Gardening Features

How To: Care for a lawn in drought conditions

Regardless of where you are, there will probably be a period when your lawn will turn brown and possibly go dormant when there is a drought. Contrary to popular belief, it is okay to use fertilizer on your lawn when there is a drought. Using a higher setting on your lawnmower will allow the grass blades to be longer, allowing them to retain more moisture. When you are finally able to water your lawn again, make sure to water it twice a day, hopefully in the early morning to avoid the heat of ...

How To: Cut when pruning plants

In this tutorial, we learn where to cut on plants to prune. A plant that has a woody stem can be shortened between the leaves, making sure to cut it towards a node because this is where it will heal most rapidly. If you cut it too close tot he bud it will dry out and healing will not occur. Slope the cut away from the bud so you give the plant a greater chance to heal and you can avoid infection. Pruning often gives you control over how big the plant gets, and you can also control what the si...

How To: Make a fall themed flower bouquet

Grassvalleyflorist teaches you how to make a fall themed flower bouquet. For this you will need some fountain grass, autumn leaves, English laurel, redwood, oregano and another weed that looks good. Layer all of these together, on top of each other. You can also add some pine cones. Wire in the stems allows the whole thing to stay together. Use ribbons or florist wire. Cut the ends so that the bouquet is not very long. You can also make a bow out of a big piece of material or ribbon. The best...

How To: Identify problems with pecans & pruning grapevines

Master Gardener Rosamarie Maddox asks John White, Doña Ana County Extension Agent, about problems facing her pecans, grapevines, and native shrubs. An unidentified insect found on her pecan tree is identified by John White as a Twice Stabbed Ladybug. This ladybug is a useful insect that often over-winters on the tree and helps takes care of the aphid problems faced by pecans. Pink fuzzy coating on pecan nuts is also brought up. The coating is normal for pecan and contains bitter tannin. Too m...

How To: Make a simple spring themed flower bouquet

In this video it is demonstrated how to make a simple spring bouquet with tulips and daisies. First take a transparent glass pot and fill it with water. Take some green soft thin stem, roll it and put it into the pot to make a base for the bouquet. Take some yellow tulips and put them into the pot in a clockwise manner and put some seeders in between the tulips. Add some lily grass to it so that the bouquet looks bigger. Now add a dragon fly floating at the top. As time goes by, the tulips wi...

How To: Become a guerrilla gardener

Check out this super video of basic how-tos to guerrilla gardening. Beautify any run-down or out of the way area with seed bombs. Or stealthily plant seedlings at night for a more beautiful morning. You can make a difference in your city by becoming a guerrilla gardener.

How To: Propagate your favorite houseplants

John White discusses how to propagate houseplants. You will need a potting mix called a “soilless” mix, which contains only vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. In addition you will need a sharp knife, a pruner and a weeding hormone to help induce root growth on the cuttings.

How To: Fertilize your fall lawn

John White from Southwest Yard and Garden teaches viewers how to fertilize and care for their fall lawn. Fertilization is recommended at 1 pound per month. As you reach September and October, reduce your nitrogen to 1/4 a pound and as October comes around reduce this even further to about half a pound. You will need turf fertilizer and on this package there will be three numbers in the order representing nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. In late fall you will want to use a fertilizer with ...

How To: Cross pollinate daffodils

Follow Carol Klein's video guide to cross-pollinating two daffodil varieties using a pen. Gardeners' World is brought to you by the BBC. Search Gardeners' World on WonderHowTo for more videos that give practical gardening advice from experts. In this video, learn how to cross pollinate daffodils. Cross pollinate daffodils.

How To: Select the best mums for your garden

Chrysanthemums are a beautiful flower to have in your garden for color and for picking to take into the house. There are two very important factors with planting mums. One is that you must have the right kind of chrysanthemum and two you must plant it at the proper time. There are two types of mum plants. One is the garden center plant and the other is the mail order plant. Scott, on the video, recommends the mail order plant. The garden center plant will only last one season where the mail o...

How To: Protect your garden from cold and frost

During the winter and freak weather events in spring and fall your garden can take a beating from frost and excess cold. Watch this video to learn how you can protect your plants and flowers during the cold so they are healthy and ready to grow when the weather improves.

How To: Pick and care for poinsettias

Learn how to choose and care for poinsettias with Southwest Yard and Garden's John White. You will be taken through the typical height and specifications for poinsettias, as well as what to look for in the leaves and flowers. One of the most important parts of growing poinsettias is keeping to a specific schedule. Measuring the plants is also important as plants that are too tall or too short are undesirable. Remember to frequently water the plants, but be careful not to overwater. Also, keep...

How To: Plant garlic in your vegetable garden

Garlic is great for spicing up your meals (and keeping vampires away!) and fall is a great time to grow it. In this video tutorial, you'll learn how to grow garlic in your garden. Get some garlic bulbs from a seed catalog, nursery or organic grower, and you'll soon have a garlic crop to be proud of.

How To: Plant a container herb garden

In this video, we learn how to plant a container herb garden. First, lay down a layer of fertilizer to your pot and then rip off the container from around the plant. Then, place the plant inside of the pot and throw some of the fertilizer around the top of the base of the plant. From here, you will place in the rest of the herbs to the pot until it all fits in well. Then, make sure you water this according to which of the herbs that you are growing. Enjoy watching your herbs grow and enjoy fr...

