Two Minutes in the Garden: Recent Episodes
Empress of Dirt
Bite-sized informative updates on gardening basics, solutions, myths, news and other subjects of interest to gardeners both new and experienced. From the popular Empress of Dirt website (empressofdirt.net), home of creative and frugal ideas for your backyard garden.
Peat has been a gardening staple for decades -- but at what cost? With growing concerns over climate and ecosystems, is it time we rethink our use of peat?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Hummingbirds Are Avoiding Your Feeders
Is overpotting just an old gardening myth we're still clinging to? Is potting up no longer needed? Some research suggests bigger pots might be better -- but it may not be that simple.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Your Compost Pile Stinks & How to Fix It
You may already be a wildlife gardener, but might you be interested in taking the next step in developing your curiosity about garden wildlife and becoming a naturalist? Inspired by Menno Schilthuizen's new book, The Urban Naturalist.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Tips for Creating a Wildlife Pond & Garden
It's been a hotly debated issue for years: does it improve drainage in your containers if you first add a layer of gravel or some other course material to the bottom? Some new research puts it to the test.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Surprisingly Simple Garden Tips You Might Be Overlooking
Are the weeds in our garden trying to tell us something about our soil? Is it reliable? And should we be taking action based on what they're saying?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Control Weeds Without Herbicides
It's been a controversial suggestion for orchids for many years. It also gets recommended for houseplants in general. But is watering plants with ice cubes a good idea?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Propagate Orchids at Home
Is it true that pests won't attack healthy plants? Can you really determine the health of your plant through one simple measurement? And where did these ideas come from?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: DIY Bee House Using Scrap Lumber
We don't want them in the house, but can we trust ants around our plants? Do we need to step in and do something, or might they be beneficial in the garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 2024 Fall Hummingbird Migration (Canada & United States)
An overview of vermicomposting -- worm composting. It provides very similar benefits to the garden as composting, but can be done indoors and stay active year-round, even in colder areas.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Save Seeds: Collecting Seeds From Your Garden Plants
Over the last 200 years, earthworms have gone from being despised by gardeners to being loved as signs of healthy soil. Many gardeners now even raise worms in their houses to create vermicompost. But it's not all rosy.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Simple Trick to Save the Best Seeds from Your Garden
Are today's fruits and vegetables -- the ones you buy at the store -- less nutritious than they used to be? You hear that a lot, but you'll also hear that it's a myth.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Outdoor Plant Tags & Markers that Last a Lifetime (Really)
We always used to be able to say that there were no GMO garden seeds. That's still true in most of the world but, in the U.S., gardeners can now buy seeds for the genetically engineered, high-antioxidant Purple Tomato.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: What to Know Before Reusing Old Potting Mix
A recent study claimed that urban-grown fruits and vegetables had a carbon footprint six times that of those from conventional farms. Rants ensued.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Monarch Butterflies: How Gardeners Can Truly Help
For the last 15 years, gardeners have been told that soil acts like an antidepressant, thanks to a particular bacterium. Is there anything to it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Winter Sowing: Two Reliable Methods for Outdoor Seed Starting
It can do great things on farms, but does crop rotation make sense in a garden? What are the benefits claimed for crop rotation, and can we get those same benefits in easier ways?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Compost In The Winter (Easy Method)
Do nutrients really specialize in one aspect of plant growth, like roots or shoots? Why adding more of one nutrient to your soil, like phosphorus-heavy bloom boosters, often don't provide any benefit.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Growing Poinsettias: Year-Round Care & Reblooming Guide
Are you using a balanced fertilizer in your garden? It may seem like a simple and effective way to provide nutrients to your plants, but it could also cause problems for your soil and for the environment.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Indoor Seed Starting: Best DIY Setup on a Budget
