Get Ahead! Start Your Seeds Inside.

A great way to shake off the winter blues and get a jump on spring is to start plants from seed indoors. It’s not only fun and easy to do but also rewarding, since it allows home gardeners the opportunity to grow plant varieties that may not be available from local plant growers. The opportunities are endless with many unique varieties of flowers, vegetables, and even ornamental vines available in seed form. To get...

What the Hay?

By Tamara Galbraith You see them all over the place during autumn: bales of hay used as fall décor. But once all the autumn decorations have been put away, what should you do with your bales of hay? One option is: compost them. Hay is an excellent additive to the compost pile, and ideally, the heat of the pile will kill any weed seeds that might be languishing in the bales. Straw apparently breaks down even better than...

Seeds for Flower and Vegetable Transplants

Although February is too soon for planting all summer flowers and vegetables in the ground, it’s certainly not too early for planting seeds. Ambitious gardeners with lots of space to fill can grow their own transplants in flats or peat pots filled with sterilized potting soil or seed starter. Use bottom heat (70° F, 21° C) from a heat cable or pad to germinate seed. (Alternatively, a 15- or 20-watt bulb in a...

Starting Seeds Indoors

A great way to shake off the winter blues and get a jump on spring is to start plants from seed indoors. It’s not only fun and easy to do but also rewarding, since it allows home gardeners the opportunity to grow plant varieties that may not be available from local plant growers. The opportunities are endless with many unique varieties of flowers, vegetables, and even ornamental vines available in seed form. To get...