Many gardeners choose to get a head start on their flowerbeds each spring by starting their hearty flower bulbs indoors first. Whether you use a greenhouse to start your flower bulbs, or a naturally well-lit area in your home, starting your bulbs indoors is a great way to grow happy and strong flowers.

If you don’t transplant your bulbs carefully, it could be detrimental to your blooms. Be sure that there won’t be another frost during the early spring season before you attempt to transplant anything. Properly and thoroughly weed the area, and break up the soil to keep it loose and nutrient rich. Dig a hole big enough to fit the entire root system in the ground, and loosely cover it up with soil, gently patting down the area. Be sure to reuse the soil the bulbs were planted in, to make the transition easy and less shocking for your flowers. Cover with the mulch of your choosing and give the plant ample water. Repeat this with all the bulbs you’ve started indoors for a beautiful and healthy flowerbed this spring.

Most people think that winter is a time for canned food and prepared meals, without a lot of fresh ingredients. It is true that there are not as many fresh fruits and vegetables available to us during the winter, but the avid gardener can prepare and enjoy fresh vegetables and fruits all year long.

Herbs are a great way to enjoy the freshness of homegrown goodness during the winter. Herb gardens are typically smaller, and can be kept easily indoors. You can enjoy herbs fresh, or added to your favorite dishes like casseroles and pasta meals. Indoor gardening, if you have the room, is a great way to continue enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables. While you may not be able to grow fresh corn, you can grow smaller plants like hot peppers and tomatoes in upside down plant growers. Make sure you have enough room and light to properly nourish these types of growers. Don’t forget all your canned and vegetables and fruits that you prepared over the season, and enjoy these for a fresh taste of summer when you need it most. Winter is long and often dreary, so brighten it up with fresh vegetables that are homegrown.

Yard work is an essential part of spring and summer, and you must also prepare your yard during fall for the winter season. Just because your grass isn’t growing during the winter, there are things you can do to maintain yard throughout the cold, winter months.

If you live in an area that doesn’t get a lot of snow, or any snow at all, rake the leaves out of your yard periodically to keep it looking beautiful all year long, and to eliminate a heavy workload when spring finally arrives. If you have pets that go to the bathroom outdoors, be sure to keep your yard free of waste, and remove the waste regularly so your yard isn’t damaged. If you get a lot of snow throughout the winter, there isn’t as much you can do in the way of periodic maintenance, but it’s important to keep your yard free of pet waste to protect the grass and eliminate harmful bacteria. In general, a little bit of maintenance throughout the winter can save you an abundance of work in the spring.

There is nothing better than growing your very own vegetables in your very own garden. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this may be the last chance to take advantage of the last of your fresh garden bounty.

If you haven’t had much frost, you may still be yielding root vegetables like sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and carrots in your garden. As these are Thanksgiving staples, utilize this in your Thanksgiving menu. While corn may be out of season for eating, if you still have ears of corn in your garden, string them together for a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece or door hanger. Hot peppers are likely still hanging on, so use these items in a spicy cranberry sauce, or a jalapeno cornbread stuffing. Hearty herbs are likely still available, especially if you’ve pulled these inside before any frost damaged them, so use these in your stuffing, and inside your turkey this year. Think outside your typical Thanksgiving menu, and create a meal that’s all your own. Use what vegetables and herbs you have left in your garden and grow your own Thanksgiving this year.

Fall is in the air, and beautiful, bold fall flowers are now in season! Expand your garden into the fall months and make use of the wonderful and hearty fall flowers available now. Now is a great time to plant mums, which have small blooms and come in a variety of fall colors. Orange, red, and yellow mums are a beautiful option for planting fall flowers. Mums are known for being strong fall plants that are easy to grow, making them very popular in September and October.

Pansies are also a great option for fall, because they are hearty. Pansies will bloom in the fall, survive through the winter and bloom again in beautiful spring, but remember, many varieties are annuals, so you will need to plant them each fall. Foxgloves are another beautiful fall option, as they become dormant in the hotter summer months, and bloom once the cooler fall months approach. Many varieties of lilies are also partial to fall months and prefer cooler, wetter weather. Ask around at your local nursery for more tips on planting fall flowers and enjoy a beautiful flower garden long into the fall months.