Most countries use a confusing and outdated NPK labelling system for fertilizer packages. What do the numbers mean? Depending on where you live, it's probably not what you think. And why is a "balanced fertilizer" not so balanced after all?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: When to Take Down Hummingbird Feeders in Fall
Our plants can't live without them, but how do we know that they're getting them? Do we need to feed them to our plants? And what are these essential nutrients?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Make African Violets Bloom & Rebloom
Not everyone wants them in their garden, but others grow them deliberately. They aren't even plants. So what are mushrooms and are they okay around our plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 2023 Fall Hummingbird Migration (Canada & United States)
What kinds of soap should we be using -- or avoiding -- in the garden? What about liquid dish soap? And we're all familiar with soap, but what is it, exactly?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 25 Vegetables You Can Grow in Shade
Compost is great for your garden, but can you have too much of a good thing? What problems could there be if you use too much? Will it harm your plants ... or something else?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Bring Plants Inside: Timing & Debugging Tips
What can you add to your compost pile? Is it any organic material, or are there some things you may want to avoid? What about dryer lint or hair?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Hostas for Sun: Sun-Tolerant Options For Your Garden
Calculating C:N ratios? Regular turning? For anyone who's been put off from composting because it sounds too involved -- it really isn't as hard as it's sometimes made out to be.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Breaking the Eggshell Myth in Gardening
When it comes to building healthy soil, there may be no more important tool in the garden than compost. So what is compost, and how does it help our plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Propagate Sweet Potatoes to Grow New Slips
We've heard that humus is good for our garden, but do we know what it actually is? And, for that matter, does ANYONE know what it actually is? And why has humus become a controversial topic?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Frogs & Toads Are Good For Our Gardens
We're told not to overwater our plants, but some popular houseplants grow fine with their roots fully immersed in water and nearly all outdoor plants experience overwatering at times. How does that work?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Tips for Choosing the Right Clematis Trellis
No Mow May is a popular initiative that encourages people to stop mowing their lawns for a month to help bees and other pollinators. But does it really work? And what are the drawbacks? In this episode, we explore the pros and cons of No Mow May from a gardener’s perspective.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: The Surprising Benefits of Moths in Your Garden
Frogs enrich your garden in many ways: they control pests, provide food for other wildlife, and indicate a healthy environment. In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of frogs and their role in the garden ecosystem.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Get Rid of Weeds: Easy Tips For Organic Gardeners
At the beginning of a new gardening season, temperatures are still low, but some vegetables thrive in cool weather and can be ready to eat in just a few weeks. Choose these vegetables and before you know it, you'll eating your first batch of produce fresh from your garden.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Fast-Growing Vegetables in 4-6 Weeks (Spring or Fall)
Most bees don't live in hives and most don't live in hollow stems. They live in the ground and emerge from the soil in the spring and summer to join us in the garden. What can we do to make their winters easier?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Tea Time: How to Harvest & Dry Homegrown Herbs
Deer can cause a lot of damage to your garden, but there are ways to prevent or reduce it. Learn about different types of fences, repellents, deterrents and deer-resistant plants that can help you protect your plants from these hungry animals.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: The Complete Guide to Growing Delphiniums in Your Garden
Also known in many parts of the world as bicarbonate of soda or bicarb soda -- you see it recommended for dozens of uses in the garden. It sounds pretty harmless, but should we be using it around our plants?
READ MORE at Empress of Dirt: Baking Soda in the Garden: Is it Really Harmless?
What's the advantage of starting seeds -- especially indoors? What do you need? What do seeds need to germinate? And how can you improve your odds against diseases?
READ THE FULL GUIDE at Empress of Dirt: Seed Starting for Beginners: Sow Inside Grow Outside
Carrots are one of the most popular vegetables to grow in the garden, and you can get them in a range of sizes and a rainbow of colours.
