Gardening Features

How To: Prune ornamental grasses

This how to video teaches you to cut ornamental grasses back in the spring to promote great summer growth. In the summer ornamental grasses look gorgeous, but after the winter these grasses are dry and are a fire hazard. Watch this video and learn how to easily prune your ornamental grasses.

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: Make a leaf fence

Autumn leaves may be beautiful, but they can also be incredibly annoying as they pile up around your garden. But there are things you can do with autumn leaves, like mulching them, composting them and turning them into a living fence. In this episode of Growing Wisdom, Dave Epstein walks you through how to make a leaf fence.

How To: Revive an orchid

Orchids are amazing flowers to grow, but you have to do it just right. If your orchid is starting to wilt or is no longer growing properly, check out this tutorial and get useful tips on how to revive it. In this video, Tom and Joani Maccubbin show you the best ways to re-pot and clean up orchids to keep them living for years. So, before you add this lovely flower to your garden or home decor, make sure you check out this advice, so you can enjoy them for a long, long time.

How To: Pollinate the tomatoes in your indoor garden

One of the biggest challenges inherent in indoor gardening, hydroponic or soil-based, is how to pollinate your plants without bringing a swarm of bees into your greenhouse. This video demonstrates a quick, simple way to pollinate indoor-garden-grown tomato plants yourself using only a toothpick. Who knew that the mighty bee could be replaced by a tiny piece of wood and some free time?

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 dahlia cuttings and create a propagation tent

Here is a fun how to project on dahlia cuttings and propagation. Sarah Raven shows how to take cuttings from dahlia plants in her step-by-step video guide. She also gives a demonstration on how to make a simple propagation tent from a plastic bag, stakes and an elastic band. You want to take cuttings from dahlia plants in the spring. Take dahlia cuttings and create a propagation tent.

How To: Propagate raspberries and blackberries

In this video, an expert gardener explains how to propagate raspberries and blackberries.To propagate, you normally need a small rooted cutting. The expert recommends that you soak the roots in water with a bit of root stimulator for about 15 minutes. Also, he says that the cutting should be planted in earth with compost and phosphorous fertilizer to help to roots grow better. When the earth is well mixed, you make a small hole, place the root in side and bury it, pressing the soil around the...

How To: Prick out Foxglove seedlings

In this gardening tutorial, Martin Fish from Garden News demonstrates how to prick out Foxglove seedlings. "Pricking out" is when seedlings are transplanted into larger pots or trays to give them more room to grow on. The ideal time to do this is when the seedlings are at the two-leaf stage and before the true leaves have developed, or as soon as they are large enough to handle.

How To: Prune a high-density fruit tree

In this how-to video, Ed Laivo and Tom Spellman of Dave Wilson Nursery give you advice on how to prune high-density fruit trees as they look at Santa Rosa plums, pluots and nectarines in their own orchard. Watch this video to learn how to open your trees up for sunlight and airflow while simultaneously managing fruit buds so as to ensure uniform, healthy fruit growth.

How To: Pot a rooted geranium cutting

The hard part of planting your geraniums is getting them to produce roots. Once you have done that it is important to transfer them to an adequate pot for further growth. This gardening how-to video demonstrates the proper way to pot up rooted geranium cuttings.

How To: Bonsai a mugo pine

If you're looking to pick up on a hobby that's easy to do and is relaxing, making you should take up bonsai. Bonsai is the art of growing trees or small wood plants and uses techniques such as pruning and potting. It is something that is focused entirely on an individual and how they think it looks. So check it out and see if you like it. Enjoy!

How To: Make a humidity tray

This video tells you about humidity trays and how they are good for tropical plants like orchids. The tray consists of gravel or small stones and water in the tray. You have to have enough gravel to keep the plant out of the water. This video also discusses ways on how to make sure the humidity tray doesn't scratch your furniture. After watching this video you will have gained some insight into keeping and maintaining tropical plants as well as ferns.

