All Alabama Gardening Guides

Browse the full Garden Growz library: practical Alabama gardening guides, fruit tree notes, seasonal growing help, garden projects, and journal-style lessons from real backyard gardens in Northwest Alabama.

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Getting Started

Beginner's Guide to Gardening in Alabama

Everything you need to start a successful Alabama garden—from choosing the right location and understanding your soil to knowing what to plant and when.

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Vegetables

Growing Tomatoes in Alabama

A practical guide to growing healthy, productive tomatoes through Alabama's heat, humidity, pests, and changing seasons.

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Planting Calendars

Alabama Vegetable Planting Calendar

A practical season-by-season vegetable planting calendar for Alabama gardeners, with adjustments for North, Central, and South Alabama.

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Garden Problems

Aphids

How to identify and manage aphids while protecting lady beetles, lacewings, and other natural enemies.

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Seasonal Tips

April Gardening in Alabama

How to set up and plant the warm-season garden in April, including tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, squash, corn, and irrigation.

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Seasonal Tips

August Gardening in Alabama

An August planting guide for Alabama, including fall vegetables, seedling protection, and summer garden transition.

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Garden Problems

Beneficial Insects You Want in Your Garden

A guide to lady beetles, lacewings, hover flies, parasitoid wasps, pollinators, and other helpful garden insects.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Best Flowers for Alabama Gardens

A practical guide to flowers that handle Alabama heat, humidity, and long growing seasons.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Best Flowers for Bees

Flowers that provide pollen and nectar for bees throughout Alabama's growing season.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Best Flowers for Butterflies

Flowers and host plants that attract butterflies and support their full life cycle in Alabama gardens.

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Fruit & Orchard

Best Fruit Trees for Alabama

A beginner-friendly look at fruit trees and perennial fruits that can perform well in Alabama when matched to the right region and variety.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Best Native Plants for Alabama

A beginner-friendly guide to native flowers, shrubs, and grasses that support Alabama wildlife and pollinators.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Best Perennials for Alabama

Perennial flowers and landscape plants that can handle Alabama heat, humidity, and seasonal weather.

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Watering & Irrigation

Best Time of Day to Water

Learn the best time of day to water a garden in Alabama and when evening or emergency watering makes sense.

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Beds & Compost

Building a Compost Bin

How to build a simple compost bin from wood, wire, pallets, or modular materials.

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Trellises & Supports

Building a Cucumber Trellis

How to build a simple cucumber trellis that saves space and keeps fruit cleaner and easier to harvest.

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Fences & Protection

Building a Deer-Proof Garden Fence

How to build a tall, secure garden fence that reduces deer browsing in vegetable and orchard areas.

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Trellises & Supports

Building a Garden Trellis

How to build a simple, sturdy garden trellis for climbing vegetables and flowering vines.

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Growing Spaces

Building a Small Greenhouse

How to plan and build a simple small greenhouse for seed starting, season extension, and plant protection.

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Trellises & Supports

Building a Tomato Trellis

How to build a sturdy tomato trellis for indeterminate tomatoes using stakes, string, or panels.

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Seasonal Tips

Can You Garden Through Winter in Alabama?

What Alabama gardeners can grow and harvest through winter with cold-hardy crops and simple season extension.

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Fruit & Orchard

Choosing Fruit Tree Varieties for the South

How to choose fruit tree cultivars that can handle Southern chilling, heat, humidity, disease pressure, and frost risk.

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Garden Problems

Common Alabama Garden Pests

Learn to identify and manage common insects and other pests found in Alabama vegetable gardens.

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Garden Planning

Common First-Year Gardening Mistakes

The most common beginner gardening mistakes and how to avoid them before they cost you time, money, or plants.

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Fruit & Orchard

Common Fruit Tree Problems

A practical overview of common fruit tree problems including poor fruit set, disease, insects, water stress, and planting mistakes.

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Garden Planning

Companion Planting: What Actually Helps?

A research-minded look at companion planting, beneficial plant combinations, and common garden myths.

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Soil & Compost

Composting for Beginners

A simple guide to turning kitchen scraps, leaves, and yard waste into finished compost for the garden.

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Garden Planning

Container Gardening for Beginners

How to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers successfully in containers, patios, porches, and small spaces.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Creating a Cut-Flower Garden

How to plan, plant, and harvest a beginner cut-flower garden in Alabama.

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Pollinator Gardens

Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Garden

How to create an Alabama garden that supports bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial pollinators.

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Growing Spaces

Creating a Potting Station

How to create a simple outdoor potting station for seed starting, transplanting, and garden organization.

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Watering & Irrigation

Creating an Orchard Irrigation System

How to design a simple expandable drip irrigation system for young and mature fruit trees.

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Paths & Layout

Creating Garden Paths

How to create practical garden paths that reduce mud, compaction, weeds, and maintenance.