ALSO FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Carrots Indoors At Home In Flower Pots
AND: How To Grow Fairy Carrots In Jars
Does hitting the trunk of a tree with a baseball bat or or a stick make it produce more leaves -- or maybe more flowers or fruit? It sounds crazy, but is there anything to it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Houseplants & Humidity: Tips That Help (& Those That Do Not)
In permaculture circles, they're called dynamic accumulators -- plants that accumulate above average levels of particular nutrients in their leaves, which we can then add to compost piles, use as mulch or in other ways make the nutrients available to our plants. Do they work?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Leafy Greens Indoors at Home (Simple & Fast Method)
Humidity doesn't get as much attention as temperature, light and soil moisture, but it can have a big effect on our plants. Many houseplants prefer more humidity than we give them, especially over the winter. What can we do about that?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Homemade Peanut Butter Suet for Birds (Easy Recipe)
It's one of the world's most popular houseplants. Easy to grow and easy to propagate -- and maybe even a handy source of some skincare gel.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Irresistible Reasons to Grow Poppies
What makes the leaves of some trees change color? Is there a benefit to the trees? And what about deciduous trees that keep leaves over the winter?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Propagate African Violets (Step-By-Step Tutorial)
Many gardeners put paper overtop of a lawn to create a new garden bed. Or add paper to their compost pile. Is it safe?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Bring Plants Indoors For The Winter (Best Timing & Bug-Free Tips)
You hear it suggested a lot in gardening circles as a pesticide and maybe even to prevent diseases, but what is horticultural oil and how does it work?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Creative No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas (Quick & Fun)
Blue flowers do exist in nature, but not in many of our most popular flowers. And it's even been a struggle for scientists to create them.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Great Fall Weather? Get These Garden Jobs Done
It's not for everyone, but human urine in the garden has lots of enthusiasts. Urine contains lots of nitrogen and several other essential nutrients, but it also has some things that aren't so good for plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Welcome Dragonflies To Your Garden
We've all heard that we should be planting more milkweed to help a declining number of monarchs, but some reports say they're actually doing fine without our help.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Keep Houseplants Watered While On Vacation
They've become poster children for the global decline in insect numbers and they face significant threats. How might we be able to help monarchs in our garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Easy Houseplant Tagging System To Simplify Plant Care
They're big and colourful -- powerful fliers that stand out in a crowd. And they eat mosquitoes. What can we do to attract dragonflies to our garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Rosemary From Cuttings (Indoors or Outdoors)
Keeping carbon out of the air and in our garden can help the environment, but can we keep carbon sequestered and have healthy soil at the same time?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow an Oak Tree From an Acorn (Step By Step)
Carbon sequestration is one way our plants help the environment -- by taking carbon out of the air and holding on to it or putting it in the soil.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Soil Calculator (Mulch, Compost, & Potting Mix Too)
They aren't the world's fastest-growing trees, but you can start with an acorn and -- with some patience -- end up with a tree that supports a diverse range of wildlife in your garden.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Mid-Summer Garden Tasks: What To Do Now
Oak trees not only look great, they support a diverse range of birds, insects and other wildlife, as well as microorganisms in the soil.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine (& Creative Display Ideas)
Downy mildew can spoil the appearance of many plants, reduce yields of fruits and vegetables, and sometimes even kill plants. What can we do to avoid it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Simple Seed Guide: From Hybrids to Heirlooms
Plants can detect changes in the length of the day as seasons change. Some will only flower -- or can't flower -- when daylight reaches a certain length.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Annuals & Perennials: What’s The Difference?
There are lots of plants to choose from for almost any amount of sunlight outdoors, but you have to match the right plant with the right area in your garden.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: 25 Vegetables You Can Grow in Shade
For decades, baits have been a popular way to deal with slugs, but there are concerns about their impact on wildlife and the environment. Do any of the suggested home remedy alternatives work?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Beginner Garden Tips That Avoid Bloopers (Great & Small)
Slugs can cause a lot of damage to plants like hostas and lettuce and many others. Is there anything we can do to stop them?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Scarify Seeds Before Sowing For Better Germination Rates
There's been an outbreak in avian flu this year in much of North America. Do our bird feeders increase the risk of spreading the disease?
