A home gardener tending tomatoes and leafy vegetables in productive raised beds

Practical gardening for real homes

Grow more. Fix what’s wrong. Make the garden better.

Clear help with planting, plant problems, raised beds, containers and the choices that cost money.

New to vegetable gardening? Start here

Choose what you want to do

GrowPlant at the right time

Vegetables, herbs, seedlings and seasonal care.

Explore Grow SolveRead the clues before you treat

Yellow leaves, pests and plant problems.

Explore Solve ImproveMake the space work better

Raised beds, soil depth, paths and water.

Explore Improve BuyCompare the whole job

Fit, delivered cost, assembly, upkeep and repair.

Explore Buy

Grow

Start with the growing basics

Choose a workable place, match the timing to your garden and give plants the light they need.

Hands setting a young vegetable seedling into garden soil

Start a vegetable garden

Pick one simple setup and make the first season manageable.

Start the guide

When to plant vegetables

Use the vegetable, your freeze window, the soil and the forecast.

Plan the timing

Kale leaves edged with frost in cold morning light

Hardiness zone vs frost date

Use each number for the question it can actually answer.

Know the difference

Sunlight crossing vegetable beds in a community garden

Full sun, part sun or shade?

Measure the light your garden gets, not the label you hope fits.

Check the light

Grow

Start seeds. Make the most of pots.

Young vegetable seedlings growing in a divided indoor tray

Start seeds indoors or sow outside?

Choose the route that fits the vegetable, the season and the transplant.

Choose how to start

Leafy vegetables growing in several well-drained patio containers

Best vegetables for containers

Match the vegetable to the pot’s soil volume, drainage and sun.

Choose vegetables for pots

Solve

What is the plant telling you?

Start with what you can see. The pattern, the root zone and the newest growth will tell you what to check next.

Green leaves with a clear yellowing pattern across several blades

Why plant leaves turn yellow

Map where the yellowing started, check the root zone and look for other clues.

Check the pattern

Aphids clustered with an ant on the underside of a hairy green leaf

Identify and control aphids

Turn over the newest leaves and confirm the colony before you act.

Check for aphids

Raised beds

Plan the raised bed before the delivery arrives.

Depth, ground conditions, reach and total cost matter more than the product photo.

Mixed vegetables growing in raised beds with the bed walls and ground visible

How deep should a raised bed be?

Check what’s under the bed, what you want to grow and how high you need it.

Choose the depth

Young plants growing in a timber raised bed with the boards and corners visible

Close view of a corrugated metal raised bed corner and fasteners

Wood or metal raised beds?

Compare two actual beds for dimensions, assembly, upkeep, repair and full cost.

Compare wood and metal

Useful answers, without the gardening lecture.

How Gardens Work helps home gardeners recognize problems, choose practical fixes and spend with fewer surprises.

Benjamin Morrison — Founder, Landscape Architect and Horticulturist.

About How Gardens Work