• Ask a Gardener: finding your frost dates

    This is another post in our Ask a Gardener series where you get to ask our resident experts your gardening questions. Send your questions to gardener@smartgardener.com. Becky D. asks: I don’t know my frost dates. How can I find that information? Why it’s important Gardeners need to know the date of the average last frost in […]

  • Making your own fertilizer mix

    Making your own fertilizer mix has several advantages over buying a pre-packaged mix. That’s why it’s a basic component of Smart Gardener’s approach to organic gardening. Here’s a couple reasons why we like it so much: 1) Simplicity. It makes the whole question of “Which fertilizer do I use?” much simpler. It reduces the amount […]

  • It’s all about the dirt

    Ask yourself: Why do we have gardens? What do we grow fruits and vegetables for? Food. Nutrition and health. And what’s the key to growing healthy food? It’s simple: it’s all about the dirt. That’s right. Dirt’s not just the yucky muddy mess that kids track into the house. The dirt in your backyard lays […]

  • Peas for St. Patrick’s Day

    In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is the traditional day to plant peas in a spring garden. In the United States the timing can vary somewhat from zone to zone, but March 17th still works well as a guide for starting peas for most areas. And what a perfect way to bring your garden a bit of […]

  • How do I prepare my garden for planting?

    If you’re like me, when the first warm days of spring arrive, you can’t wait to get out into the garden and start planting. It means winter is finally over and the gardening season has begun. You’ve been looking at seed catalogs for months and have plenty of ideas you’re just waiting to try. However, […]

  • Five herbs perfect for indoor growing

    Spring has yet to arrive in many parts of the country, and we’re pretty sure a lot of you gardeners are getting a bit of cabin fever. One cure for the late-winter gardening blues is to start an indoor herb garden. We’ve come up with a list of some of our favorite herbs to grow […]

  • Don’t feed the birds

    There are few things more frustrating than preparing, planting and pampering a bed of peas or beans and then discovering that the newly germinated seedlings have all been wiped out by birds. In most places birds are only a significant problem in spring when they seem to relish the abundant succulent green seedlings, but in […]

  • Spring Vegetables

    So you’ve got your soil ready, it’s finally warm enough, and now you’re thinking about what to plant. It’s tempting to start planting all those great seeds you bought over the winter, but it’s best to take a moment and consider what weather conditions each plant needs to germinate and thrive. Each plant has an […]

  • Top Ten Plants for a Beginner Garden

    Starting a new garden can be exciting. It can also be a bit overwhelming. There are so many plants to choose from, how do you decide which to include? To make it easier, we made a list of our favorite plants for beginning gardeners.

  • Early spring planting tips

    You’ve already selected the area for your garden, started your seedlings, tended your soil, and mapped out your garden bed. All that’s left to do now is get planting. So, when is the right time to transplant your beautiful starts? Ideally, the spring growing season starts when the day length gets over 10 hours (which […]

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An online vegetable garden planner for anyone who wants homegrown, healthy and tasty food to be part of their lifestyle…while having a busy life.

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There are a lot of variables that go into planning a garden. Smart Gardener does all the hard work for you. We collect, calculate and create a smart personal profile of your garden just for you. Learn more about your profile.

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