Organic Gardening Advice: Our Complete Garden Know-How Series

Metus dictum at tempor commodo

At MOTHER EARTH NEWS, we have 40-plus-year tradition of arming gardeners with practical, straightforward organic gardening advice, and in recent years, much of this advice has been relayed via our popular Garden Know-How department. Written by expert gardener and award-winning writer Barbara Pleasant, this series brings you info on everything from composting and watering basics to more specific topics such as attracting native bees and gardening with chickens. This is your one-stop page for organic gardening essentials.

13 Ways to Beat the Heat

Learn how to protect your crops from the sun’s relentless radiation, plus get simple late-summer techniques for a bountiful fall harvest.

Attract Native Bees to Your Garden

Native bees will be buzzing in your garden thanks to insect hotels, bee-friendly plants and more.

Best Garden Tools for Big Plots and Large Harvests

Discover the best garden tools for running a small-scale farm, including walk-behind tractors and their implements, hand tools of European design and the modern wheel hoe.

Best Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors

Save money on vegetable seedlings and grow superior varieties of vegetables by starting seeds indoors.

Biochar for Better Soil

By making biochar from brush and other hard-to-compost organic material, you can improve your garden soil. Biochar enhances nutrient availability and also enables soil to retain nutrients longer.

Building Garden Soil With Wood Mulch

By providing food for fungi, wood mulch builds garden soil by increasing levels of organic matter in your garden beds.

Care and Cultivation of Permanent Garden Beds

Choose permanent garden beds and pathways to provide secure habitat for the dynamic soil food web that sustains your crops.

Chickens in the Garden

Are you interested in gardening with chickens? Your backyard flock could be the best source of meat, eggs and homemade fertilizer around. Learn how to “recoop” much of your birds’ expenses by putting chicken manure fertilizer to use in your organic garden.

Companion Planting With Vegetables and Flowers

When growing organic vegetables, fruits and flowers, the right plant combos will save space and provide weed and pest control.

Container Gardening With Vegetables and Herbs

If you don’t have a good garden spot in your yard, why not grow some vegetables and herbs using container gardening?

Cover Crops

Cover crops solar-charge your soil and improve soil nutrients. Here is what you need to know about cover crop planting methods and reliable cover crop options for your region.

Crop Rotation

You can increase soil fertility in your garden soils and cut down on plant disease by rotating the vegetables in your garden plots on a three-year crop rotation cycle.

Disease Prevention Basics

You can prevent many potential garden diseases by using these strategies: wide spacing and trellises, mulching and applying aged compost.

Extend Your Growing Season

Learning a few season extension techniques can help you start your garden up to six weeks earlier and enjoy fresh food sooner.

Free, Homemade Liquid Fertilizers

Homemade liquid fertilizers made from free, natural ingredients — such as grass clippings, seaweed, chicken manure and human urine — can give your plants the quick boost of nutrients they need to grow stronger and be more productive.

Gardening for Keeps

Wide corridors, together with permanent garden beds and paths, are your best options for an efficient and productive food garden.

Get the Most From Vegetable Garden Mulches

Mulches will conserve moisture, prevent weeds, reduce diseases and increase your yields. Plus, inexpensive organic mulches, such as grass clippings and fallen leaves, will work wonders on your veggie patch.

Hard-Working Garden Hoes

Knowing the best tools to use is a key part of garden know-how. From the stirrup hoe to the Winged Weeder, choose the right garden hoes for nearly effortless weed control.