Category: Home & Garden

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is throwing down the gauntlet when it comes to corn, pitting food sovereignty against the country’s trade agreements.

His proposed ban on genetically modified corn has upset U.S. corn farmers, trade groups and officials and has prompted the U.S. to establish a third party dispute panel to help resolve the disagreement. And yet, López Obrador gives no signs of backing off — making it clear he believes corn, or maize, is a cultural touchstone worth fighting for.

“We will continue campaigning against junk foods that affect our health, including GMO corn,” López Obrador said in a speech given in Spanish earlier this year. “We must first take care of our health and protect native corn varieties.”

Mexico is considered the birthplace of maize, which is still the most extensive crop grown in the country. There are dozens of native corn varieties and many efforts in place to protect them. “Sin Maíz No Hay País,” which translates to “Without Corn, There Is No Country,” is a campaign and phrase used to garner support for protecting native corn varieties.

“Corn is quintessentially Mexican,” said Diego Marroquín Bitar, a fellow for the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, a non-profit that promotes trade between the two countries. “It plays a really important role in the construction of the Mexican identity, and I think that’s where the president comes from.”

López Obrador recently released a revised draft of Mexico’s national food production standard, stipulating that no genetically modified white corn is to be used in corn dough, or masa, for tortillas and tostadas.

Today Susan Warde is letting us visit her St. Paul, Minnesota, garden. She was inspired by the posts from Cherry and me looking back at “the summer that was” in our gardens, and so she did the same in her garden! We’re going to see her front garden today and the back garden tomorrow. I hope you’ll share your “summer that was” in your garden as well! It is fun seeing how everyone’s plants have performed throughout the year.

April 27: Crocuses and wildflowers come up in early April in chilly Minnesota, but the garden only starts looking like one when the scilla (Scilla siberica, Zones 3–8) and ‘Royal Star’ magnolias (Magnolia stellata ‘Royal Star’, Zones 4–9) come into bloom.

May 16: Here’s the sundial (seen in the background in the former photo), surrounded by midsize bearded irises (‘Cherry Garden’) and an unknown heuchera that I bought at a yard sale. It produces starry white flowers for much of the summer. You can see a bit of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum, Zones 3–7) at either side of the photo. The scilla are done blooming, but the foliage is not yet wilted and yellow. By the time that happens, other plants will have covered up the unsightly leaves.

May 21: The azaleas (Rhododendron hybrids) are just coming into bloom. These are from the Northern Lights series, bred at the University of Minnesota to be fully hardy in cold climates (some down to –40°F). Mine are in yellows and pinks, but there are also some show-stopping orange and flame varieties. The little pink flowers to the left of the walk are primroses (Primula sieboldii, Zones 5–7). The small tree to the right of the front door is a Zone 4–hardy Korean-Japanese maple hybrid (Acer× pseudosieboldianum, ’North Wind’).

June 5: This is the place where the front garden becomes the side garden, though actually there are no clear boundaries. A ‘Honey Gold’ peony (Paeonia ‘Honey Gold’, Zones 3–8) is in the foreground. The fern to the right of the peony is narrow-leaved spleenwort (Diplazium pycnocarpon, Zones 3–8). In the same garden are irises: Siberian (Iris pseudacorus) and a tall bearded iris (‘Sultry Mood’). The beginning of the back garden can be seen at the top of the photo.

June 27: An enormous white-flowered hosta (a gift from a neighbor) takes center stage. The spiky leaves of Iris pseudacorus (Zones 5–9) are in the foreground.

July 23: The tall white lilies with gold centers are Lilium ‘Conca d’or’ (Zones 4–8). I had them for about six years. They are gorgeous and fragrant but so dramatic that I felt they detracted from the rest of the garden. I gave them away and have now substituted lilies that I hope will fit in better. The tall pinky-lavender blooms are from an Astilbe.

July 29: This is the part of the garden seen in the fourth photo, now dominated by blazing star (Liatris, Zones 3–8), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia, Zones 3–8), and coneflowers (Echinacea, Zones 4–8).

July 31: I don’t plant any annuals, but July is truly an over-the-top month in the garden even without them. Here’s the sundial seen before, and now the heuchera are in bloom. The gold daylilies are Hemerocallis ‘Erin Lea’ (Zones 4–9). Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum × superbum, Zones 5–9) and phlox (Phlox paniculata, Zones 4–9) are also flowering at this time.

September 12: Angelica gigas (Zones 4–8) is just beginning to go to seed. It’s a biennial. The little first-year plants can be moved if they appear in awkward places. This specimen is by the wall that separates the garden from the public sidewalk, and people often stop and examine the flowers (and the many bees and wasps that visit). In the background is a 40-year-old white pine (Pinus strobus, Zones 3–8) with a climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris, Zones 4–8) scrambling up the trunk.

