By Sonya Welter

Trees provide shade in the summer and a windbreak in the winter, and mature trees make the biggest impact for beautifying your neighborhood or boosting your property value.

It’s true that trees are an investment in the future, but many trees grow faster than you might think, and that skinny little sapling you plant today will look lush and established in just a few years.

So how do you choose the perfect tree for your yard?

First, decide what you want the tree for. Conifers like spruce, pine and fir are good for windbreaks or for privacy hedges, since they stay bushy year round. If you want a tall boulevard tree, consider maples, oaks, elms or basswoods.

If you’ve got a tiny urban lot, look for Read the rest of this entry »

By Cindy Naas

My seed catalogs all came in early January.

I have been trying to block out all thoughts of this cold Minnesota winter by looking at pictures of vines sagging under the weight of tomatoes, peppers of all hues brightening a summer garden, and lettuces of all colors and shapes beckoning temptingly from the pages of these catalogs.

I have seeds saved from my heirloom tomatoes last summer, I have some seeds given to me by friends and soon I should have a wonderful variety of seeds coming from organic growers.

There is a lot more room in my new garden and so I have the luxury of growing a much larger variety of vegetables this year. I will grow my old favorites but will also experiment with some new vegetables. Some of my new picks for 2010 are:

Strawberry Spinach, or Chenpodium capitatum- grown for the greens which thrive in cool weather but are heat tolerant, as well as the berries which make an interesting addition to salads.

Imperial Star Artichokes – requires Read the rest of this entry »

By Mindy McIntosh-Shetter

This time of season is full of seasonal cheer and the arrival of the first seed catalogs.

As any gardener knows that means hours of drooling over new gardening tool, seeds, and plants.

But as the recent economy has shown, we all need to learn how to budget and be frugal in every aspect of our life and gardening is not an exception.

Gardening can be as expensive or as frugal as one would like. And while seed catalogs display everything in beautiful color there does exist some guidelines that need to be followed before the first catalog is opened and the page turned.

Below are 10 of my favorite rules to follow before, during, and after viewing gardening catalogs.

1. Decide the area you plan to plant or containers you plant to use for the coming gardening year.
2. Make sure to check your planting zone before picking anything out of the catalog.
3. Examine the amount of time you plan to have available for gardening. Read the rest of this entry »

By Vanessa Richins

If you’ve ever stopped to look at the fertilizer product shelf at the garden center, you may have wondered what the numbers on the front mean.

Never fear – it isn’t as complex as it seems.

First, the main number you want to look for is usually plastered across the front. You’ll see a series of three numbers separated by dashes, like 5-10-10.

These three numbers stand for the amount of Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium and are abbreviated as N-P-K. The numbers are the percentages of the elements that are contained in that bag.

For example, if there was a Read the rest of this entry »

Guest post by Mike Gettler, Vice President of Nursery at Lowe’s

We’ve all seen gardening trends come and go, but for city dwellers that yearn for fresh fruit, veggies and herbs – edible and organic gardening is surely here to stay.

Even the White House is getting into it!

Honestly, nothing says home sweet home quite like a meal made from scratch.

Creating an urban edible garden harvests other great rewards too, including taking a load off of your wallet and saving you a trip to the grocery store. Plus digging in the dirt can be a great stress reliever and just plain fun.

What to Plant?
Popular herbs, fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and onions are easy to grow in an urban garden setting and are flavorful alternatives to store-bought varieties. Herbs can grow almost anywhere in nearly anything that will hold soil and water.

All you need is a good pot with adequate drainage, great potting soil, fertilizer and seeds. This makes herbs an ideal choice for small-space gardens and shallow planters placed in a greenhouse window or hung a few steps from the kitchen door.

Where to Plant?
With all of the pot choices Read the rest of this entry »