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Garden Planning

Crop Rotation for the Home Garden

A simple crop-rotation system for reducing pest, disease, and soil problems in a home vegetable garden.

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Seasonal Tips

December Gardening in Alabama

A December garden checklist for planning, winter maintenance, hardy vegetables, tools, and next year's garden.

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Fruit & Orchard

Do You Need Two Fruit Trees for Pollination?

Learn which fruit trees need a second compatible variety for pollination and which can produce on their own.

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Watering & Irrigation

Drip Irrigation vs. Soaker Hoses

Compare drip irrigation and soaker hoses for raised beds, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and Alabama summer watering.

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Seasonal Tips

Fall Vegetable Gardening in Alabama

A practical guide to planting a productive fall vegetable garden in Alabama.

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Seasonal Tips

February Gardening in Alabama

What to start, plant, and prepare in February, including seeds, potatoes, onions, and cool-season vegetables.

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Fruit & Orchard

Fertilizing Young Fruit Trees

How to fertilize young fruit trees without overfeeding them, using soil testing and annual growth as guides.

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Garden Problems

Fire Ants in the Garden

How to manage fire ants safely around vegetable beds, raised beds, paths, and garden work areas.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Flowers That Help Around the Vegetable Garden

Flowers that support pollinators, beneficial insects, and garden diversity around vegetable beds.

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Fruit & Orchard

Fruit Tree Pollination Groups Explained

A beginner-friendly explanation of bloom groups, compatible pollinizers, self-fertility, and why timing matters in fruit-tree pollination.

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Fruit & Orchard

Fruit Tree Spacing Explained

A practical guide to spacing fruit trees correctly based on mature size, rootstock, airflow, equipment access, and pollination.

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Garden Planning

Garden Planning for Beginners

A simple step-by-step process for planning your first vegetable garden before planting.

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Seasonal Tips

Gardening During Drought

How to conserve water and keep a garden productive during dry Alabama weather.

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Seasonal Tips

Gardening in Alabama Heat

How to keep vegetables, flowers, and young plants productive during Alabama's hottest weather.

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Seasonal Tips

Gardening in Heavy Alabama Clay

How to garden successfully in dense Alabama clay using compost, mulch, raised beds, and better soil-management practices.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Apple Trees

A Southern guide to choosing, planting, pollinating, pruning, and managing apple trees in Alabama.

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Herbs

Growing Basil, Rosemary, Thyme and Oregano

How to grow four essential culinary herbs in Alabama gardens and containers.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Blackberries

How to grow erect and trailing blackberries in Alabama, including trellising, pruning, and harvest.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Blueberries

How to grow blueberries in Alabama, including soil pH, pollination, pruning, and variety selection.

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Vegetables

Growing Broccoli and Cauliflower

How to grow broccoli and cauliflower in Alabama's cool seasons.

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Vegetables

Growing Cabbage

How to grow firm, healthy cabbage heads in Alabama's spring and fall gardens.

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Vegetables

Growing Carrots and Root Vegetables

How to grow carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, and other root vegetables in Alabama.

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Vegetables

Growing Cucumbers

A practical Alabama guide to planting, trellising, watering, and harvesting cucumbers.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Fig Trees

How to grow productive fig trees in Alabama, including planting, pruning, freeze protection, and harvest.

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Vegetables

Growing Green Beans

How to grow bush and pole green beans in Alabama for a long, productive harvest.

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Herbs

Growing Lavender in the South

How to grow lavender successfully in Alabama and other humid Southern climates.

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Vegetables

Growing Lettuce and Leafy Greens

How to grow lettuce, spinach, kale, collards, mustard, and other leafy greens in Alabama.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Growing Marigolds

How to grow marigolds in Alabama and what they really can—and cannot—do for vegetable gardens.

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Vegetables

Growing Okra

How to grow productive okra through Alabama's hottest summer weather.

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Vegetables

Growing Onions and Garlic

How to grow onions and garlic successfully in Alabama, including variety selection, planting, and harvest.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Peach Trees

How to grow peach trees in Alabama, including chill hours, pruning, thinning, irrigation, and pest management.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Pear Trees

How to grow pear trees in Alabama with special attention to fire blight, pollination, pruning, and variety selection.

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Vegetables

Growing Peppers

How to grow sweet and hot peppers successfully in Alabama, from planting and watering to harvest.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Persimmons

How to grow native and Asian persimmons in Alabama, including pollination, pruning, and harvest timing.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Plum Trees

How to grow plum trees in Alabama, including pollination, pruning, fruit thinning, and common pest problems.

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Vegetables

Growing Potatoes

How to plant, hill, harvest, and store Irish potatoes in an Alabama home garden.

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Vegetables

Growing Southern Peas

How to grow heat-loving Southern peas such as purple hull, crowder, and black-eyed peas in Alabama.

