Hot Gardening How-Tos


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: 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: Inflate a wheelbarrow tire
Wheelbarrow tires are a pain to inflate. They are tubeless, the rim hardly holds a seal, and they just fight with you every step of the way. This how-to video shows you how to use an adjustable strap to inflate a tubeless wheelbarrow tire.

How To: Prune an olive bonsai tree
This video explains how to prune an olive bonsai tree properly. the olive tree used in the video is an europaea tree bought from an exclusive bonsai tree company. The way the tree is pruned are by cutting the tree so that that it has an upward shape to stimulate vertical growth. It is explained that a process known as "cut and grown" are used with the olive tree because it makes the tree grow much faster and produce more fruit. Any branches or leaves that are unnecessary to the vertical growt...

How To: Create Japanese Style Landscape
So you've decided to transform your drab backyard into a Japanese Zen garden. You've made the right choice. Yes, tire swings and crab grass can slowly kill the soul. That being said, a bit of planning lies ahead. This article offers a list of How To tips, culled from the Landscape Network and other professional Japanese style landscapers, for planning an effective Japanese style landscape in your home. Step 1: Research.

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: Deal with spindly seedlings
The Survival Podcasting present how to handle leggy or spindly seedlings that have grown too fast. Potted swiss chard seedlings are used as examples. The seedlings are growing well but are a bit floppy or spindly. This happens because the warmth from being started indoors encouraged their fast growth but since there is not enough light for them, they started reaching for the light. A `head space` is developed between the root and the leaves that makes the seedling flop over. A simple trick to...

How To: Add zinc to pecan trees
John White is an expert horticulturist. He thinks you need to make sure to add zinc to the proper care of your pecan trees. White advises to buy zinc at your local gardening store and use a garden sprayer to put it on your trees. Older trees and younger trees need to have zinc at different times. When you are spraying make sure to hit all the limbs and leaves. Without proper care your trees will not be as healthy as they would if you follow White's simple instructions. Make sure to follow his...

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: 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: 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: Prune roses and spot dead branches
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to prune roses. Users will need a pair of garden trimmers or cutters. Observe the rose stem and check to see if there are any thorns and if it has a black color. If it does, it needs to be cut. Then remove the mulch around the canes. When cutting, go as deep as you can to allow the new cane to fully develop. Cut the cane and make sure that you see clean, green tissue. This video will benefit those viewers who enjoy gardening, and would like to learn h...

How To: Help seeds grow faster by nicking them
Most seeds have a thick outer shell meant to protect the soft inner seed. 'Nicking' is a gardening technique to remove the outer shell so the seed will germinate faster in your garden after planting. You can use water, sandpaper, a nail file or even sulfuric acid to nick your seeds.

How To: Vertical mulch a tree
This¬â€ video will show you how to take good care of your trees by feeding the roots with verticle mulching. Drill holes in the soil about 15" deep, and put in compost and nutrient materials. Use an auger to drill several 3" holes around the tree. It works best when you moisten the soil first. Use a spade and trowel to fill the holes with the compost and nutrient mixture. You can also use a spading fork to break the soil, sprinkle the mixture on, and the mixture will fall into the cracks in the...

How To: Build a bio-intensive garden
John White of Southwest Yard and Garden along with Kitty Schafer teach you about bio-intensive gardening. Bio-intensive gardening is the combination of two techniques. Part of the technique involves composting top soil with other coarse organic material into a lasagna style mound. Add 2 inches of straw to the soil and spray with water. Add 2 inches of green material that you have collected from other area of your garden, such as bug eaten greens or specific greens for composting. Then add som...

How To: Re-pot house plants
This video shows you how to re-pot your houseplants. When your geraniums have overgrown, cut your clippings. Let the clipping cure: i.e. the wound that you created needs to seal and cure, before planting. Set them aside, in order to allow them to cure. Once that is done, submerge the tip of the fresh clipping in a pot filled with fresh soil. Remember to remove dead leaves.

