Gardening How-To

How to Plan an Herb Garden
Get to know your plants before they are even planted.

A Garden of Savings
Growing your own fruits, veggies and herbs in very little space.

The No-Roto-Till Garden
Roto-tillers do make it simple to get a garden started, but they may not be the best way.

Backyard Garden
If you are hesitant about produce gardening, begin with one container plant.

How to Start Growing Plants from Seedlings
Readers share their best tips for starting plants from seedlings.

Garden Starters
Easy, inexpensive ways to grow from seed.

Simple Composting How-To
Readers share their composting tips.

Frugal Gardening

Gardening for the Frugal Minded
Like no other hobby, gardening is actually MORE productive when the cheapest and free materials are used in the pursuit.

Gardening on a Budget
Gardeners who need to make frugal decisions can take heart in a number of alternatives that will not only lower the cost of gardening, but will also enhance the pleasure!

Get a Jump on Gardening Overhead
Frugal ways to start the garden you’ve always wanted.

Free Plants!
Frugal gardening at its best.

Spring Planting
Get a jump on the growing season for those things that take a long time.

A Frugal Lawn and Garden
Cut the costs to create a healthier outdoor environment.

Frugal Home Gardening
Try a two-for-one pricing strategy in your vegetable garden. To get more food out of less land, cultivate plants and varieties that fulfill multiple functions.

Saving Water in the Garden
If there is one thing that confounds gardeners during the warm season, it has to be how thirsty a garden can get and how much water costs these days.

From the Dollar Stretcher Community

Frugal Raised Beds
Here's how you can make raised beds out of wooden pallets (plus a few other uses for wooden pallets in your garden).

Help with Garden Containers/Pots?
Would you like to expand your container garden? Pots can be very expensive. Here are some cheaper alternatives.

My Very First Garden
What to do, what to plant, how to plant it, what do I need??? If you've got questions like that, find out where to get the answers. Every area is different and every backyard is different, so take the time to research, do a couple of simple tests and find out what you'll need to do.

Gardening Tips

Natural Bug Repellent
A home remedy way of protecting your plants from bugs.

Trellising
The best ways to hold up your quickly growing plants.

Organic Weed Control
While they can be difficult to get under control, weeds can be controlled with just a little persistence and know-how.

Adventures in Gardening: Tool Time
Rule number one in gardening tools is to use sharp tools.

Vegetable Garden Pest Control
Natural pest control methods for the vegetable garden.

Compost
Black gold for every garden.

Cut Your Grocery Bill in the Garden

Growing Calories as Well as Vitamins
Your garden could impact your grocery bill.

Grow Your Own Food
Enjoy fresh salad greens at your fingertips.

Gardening for (Almost) Nothing
Grow some of your food for much less than you'd pay for it.

Container Gardening

My Story: Container Gardening
How a master gardener intern does it!

Container Gardening
Options for gardeners who are short on space.

Apartment Grown Tomatoes
Container gardening for apartment dwellers.

Micro-Gardening
Micro-gardening is one of the most creative ways to eat well for less!

Eating Greens to Save Greens
Unless you live in a place that doesn't get any sunshine, a dungeon comes to mind, you can raise a garden.

Vegetable and Fruit Preservation

Simple Dehydrators and Other Ways to Dry Food
Dehydrating doesn't take specialized or expensive equipment.

Learn to Preserve Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables
Take advantage of the savings and health benefits by learning to preserve all that summer bounty!

Dehydrating Produce
Dehydrating produce is a great way to preserve produce that takes up less space and is less work than canning or freezing.

Canning Basics
Tomatoes, green beans, corn, stew, sauce, jelly, pie filling... you name it, you can can it.

Boiling Water Bath Canning
Canning your garden's bounty.

Pressure Cooker Canning
Canning can reduce your grocery bill.