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Choose the Best Birdseed
They're a common pest and one that's not easy to get rid of ... but there are things you can do to lower their numbers to a level plants can deal with.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: When Tomatoes Crack On The Vine (Now What?)
You'll find exuberant lists online with 10 or more uses for hydrogen peroxide in the garden -- is it something we should be using?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Spring Gardening: Is It Safe To Plant Outdoors Yet?
Physically and mentally, gardening has been shown to promote our health and well-being -- as exercise, an outlet for creativity and learning, relaxation, and more.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 45 Ridiculously Simple & Helpful Eco-Beneficial Garden Tips
They're two popular options as components of potting mix. What are they, what do they do, and what advantages do each provide?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Birdhouses Versus Nesting Boxes: What's Best For Birds
They're tiny but can cause big problems for your plants -- indoors and outdoors. How can you improve your odds of avoiding them, and what can you do once you have them?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Best (Cheap & Easy) DIY Tags For Indoor Seedlings & Plants
It has lots of fans for all sorts of uses in the garden. But do they have a scientific basis or are they just "it worked for me" stories?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Check If Seeds Are Viable (Home Germination Test)
Your tomatoes are coming along nicely and then -- out of nowhere -- they've got big cracks down the side. Now what do you do? And is there something you should have done to avoid it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Deal With Fungus Gnats On Houseplants (What Works)
In compacted soil, it can be harder for roots to grow properly -- and that can reduce our plants' ability to access nutrients and water and create other problems. How can we prevent it from happening, or fix it if it does?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Vegetables Bolt & How To Prevent It
They're definitely annoying and possibly harmful to plants, although often not. What can you do to avoid fungus gnats? Or -- if that fails -- get rid of them?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Delicious Foods Hiding In Your Garden (Forage at Home)
You see lichens growing on trees, rocks, walls and lots of other places. Do they harm trees? And what do they contribute to the garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 50 Flowers For Hummingbirds & How To Keep Them Coming Back
You've got a bunch of seeds that should still be viable to some degree -- is there a quick way to find out? What's the best test?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Carrots Indoors At Home In Flower Pots
Not only are they easy to grow, but radishes are also one of the fastest growing vegetables and one of the first to plant in the spring.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Tips For Choosing a Garden Shed (To Avoid Regrets)
You pick up a tomato and see that something's not right. Cut it open and there are some creepy looking sprouts growing inside. What's that about and what do you do with the tomato?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 30 Flower Seeds To Start Indoors (Late Winter & Spring))
They're one of the most popular garden vegetables -- and easy to grow -- but there are some things to know about peas before choosing ones for your garden.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Two Neat Ways To Store Garden Seeds (& Keep Organized)
Can you remove disinfectants from tap water before using it on your plants -- and do you know which disinfectant your water has? And can fluoride be toxic for plants?
FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Your Garden Needs Mulch & How To Do It Right
Is it safe to use unfiltered tap water on our plants? Lots of people do, but are there risks -- especially from substances like chlorine and fluoride added at water treatment plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 5 Good For The Earth (& You) Garden Resolutions (2022)
It's been more than 30 years since research at NASA showed that it's possible for plants to remove pollutants from the air. But is the air in our home fresher because we have houseplants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Pros and Cons of Using Bt for Caterpillars (In Home Gardens)
We wouldn't have air as we know it without plants, but do our houseplants act as an air filter? And was that really proven by NASA?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: The Problem With Buying Beneficial Nematodes For Grub Control
It's the season for poinsettias -- and for warnings on social media about how you're putting your pets at risk by having poinsettias in the house.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow an Avocado from Seed (Easy Method)
They're sold as an alternative to pesticides to kill a wide range of insects. But will they make a difference to your garden or lawn? And are they safe to use?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Why Your Garden Needs Mulch & How To Do It Right
You can buy nematodes to apply to your lawn or garden to control a wide range of insects. How do beneficial nematodes control pests?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Clever Ways to Fill Tall Raised Beds & Save On Soil
We know that unhappy limp look plants give us, especially on hot, dry days. Should we reach for the watering can or is there something else at work here?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 2022 Handy Garden Checklist (What To Get Done Each Month)
We know the properties we'd like the soil in our raised beds to have -- what should we put in the mix to get them?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 7 Unfortunate Garlic Growing Mistakes You Can Avoid
Is there such a thing as ideal soil for raised beds? If there is, how do you know you're actually getting it when you place an order or go to the garden center?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Best Small Pond Ideas for Patios & Gardens
There are lots of lighting options -- especially with LEDs -- and we may feel uneasy about whether we're providing our plants the right kind of light.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Clone Orchids With Keiki Paste
The oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, and most of the dry weight of the plants in our garden -- they all come from photosynthesis, which depends on plants getting the light they need.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Using Heat Mats For Seed Starting
Leaf mold is a favorite organic addition to garden soil, and one that you can have at almost no cost just by keeping your fall leaves and letting them rot.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Properly Store Herbs & Spices (Are They Still Good?)
Even if you plan on sticking with soil, hydroponics tells us a lot about plants -- and soil. And if it appeals to you, then it's a way to grow plants year-round.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Swiss Chard Indoors (Seed to Harvest)
Fall is peak garlic planting time. What do we need to know to grow garlic in our garden ... and whatever happened to garlic seeds?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How To Grow Pineapple From Seed (Two Methods)
Saving seeds can be simple ... or complicated depending on how ambitious you get. What are some of the challenges you may face saving seeds?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Getting Started With Seed Saving (Flowers, Fruit, & Vegetables)
They're a popular source of blues, purples, pinks and other colours in the fall garden ... although, as far as botanists are concerned, most of them aren't actually asters.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Planting Potted Mums Outdoors as Year-Round Perennials
Keiki paste is used to propagate certain kinds of orchids -- but what's in it, does it really work, and can we use it on other plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Pineapple As a Houseplant
There are more species of rust fungi than any other plant pathogen. Once you have it, there's not much you can do about it, but you can make things more challenging for the rust.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Spectacular Fast-Growing Flowers
Willow water, honey and many others are touted as natural alternatives to rooting hormone. But do they work as well as rooting hormones -- or at all?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Harvest Sweet Pea Seeds
Rooting hormones an easy way to improve the odds that our cuttings will take root -- and also to speed up the process a little bit.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Easy Plant Propagation Tutorials for Gardeners
There's a whole slew of amendments to buy or make -- and many do some good for our plants. But there's also a lot to be said for keeping things simple.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Make a Robin Nesting Shelf (Free Plans)
You hear all the time that some plants need well-drained soil, but what does that mean, exactly? How do we know if we have it and what can we do about it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Harvest Zinnia Seeds
They're the world's most abundant animal. Almost all of us have nematodes in our gardens. They do a lot of good for the soil but some of them can badly damage your plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Cure Winter Squash for Storage
It has lots of enthusiastic supporters among gardeners -- and it also gets called snake oil. Can we come to any conclusions about compost tea?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Ripen Tomatoes After Picking
What does scientific research tell us about the effectiveness of Epsom salt in the garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Mums From Cuttings
It's a divisive issue in gardening circles. Will Epsom salt do wonderful things for your plants, or it is a load of unscientific hooey?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 7 Unique Garden Art Easel Ideas
Variegation is very highly sought after, both in houseplants and for the garden. What is variegation and what challenges can it create for gardeners?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 17 Flower Seeds to Sow Mid-Summer
Maybe the best-known attribute of sunflowers is that they follow the sun as it moves across the sky during the day. But do they? Or is it just a popular misconception?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Make a Birdcage Flower Planter
Their flowers aren't exactly flowers and their seeds aren't actually seeds, but sunflowers are one of the world's most recognizable and loved garden plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Free Raised Bed Building Plans
Sunflowers are very easy to grow and pretty low-maintenance. You just need to get a few things right -- and make sure you buy the right seeds.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Surprisingly Good Dollar Store Finds for Gardeners
All those extra petals provide a dense bundle of color, so gardeners love them. But pollinators and other garden wildlife may take a different view.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 24 Clever Garden Problem-Solvers Using Household Items
Extended periods of hot temperatures can create stress for your plants and cause damage -- some that you can see and some you can't. What can you can do about it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: DIY Raised Garden Bed with Built-in Privacy Wall
Bolting can ruin your vegetables in a blink of an eye. You can sometimes avoid it, but it's really just part of the natural lifecycle of plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: When to Take Plant Cuttings (Season By Season)
Why would we ever want to wound our plants? Can we really get more growth by cutting parts off? And what about more blooms?