How To: Germinate a seed in a small cup
This video is how to germinate a seed in your home using as an example, a watermelon seed. Take a container and fill it about three quarters full with potting soil. You could use a Styrofoam cup, for example. Now take a seed or several seeds and put it on top of the soil. Cover the seeds with soil that is about three times the size of the seed. Press lightly on the soil. We the container soil with some water. Then place the container in a sunny and warm location in your home until it starts g...

How To: Grow mountain laurel plants from seeds
How to grow mountain laurel plants; get professional tips and advice from an expert on caring for plants and flowers in this free gardening video series.

How To: Size or measure a gourd
Learn how to size a gourd with tips from this video.

How To: Prevent powdery mold on plants
Powdery mold can be destructive to late season crops. The mold eats the leaves, and can finally kill the plant. Learn how to prevent and eliminate this problem. Take care of your survival garden, and it will take care of you.

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: 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: 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: Prune Grape Vines Using the Four-Arm Kniffin System
This how-to will show you easy step-by-step instructions for pruning your grape vines for growing great grapes.

How To: Grow Plants With Compact Fluorescent Lights
I like to grow vegetables all year round, and I couldn't afford the big gas bulbs, or the power to run them. The big gas bulbs:

How To: Prune roses in January
Roses are beautiful flowers that hold many different representations, including love. Growing them can automatically add beauty to your home's garden and a scent that is very relaxing. Pruning them is important since leaving them unattended can cause problems. This tutorial will show you how to properly prune roses during a cold winter month, January. Good luck and enjoy!

How To: De-Hull leafy sprouts
In order to de-hull leafy bean sprouts, you will need a salad spinner. The type of salad spinner you use will make a big difference. Separate the sprouts. Work your way through the sprouts. Separate them as much as you can.

How To: Grow potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket
In this video you will learn how to get your potato plant growing using a 5 gallon bucket. Start by taking your 5 gallon bucket and drilling a series of small holes at the bottom for draining. Next line the bottom of your bucket with about 2 inches of rocks to help with drainage and top with a layer of weed block and a couple inches of soil. Now your bucket is ready to add a budded potato. To make your potatoes bud out simply leave them in a bag and place them in the dark for about a month un...

How To: Turn over soil
Turning over your soil mixes the nutrients and makes the ground more suitable for planting. Watch this video to learn how to turn over soil.

How To: Repot a jasmine plant
Monty Don offers video guidance on repotting a star jasmine, with advice on retaining moisture and limiting root disturbance.

How To: Make a light box for growing seedlings indoors
The big problem with sowing seeds indoors is that the light comes from one side and your seedlings will get 'drawn' (stretching towards the light). You can help to get healthy, sturdy seedlings and increase your chances of success if you make a simple box to reflect the light back to your plants. Use this with a propagator or just stand plants in pots in the box. You'll be amazed at how effective it is and it costs virtually nothing. All you need is a cardboard box, which is cut away on one s...

How To: Spray your fruit trees in the early spring
Spray your fruit trees in the early spring. Learn some tips like spraying every crack and crevice.

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: Grow dry beans in your home garden using soup beans
Did you know that you can grow beans in your garden just by buying ordinary packs of soup beans at your local grocery? Once you start growing beans, you can keep growing them for a lifetime--just keep the seeds around. Soon beans will be sprouting in your garden every year!

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: 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: Make seashell-covered terra cotta pots for summer
Shell-covered pots are such beautiful decorations for the summer, bringing the beach into (or directly outside of) your home even if you live inland. They add a gorgeously breezy oceanic touch to your plants.

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: 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: Identify tree damage from a natural gas leak
In this how-to video, you will learn how to indicate if tree damage has occurred due to a natural gas leak. In this example, a Mexican Elder tree has been damaged by the gas leak. You can tell by the brown leaves. The plastic around the soil has trapped the gas in the soil, cutting off the oxygen from the tree. The Indian Hawthorne in this example has also been damaged. There is some foliage burn on the leaves. The bush will have to be trimmed back in order to save it. There are several plant...