Hot Gardening How-Tos

How To: Divide and re-pot onions and herbs

How to divide and re-pot onions and herbs

How To: Deal with brown patches on Leylandii hedges

Over the past few years brown patches on leylandii hedges has been a real problem in some areas. These patches are caused by conifer aphids that feed by sucking the sap from the new shoots. In this gardening tutorial, Martin Fish from Garden News shows you how to deal with brown patches on your Leylandii hedges.

How To: Prune a Bramley apple tree

The Bramley is a large, heavy-cropping cooking apple popular for baking, making apple sauce and other apple dishes. In this two-part how-to series, Stephen Hayes of Fruitwise Heritage Apples demonstrates how to properly prune a Bramley apple tree and other apple trees with a similar habit of growth. Watch this instructional video to learn how to prune your own triploid and tip-bearing trees.

How To: Transplant Papaya Trees

Papaya trees are very vulnerable to transplantation shock. Seedlings tend to recover slowly and poorly after replanting in a new location under a sunny sky. Many internet articles advise that papaya trees should be transplanted without injury to their root systems. Keeping the root systems intact is next to impossible if the papaya seedlings are too close to each other. However, you would be surprised to learn how a papaya tree with serverely broken root systems can survive a transplantation ...

How To: Mist houseplants

This video demonstrates how to mist your plants and to keep insects away. Plants that like high humidity will benefit the most from misting. Use an empty spray bottle that already has a mister. Clean the bottle well and spray a few times to get residual material from the tube. The best time to mist is in the morning, but you should mist at least once a day. Using a humidifier along with the misting process in the winter will make your plants happy.

How To: Prune & clean a Japanese black pine bonsai for spring

In this Home & Garden video tutorial you will learn how to prune & clean a Japanese black pine bonsai for spring. First you got to prune off the branches that you don’t want and allow only the branches that you want in order to design the tree. After about a year of pruning off the branches cut off the studs created by the left over branches so that the area is flush with the rest of the trunk. Then cut off any dry stubs around the foliage. Next cut off the foliage that is growing out of the ...

How To: Grow and take care of poinsettia year round

More likely than not this holiday season you'll either be buying a poinsettia plant or will receive one as a hostess present. Rather than letting yours wither away and die as you forget repeatedly that it may need a little water to survive, check out this gardening tip video to learn how to take care of them year round.

How To: Take care of Fuschia plants in your garden

Fuschia flowers are very pretty, and they aren't too hard to grow if you've got a nice garden to work with. Watch this video for all kinds of tips on caring for Fuschia plants, like when to deadhead them and when to start and stop adding fertilizer.

How To: Get Rid of Plant-Eating Pests Using 100% Natural Solutions from Your Home and Garden

Navigating through row after row of plants, my tiny fingers would reach into the leaves to pluck all the vile little creatures from their homes and deposit them into a can of gasoline. Potato bug duty, my least favorite gardening chore. Growing up, my family had a small garden every year. And every year, I was recruited to help plant, maintain, and eventually harvest the vegetables from it. There were some tasks I didn't mind, but the ones I hated most usually involved bugs (have you ever see...

How To: Distinguish different types of bulbs

In this tutorial, Scott Atkinson shows us how to identify different types of bulbs. Common types of bulbs are: tulip, daffodil and lily. These are most easily identified but there are many that appear in flowers. A core looks similar to a bulb but it is a solid tissue and doesn't have an leaves, just a hard core with a protective covering. There is also tubers which are what potatoes and other foods grow from. These cause eyes to form and create different types of things to grow. You will now...

How To: Build your own hydroponics system

In this tutorial, we learn how to build your own hydroponics system. To do this, you will need: square line rain gutter, 6x end caps, 3x gutter running outlet, 1x small pond pump, 2 meters pond pump tubing, timber for framework, large plastic container, and gutter leaf guard. When you start, you will need to measure out how tall your pump will need to be, then build the framework to surround it. Then, grab all your gutter parts and put them together. Once you do this, start to set up all the ...

How To: Choose plants that love shade with Lowe's

If you have a shady yard, you can still have a colorful garden. You just need to pick the right plants that do well in the shade. Caladium is a leafy plant with bright colored red, pink and green leaves. They do not tolerate cold weather and should be brought in over winter. Impatiens are popular annual flowers that grow in the shade. They look nice planted around the base of a tree or in containers. The flowers come in shades of pink, coral, white and red. Fuchsia is a beautiful flowering pl...

