel for Growing the Home Garden which is over 38,000 subscribers (as of March 2024) that has a lot of gardening videos you may find helpful. Growing The Home Garden on YouTube. Thanks for reading and watching!
Raised Bed Gardening
How Deep do Raised Garden Beds Need To Be?
Raised beds are a great option for gardeners but how deep do they really need to be? The depth of a raised garden bed is an important factor to consider because it can greatly impact the health and productivity of your plants. The true answer to How deep do raised gardens need to be really is it depends! What the…
Raised Bed Garden Ideas (Planning for the New Garden)
Pretty soon we’ll be relocating to our new home. Our family is very excited about this but it also means starting the garden all over again. Everything including raised beds, sheds, and arbors will have to be rebuilt. While this is a tremendous amount of work I think it’s a great opportunity to start again and redevelop our garden with…
How to Fill Raised Beds Cheap!
I love gardening in raised beds. It is one of the simplest ways to have success with a vegetable garden. That doesn’t take anything away from all the other methods of gardening, only that I believe that raised beds are a great way for gardeners of all backgrounds and skill levels to garden successfully. The best reason to like raised…
Common Raised Bed Garden Questions Answered
Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post I’ve taken some common raised bed garden questions and put together some answers based on my experience. I’ve grown in…
Plant Propagation Information
Plant propagation is one of my favorite things to do in the garden! Below are some articles on how to propagate various plants. You can also check this page out with specific info on plant propagation: Plant Propagation for Home Gardens
How to Propagate Oak Leaf Hydrangea through Cuttings
Recently I took a single cutting from an Oak Leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). Oak leaf hydrangeas are beautiful native plants with tall flower panicles. They are a planting choice that I highly recommend. They are more difficult to propagate than a Hydrangea macrophylla but they…
Propagating Mums for Profit
It’s kind of an odd subject to bring up during spring but propagating mums for profit takes time. Spring is when you have to get started for fall mum sales. For the purposes of this article we are talking about the common chrysanthemum you find…
Propagating Pyracantha from Cuttings
Pyracantha with root Here are some rooted cuttings of Pyracantha augustifolia also known as Firethorn. This is a very good plant to use in the landscape for privacy hedges and for attracting wildlife. Birds and insects both love this plant. Insects for its white flowers…
How to Propagate a Dogwood Tree from Cuttings (Cornus florida)
I successfully rooted a Florida dogwood (Cornus florida) from a cutting! This is a tree that’s been tricky in the past for me to propagate, and I finally had some success I think is worth sharing. In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly what…
How to Grow Southern Magnolias from Seed
The other day while on a shopping trip I sat in the car with my daughters while my wife ran into the store for a few things. In front of our parking space was a magnolia. I doubt it was the full sized magnolia (Magnolia…
Salvia farinacea (‘Blue Bedder’) Mealy Cup Sage How to Grow and Propagate
I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of salvias. It’s no wonder since they bloom prolifically, are easy to care for, and attract pollinators right and left. One salvia in my garden (among many) that I’ve accumulated is the ‘Blue Bedder’ Salvia farinacea which is…
Growing Home Vegetable Gardens
Articles with tips and ideas on how to grow a great vegetable garden.
5 Fall Vegetables for Your Garden
Fall is creeping closer and closer each day which brings to mind cool evening breezes, pumpkins, festivals, the Fall Color Project (more on that later), and of course the fall vegetable growing season. Most gardeners seem to garden almost exclusively in the spring or summer and don’t even consider the fall. It’s probably since starting plants this time of year…
Vegetable Garden Checklist for the End of March
Everyone is thinking about the garden right now, if not they should be! The vegetable garden is where you can really reap the rewards of your backyard. Sometimes though you don’t know what you should be doing and when or (if you’re like me) forget a few things every now and then! So here is a little garden checklist for…
Woodle Orange Heirloom Tomato
Summer is the peak time for tomatoes which makes it the perfect time for tantalizing tomato talk! I’m pretty excited about this particular tomato that my wife selected from the Baker’s Creek Catalog last winter. I’m talking about ‘Woodle Orange’! It’s a funny name and prior to reading it in the catalog I had never heard of it before. Because…
About The Tasmanian Chocolate Tomato
This year one of the tomato varieties I decided to grow was the ‘Tasmanian Chocolate’ tomato. Overall it proved to be a tasty and easy to grow tomato. The ‘Tasmanian Chocolate’ tomato is a determinate variety that is well suited for growing in pots. It grows to about 3 feet tall, at least the plant I grew did in my…
Fall is for Planting Garlic in the Garden
It’s October and the temperatures are getting cooler which makes it ideal for planting garlic! I just planted two raised beds full of garlic a few days ago. Garlic loves to start in cooler weather and this coming week we are predicted to have some night temperatures in the 30 degree range. It should be perfect for the newly planted…
How to Save Seeds from Squash and Zucchini
Saving seeds of squash and zucchini is a very simple process. When the growing season begins to wan start allowing a few squash fruits to grow. They will become large and tough and won’t be well suited for eating but will be perfect for generating seeds. Once the squash fruits are of a suitable extra large size harvest them and…