Category: The Home Gardener

Looking for gardening tips and information? Various gardening experts offer advice. This also includes The Garden Spot columns by Callen Outen, former Horticulturist for Clemson Extension.

Enjoy Your Homegrown Herbs All Year Round

Keep enjoying your homegrown herbs all year round. Harvest throughout the growing season and include them in garden-fresh meals. Then preserve a few for the winter ahead.

Composting In The Garden

Don’t toss those imperfect lettuce leaves, onion tops and strawberry tops into the trash. Instead, convert them into compost right in the garden.

Managing Insects While Keeping Pollinators Safe

Every garden season is filled with beautiful and tasty surprises along with a few challenges. One challenge gardeners face each year is managing insect pests while keeping the pollinators safe.

Planting Seeds Straight In The Garden

Don’t worry if you have already spent most of your plant budget for the year. Fill voids in your gardens and containers with heat tolerant annuals planted from seeds directly in the garden.

Sustainable Water Use In Your Landscape

No matter where you live, the conservation and wise use of water in our gardens and landscapes is important. Sustainable water use helps grow beautiful gardens while conserving water and helping reduce water pollution and stormwater overflows.

Growing Tomatoes In Pots

Keep garden-fresh tomatoes close at hand this season. Grow one or more in containers on your patio, balcony, or front steps.

Vertical Gardening Maximizes Beauty and Harvest

Go vertical to expand your outdoor gardening space, create privacy and add beauty to bare walls and fences. This centuries-old technique has been used to grow food and flowers, adding beauty and productivity from the ground up.

Always Room For Strawberries

As you plan this year’s garden, be sure to include some strawberries. They are low in calories, high in vitamin C and antioxidants, and provide seasonal interest in gardens and containers.

Gardening Indoors

Limited outdoor growing space or cold winters may have you missing fresh homegrown vegetables. Make this the winter you try growing a few vegetables in a sunny window or under artificial lights.

Dollarweed

Dollarweed (Hydrocotyle spp.) is a warm-season perennial weed. It gets its name from the silver-dollar shaped leaves.