Design Happens

Happy spring everyone! This is the time of year when hardcore gardeners salivate over seed catalogs. While I don’t have much of a green thumb, one of my fondest childhood memories is “helping” my grandfather in the garden. I loved getting my hands dirty, discovering giant earthworms and helping him carry all the delicious homegrown fruits and vegetables to the house. (Grandfather grew the biggest tomatoes I’ve ever seen!) Interested in planting your own vegetable garden? Want to learn how to grow potatoes? Or are you all about herbs?

Now’s the time to start planning, whether it’s a container garden on an apartment balcony or patio like mine or raised beds that take up half your backyard. Tomatoes work in both settings, by the way. Choose the best variety for your garden with HGTV’s tomato selection guide. (Imagine how amazing that fresh BLT or tomato sandwich is going to taste. Yum!)  We’ve got all the edible garden tips you need with tons of photos, plus cool videos featuring Garden Girl TV’s Patti Moreno.

Then there’s flowers. If you’re like me, you want to sow in early spring in order to see an array of colorful blooms by mid-summer. There are plenty of perennials that bloom the first year; you just have to find that one that suits your soil and sunlight. My two favorites are the Maltese cross (left) and tickseed coreopsis (right).

How about getting the whole family outside playing in the dirt? Join HGTV’s Family Gardening Club for fun projects. This month we’re making and planting seed tape, perfect for hard-to-handle small seeds and tiny hands.