READ MORE at Empress of Dirt: How to Deadhead Flowers for More Blooms
It's one of the most common garden diseases and one that gardeners quickly learn to identify. What is it and can we do anything about it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Create a Dream Garden on a Low Budget
It's a popular organic insecticide touted for being effective on caterpillars and harmless to people. How does it work? And does it live up to its billing?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Tips & Tools for Sowing Tiny Seeds
Some plants have developed flowers that send a message to pollinators -- hey come check this out, you won't be disappointed.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 14 Birdbath Planter Ideas for Your Garden
Concluding our look at moon gardening. Is there reason to believe we'd get better results in the garden if we planted by moon phases and the zodiac?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Forget the Epsom Salts -- It’s a Garden Myth
Lots of people love to do it, others have a hard time taking it seriously. Much of the growth in popularity in moon gardening over the last century is due to the influence of Rudolf Steiner.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Plant Patents and Home Gardens: What You Need to Know
Lots of people love to do it ... many others think it's wacky. Is there any basis for gardening by the phase of the moon?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 5 Smart Garden Uses for This Dollar Store Waste Basket
It's been riding a wave of popularity since Joel Karsten's book came out in 2013. What is straw bale gardening, and why might you want to try it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Clematis 101 Easy Care Guide
Millions of people have bought the book. Is square foot gardening something you might want to try in your garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 12 Creative Crafty Uses for Slow Cookers
You name it, and milk is suggested as a solution in the garden -- a fungicide, insecticide, bactericide, fertilizer, biostimulant, disinfectant, hand sanitizer and more. Is there actually something to it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 25 Vegetable Garden Ideas for Any Size Space
They're not always the most welcome plant in the garden, although many people like to have dandelions -- for themselves and ... maybe for bees too?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Make Fossil Imprint Stepping-Stones
Most of us would probably say we garden organically to some degree -- and maybe entirely. But what is organic gardening, exactly?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: The History of Seed & Nursery Catalogs for Gardeners
You buy a plant from the garden center, bring it home, love it, and decide to divide it or take some cuttings so you can have even more. But in some cases you're actually breaking the law.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 50 Creative Garden Shed Ideas
It's widely touted as a safe, organic alternative to synthetic pesticides, and it will kill a long list of pests. But neem oil isn't for everyone.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Transplant Raspberries and Grow More Fruit
They can drain the energy out of your plants and inject them with viruses. What can we do to stop aphids? What about ladybugs? Diatomaceous earth? Sticky traps?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: What is Soil pH and How to Work With It
They're tiny insects that can sap plants of their energy, give them viruses, and coat them with black mold. They're also born pregnant and can quickly multiply on your plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 14 Creative and Functional Potting Bench Ideas
It's not just some pretty decoration for your garden! Mulch delivers benefits to your plants, your soil ... and will even save you some work.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Do You Know Hummingbirds? Take the Quiz and Find Out!
