A lower maintenance way to grow food Written by Niki Jabbour Savvy Gardening Why garden in raised beds? Raised bed gardening has become incredibly popular the past few years with both food and flower gardeners. Why? Raised beds offer many advantages. They warm up earlier in spring, offer excellent drainage, reduce soil compaction, and createRead more

Seeing hummingbirds in the garden is an enjoyable and memorable experience for everyone. Giving them a reason to visit is easy by planting appropriate All-America Selections Winners in your landscapes.  With 90% of the hummingbird diet consisting of nectar (the rest of the diet includes insects!), providing beautiful and appropriate plants can keep these amazingRead more

The best cherry and small-fruited tomatoes to grow in garden beds and containers Written by Niki Jabbour Savvy Gardening I was recently asked about my favorite small-fruited tomato varieties and as I began to list them off, I realized that most of them are All-America Selection winners! From Celano to Midnight Snack, Fantastico to FireRead more

All-America Selections Winners have many uses and proven success throughout the landscape.  This same success can also be achieved in a wide range of containers and hanging baskets. Written by Mark Dwyer Landscape Prescriptions by MD Baskets allow AAS Winners to “show their stuff” by putting them at eye-level or higher in containers suspended fromRead more

Be a Savvy Seed Sower Seeds are not all the same. They don’t look the same and they don’t germinate in the same ways or even in the same timeframe. To break dormancy and germinate a seed needs moisture combined with temperatures in the correct range for them to grow. Written by Niki Jabbour SavvyRead more

WOW Your Guests With Unique Vegetables  By Melinda Myers Make your next gathering one to remember by including a few unique vegetables on the relish tray, as a side dish or for dessert. Your guests will be “wowed” not only because you grew your own ingredients, but because of the unique shape, color or flavor ofRead more

Yes, You Can Have it All: Creating a beautiful and edible garden! We all dream of having the beautiful, lush flower gardens that we see in magazines. But practicality is also part of gardening; we want to grow fresh food for our families too. Well, you can have both! Think of using flowers to supplementRead more

Year of the Pumpkin Our sister organization, National Garden Bureau, has a “Year of” program that selects one type of edible, annual, perennial and bulb plant to highlight for the year. This program has been around since 1980 and continues to grow in scope and reach. For 2019, NGB has chosen the pumpkin as theRead more

Growing Up: Five Vertical Gardening Tips [From one of our AAS Edible/Vegetable judges who has discovered you need a LOT of room for all the entries in the AAS Trials!] “Grow up!”  While that phrase most often is used as an insult for those acting immaturely, it can also be great gardening advice – especiallyRead more

By: Pam Bennett, AAS Judge Ohio State University CES Plant for Pollinators! Almost every gardening resource today has something to share about pollinators. We have all heard about the plight of the pollinators and about what gardeners can do to help increase their numbers. My mantra is JUST PLANT SOMETHING! Something, that is, for pollinators.Read more