Best How-To Videos by Season

To help gardeners find the information they need when they need it, we've created special best-video collections on these essential topics.

All-Season

HOW TO PLANT TREES, SHRUBS AND PERENNIALS 

11 videos about planting and 3 about moving them.

The right way to put plants in the ground is simple enough, though often done wrong. Learning by watching is easiest. (Videos rule!)

 

 

 

 

NATIVE PLANTS IN THE GARDEN

12 videos showing off native plants in garden settings (with links to lots more in California) plus 4 tours of native-plant gardens.

Spring

EARLY SPRING PRUNING:

19 videos covering early spring pruning for: Roses, Crepe Myrtles, Rose of Sharon, Oakleaf and PeeGee Hydrangeas, Buddleia, summer-blooming Spirea, Crabapple, Boxwood and Juniper.

 

 


CREATING A VEG GARDEN

10 videos about designing and planning a vegetable garden, 11 videos about raised beds of various types, and 5 videos about growing vegetables in containers.

 

 

 

PLANTING BERRIES AND FRUIT TREES:

5 videos about blueberries, 4 about strawberries, 6 on raspberries and blackberries, 5 about planting and growing grapes, 10 videos on planting fruit trees and links to more. 

 

 

ENLIGHTENED LAWN CARE FOR SPRING:

7 videos about general lawn care (feeding, seeding, etc) and 2 about repairing bare patches. For cool-season grasses.

This guide first answers the question - what does your lawn really need this spring? These experts offer the low-maintenance lawn-care option that saves you time and money and is safest for the environment.

 

SUPPORTING VEGETABLES VERTICALLY

8 videos about trellis and other supports for tomatoes, 8 for cucumbers, melons and squash, 2 videos on making a trellis, and 2 on other types of support for vegetables. 

 

 

HOW TO PRUNE SPRING-FLOWERING SHRUBS:

8 videos plus links to more.

For: Forsythia, evergreen azalea, rhododendrons, lilac, deutzia, kerria, mockoranage, weigela, viburnum, st. johnswort, redtwig and yellowtwig dogwoods, Virginia sweetspire, quince, spring-flowering roses, and spring-blooming spirea.

If you have these shrubs they probably need pruning, and the how-to is NOT intuitive. So watch.

Summer

 

 

HOW TO WATER:

10 videos (2 for new plantings, 5 for established plants, 2 for lawn and 1 for containers).

This is the top cause of plant death at the hand of gardeners!

 

 

WEEDING THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

9 videos on using mulch and other techniques; 6 videos on tools for weeding

 

 

 

SUMMER VEGETABLE PESTS

25 videos covering these common pests:  Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, squash bugs, squash vine borer, flea beetles, and more.

 

 

PROBLEMS GROWING BERRIES

17 videos (8 for strawberry pests, 6 for blueberry pests, 3 for raspberry pests.  

 

 

 

 

FRUIT TREE PROBLEMS

15 videos cover the most common insect and disease pests affecting apple, plum, peach, cherry and citrus trees. 

 

 

 

EARLY SUMMER EDIBLES:

14 videos by 10 experts across the U.S. for growing and harvesting edibles in early summer, all selected by horticulturist and edibles expert Charlie Nardozzi.

 

 

 

PLANTING A FALL VEGETABLE GARDEN

10 videos from across the U.S., plus one from England.

 

Fall

FALL LAWN CARE

11 videos (3 covering general fall lawn care, 4 about fertilizing, 3 about lawn repair and 1 about choosing the best seed) plus text and links to more good text.

For cool-season grasses, so fall is the best time to feed and seed lawns, and they probably need it.

 

 

 

COVER CROPS TO IMPROVE SOIL:

11 videos that cover the benefits of cover crops, plus choosing the right one, how to plant and how to remove or till it into the soil.

 

 

 

 

SEED-SAVING

10 videos from the U.S., U.K. and Australia divided into "Simple" and "More Complex" for the more ambitious.

 

 

 

HOW TO PLANT BULBS IN THE FALL

14 videos (5 overviews, 4 bulb-specific, 3 about naturalizing and 2 cover bulbs in containers).

These videos explain the choices of bulbs (tulips, daffodils, etc), the right way to plant them, and have some design tips, too.

 

 

HARVESTING VEGETABLES:

22 videos, most about harvesting a single crop each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

STORING FRESH PRODUCE FOR WINTER

17 videos about storing: carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic, squash, pumpkins, popcorn, greens, apples. Plus how to create a root cellar.

 

 

COMPOSTING AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT

6 videos about composting, 6 videos about building soil.

 

Winter

GROWING  WINTER VEGETABLES IN MILD CLIMATES

8 videos from California, Florida, Texas and the Pacific Northwest, plus a link to many more good ones.

 

 

 

HOW TO FORCE BULBS INDOORS FOR THE WINTER:

8 videos (3 general, 3 for amaryllis, 2 for paperwhites).

These videos show how easy it is to "force" indoor blooms in the winter when we appreciate them most.

 

 


HOW TO MAKE HOLIDAY DECORATIONS:

13 videos (5 wreaths, 5 swags and garlands, 3 misc.)

Our craftiest videos ever!

 

 

 


SEED-STARTING:

12 videos.

Experts share their favorite, most effective methods of starting seeds in the winter.

 

 

 

WINTER PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES AND VINES

28 videos by 5 Extension Universities, plus nurseries, growers and gardening media. They cover winter pruning of raspberries, blueberries, apples, pears, kiwis, peach, plum, cherry, citrus and espalier for fruit trees.