Gardening
How to grow what you plant — starting seeds, tending beds, and keeping plants healthy from spring’s first sowing to fall cleanup.
Gardening Tips Gardening Tools and Equipment Plant Care Planting and Growing Soil and Fertilization This Weekend in Your Yard
Seed-Starting Heat Mat vs No Heat Mat: Worth It?
November 10, 2026 · By Rhett Montgomery
A heat mat won't rescue every seed from a cold windowsill — but for peppers and tomatoes, it's the best thirty dollars in the setup.
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Setting Up a Seed-Starting Station: Trays, Lights, and Heat
November is when the seed station goes up — a shelf, a light, a tray — so February’s sowing isn’t a scramble.
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Best Seed-Starting Supplies to Buy Once and Use for Years
Tired of seed trays that crack after one season? Buy the set that lasts — five pieces of gear worth owning for years.
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Reference Table: How Deep to Plant Spring Bulbs (and How Far Apart)
Spring color starts with a hole dug in fall, and this table gives you the depth and spacing for seven bulbs.
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Why Eggplant Won’t Set Fruit — and How to Fix It
Flowers open, flowers drop, and the plant looks fine — the cause is usually the night temperature, not the plant.
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Starting Eggplant Indoors: Timing, Heat, and Hardening Off
Eggplant is the earliest seed to start and the quickest to sulk — sow ten to twelve weeks before last frost, with real heat.
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Best Eggplant Varieties to Grow from Seed
A tall eggplant plant covered in purple flowers and carrying nothing is the August heartbreak this roundup prevents.
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How to Winterize a Rain Barrel
A full barrel left out through a hard freeze will split — draining it now takes twenty minutes and saves a spring replacement.
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How to Install a Rain Barrel on a Downspout
A rain barrel is only as good as its hookup: level ground, a clean diverter cut, and an overflow that leads away from the house.
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The Best Rain Barrels for Gardens
Your gutters catch hundreds of gallons every storm — most of it runs straight past the garden. These three barrels put it to work.
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Why Parsnips Won’t Germinate — and Forked Roots, Fixed
Nothing sprouts, or the roots come up forked? Here is what your parsnips are telling you — and how to fix it next sowing.
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Growing Parsnips and Turnips: Direct Sowing, Thinning, and Harvest
Late spring soil, a half inch of cover, and patience: the slow roots reward the gardener who sows them right the first time.
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Best Parsnips, Turnips, and Rutabagas to Grow from Seed
Parsnips take months, turnips take a month — pick the root that fits your season, and skip the sold-out favorite for now.
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