How To: Plant tulip bulbs in a container in winter

Phyllis Stevens gives us some tips on planting Tulips in the winter. We start by taking a container filled with Potting Soil, then we Plant the Tulip Bulbs. You should fit up to 3 bulbs per pot. Putting some Crocus on the top of the soil doesn't hurt. Bury the bulbs in the garden, covering with Leaves and pine-needles. In the Spring (February-March) we will take the pots out from the soil and Sink them down into the Planter Soil. Once they are finished blooming take them out from soil and put...

How To: Repot a juniper bonsai tree

In this video, Charles M. Teaches us how to re-pot a Bonsai tree. But before this, he explains how to make Bonsai soil. The ingredients to Bonsai soil are as follows: Potting soil, (from your local Home store) Hummus, Decomposed Granite, and a bucket. Take a couple of scoops from each ingredient and add to the bucket. Now you have your Bonsai soil and are ready to move along. Charles next explains how to handle the Bonsai itself. First, you want to remove any extra branches. Then you take it ...

How To: Disbud dahlias by the Dahlia Guy

The Dahlia Guy is going to explain the importance of disbudding dahlias. He explains that when you disbud a dahlia it allows the main flower to blossom to its fullest potential. When you don't disbud, the other buds that grow out of the flower can stunt the growth of the main flower. Now, when you disbud you want to locate the main flower of the group (3 buds usually, sometimes 2) and then just pull out the buds that are growing next to it. There is no true right or wrong way to disbud so any...

How To: Propagate a holiday cactus

Watch this demonstration on propagating a holiday cactus.

How To: Save Your Tomatoes From Rats And Rot

Every summer my husband and I plant a tomato plant. We do this to enjoy the plump red tomatoes right off of the vine.

How To: Grow your own sweet potatoes year round

Sweet potatoes are a popular side dish, especially around the holidays. Save some money and start growing sweet potatoes at home. Not only will they be cheaper, but you'll be able to enjoy them year round.

How To: Harvest Lophophora peyote pups from grafted scions

Lophophora harvest. This video is a quick demonstration on how I harvest Lophophora pups from grafted lophophora stock. When harvesting lophophora make sure of the following: Its spring or summer; You place your pups in a dry shady spot to heal; Also dust the mom and pups with sulfur to prevent rot.

How To: Water seedlings from the bottom up

This Survival Podcast teaches how to water seedings from the bottom up. After you have transfered your plants to new pots, preferably sterilized bins, you put holes in the bottom of the pots. If they are too high, the watering technique will not work. The plants in the pot are placed into a larger bucket. You just add water to the outter bin and allow the plants to "draw up" the moisture through the soil. You want to make sure not to add too much water or the plants will "over-draw". About on...

How To: Grow Juniper bonsai from cuttings

First of all you have to take the branch of the juniper tree. You can do this activity in the early spring which is the months of February and March. Take a very sharp knife and then peel the bark until you see green color. You have to tear the bark down until you see the greenery below the bark and that greenery is called cambium which is extremely thin. You have to use your knife to remove any kind of knots from the bark. Now you have to dip it in the “RooTone” which is a rooting hormone an...

How To: Dwarf a tree

Love the beauty and fresh fruit of trees but have limited space? Try your hand at dwarfing a tree. You can enjoy all the benefits of a tree without any worry of the tree outgrowing the area or roots damaging side walks and property. Plus, they just look adorable.

How To: Plant Lamb's Ear as a ground cover in your garden

When watching this video, you will realize why Lamb's Ear, or stachys byzantin, may be a perfect choice of plant to set in front of your other plants. With a sea green color and low profile, it will set the rest of the garden off beautifully. Place it along borders of the garden or even along your driveway. Lamb's Ear is a hardy, drought resistant plant that is easy to care for and will do well in sunny areas. It does shoot up and grow a large flower later in the season. This would be your op...

How To: Grow blueberries and cranberries

Discover how to create and maintain acid soil conditions for growing blueberries and cranberries, with Chris Beardshaw's step-by-step video advice.

How To: Repair cracked plant pots

You don't have to throw away those broken pots and re-pot the plants inside. In this gardening tutorial, Martin Fish from Garden News shows viewers how to repair cracked pots. With this the tips from this how to video you can save money on plant pots.

