Saving seeds is a global effort of immense importance. But home gardeners should also institute this practice—not so much as an insurance policy against floods, famine, or doomsday, but as a way to save natural resources and money, and as a means to become more in tune with the life of the garden. Read Save Your Vegetable Seeds
Gardening How-to Articles
Sustainable Gardening
-
Growing FoodSustainable Gardening
Save Your Vegetable Seeds
-
Pollinators and BirdsSustainable GardeningUrban Gardening
Urban Beekeeping
Urban beekeeping is on the rise in the U.S., powered by such trends as the local food movement and the spread of inner-city community gardens. Read Urban Beekeeping
-
Pollinators and BirdsSustainable Gardening
Give Bees a Chance—The Mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder
In the United States, managed honey bees pollinate more than 100 commercial crops, including cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, coffee, and almonds. And these bees are dying. Read Give Bees a Chance—The Mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder
-
Native FloraSustainable GardeningUrban Gardening
Go Native
In all the busyness of installing “green” systems in your garden—drip irrigation, compost bins, solar panels, gray-water recycling—it can be easy to overlook one of the most important environmental decisions you make as a gardener: what you plant. Read Go Native
-
Native FloraSustainable Gardening
Seed Banking for Survival—Saving the World, One Seed at a Time
Seed banks, also known as seed archives, germplasm banks, and seed vaults, are gene banks for plants, and there are approximately 1,400 of them around the world. The projects range from small, geographically specific ones that support horticultural research and local restoration to larger, overarching projects that seek to provide the means to sustain life in the face of mass ecological catastrophe. Read Seed Banking for Survival—Saving the World, One Seed at a Time
-
Sustainable Gardening
Saving Water in the Garden
Today we may have an abundance in water but tomorrow a drought, so in the meantime, we should all learn how to curtail our water usage, both inside and outside the home. Read Saving Water in the Garden
-
Sustainable Gardening
Sustainable Cut Flowers: A Buyer’s Guide
I consider myself a socially responsible consumer, and suddenly I just wasn't sure what I was buying into when I purchased cut flowers. I thought these issues would be worth exploring, so I traveled to Ecuador with a tape recorder, a camera, and a definite bias. Read Sustainable Cut Flowers: A Buyer’s Guide
-
Sustainable Gardening
Water-Thrifty Gardening
Here are ten easy ways you can conserve water in your garden without harming your plants. Read Water-Thrifty Gardening
-
Garden DesignSustainable Gardening
Easy Monochromatic Gardens
Combining shades and tones of the same color or limiting yourself to using a related group of colors is a fun way to create an exciting yet harmonious garden design. Read Easy Monochromatic Gardens
-
Pollinators and BirdsSustainable Gardening
Deer Deterrents That Work
Once roaming open fields and forests and controlled by natural predators, deer now must make their home near housing developments, office parks, and shopping malls, and their populations are growing. Little wonder then that they treat our gardens like buffet bars. Thoughtful plant choices, fences, dogs, and repellents help to keep deer at bay. Read Deer Deterrents That Work