October 22: Last winter, rabbits girdled two of the three stems of a serviceberry planted here next to the porch, and by midsummer two of them had died. I planted this ‘Royal Raindrops’ crabapple (Malus sp.) instead. (Its burgundy foliage can be seen on the left side of the porch in the previous photo.) By October the foliage had turned a brilliant orange. I’m looking forward to its magenta-pink flowers next spring.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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With the flurry of the holidays bearing down upon us, now is the perfect time to make a list of winter garden tasks to accomplish over the coming months. I find that if I wait until the longest, dreariest part of the year is upon me, I lose sight of what needs doing to get the garden properly poised for the “on-season.” At this point, the garden may look like a sodden mess from the window. When there is a dry day and the sun is peeking through the clouds, it’s the perfect opportunity to rush outside and check some tasks off your winter to-do list. One of the most exciting things about spring is that it happens one day at a time, so if you are in the garden in the “off-season” you’ll get to see it unfolding. Here are some fall and winter garden tasks to do this month and throughout the three phases of winter.

Late Fall/Early Winter Garden Tasks

Cut back grasses

Most of the ornamental grasses are pretty much in shambles by now. The birds have feasted on the seed heads, and most of the foliage is broken or collapsed. Now is the time to cut these plants back. My favorite tool for this task is a cordless hedge trimmer. It makes quick work of the dried floppy stems and gets a nice neat base. If your grasses need to be reduced this is also the perfect time to cut around the edges with a sharp spade to remove some growth. Or you can cut the entire plant in half and replant the other half in another spot.

Document and reroute runoff

With the return of frequent rains, now is the time to take note of areas where excessive rain has pooled or caused rivulets to cut into the ground. Some redirecting of the excess water should be done now to ensure that the rain keeps flowing off the planting beds and the soil doesn’t become supersaturated. Take pictures of any area where water settles and remains for more than a day after a rainfall. These areas can be fixed in spring by providing better drainage and changing slopes.

Midwinter Garden Tasks

Prune certain plants

This task also includes pruning deciduous trees. The structure is very easy to see without the leaves on them. Remember the three Ds of pruning: dead, diseased, and damaged. Those are the first branches to go, and then move on to the fine pruning. This includes shaping, reducing the height, and creating space throughout the branches and around neighboring trees and shrubs so that each tree stands alone without crowding. Winter pruning encourages spring growth, while summer pruning controls growth. There are good tutorials online and great books on the subject to help give you confidence in pruning tasks.

Late-Winter Garden Tasks

Remove excess leaves

Clean up any leftover leaves that have scattered into the garden beds as spring approaches. Insects can overwinter on dying foliage, so I often leave fall leaf drop on many of my beds. This helps protect the soil from runoff and keeps weeds down too. But in late winter/early spring it’s time to remove those leaves and put them into a leaf mold pile. Any plant that is susceptible to fungus, mildew, or insect pests (think roses) needs to have the remaining leaves around it pulled away. The base of the plant should have no debris around it at all. Top the beds off with a thin layer of organic mulch that has been composted around your dormant plants (so it will be available for feeding the roots when they wake up). This mulch keeps any soil from splashing back on stems and causing disease.

Put down slug bait

Toward the end of winter is usually when I put my first slug bait out into the garden. I use a natural pet/wildlife-friendly one, but you can use whatever is most effective in your garden. It is important to use it before you see the first sign of damage. This keeps the slug population from growing quickly. Even snowdrops (Galanthus spp. and cvs., Zones 3–8) can be eaten by slugs.

Share spring photos to encourage other gardeners

Our gardens in the Pacific Northwest often wake up earlier than those in much of the rest of the country. Early snowdrops start pushing through the soil. Witch hazels (Hamamelis spp. and cvs., Zones 3–8) begin pushing out spiky orange, yellow, and red flowers, while paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha and cvs., Zones 7–10) buds fatten up and eventually burst open. Before you go back indoors, take a look around and see what is emerging in your garden. Then share your finds with others—not everyone experiences spring as early as we do!

Susan Calhoun is the owner of Plantswoman Design in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

You may have noticed that the Rocky Mountain region—especially if you moved here from either coast or the South—is notably lacking in broadleaf evergreens. That is because these evergreens are more prone to burn from both winter sun and wind—as well as to suffer winter water loss—than deciduous woody plants or needled evergreens. As a result, gardeners in our region must select and site such woody plants more thoughtfully than gardeners in other regions. Of course, what we call “Rocky Mountain” is really more like two regions: one that reliably retains winter snow cover, and one that does not. The three broadleaf evergreen natives described here, however, do well in a variety of gardens and exposures.

