How Long Do Seeds Last? (Seed Viability)
Everything has it’s own time, even seeds. They just don’t last forever! Fortunately though many seeds do last a long period of time and you can use seed from previous years to grow your garden. I’ve had tomato seeds germinate that were over 10 years…
Things to Know About Using Woodchips and Leaves in the Garden
If you are a gardener you have probably heard people talking about how great woodchips are. That is probably because they are a very good resource for building up organic matter. Woodchips and leaves are also very easy to acquire and and best of all…
Compost Bins from Pallets
Compost bins are essential in the garden. They take the waste materials from the yard, garden, kitchen, or farm and turn it into usable soil. Good compost is worth its weight in gold to gardeners which is exactly why it is nicknamed “gardener’s gold.” One…
Overwintering Rosemary
Rosemary is a wonderful plant for gardening. I love it as a ornamental shrub as well as an edible herb. The problem is it CAN be finicky. Sometimes the winter cold is too tough for rosemary and it sadly dies over the winter. Fortunately there…
Maples, Oaks, and Invasives! Fall Color 2024
The historic dryness finally gave way to some rain on Halloween. About 0.83 inches came down that day give us a good soaking. We still need more rain, and regular rain but it definitely helps. I’ve been concerned about the lack rain and the fall…
Fall Color in Tennessee 2024 so far…
I have a fondness for fall color. I think we all do this time of year. We like seeing the transition of green to gold or red and oranges. There’s a little bit of a feeling of closure that begins to come to us through…
Fall 2024 Garden Tour
I find Garden Tours fun to put together. It’s an opportunity incessantly talk about plants, plans, and ideas and that is one of my favorite things to do! I put together a garden tour of our current garden on YouTube which you can watch down…
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…
Garden Tips for Before a Frost
As the first frost approaches, now is the time to take essential steps to protect your garden and set yourself up for success next spring. Below are a few simple garden tips that can help you save money and preserve your favorite plants while extending…
How to Grow Sweetbay Magnolia from Seeds
No matter where I go when I see seeds that are ripe I’m tempted to collect them. That was the case when walking around Knoxville last year and seeing some ripe magnolia seeds on some Sweetbay magnolia plants. Sweetbay magnolias have several names including: sweetbay…
Where are the Monarch Butterflies?
All summer I’ve been watching and waiting to see a flock of Monarch butterflies soaring through the air to lite upon our abundant field of milkweed. So far I’ve been disappointed. The Monarch butterflies on our property have only numbered one. I was mowing along…
Bulbs, Corms, and Rhizomes to Plant in Fall
It’s almost that time of year again: Fall Planting Season! When the weather cools off, the days become shorter, Pumpkin Spice is everywhere (OK that may not be the greatest thing), and it will be time to get your fall bulbs and rhizomes planted in…
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 30,000 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
Hydrangea Propagation (Hydrangea macrophylla)
Every gardener likes a hydrangea in the garden. Likewise every gardener likes having more hydrangeas in the garden! So why not propagate a few more hydrangeas for your garden? Of course you have to have a suitable spot for one but if you have a…
Propagating ‘Shasta’ Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum) from Cuttings
I have many favorite plants (as all gardeners can attest to) but I am really a big fan of viburnums. Many viburnums have showy flowers in the spring, leafy green foliage throughout the growing season, and great fall color. Some are evergreen, many provide food…
How to Propagate English Laurel Cuttings (Otto Luyken, Skip Laurel)
This weekend we ventured up to my wife’s parents house. I’m always looking for something plant or garden related to get into so I braved the 30 degree temperatures for a little while to see what I could find. I decided to take some more…
Asiatic Lily Propagation with Bulbils
Perhaps one of the easiest methods of plant propagation is through bulbils. Bulbils are simply baby plants produced along aerial stem of a plant. Lilies are well known for producing bulbils and you can take advantage of this natural plant ability to create more lilies…
How I’ll Use My Greenhouse
I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to use my greenhouse lately. There’s just enough complete on the greenhouse construction to tantalize my imagination and since people use greenhouse in so many ways that the options are virtually limitless.I don’t grow orchids or many tropical…
How to Propagate Birch Trees Through Cuttings – Info on Rooting Birch Trees
Birch tree cutting from a cutting taken in summer Have you ever wanted to try propagating birch trees from cuttings? The river birch is definitely worth propagating for your garden for many reasons. First of all birch trees can be rooted! While I’ve tried propagating…
Growing Home Vegetable Gardens
Articles with tips and ideas on how to grow a great vegetable garden.
Pruning off The Lower Leaves of Tomato and Pepper Plants: Limbing Up
Every home gardener wants their plants to thrive and do well. Often there are little, easy to do things that can greatly improve the chances of plants in your garden succeeding. Here we are going to talk about one thing you can do to help your tomato and pepper plants grow great: pruning off the lower leaves or as I…
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…
Do Peppers Have a Gender?
Maybe you’ve seen the picture that is floating around the internet. In the picture there are two peppers. One has three lobes and the other four with captions that claim one is female and the other is male. It also claims that the male produces fewer seeds than the female. This completely incorrect information. In other word the pepper gender…
A Few Garden Notes for Fall (Basil, Flowers, and Tomatoes)
As Labor Day has now past the feeling of fall is growing ever stronger. Each day the night comes sooner and lasts longer and as that light fades the plants begin closing down in preparation for the end of the growing season. During this time of the year there are many things you can do in the garden. Here’s a…
Vegetable Gardening Info, Tips, and Design Ideas, Insects, and More
Here is a collection of vegetable gardening posts that I’ve written over the last few years. Some are gardening designs and others are more general but in either case hopefully they will be of some use to you! Garden Layouts and Designs The garden layouts and designs section contains a group of posts about designing a raised bed vegetable garden. …
4 Tomato Growing Tips for Growing Tasty Tomatoes
The tomatoes are coming along nicely in our garden which means it’s time to do a few important things for them to maximize their growth. Here are a few quick tomato growing tips to help you grow your favorite home grown backyard vegetable! (It’s really a fruit though!) Stake and Trellis Your Tomato Plants Stake your tomato well. Whatever method…