How To: Identify insects in your garden

How to identify insects in your gardenCarol Sutherland explains us in this video of how to identify insects in your garden. She is an extension entomologist and she explains her view on the insects here. To be known is that some insects are damaging, some others we want to be aware of and some are necessary in your garden. Here during the garden season you get to see insects on trees as they form a familiar habitat. Mostly on the split ends and the broken ends the insects gets invaded. She sh...

How To: Build a home garden in a small space

This video explains how to build a home garden in a small space. The video begins with the first small garden example being show, this garden contains corn, tomatoes and summer squash. It is explained that it is very important to shake and loosen the pollen buds on many of the plants to ensure proper pollination. The second small garden shown consisted of tomatoes and various pepper breads. The need to loosen pollen and allow the wind to help the plants get on pollen on the female buds. It is...

How To: Transplant perennial irises

In this video series, learn how to transplant your plants. With expert advice from Amanda Kantor, you can start to rearrange your garden. Amanda uses irises as her perennial example; however, you can use other perennial plants as well. Learn how to avoid the risk of transplant shock.

How To: Prepare a raised bed garden for planting

In this video, we learn how to prepare a raised bed garden for planting. First, clear some of the debris that was left from last year. Then, take a pitchfork and loosen the soil all around the bed. Bring the soil from the bottom up to the top to make it stay loose throughout the bed. Then, start shoveling the soil around the bed and then add in some manure to the bed and mix together with the shovel. Worms in the compost will give you a lot of nutrients and help break down the manure. When fi...

How To: Look after and grow plants in your home

If you think that it's difficult to grow beautiful plants inside your home, you'll be happy to know that you are wrong. Growing plants inside a home can be an easy task and requires some hard work, but it pays off in the end. So check out this tutorial on how to look after and grow plants inside your home today. Enjoy!

How To: Make leaf mold

Leaf molds are great way to make mulch for your garden. In this how to video, Martin Fish from Garden News explains how to make a leaf mold. Follow the steps to make a leaf mold and by this time next year you will have lovely mulch for your garden.

How To: Grow organic parsley

Organic parsley gardening can be a fun and healthy source of nutrition if you know the right gardening procedures. Learn some tips for growing organic parsley from a professional organic gardener in this free video series.

How To: Grow your own grass with Roger L Davis

If you want to grow your own grass you should first get some hard winter wheat berry or grass seeds to begin to grow. You should sprout your seeds by measuring out 1 pound of seed that will be grown in a 17 x 17 inch tray. Fill a jar with a mixture of water and a solution for ocean minerals and 1 lbs of grass seeds and let them sprout. This will expand in the jar. This should take about 12 hours. Now, drain the water from the seeds, let this dry for 6 -8 hours, rinse the seed. Now, put half a...

How To: Identify problems with a ground covering juniper

This video illustrate us how to identify problems with ground covering junipers .Here are the following steps .step 1: First of all look through the whole plant and see whether there is any browning or fall of leaf, if so then this may be due to water logging as these plants are good for soil with well seepage and lots of sun.Step 2: Look whether the leafs are free of all the bacterial and fungal infection.Step 3: Look whether there are any spider mites present, if so remove them.Step 4: Look...

How To: Choose a shade tree

When you head to your neighborhood gardening center to find a shade tree for your garden, the variety of choices can be pretty overwhelming. There are so many kinds of trees, and each of those trees has its own varieties. In this clip, Dave Epstein from Growing Wisdom will help find the best shade tree for you.

How To: Prune a hedge in your yard

Keeping plants nice and trimmed not only gives your yard a nice clean feel, but it can help keep those plants nice and healthy. Trimming in certain areas can prevent any decay from taking place and make them last much longer. In this tutorial, you'll find out how to prune a hedge in your yard. It's easy to do, it just requires a little patience. So good luck and enjoy!

How To: Make healthy compost with five key ingredients

Rosalee de la Foret shows how to achieve this by adding five ingredients. First you'll need airflow. To achieve this choose large sticks of branches that normally fall from trees. Cross them while placing them on the ground. The second ingredient is water. You'll need to keep it watered, but not to the point of muddy but not dried out. The third ingredient is heat. If layered appropriately with the components, you'll have a warm pile. You'll also need nitrogen. Anything green in the pile equa...

How To: Get rid of garden snails using nontoxic solutions

Snails can have a devastating effect on your garden but there are ways without using toxic chemicals to get your snail problem under control. You can use pick snails off by hand and throw them away, you can put out iron phosphate based bait, or you can put a bowl of beer out which they will be drawn to and away from your garden.

How To: Use basil after the season is over

We next visit the farm, where the real production takes place. They are growing some unusual items. Several herbs, like Shiso or Perilla (Perilla frutescens) are available in green or red varieties. They have a very unique flavor, almost nutty with a touch of citrus and a very aromatic flavor. Jerry uses them to make a green apple shiso ice. And you can use it as a salad green when it's young and actually use the seeds as well. Use the tips in salads and the seeds when they start to form, the...

How To: Identify problems with the spruce tree

The first thing you have to understand is that the damage that comes to the spruce is mainly from the weather, moths, and caterpillars. The caterpillars and moths dry out the tree slowly, sometimes it is not noticed until the tree is on the verge of dying. One way to make sure this doesn't happen is to look under the spruce branches and the underside of the plant. You will be able to notice when it is getting withered by caterpillar accumulation. If there is a lot of caterpillars of the grayi...