Learn more: How to Protect Broadleaf Evergreens from Winter Damage.

Siting Broadleaf Evergreens for Success

In winter-dry gardens, avoid siting broadleaf evergreens in locations that receive winter sun all day; the east face of a house, for example, is ideal. Winter snow cover reduces winter stress on evergreen plants, so gardens that retain snow cover can feature broadleaf evergreens in a greater diversity of sites with less work. Regardless, these sumptuous, structural garden additions add vibrance to our outdoor worlds when we appreciate it most and are worth the modest investment.

During establishment, irrigate all three of these plants regularly, and mulch with leaf, wood, or gravel mulch.

Rocky Mountain gardens that retain winter snow cover can host these plants in a variety of sites with relatively little winter upkeep.

Gardeners in snowless areas should site broadleaf evergreen plants where they receive a bit of shade in the afternoon. It is also a good idea to water them in winter.

Daphne

Daphne × burkwoodii ‘Carol Mackie’

Zones: 4–8

Size: 4 feet wide and 4 feet tall

One of our most striking broadleaf evergreens remains the classic ‘Carol Mackie’ daphne. With a superb branch structure and restrained growth that gives it a shapely form, it’s an easy choice for semi-formal gardens and tighter settings where large or ramble-prone woodies just won’t do. Teardrop-shape leaves with variegated edges just ooze taste, and come spring, the plant delights with an effusive bloom of four-petaled, soft-pink flowers. As if that isn’t enough, they’re fragrant—so deliciously so that a friend of mine insists on a ‘Carol Mackie’ specimen by the door everywhere they’ve lived, an insistence I wholeheartedly support. A few words for success on this one: Don’t plant ‘Carol Mackie’ in a clay that sits wet, and site thoughtfully; this shrub despises transplant. Hardy to Zone 4, the plants reach 4 feet high and wide in ideal conditions with age.

Littleleaf mountain mahogany

Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intricatus

Zones: 3–10

Size: 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall

This plant fits into a category we in horticulture sometimes call “workhorse” plants. They won’t dazzle with a flashy bloom or fragrance, and they won’t stop you at the nursery; they demonstrate their value in other ways—in this case, by sheer toughness. Littleleaf mountain mahogany doesn’t care what kind of soil it’s grown in, or how much it’s watered after establishment. In fact, this Cercocarpus will not thrive in a heavily irrigated, amended garden soil once established.

Taking an oval shape to around 5 feet, littleleaf mountain mahogany is a deer-proof (as much as any plant can be) plant that looks as good in January as it does in June. This fine-textured plant is xeric thanks to high-desert origins and is cold hardy, too, unfazed well into Zone 3. Unsurprisingly, it prefers full sun. Thanks to a dense, slow growth habit, it requires virtually no pruning, makes a good screen for an outdoor living space, and makes a good hiding space for local songbirds.

Manzanita

Arctostaphylos × coloradensis

Zones: 5–8

Size: 5 feet wide by 2 feet tall

An easy choice for gardens in Zone 5 and warmer, our native manzanitas have quickly become regional staples when it comes to tough and dapper shrub options. Reaching just over 2 feet tall with age, plants ramble to cover 4 or more feet across. They present with poise in the garden, adorned in unusually dark green, glossy leaves above beautiful, cinnamon-colored exfoliating bark. Thanks to precocious flowers, manzanitas provide a very early nectar source for flying insects. The attractive red berries formed on plants in this group are the source of the plant’s common name, which is Spanish for “little apple.” Be warned, however, that while these plants do fine on coarser soils, they do struggle in some clays. If you have clay soil but want to try growing a manzanita, consider a berm; that has done the trick for me.

Bonus plant
	Gardeners in regions much colder than Zone 5 should consider sticking to the extra cold-hardy parent of A. × coloradoensis, called Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (kinninnick or bearberry), which remains a ground cover but is hardy to Zone 2.

See more native plants for the Mountain West

Native Tree Species for the Rocky Mountain Region

Native Shrubs That Do It All in the Mountain West

Native Annuals and Biennials for Rocky Mountain Gardens

Bryan Fischer lives and gardens at the intersection of the Great Plains and the Rockies. He is a horticulturist and the curator of plant collections for a local botanic garden.

Late fall and early winter can be a drab time in northeastern gardens. Most of the leaves have faded from the trees, and the perennial border is looking mushy and brown. What’s a gardener to do? Luckily, there are many plants that look great at this time of year. The following are a few trees and shrubs that might be lesser known but are worth adding to your garden for a late-season show.

