Elsa 
Dahlias go into the ground as knobby tubers once your soil reaches about 60°F, which is usually a week or two after your last spring frost. Give them full sun, a stake on planting day, and almost no water until the first shoots appear, and they’ll bloom from midsummer until frost knocks them back. What … Read more >>
Start here: sow pepper seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost (6 to 8 for bell peppers), keep them at 80°F until they sprout, and don’t plant them outside until the soil reads 65°F. After that it’s full sun, steady water, a cage for support and a light hand with fertilizer. This … Read more >>
A dahlia tuber is a storage root that is roughly 80 percent water, and it has no dormant shell like a tulip bulb. Stored too warm or too dry, it shrivels. Stored too wet or too cold, it rots. So: dig it after the first frost, let the skin set for a few days, and … Read more >>
Kale is one of the easiest and most forgiving greens you can grow. It handles cold better than almost anything else in the vegetable garden, and it keeps producing leaves for months when you pick it the right way. If you’ve wanted to learn how to grow kale, the good news is that the basics … Read more >>
Few shrubs bloom when camellias do. While most of the garden sleeps, these glossy evergreens open rose-like flowers in pink, red and white, sometimes right through frost. Good camellia care isn’t complicated, but it does follow a few firm rules. In this guide, I’ll walk you through picking the right type for your zone, planting … Read more >>
Spinach is one of the first crops I’d tell any new gardener to try. It’s fast, it loves cool weather, and a short row gives you salads, smoothies and sautéed greens for weeks. If you’ve wondered how to grow spinach without it bolting the moment spring warms up, this guide walks you through every step. … Read more >>
There’s nothing quite like a pot of tulips or hyacinths blooming on your kitchen table in February while snow piles up outside. When you force bulbs indoors, you trick them into thinking winter has come and gone, so they flower weeks or months ahead of schedule. The process is simple once you understand the timing. … Read more >>
Lettuce is one of the most rewarding crops you can put in a home garden. It grows fast, takes up little space, and gives you fresh salads weeks before your tomatoes even think about ripening. If you’ve wondered how to grow lettuce that stays sweet and crisp instead of bitter and tough, the secret comes … Read more >>
Few winter projects are as easy or as rewarding as growing paperwhite bulbs indoors. You set them in a bowl, add water, and a few weeks later you have clusters of white, starry flowers filling the room with fragrance. In this guide, I’ll walk you through every step. We’ll cover picking good bulbs, choosing a … Read more >>
Tomatoes are the most popular crop in American home gardens, and for good reason. A sun-warmed tomato picked at peak ripeness tastes nothing like the pale ones from the store. Learning how to grow tomatoes is simpler than it looks once you understand what the plants need. In this guide, I’ll walk you through every … Read more >>