How To: Grow your own food by starting seeds in yogurt cups

When starting seeds you can take an overly complicated approach or keep it simple. Watch this how to video and learn easy it is to grow your own food by learning how start your own seeds. Use organic starting mix, yogurt cups, and your favorite seed to get your garden going.

How To: Remove okra stalks from a vegetable garden

Removing Okra stalks from you vegetable garden can be quite difficult. Here is the easy way to do it.

How To: Improve the Soil to Grow Healthy Plants

Every experienced gardener knows that the secret to better blooms, brilliant greens, and tastier fruits and vegetables is a healthy soil. Improving the soil before you plant is the best head start to growing healthy, hardy growth in your garden.

How To: Make Your Own Whitefly Sticky Trap

This is a cheap and easy way to make a sticky fly trap that can catch tons of whiteflies. Get a can of Tanglefoot’s Tangle-Trap Sticky Coating. I stored this in the greenhouse which may not have been a great idea, as you can see by the amount of rust there is on the can.

How To: Get Rid of Stink Bugs Without Using Pesticides

Halyomorpha halys, squash bug, shield bug ... What's in a name? A pest is a pest and the brown marmorated stink bug is a pest par excellence. Though some home gardeners are content to use insecticides, you'll find that it's generally easier to work with nature than against it. And let's face it: trading noxious bugs for noxious chemicals isn't much of a victory. Particularly if you're growing food.

How To: Grow healthy and productive fruit trees

In this tutorial, we learn how to grow healthy and productive fruit trees. Pest management is an issue with growing plats, so use something that can grow in a small area. Only use disease resistant varieties of trees, so you won't lose any while they are growing. You can grow some trees in a small area so they maintain in their space and they are very active. Make sure you prune the trees once they reach a certain heights and you remove any pests that are around. Use these tips to grow health...

How To: Use a rear attachment dethatcher for a lawnmower to dethatch a lawn

Thatch is the material that is left over after your mow your lawn, and this old dead material can build up and ruin your lawn's health. This video will show you how to use a rear-attachment dethatcher for a riding lawnmower to dethatch your lawn, leaving it the picture of health that you want in front of your home.

How To: Plant a crimson queen Japanese Maple tree

This video gives an insight not only into planting a beautiful Japanese Maple Tree, but also other tree's as well. Learn how to dig a proper hole, fertilizer suggestions, mulching and burying. Be sure to watch carefully! Featuring Arborist Gary Overton.

How To: Make hedge trimming easier on yourself

In this video, you'll learn some neat methods for making hedge trimming an easier chore. Save yourself the back ache and follow the steps in this video. Easier maintenance always begins with the proper tools. Lay down a drop cloth to avoid debris, and make sure you remove wayward branches. Doing the hedge trimming will be a snap from now on!

How To: Design your landscape using Japanese maples

If you're looking for a plant that will add color to your landscape as well as work well in smaller areas, a Japanese maple might be what you need. There are a variety of different maples that exist and each one has their own benefits for being planted in a yard.

How To: Prune arborvitae, junipers, and chamaecyparis

In order to prune arborvitae, junipers, and chamaecyparis, you will need the following: pruning sheers/clippers.

How To: Prune trees into bushes

Pruning is a commong practice that involves removing certain parts of a plant to help improve or maintain its health. It also helps reduce the chances that any branches fall on people and keeping it safe from possible disease. For some trees, instead of letting them grow to giant proportions, you can actually prune them to a certain point so they instead grow to be the size of bushes.

How To: Easily make a hydroponic garden using a pvc pipe

If you live in a small apartment or condo unit, you have a very small amount of space to grow or enjoy plants. If you're looking for a good solution to adding some green to a balcony or window seal, this video may be for you. In this tutorial, you'll find out how to easily make a hydroponic garden using a pvc pipe. Check it out, good luck, and enjoy!

How To: Properly take care of blueberry bushes

If you love eating blueberries, but hate paying so much for those delicious pieces of fruit, why not plant your own. Oh, and if you're worried about killing the plant, not to worry, this tutorial will show you how to properly take care of your blueberry bush. So check it out and enjoy!

How To: Build a hydroponic growing system for your plants

In this tutorial, learn a great, fast way to get your plants growing. This hydroponic system will keep your plants happy and healthy for much longer than old fashioned planting.