Szechuan pepper

Zanthoxylum simulans, Zones 5b–9

There is just something about having a shrub in your garden that is interesting, useful, and not that common. Zanthoxylum is a genus that you may not be familiar with, but if you are a foodie, or maybe of Chinese descent, than you are in on the surprise. The berries of the plants from the Zanthoxylum species (all are known commonly as Szechuan peppercorns) are a sensation to be experienced. You might have encountered them in authentic Szechuan restaurants (Mapo tofu, anyone?). They cause your taste buds to feel as if they are being electrocuted—but in a good way.

The surprising thing is that Szechuan pepper (or prickly ash) is hardy in many northeastern gardens. It’s hardly a novelty because it’s also a pretty shrub. Sure, it’s thorny, but no more so than a hybrid tea rose, and it’s really all about the late autumn display here. As the foliage turns golden and drops, it’s the glossy red fruits that shine, cracking open to release their black seeds and distinctive fragrance. Yes, you can pick them and dry them or use them fresh in your kitchen adventures. This may be a shrub that is more about adding early winter interest and usefulness to your garden than, let’s say, another hydrangea might bring. But don’t we all need an extra boost of garden interest in the short days of November and December?

White beautyberry

Callicarpa dichotoma f. albifructa, Zones 5–8

While many of us are seduced by the brilliant berries of various purple beautyberry species and cultivars, their more demure, yet lovely sister, white beautyberry, is not as familiar. Hardy through Zone 5, this shrub is in so many ways the more beautiful beautyberry, especially if the weather remains mild in autumn (as a hard freeze will turn the berries tan). In my garden, the pure white berries make this Callicarpa the star of the late autumn garden.

Like so many shrubs with late-season interest, it can look rather ordinary the rest of the year, but as any beautyberry owner knows, to get the lovely long arching branches full of berries, you must cut the entire plant back to the ground every spring anyway. With a show like this, it’s easy to justify waiting until November and December for such a striking display.

Eternal Fragrance^® daphne

Daphne × transatlantica ‘Blafra’, Zones 5–9

Each year I try to photograph my daphne in bloom during each month of the year. This is a shrub that even in my cold Zone 5 garden has some flowers sporadically on it in every month of the year. Astounding as that is, its main bloom period is still in early spring and again in November when the intensely fragrant blooms take over the show from even the late fall foliage.

I was given a seedling of Daphne × transatlantica a decade ago by a friend, and while my plant is lovely, it is a bit floppy, as some daphnes can be. Yet it persists. Even after heavy snows have bent the stems and when all seems lost, it recovers and blooms with even more vigor. Thankfully others have caught on, and there are now named selections that offer better habits and performance. Look for Eternal Fragrance^® that promises semi-evergreen foliage and a more mounded growth habit from 2 to 3 feet tall and wide.

Japanese stewartia

Stewartia pseudocamellia, Zones 5–8

Japanese stewartia is not a tree with many faults. Heck, the only ones I can think of are that its flowers drop like fried eggs, which means you should never plant it over a deck or poolside, and its seedpods are worse than Lego pieces when you’re barefoot. These are no reason, however, to avoid planting what may be the most awesome small tree ever.

My Japanese stewartia, which grows at the corner of my front porch and the street, is the one plant that I get the most comments about in winter. You might be familiar with this stewartia, as it is often recommended as a summer-blooming tree, with its large, white camellia-like flowers that bloom in June. Yet to be perfectly honest, as lovely as those flowers are each year, competition is high in the garden in June, and you can almost miss them. If only stewartia bloomed in February when its cousins, the camellias (Camellia spp. and cvs., Zones 6–10), do.

Winter just happens to be when those who are fortunate to own a Japanese stewartia discover its secret gift, and it isn’t flowers at all. In fall, Japanese stewartia puts on a display with gorgeous red fading foliage. But in the off-season, stewartia bark alone is stunning; it’s almost as if you crossed a eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus spp. and cvs., Zones 8–11), with its multicolored trunks, and a sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis, Zones 4–9), with its camouflage-colored bark that always gets attention. “What is that camouflage tree in your front yard?” people ask me all winter long.

Landscape designers call the sort of branching exhibited by Japanese stewartia “muscular,” as the smooth bark wraps skin-tight over the undulating trunks, reflecting light and glistening with various colors that range from tan, to orange, to brown.

As if that were not enough, the tree’s overall form and silhouette are more attractive in winter than that of nearly any other shrub or tree. How many of us can say that in winter? Japanese stewartia specimens might even be posing just to get extra points, because each branch appears as if an artist sketched it. Every twig, even the tiniest one, is attractive enough to be snipped off with secateurs and maybe added to complement a display of greens in a winter window box or a holiday wreath, or plunged into gravel to hold paperwhites erect.

Any one of these shrubs or trees could wow your neighbors this year with something a little out of the ordinary. Whether you are looking for berries, fall color, late-season flowers, or stunning bark, spice up your off-season with something more unusual this year.

