Planting a Victory Garden 2.0 is a good way to preserve your sanity in a crazy world. Plus, you get vegetables! Victory Gardens were vegetable and fruit gardens that people planted in their yards during World War Two. Not only were Victory Gardens a great way to provide homegrown food, but these gardens were morale boosters during the war. In 2020, the Victory Garden idea was brought back to life when the COVID-19 outbreak forced millions of people worldwide to quarantine and stay at home. Instead of feeling helpless, thousands of people retuned to gardening by starting a Victory Garden 2.0. That's because growing plants and tending a garden provides stress relief, a healthy outdoor activity, and food security. Many people don’t realize that gardening has a history of being a coping tool during times of national crisis. During the first World War more than 100 years ago, the U.S. government encouraged Americans to plant vegetable gardens. (Back then, they were called Liberty … [Read more...] about How to Start a Victory Garden 2.0
Winter Houseplant Care Tips
Winter houseplant care tips include proper care and no feeding to keep your indoor plants healthy. Nearly everyone likes to slow down in winter, and this includes our houseplants. They may not lose all their leaves, but some houseplants go dormant during the winter. Even if they aren't dormant, the winter growth rate of indoor plants slows down--or even stops completely. As a result, houseplants need far less fertilizer and water to survive during winter. Winter houseplant care is easy for jade plants, African violets, ZZ plants, and other popular indoor plants. But the needs of most indoor plants are a little different from spring and summer. Follow these tips to keep your houseplants in top shape through the winter. Winter Houseplant Care Tips: Things to Do These three winter houseplant care tips should be on your To Do list during the coldest months of the year. They are simple, but they will make your indoor plants happier during the winter. Give Hibernating … [Read more...] about Winter Houseplant Care Tips
Tips for Winter Bird Feeding and Care
Here’s what you need to know about winter bird feeding, bird food, and creating a haven for wild birds in your backyard during the coldest months. The cold and snowy winter months can be hard for all wildlife, including our favorite backyard birds. For wild birds, the tough weeks of winter can be especially hard, as most food has run out. A reliable source of food from our gardens and feeders can make all the difference after a severe snow or ice storm. By keeping your bird feeders full of the food they need, you’ll find that helping backyard birds through the winter is both easy and rewarding. Winter Bird Feeding Wild birds may benefit from bird feeders year-round, but they need them most in winter. Energy-rich seeds and suet provide our feathered friends with the calories they need to keep warm, especially when food is scarce or buried under ice and snow. To attract winter birds to your backyard, consider setting out one or more of the following: Don't have a good … [Read more...] about Tips for Winter Bird Feeding and Care
Eat Your Weeds
Common weeds that are good to eat include purslane, lambsquarter, dandelion, wild amaranth., and plantain. Our gardens are at their biggest and best in summer. Unfortunately, that’s the case with our weeds too. Most gardeners will rip these weeds out of the ground and into the trash can as soon as they see them, but consider this: some of those weeds might secretly be a delicious superfood! And harvesting them for food means less waste, less work, and a more eco-friendly garden. It used to be common to eat many of these weeds, but the knowledge was lost in the past couple generations. Today, “urban foraging” is making a comeback, as more savvy gardeners come to realize the waste of perfectly good food. Common Weeds that are Good to Eat You might be surprised at how many of those weeds infiltrating your garden beds are edible. These are some very common edible weeds that you probably have in your garden right now, and all of them put spinach to shame with their … [Read more...] about Eat Your Weeds
Our Favorite Fun Flower Facts
Check out these favorite fun flower facts about the flowers you love to grow! Use these favorite fun flower facts to impress your friends with these handy little tidbits about the most popular spring- and summer-blooming flowers! We expect to add add to this list periodically, so check back to see what we've added. And if you have a favorite flower that you would like to see featured, let us know in the comments below. Let's spread the word about these fascinating garden favorites! Flowering plants are widely available at local garden centers. Did you know you can also buy garden plants online? Check out Nature Hills Nursery, the largest online plant nursery company. Also check out the Flowering Plants on Amazon. Favorite Fun Flower Facts About Roses We begin our list of favorite fun flower facts with the rose. Roses just might be the most popular flowers in the world. They seem to be everyone's favorite flower! People associate roses with love. But … [Read more...] about Our Favorite Fun Flower Facts