How To: Use an old tree log garden planter

In this how to video, you will learn how to use an old tree log as a planter for your plants. To do this, you must have an old tree log. The trick is to create and make the holes bigger in the log. Some of the holes may be too deep, so you must place netting to hold the soil back. The netting will last as long as the log. To make the holes bigger, use a hammer and chisel to shape it. Drilling and burning does not work as well as hammers. Placing the plants in and watering it will cause the lo...

How To: Rid your garden of white fly

One of the ironies of gardening is that often some of the smallest pests can create the biggest nuisance. White flies can drain the life out of your plants. You can see the evidence of white fly damage in the lack of vigor in the plant and the discoloration of the leaves. Before they were a rich green and now they've turned a sickly yellow. Learn how to get rid of these pesky white flies with this gardening tutorial.

How To: Harvest herbs like basil, cilantro, dill, and chervil

In this tutorial, Susan Belsinger tells us how to harvest herbs. Don't let your basil flower because it's an annual herb and it will set seed if you do this. When you put the plant out, you have to cut the plant so it doesn't grow out to much. When you cut, more leaves will grow and it will get to a foot tall. Cut all of your basil like this, and cut it once a month. By cutting the seeds, you will get 20 cups of leaves per plant during a season. If you don't cut your plant back, you won't get...

How To: Grow orchids indoors

This video series gives you expert knowledge on growing orchids indoors. William Hutchinson teaches you all about many varieties of orchids and how to grow them successfully in your home. In this series he shares his experience growing orchids on bark, osmundine, sphagnum, and sponge rock.

How To: Braid a ficus tree & grow a miniture rose

In this video, a man answer questions sent in by viewers, about various plants. First he covers how to braid a ficus tree trunk. To do that you must grow the trees close together, then trim off the bottom limbs, and braid the trunks. Next he talks about growing miniature roses indoors. Miniature roses must be carefully watches for mold, insects, and over-exposure to sunlight when grown indoors. Then he answers a question about carnivorous plants. He covers the Venus fly trap, and demonstrates...

How To: Protect plants from frost

Frost is in the air. If you have tender plants like basil, pepper or impatients when that cold weather comes it will zap those plants. Often, if you can get through those first couple frosts, an Indian summer, that can last weeks and weeks, will follow. If you can protect your plants during this time you can have blooms for much longer. There are several ways to protect your plants. You can use a traditional device like a glass cloche. The nice thing about them is they are decorative and will...

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: 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 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: Prune rose bushes with bypass pruners

If you're looking for tips on how to prune roses bushes, there's no one better than rose expert Muriel Humenick to show you how it's done. First, she shows you the proper pruning tools you'll need for the rose garden, and the main tools are bypass pruners, but there are others, like loppers, goatskin gloves and an elbow and arm cover. Now that you know the pruning tools, watch and learn the rose pruning process

How To: Care for plaenopsis orchids

They're known the world over and grow in some pretty strange places. But, as Allen Smith shows us, orchids don't have to be foreign to you. They can however be tricky to care for. Phalenopsis orchids are a great orchid for beginners. Watch this video gardening tutorial and learn how to care for orchid flowers.

How To: Patch budding pecans

This will illustrate us how to Patch budding pecans . Here are the following steps.Step 1: First of all we have to see whether the right season is there or not that is spring or late summer.Step 2 :Selecta smooth, convenient location on the stock. Make a double cut approximately 11/2 inches long, by rotating a double  bladed budding knifeStep 3: Connect the double cut on the right side with one perpendicular cut. This can be done with one of the budding knife blades.Step 4: Raise the bark on ...

How To: Prune fruit trees in the summer

These helpful instructions will help you trim back apple trees for optimal fruit growth and easy harvesting. Pruning trees is largely an intuitive process but it's important to direct air and light into the center of the tree for healthy, balanced growth. For step-by-step instructions on pruning your own fruit trees, take a look.

How To: Make hoops for your low garden tunnel

With low garden tunnels you can protect your plants from frost and insects, and you can overwinter your crops. In this episode of Growing Wisdom, host Dave Epstein will look at how to build a garden low tunnel. He'll focus on using the Quick Hoops Bender for the project.