For more fall and winter interest, check out:

And for more Northeast regional reports, click here.

Matt Mattus is the author of two books: Mastering the Art of Flower Gardening and Mastering the Art of Vegetable Gardening. He gardens in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Photos, unless otherwise noted: Matt Mattus

My name is Tingshu Hu. I live in Dunstable, Massachusetts (Zone 5b), but I love plants for warmer regions, such as canna (Canna hybrids, Zones 8–11 or as tender bulbs), crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia, Zones 7–10), Cordyline ‘Red Sister’ (Zones 9–11), and lotus (Nelumbo nucifera, Zones 4–10). I started my cannas indoors and planted them outdoors after the last frost. They started to bloom in July 4 and ended by the first frost. This year the first frost came on Oct. 31, about a month later than normal, so the cannas’ flower stems grew very tall. Most of the pictures were taken on Oct. 27 and 28.

Here is a grouping of Canna ‘Striata’, Rosa ‘America’, and Cordyline ‘Red Sister.’ Rosa ‘America’ is new this year. We planted one last year, but it was killed by voles (all the roots were eaten). This year we made an underground cage to protect the new rose.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis, Zones 5–9), maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis, Zones 5–9), ‘Gold Mound’ spirea (Spirea japonica ‘Gold Mound’, Zone 4–8)

Several varieties of Chinese Chrysanthemum, northern sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium, Zones 3–8)

Cyperus papyrus (Zones 9–10) on the left, with canna, redbud, and maiden grass behind.

Looking out at the garden

Crape myrtle (the red-leaved shrub in pot), dried lotus leaves, and floss flower (Ageratum houstonianum, Zones 10–11 or as an annual) and other ground covers

Knock Out rose, maiden grass, hazelnut’s red leaves (Corylus, Zones 4–8), Chrysanthemum

Potted crape myrtle in brilliant red

Anemone ‘Andrea Atkinson’ (Zones 4–8)

Fish in the garden pond

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

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This looks rather like Danny and Wanda’s wagon wheel method of planting sugarcane:

It’s interesting how small they make their cuttings. I’m not sure pieces that little would survive winter here, but it would be worth trying.

Also, I need to grow sugarcane that gets that tall! Holy moly. I feel like a failure this year.

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My name is Darlene O’Neil. I live in a small village in Moravia, New York. I had volunteered and donated my time with the VFW Auxiliary for years. This kept me busy year-round, and I would squeeze time in for everything else. I finally decided I needed to step away and spend more time with family, friends, and my home, but first I needed to focus on me. I’d forgotten how important it was to do that. How do I heal?

Therapy? Meds? Yoga? What would do the trick? The answer finally came to me: my yard.

As each week passed, I would work in my flower beds. Most people my age would cut back on the flower beds and yard work, throw some grass seed down, and just mow. Not me. I added three more flower beds this summer. I realized midsummer how my yard was my therapy. Without realizing the mood I was in, I’d head outside. Weed pulling would be the bad days, and digging and planting would be the good days. No pharmacy can put that in a pill. There were many more days of digging and planting than weed pulling. We got new neighbors into the horseshoe this last spring and they are wonderful. We shared blossoms, plants, seeds, garden tools, gardening tips, and even mulch!

I have a neighbor who would dig up something that he would no longer want. I’d see him walking across the street with a bush, a box of perennials, even houseplants, and with a grin he’d ask, “Do you want these?” He didn’t need a verbal response. I’d grab what he was holding and run for my shovel. Sometimes he’d ask, “Where are you going to plant it? It will spread.” “I’ll find a place,” I’d reply. My house being in the bottom of the horseshoe means I have to keep my yard and home up on three sides. Six homes view my home from their front windows. I will not disappoint.

I’ve had work done on my home over the last 15 years. My front porch was probably the one that pleased me the most. My porch is styled for each season.

I won the Street View Beautification Award in 2021.

Shrubs anchor this bed with a variety of shapes, textures, and colors.

Red hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus hybrid, Zones 5–9), pink Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Zones 3–9), and yellow sunflowers (Helianthus annuus, annual)

My neighbor’s son-in-law lives to build things from pallets and scrap wood. A couple years ago he built me a wishing well. I would see something he’d build for my neighbor and I started putting in requests. Besides the well, he’s built me two birdhouses, a potting bench, a wide trellis, and my favorite—a pergola!

The front porch is decorated for fall.

I had to have some huge limbs cut down over my roof and shed, so my friend thought it was a good place for a birdhouse. Voila—the Airbnb (bird and breakfast).

A closer look at the birdhouse

Other plant lovers can surely relate to the sentiment expressed on the sign.

