Practical guidance for your space, season, and level of experience.
Plan a garden, or figure out what's wrong with the one you have.
Jump straight to a starting point:
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Every guide on this site is written for small spaces. Pick the setup that looks like yours.
Big harvests from pots, planters, and rail boxes.
Plan, fill, and plant your first bed with confidence.
From seed packet to sturdy transplant, step by step.
Fresh basil and mint from a windowsill, all year.
Make a modest plot earn its keep, season after season.
This month in your garden
Typical tasks for this time of year — timing varies by region and climate; check your local frost dates. Updated October 11, 2026.
Recommended gear
Honest buying guides for the handful of tools that matter. We compare the specs and cut through the marketing claims, so you don't have to.
Starting seeds in a dim room?
Which grow lights are worth it — and which specs are marketing noise.
Read the guide →
Choosing your first raised bed?
Depth matters more than material. How to pick one that fits your crops.
Read the guide →
Tired of hand-watering every evening?
Simple drip irrigation setups that pay for themselves in one dry spell.
Read the guide →
Kitchen scraps piling up?
Compact compost bins that actually work in small gardens.
Read the guide →
Featured project
One 4×8 bed can supply a surprising share of your summer vegetables. This is the exact order to do things in — each step links to the guide that covers it.
From the Almanac
A printable planning system for starting and managing one productive raised bed.
$12 $18 launch price
One short email at the start of each season: what to sow, what to prune, and what to fix before it costs you a harvest.
Want something today? Grab the free One-Bed Quick Start Sheet.
Yes, you can compost weeds with roots if you sort them first. Annual roots go straight in. Perennial roots, rhizomes and seed heads need 140°F, drying or drowning.
September 13, 2026
Which cover crops suit a few home garden beds, how many ounces of seed to sow per 100 square feet, and how to end the crop in spring by cutting or tarping.
September 13, 2026
Early blight vs. late blight on tomato plants: compare leaf spots, speed, weather and fruit symptoms side by side, then decide whether to prune or pull.
September 13, 2026
Buying guide The best rain barrel for a garden is a dark, screened, food-grade barrel of about 55 gallons with a spigot, an overflow and a solid stand. Here is how to choose.
September 13, 2026
Buying guide Soil test kit types compared: probe meters, color kits, digital pH meters and mail-in lab tests, with what each measures, how accurate it is and what it costs.
September 13, 2026
Buying guide Determinate tomatoes need a short cage or a 4 foot stake. Indeterminate tomatoes need a 5 foot wire mesh cage or a 6 to 7 foot stake. Sizes and setup.
September 13, 2026