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Vegetables

Growing Squash and Zucchini

How to grow productive summer squash and zucchini in Alabama while managing common pests.

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Fruit & Orchard

Growing Strawberries

How to grow strawberries in Alabama using annual hill or matted-row systems.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Growing Sunflowers

How to grow sunflowers in Alabama for pollinators, cut flowers, seeds, and summer color.

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Vegetables

Growing Sweet Corn

How to grow sweet corn successfully in a home garden, including pollination, spacing, watering, and harvest.

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Vegetables

Growing Sweet Potatoes

How to grow sweet potatoes in Alabama from slips through harvest and curing.

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Flowers & Pollinators

Growing Zinnias

How to grow colorful, heat-loving zinnias in Alabama gardens and cut-flower beds.

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Fruit & Orchard

How and When to Prune Fruit Trees

A beginner guide to pruning fruit trees at the right time and using the right training system.

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Garden Planning

How Much Garden Space Do You Really Need?

A practical guide to choosing a realistic garden size based on your goals, time, family, and growing style.

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Soil & Compost

How Much Mulch Should You Use?

How deep to apply mulch around vegetables, trees, shrubs, and paths without causing moisture or stem problems.

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Garden Basics

How Much Sun Does a Vegetable Garden Really Need?

Learn how many hours of sunlight vegetables need and how to make the most of partial sun in an Alabama garden.

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Watering & Irrigation

How Much Water Does a Garden Need?

Learn how much water vegetable gardens typically need and how soil, rainfall, heat, and plant growth change watering frequency.

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Garden Basics

How Often Should You Water Your Garden?

Learn when, how deeply, and how often to water a garden in Alabama's changing heat, rainfall, and humidity.

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Beds & Compost

How to Build a Raised Bed

A step-by-step beginner guide to building a durable raised garden bed for vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

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Garden Planning

How to Build Your First Raised Garden Bed

A beginner-friendly guide to planning, building, filling, and planting your first raised garden bed.

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Garden Planning

How to Choose the Best Location for a Garden

Learn how to choose the best garden location based on sunlight, drainage, water access, soil, and convenience.

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Garden Basics

How to Determine Your USDA Hardiness Zone

Learn how to find your USDA hardiness zone and use it correctly when choosing plants for an Alabama garden.

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Soil & Compost

How to Improve Poor Garden Soil

How to improve compacted, low-fertility, sandy, or heavy garden soil using compost, mulch, testing, and better soil management.

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Watering & Irrigation

How to Install Simple Drip Irrigation

A beginner-friendly step-by-step guide to installing a simple drip irrigation system for raised beds or vegetable gardens.

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Seasonal Tips

How to Keep a Garden Alive During a Southern Summer

A practical survival guide for keeping a Southern garden productive through heat, humidity, pests, and dry spells.

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Garden Basics

How to Know if You're Overwatering

How to recognize overwatering symptoms and tell the difference between wet-soil stress and drought stress.

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Orchard Planting

How to Plant a Fruit Tree

A step-by-step guide to correctly planting a fruit tree for long-term health and productivity.

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Garden Basics

How to Read a Seed Packet

Learn what the information on a seed packet means and how to use it to plant seeds successfully.

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Soil & Compost

How to Start a Compost Pile

Step-by-step instructions for building a simple home compost pile from leaves, kitchen scraps, and yard waste.

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Garden Problems

How to Tell Pest Damage from Disease

A practical guide to distinguishing insect feeding, wildlife damage, nutrient stress, and plant disease.

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Soil & Compost

How to Test Garden Soil

How to collect a useful garden soil sample and use test results to make better fertilizer and lime decisions.

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Soil & Compost

Improving Alabama Clay Soil

How to improve dense Alabama clay soil using organic matter, mulch, soil testing, and better gardening practices.

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Watering & Irrigation

Installing Drip Irrigation

How to install a simple drip irrigation system for raised beds, row gardens, and containers.

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Seasonal Tips

January Gardening in Alabama

What Alabama gardeners should plan, order, prune, and prepare in January.

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Garden Problems

Japanese Beetles

How to identify and manage Japanese beetles on fruit trees, flowers, and garden plants.

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Seasonal Tips

July Gardening in Alabama

How to keep an Alabama garden alive in July heat while preparing transplants and beds for fall gardening.

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Seasonal Tips

June Gardening in Alabama

A June checklist for harvesting, pest control, watering, heat preparation, and keeping the Alabama garden productive.

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Garden Problems

Keeping Deer Out of the Garden

Practical ways to protect vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers from deer browsing.

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Garden Problems

Keeping Rabbits Out

How to protect vegetables and young plants from rabbit feeding using fencing and habitat management.