One of the biggest threats our new seedlings face is damping-off. What can we do to improve our odds of avoiding it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Best Living Plants for Miniature Gardens (Resource Guide)
What is it about the no-dig approach that is so appealing, what are some of the objections, and what does the research say?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow String of Pearls (Semecio rowleyannus)
No-dig methods lower the apprehension of many new gardeners and have attracted lots of adherents over the years. Others question if a garden can really go without a good digging.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Sunflowers and What to Avoid
You can help strengthen your seedlings by giving them a quick, gentle brushing -- maybe with your hand or something lighter.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 12 Smart Tips for Starting a Budget-Friendly Organic Garden
It's a plant hack that has taken off on social media. Is shaking your plants just silliness, or is there actually something to it?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Germination Trick for Stubborn Delphinium Seeds
In much of the U.S. and Canada, we will soon be welcoming hummingbirds back to our gardens. When will they arrive and how can we prepare?
READ MORE AT Empress of Dirt: 2021 Hummingbird Migration Map (Find Out When to Expect Them)
Salts are the source of essential nutrients for your plants, but they can also interfere with plant growth and even kill plants.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Perennials with Long-Lasting Blooms
It's often recommended but seldom done. Do we really need to get our soil tested?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 4 Essential Tips for Indoor Seed Starting Success
Free plants that you weren't expecting to find in your garden can be a nice surprise -- but may not always be what you want.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Is Wood Ash a Good Soil Amendment?
Seeds all have different labels on the packets -- open-pollinated, hybrid, heirloom, organic -- so what do those labels mean?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 12 Tips for Growing Giant Sunflowers
When we propagate plants from seeds we usually get a genetic combination of two parent plants. But some plants can actually produce clones of themselves through seeds.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 60 Herbal Plants to Grow for Homemade Tea
Many of us are getting to the time of year when we can start seeds indoors -- but we may need to hold off just a little bit longer. Why is that?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Using Biochar as a Soil Amendment (Pros and Cons)
Many people end up generating a lot of ashes over the winter from fireplaces and wood stoves. There's some good stuff in there for plants, so can we use wood ash in the garden?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 10 Flower Growing Secrets & Common Mistakes
Some gardeners come to love scientific names and take pride in learning them ... for others they can seem a bit pompous. But there are good reasons that our plants need scientific names.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Perennial Flower Bloom Times From Spring to Fall
Juniper berries, ginkgo fruit and others may look like fruit, but botanists say otherwise. So, if they aren't fruit, what are those fruit-like structures produced by non-flowering seed plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow a Peach (or Plum) Tree From the Pit
We're heading into peak seed-starting season in this part of the world. If you haven't started seeds indoors before, this is a great year to start -- and now is the time to get ready.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: Seed Starting for Beginners: Sow Inside Grow Outside
Manure from different animals is a popular addition to garden soil but you'll also hear a lot of warnings about its use. And what about using waste from your pets?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Better Cat Litter: Low-Cost and Eco-Friendly Options
Have you heard the one about how you can tell a female bell pepper from a male? Well, that one's just a myth -- fruit isn't male or female. But plants can be.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow An Apple Tree From Seed
It's very different from what we do with plants growing outdoors in the soil. With houseplants, it's all on us to make sure that the essential nutrients are available.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Asparagus (and Plant Crowns)
Stratification is a technique used to give dormant seeds the experience of changing seasons even when they've only gone from a drawer into our fridge.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Winter Sowing: Starting Seeds Outdoors in Milk Jugs
There are things we can do with dormant seeds to prod them along and get them to germinate. One of the most important for gardeners is scarification.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: What to Prune in Winter
Seed dormancy can be frustrating for gardeners -- having seeds that won't germinate -- but it's an important part of the survival of many plant species.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Science-based Companion Planting Tips for Growing Vegetables
Most places now have recycling programs for Christmas trees -- or you can try one of the 25 creative projects from our list to put your tree to good use.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: 25 Creative Ways to Reuse Christmas Trees
It's no fun to shovel, and it can look lovely ... but is that blanket of snow good or bad for your plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Easy Winter Composting in a Cold Climate
Lots of reports this year that Christmas trees have been harder to find. Also lots of questionable advice out there about the best ways to care for your tree.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 6 Craft Recipes to Make Fake Snow
Holly is another of the popular plants of the Christmas season -- although they are considered to be invasive in many areas. And maybe just a little toxic too.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Root Pothos Cuttings
Native to Mexico, poinsettias have been a symbol of Christmas for over 100 years. They can be kept as perennials ... and, no, they aren't actually poisonous.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Make Poinsettias Rebloom as Houseplants
One of our favorite Christmas decorations is a parasitic plant that feeds off of others and is sometimes thought to be toxic, although that part is often overstated.