Red hardy hibiscus with a brilliant rose

This pretty pink geranium (Pelargonium hybrid, Zones 9–11 or as annual) pairs perfectly with variegated plectranthus (Plectranthus ‘Lime Light’, Zones 10–11 or as an annual).

Enjoy my pics. I love my home and yard. Fussing with it over the summer was good, clean, and cheap therapy!

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

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Having a greenhouse, big or small, is a game-changer. You can use it to grow all kinds of plants that would never be able to survive in your climate, whether that’s in summer or winter.

But the greenhouse structure itself is just the beginning. Once you have yours all set up, you’re going to need the right equipment to grow your plants and keep them healthy.

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There are a few supplies that you can’t live without, like some sort of container or bed in which to grow the plants. Then there are the nice-to-haves, like seed drills.

Coming up in this guide, here are the supplies we’re going to go over:

Have a pencil and paper ready to make your shopping list? Great, let’s go:

1. Containers, Trays, or Beds

Once you’ve got your structure built, you need somewhere to put your plants. The options here are pretty endless.

You can use pots or trays, either set on the ground or on shelves or tables. Or you can plant directly in the ground or in raised beds. You can even use hanging baskets for some plants.

Depending on what you plan to grow, you’ll need a seed tray (or 20!) to start your seeds.

Heavy Duty 1020 Tray

Gardener’s Supply Company makes some heavy-duty 21- by 11-inch trays that are reusable and deep enough for most seed-starting needs.

You absolutely must label your seeds. I can’t count how many times I told myself I would remember what seeds I’d sown or I stuck a piece of paper under the tray, thinking it would last until the seedlings emerged and at that point I could tell them apart.

It never worked, and I finally invested in some plant markers. I don’t know why I waited so long – it’s not like they’re expensive!

Wooden Plant Markers

Anyway, don’t make the same mistake I did. Mark your plants. You can pick up 24 four-inch wooden markers at Gardener’s Supply Company.

If you want to start your plants in individual pots instead of trays, I’m a huge fan of compostable or biodegradable pots.

I especially love CowPots because they’re made of cow manure, which is an endlessly renewable resource.

CowPots Biodegradable Pots

Bring home 60 or 192 square five-inch pots from Arbico Organics.

If you opt to grow your plants in a raised bed, Burpee has a 12-in-1 system that can be configured in one of 12 different shapes to suit your space.

12-in-1 Galvanized Raised Bed

If you plant in the ground, you need to heap up the soil in rows or hills and create walking space in between.

2. Flooring

Greenhouse flooring doesn’t have to be fancy. You could simply leave the ground bare, but by doing this you run the risk of weeds popping up, pests sneaking in, and big old muddy patches forming.

If you have the time and budget, you’ll never regret putting in some flooring.

You can do something as simple as putting down a thick layer of gravel, but if you can go one step further and level out the gravel and then put matting on top of that, you’ll be in greenhouse heaven.

There are lots of different flooring options out there. You can find custom-made wood slats, rubber mats, or interlocking or roll-out vinyl.

I’ll tell you from experience that choosing mats that allow the water to run through but keep you off the wet ground while offering some anti-fatigue properties are heaven-sent when you are putting in long hours in the greenhouse.

I use – and love – the rubber mats that are made to line horse stalls. They’re incredibly heavy-duty because they’re made to withstand the stomping of a 1,000-pound animal.

They also have an anti-slip texture and holes for drainage. Many of them are made to lock with each other so they won’t separate and slip around.

Redbarn Interlocking Rubber Mats

If this type of flooring sounds right for your needs, you can pick up three-by-three-foot black rubber mats at Tractor Supply.

When they inevitably get dirty from spills or as you drag in mud from outside the greenhouse, you can just hose them off.

Whatever you choose, make sure it can be washed, allows water to drain, won’t become slippery when wet, and is comfortable enough that you can stand on it for hours, if necessary.

If you have mobility issues, take into consideration the ease of moving a wheelchair, cane, or scooter across the material.

Those who have balance issues, or who want to be extra safe, should level the ground underneath the greenhouse before installing any type of flooring.

It’s going to be pretty hard to grow healthy, thriving plants using just your fingers to dig around in the dirt. And let’s not even imagine a greenhouse without some basic pest and disease treatment options.

Of course, you’ll want to consider hand trowels, a shovel or two, rakes, seed drills, dibber, wand, gloves, pruners, and anything else to make your growing life easier.

At a minimum, I have a three-prong cultivator, a trowel, a hand rake, a hori hori, bypass pruners, and a weeder on hand.

You can check out our guide to 13 must-have tools for gardeners for more ideas.

If you do a lot of seed starting and seedling transplanting, find yourself some seedling transplant tongs.

They make transplanting so much easier and reduce the amount of stress on your young plants.