If you have an outdoor garden, you’ve most likely experienced unwanted guests nibbling on your vegetables and plants. Rabbits, squirrels, and even cats can do harm to gardens by eating the plants and leaves. If you need to deter critters in your garden, there are natural ways to do so, without harming your plants or the animals.

Lay citronella candles throughout your garden to deter cats, as they dislike a strong citrus smell. These candles may need to be replaced after a hard rain, or during a strong heat wave, as they will most likely melt. An alternative would be to lay orange and lemon peels throughout your garden. Another natural deterrent is cayenne pepper. Sprinkle cayenne pepper throughout your garden to deter most animals from chewing on your plants. Just be sure to wash your vegetables before consuming them so as not to deter yourself! Finally, place mothballs in old panty house and hang throughout your garden to deter rabbits and squirrels. There is no need to harm critters that find their way into your garden. Simply use these natural deterrents to ward away unwanted visitors.

If you have a garden, you must water it. However, it’s not enough to simply purchase a watering can and hope for the best. Watering your garden involves a careful balance. The time of day you water your garden, and how you water it can make the difference between a fruitful garden, and one that doesn’t yield as much as you hoped.

Don’t over water your garden! Even though plants are made of mostly water, too much water can drown the plants and limit the amount of edible fruit/vegetables they grow. Keep the soil moist, but don’t flood your garden. Similarly, ensure you are providing enough water for a healthy garden. The soil should always be damp, and rarely dry and brittle. The time of day you water your garden is imperative to the health of your plants, and it’s best to water your garden in the early morning or late evening. Watering plants at noonday can burn them, so it is important to water them when the sun is not at its hottest. Remember the rule of moderation when watering your plants, and your garden will be sure to grow lush, with plenty of fruits and vegetables for you to enjoy.

Today is a dark cold day in January when it’s hard to stay warm. Soup will taste good for the evening meal. I decided to make some ham and white bean soup. Some people call it Senate Bean Soup. I think it must be real American food. I went about the task of peeling onions. Onion in English, the Spanish word for onion is cebolla. It was just a plain, ordinary yellow cooking onion. When I peeled it, that onion was purple! That sent my mind thinking.

How long have people been eating onions? Where did they come from? Well it turns out, we have been eating onions since 3500BC and onions grow wild all over ever continent. (I have eaten wild onions as a college student and willed them dead, as grounds maintenance professional.) Jewels to one are weeds to another.

The beauty of the onion is that it does not spoil in winter. It transports well and moved all over the world with humans. Onions went from Egypt to Greece, Italy, even to the New World with the Pilgrims. Onions mean that much to people. At the heart of all full- bodied recipes is the onion. They are bound to humans by flavor, texture, and tears. The dinner table would be a bland place without them.

More and more people are moving in the direction of buying practical gifts for their friends and family. There is nothing more practical than some great gardening gifts for those families and individuals that are starting to or wanting to grow their own food. The great thing is you can get something as simple as hand tools to a larger and more complex garden gifts that might include a raised bed or even a greenhouse.

The most important thing to consider is the skill set of the person you are giving the gift to. You may also want to ask them what they are lacking or what they would like to add in their garden this next spring. There are some things that are organic specific and others that are for general gardening. Whatever you buy for the gardener in your life, make it practical. You can also give a gift to encourage growing their own food as well. One of the best things to use to get stared is a raised bed and you can get organic beds or beds made from recycled milk jugs that both help the environment as well as give someone a way to grow their own food.

In this day and age when the economy is getting hit hard and we are getting hit harder with bills, it just pays to start thinking green. I recently got a notice in the mail that the water department was going to start charging extra if we went over the allotted water limit per household. I guess at that moment, my beautiful green luscious yard was a curse although I had never seen it that way previously. How was I going to stay under my limit when my veggies and grass need its daily watering?

Thank goodness for the internet and searching for ‘green gardening’ because I found a couple things that have worked wonders for me. First I ordered a collapsible rain barrel that could easily be set up to catch runoff from the gutter and be hooked up to the lawn hose – a simple way to recycle water! And why stop with just recycling water when there is so much that I was throwing out from the fridge that could be used in a compost bin. I’m glad to say my yard has been able to stay ‘luscious’ even in these hard times thanks to these products.