POPULAR THIS WEEK FROM Empress of Dirt: Christmas Cactus or Thanksgiving? How to ID Your Plant
What needs to happen for a graft to be successful -- and what can we do to improve our odds that it actually does happen?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 6 Tips for Growing Hollyhocks and Dealing With Rust
Grafting is one of the fundamental techniques of plant propagation where you create a new plant by connecting pieces of different plants that have traits you know you want.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Ideas for Better Backyard Privacy
Lots of year-in-review articles and surveys have started to appear -- and, by all accounts, it was a fantastic year for garden centers and for gardening.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 39 Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs to Regrow from Scraps
We know a lot about plastic in the ocean, but we're only beginning to understand its effect in soil. Are plastics safe for gardening and what can we do to make them safer?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Geraniums Indoors as Houseplants
Can you really give your plants the water and nutrients they need through their leaves from sprays instead of through their roots from the soil?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Easy Way to Grow Ginger Root Indoors
The cuticle is where your plants interact with the world. Among many roles, they largely control how effective plant sprays are.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Beautiful Backyard Pond Ideas For All Budgets
You may never get fruit from it, but it's actually pretty easy to grow an avocado plant from seed. If you're fairly new to plant propagation, it's a great way to start.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow an Avocado from Seed (Easy Method)
We hear a lot about frost and freezing and the difference between them, but nothing suddenly happens with the first frost on the ground or with the first freezing temperatures.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Collect and Grow Milkweed Seeds
In the fall, we may scramble to bring some plants indoors or cover them -- while others will make it through the winter fine. What do frost and cold temperatures do to plants?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Preserve Fall Leaves and Wildflowers with Beeswax
They're one of the easiest plants to grow -- even if they are garden hogs -- and were one of the first vegetables ever cultivated.
ALSO FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Root Pothos Cuttings
Some people are still reluctant to "leave the leaves" -- and one objection is that leaves will "rob the soil" of an essential nutrient.
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: 4 Easy Ways to Overwinter Geraniums
There's lots of good nutrients in fall leaves -- and we know not to send them to landfill -- but can we really just "leave the leaves"?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Grow Cover Crops to Improve Your Garden Soil
You'll find all sorts of conflicting advice online about planting depth, but does it really make much of a difference how deep you put your bulbs?
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: What to Prune in Fall and What Should Wait
When it comes to planting bulbs, you'll hear a lot of old school advice -- but how much of it should you follow? And how can you protect bulbs from squirrels and other wildlife?
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Flower Bulbs to Plant for Spring Pollinators
You'll hear a lot of conflicting advice about when to plant bulbs in the fall. You have a range of options, and each has strengths and weaknesses.
MORE FROM Empress of Dirt: 20 Flowering Bulbs to Plant in Fall
Is it safe to eat green tomatoes? As with green potatoes, they do contain higher concentrations of a toxin, but is it anything to be concerned about?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: When is it Too Late to Plant Trees in Fall?
We found the usual advice not to put potatoes in the fridge was pretty iffy, but what about their close relatives -- tomatoes?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: How to Overwinter Potted Trees in a Cold Climate
The usual advice given to gardeners is not to store potatoes in the fridge. But is this good advice and what is it based on?
NEW FROM Empress of Dirt: Get a Better Spring Garden With These Fall Tasks