Seedling Transplant Tongs

You can find a pair at Gardener’s Supply Company if that sounds like something you could use.

Also, you should keep an all-purpose pesticide in your gardening toolbox, like an insecticidal soap.

Bonide Insecticidal Super Soap

Bonide’s Insecticidal Super Soap always works for me and it can be found at Arbico Organics in quart-sized, ready-to-use bottles.

You should also have a broad-spectrum fungicide on hand. I find that liquid copper tackles the majority of the problems I come across.

Bonide Copper Fungicide

Pick up a 32-ounce ready-to-use, 16-ounce concentrate, or a 16- or 32-ounce ready-to-spray hose end of Bonide’s copper fungicide at Arbico Organics.

You can learn more about greenhouse pests and how to deal with them in our guide.

4. Heating

Heating is totally optional. You can grow a whole host of plants through the winter even in an unheated greenhouse.

But if you decide to add heating, it opens a whole new range of options, enabling you to extend your growing season dramatically.

You can also find solar options that will harness the power of the sun to provide several degrees of additional warmth.

Keep in mind that the effectiveness of your heater depends largely on how thick your greenhouse’s walls are and how airtight it is. A thin layer of plastic will be more challenging to heat than a greenhouse with wood framing and glass windows.

Learn more about how to heat your greenhouse in our comprehensive guide.

5. Lighting

You might not think you need lighting when you’re working in the greenhouse during the long days of summer, but once the days get shorter, you’re going to need some illumination.

One year, I used a headlamp to help me see what I was doing and it worked fine, but some simple clamp lights worked even better when I tried them the next year. Or you can go big and install overhead fluorescent or LED lights.

Then there is the matter of grow lights. Many of us live in northern or southern latitudes where the days are short for half of the year.

Many plants you want to grow need more hours of sun than nature provides during this time, and that’s where supplemental lighting comes in.

You can’t use grow bulbs as double duty in your ceiling fixtures. Grow lights need to be situated close to the plants that you’re growing.

With a little supplemental lighting, you can grow plants that would otherwise be unavailable to you.

LED Grow Light

The three-foot-long Canopia by Palram Brighton LED lights, available at Tractor Supply are a perfect option for greenhouses because it covers a lot of area and doesn’t use much power.

Or you can just stick a few grow bulbs into clamp lights to supply a seed tray with enough light to germinate.

LED Full Cycle Grow Light Bulb

Walmart sells 20W full-cycle bulbs that fit a standard E26 base.

Learn more about grow lights in our guide.

6. Miscellany

Depending on what plants you’re growing, there are a few other supplies you might need.

Keep a variety of cleaning cloths around for wiping leaves, cleaning up spills, and handling other messes.

A broom or rake for cleaning the floor and a brush for shelves and tables will also come in handy.

To reduce heat loss at night, invest in some blankets to cover the greenhouse during the cold nights. Not only does this keep the heat inside longer so your plants experience warmer temperatures overall, but it reduces the fluctuation between day and night.

If you’re growing tomatoes, fruit trees, or berry bushes, keep some baskets around for harvest time. You can only fit so many fruits in your shirt, right?

I used Fiskars’ Harvest Basket this year and it made harvesting much easier. It’s lightweight and has divided sections, so I could put plums in one, pears in another, and apples in the last section.

I could also separate the hottest chilis from the milder ones that looked similar. Don’t want to make that mistake twice!

Fiskars Harvest Basket

The Fiskars Harvest Basket is available at Amazon if you want to give it a try.

7. Shade

If you can’t provide enough ventilation because of the greenhouse material or design, you’ll definitely want to invest in some sort of shading to reduce the temperature of the greenhouse on sweltering hot days.

Shade cloth can be draped over the structure like a blanket to deflect and absorb the sun’s rays.

Shade cloth can be opaque or partially translucent, depending on whether you want to block light completely or just let a little in.

For example, Coolaroo makes black fabric that blocks 30 percent of the sun’s UV light. Cut it into shape and drape it over all or part of the greenhouse when needed.

Shade Cloth

Visit Tractor Supply for a roll of six- by 15-feet of cloth.

8. Shelving

Okay, now where are you going to put all those containers filled with plants? You could put them in rows on the ground, but shelving can dramatically increase your growing space.

Normally, you don’t want to place tall shelving on the sides of the greenhouse because then you’ll block morning and evening light.

At least avoid going too tall on the south-facing wall. But some waist-height shelves will go a long way toward making it easier to work on your plants, and they’ll increase the amount of growing area you have as well.

Look for shelves or benches with holes so air and water can move through them.

For example, the Monticello workbench system at Tractor Supply is designed for larger greenhouses with heavy-duty, commercial-grade construction.

