One of my favorite Virginia native plants in my garden is coral honeysuckle or Lonicera sempervirens. I planted this for one reason and one reason only: to attract hummingbirds. Ok, two reasons. I’m also trying to plant more natives generally. But that all circles back to providing wildlife habitat, so basically the same. These little […]

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I used to love slipping out to the garden every morning, still in my pajamas or robe, waiting for just enough light to wander outside. Coffee in hand, I’d make my rounds, checking for insect damage, harvesting a tomato or two, or cutting a few zinnias to bring inside. I’d listen to the birds sing, […]

The post What Ticks Took From Me: How Lyme Disease Changed the Way I Garden appeared first on Whitney Anderson Gardening.

You bought seeds with good intentions, but now you aren’t sure when to plant all of those seeds. You’re staring at the back of a seed packet that says “start indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost” and thinking: okay, but when is that? That’s what I’m here to help with. It all hangs off your […]

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I will show you how to build and set up cheap grow lights. Starting seeds indoors doesn’t require expensive lights marketed for seed starting, as affordable LED shop lights do the job just fine. All you need to do is mount multiple single-strip lights together for enough coverage. How to build a frame for cheap […]

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If you’ve landed here googling tree of heaven, you’re probably already in tree of heaven hell. Ailanthus altissima sounds poetic, but this invasive plant is a huge pain to deal with. I’m not a professional arborist or an invasive species expert — just a frustrated gardener trying to figure this out and sharing what I’ve […]

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Move over tomato cages and meet the tomato trellis tower. I can’t believe I bumbled around with tomato cages for years before creating a tomato tower with the string method. Creating this kind of tomato trellis requires a little more effort upfront, but it pays dividends in the long run. This tower trellis would be […]

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If you don’t want your peonies to fall over, I will show you how to make cheap and easy peony cages for a fraction of the cost of peony supports available for purchase. I’m using the term “make” here loosely as it’s so easy, it’s hardly even a DIY. You buy tomato cages and cut […]

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I will show you an easy and cheap trick to turn a regular privacy fence into a practical trellis. My garden is small and I need to maximize space, so I devised a way to turn my existing privacy fence into a productive trellis. All you have to do is attach wire fencing to the […]

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It’s always a good idea to have flowers blooming at all times, so I made a year-round blooming flowers chart to help plan for blooms for the whole year. Why year-round blooms are a good idea Aside from the obvious benefit of having beautiful blooms no matter the season, it’s helpful always to have something […]

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I’m going to tell you everything you’ve always wanted to know about hornworms in the garden. If you had told me I would be writing this 10 years ago, I would have laughed. Yep, that’s me now…the bug enthusiast. You’re probably coming here to learn how to get rid of hornworms from your tomato plants, […]

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