Monticello Workbench System

The bench itself can hold up to 360 pounds, which is important because all that soil can add up to a lot of weight.

Of course, you could always opt for some basic metal shelves.

I use the Amazon Basics three-shelf system because it can hold a lot of weight at 250 pounds per shelf, is rust-resistant, and is just the right height for my needs.

Heavy Duty Shelving Unit

If you want to try it out, you can find this product at Amazon.

9. Temperature and Humidity Monitoring

If you don’t have heating or fans installed, you might not be able to do much to adjust the temperature beyond opening or closing doors and vents, or maybe rolling some blankets over the building.

But you still need to be able to monitor the temperature in the structure. That way, you can act quickly to protect your plants if it drops below or climbs above a temperature they can tolerate.

At the same time, you probably want to know what the humidity is like. Remember, too much humidity is a quick route to disease-ville.

Monitors can be fancy or simple, depending on your needs. There are handy models like this digital one from Govee, available at Amazon, that track the temperature and humidity.

Digital Hygrometer Thermometer

It will send that info to your phone so you can check what’s going on even when you aren’t out in the garden.

But there’s something to be said about a classic analog thermometer and hygrometer, like this one from Taylor at Amazon.

If you’re the kind of person who wears an analog watch and has a clock with a pendulum, this one is going to be perfect for you.

10. Ventilation or Fans

Ventilation is absolutely crucial, and yet it’s one of the things that many people forget.

Plants growing in greenhouses with no or inadequate ventilation are more prone to disease. Fungal diseases, in particular, thrive in humid environments.

If you have a simple structure with single-piece walls that lack windows or vents, it might be as simple as using a floor fan and propping the door open on nice days, or you can go fancier and install overhead fans and vents.

You can grab an automatic vent kit at Shelter Logic.

Automatic Vent Kit

It will open and close according to the temperature in your greenhouse to reduce humidity and adjust the temperature.

You don’t need access to electricity to install a fan as there are solar-powered options out there.

Eco-Worthy Ventilator Fan

Check out this ventilator fan by Eco-Worthy with a foldable solar panel to keep it running, available at Amazon.

11. Water

You can certainly water your plants by hand with a garden hose or watering can.

Depending on how many plants you have, there’s no need to invest in a big, elaborate watering system. It’s the method I and many backyard growers like me use.

You don’t need anything fancy.

Something like the classic Bermuda teal watering can by Bloem, available via Amazon is perfectly good, it’s lightweight, has a two-gallon capacity, and a detachable spray nozzle.

Watering Can

I have to admit that your life will be much easier if you invest in a watering system.

A drip hose system works well, or you can invest in an overhead watering system like this one from Riverstone, available at Tractor Supply Company.

Universal Watering System

It hangs from the ceiling and includes a timer for hands-off daily watering.

Stock Your Greenhouse Supplies Toolkit

A greenhouse on its own is just a clear structure without the supplies you need to grow healthy, vibrant plants.

While you don’t need everything on this list, many of them will certainly make your gardening life easier.

Did I miss any tools that you can’t live without? Something you find invaluable for your greenhouse growing? Let us know in the comments section below!

Then, learn new ways to use and expand your greenhouse with the following guides:

Today I am holding a baby while I type, so I’ll keep it brief.

We normally bury sugarcane in trenches in the fall, with multiple nodes on each piece.

But I’ve also started it with two or three-node cuttings stuck upright in pots.

I’ve seen videos showing sugarcane propagation from single nodes, which could allow you to get a lot more plants from each cane.

Once I planted six new sugarcane wagon wheels with this year’s cane, I then planted a bunch of cane pieces in pots, each with multiple nodes.

And then I did some single node and double-node cuttings and put some upright in pots of dirt and others in a tub of water. I put another set of cane cuttings in one, two and three-node configurations in a bin of potting soil on their sides, just buried beneath the surface.

Between all these methods, we’ll see which ones give us the best strike rate.

Some have wondered why we bother growing sugarcane:

It’s not just about sugar, man.

Also:

Because we have been in a cheap food paradigm for a time does not mean that paradigm will continue.

Remember the weird supply line issues during the pandemic? Everything is very complex and it is breaking down fast. We should have staples – and desirables – on our homesteads just in case. We grow sugarcane and tobacco and tea and herbs and other “non-essential” items just because they could make good sense in a survival situation.

We grow potatoes, too, even though store-bought potatoes are cheap.

Don’t be fooled: getting food and supplies from a thousand miles away – or from China – is not going to be a working option forever. Be your own larder and your own bank.

Also, this comment on my recent cane-planting video made me laugh

Sugarcane is just wonderful to grow and enjoy. Even though I hardly eat any sugar, I do love it as a plant.

Have a wonderful Monday. I’m hanging out with the baby as much as possible.

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