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Garden Problems

Keeping Squirrels Away from Fruit

Ways to reduce squirrel damage to tomatoes, peaches, figs, berries, and other ripening fruit.

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Seasonal Tips

Managing Humidity and Fungal Disease

How to reduce fungal disease pressure in Alabama gardens through airflow, watering, spacing, sanitation, and plant selection.

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Seasonal Tips

March Gardening in Alabama

A March gardening checklist for Alabama, including spring planting, soil preparation, cool-season crops, and frost awareness.

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Seasonal Tips

May Gardening in Alabama

What to focus on in May, including tomatoes, peppers, irrigation, mulch, trellising, and early pest management.

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Soil & Compost

Mulching a Vegetable Garden

How to mulch a vegetable garden to reduce weeds, conserve water, and protect soil.

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Seasonal Tips

November Gardening in Alabama

What to do in the Alabama garden in November, including cleanup, garlic, orchard work, mulching, and winter preparation.

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Seasonal Tips

October Gardening in Alabama

An October guide to cool-season vegetables, garlic, frost preparation, and fall garden maintenance in Alabama.

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Soil & Compost

Organic Matter Explained

What soil organic matter is, why it matters, and how to build it over time in a home garden.

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Garden Problems

Powdery Mildew

How to recognize and manage powdery mildew on squash, cucumbers, flowers, and other garden plants.

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Seasonal Tips

Preparing Your Garden for Severe Weather

How to prepare vegetables, raised beds, containers, trellises, and young trees for strong wind, hail, and severe Southern storms.

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Fruit & Orchard

Protecting Fruit Trees from Deer

Practical ways to protect young fruit trees from deer browsing, rubbing, and long-term orchard damage.

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Seasonal Tips

Protecting Plants from Late Frosts

How to protect Alabama vegetables, flowers, and fruit blossoms when a late spring frost is forecast.

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Watering & Irrigation

Rain Barrels for Garden Irrigation

How to use rain barrels safely and effectively for watering gardens, containers, and ornamental plants.

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Garden Planning

Raised Beds vs. In-Ground Gardening

Compare raised beds and traditional in-ground gardens to decide which method works best for your Alabama property.

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Garden Basics

Seeds vs. Transplants: When to Use Each

Learn which vegetables are easiest to direct sow and which are better started from transplants in an Alabama garden.

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Seasonal Tips

September Gardening in Alabama

What to grow and maintain in September, including leafy greens, root crops, fall vegetables, and garden cleanup.

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Growing Spaces

Setting Up Grow Lights

How to set up simple grow lights for healthy vegetable, herb, and flower seedlings indoors.

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Fences & Protection

Simple Garden Fence Ideas

Simple fence options for keeping rabbits, pets, and other garden visitors out without overbuilding.

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Seasonal Tips

Spring Vegetable Gardening in Alabama

How to plan, plant, and maintain a productive spring vegetable garden in Alabama.

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Garden Problems

Squash Bugs

How to identify squash bugs, find their eggs, and manage infestations on squash and pumpkins.

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Garden Problems

Squash Vine Borers

How to identify squash vine borer damage and protect squash plants before stems collapse.

Young fruit trees planted in rows with mulch around their bases

Fruit & Orchard

Starting a Backyard Orchard in Alabama

How to plan a small home orchard in Alabama, from site selection and pollination to spacing and long-term care.

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Herbs

Starting an Herb Garden

A beginner-friendly guide to starting a productive herb garden in Alabama.

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Garden Basics

Starting Seeds Indoors

A beginner-friendly guide to starting healthy vegetable and flower seedlings indoors before Alabama planting season.

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Garden Problems

Stink Bugs

How to identify stink bug damage on tomatoes, peppers, beans, and fruit crops.

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Garden Planning

Succession Planting for a Longer Harvest

Learn how to stagger plantings and replace finished crops so your Alabama garden produces for more of the year.

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Garden Problems

Tomato Blight and Leaf Spot

How to recognize common tomato leaf-spot and blight symptoms and reduce disease pressure in humid Southern gardens.

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Garden Problems

Tomato Hornworms

How to identify and manage tomato hornworms without harming beneficial insects.

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Garden Basics

Understanding Alabama Growing Zones

A beginner-friendly guide to Alabama growing zones, microclimates, frost timing, and what those zones mean for gardeners.

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Seasonal Tips

Understanding Alabama’s Growing Seasons

Learn how Alabama's cool-season, warm-season, and fall growing periods work and how to plan a garden around them.

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Garden Basics

Understanding N-P-K Fertilizer Numbers

Learn what fertilizer numbers such as 10-10-10 mean and how nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium affect plant growth.

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Soil & Compost

Understanding Soil pH

A beginner-friendly explanation of soil pH and how it affects nutrient availability and plant growth.

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Soil & Compost

Using Leaves in the Garden

How to use fall leaves as mulch, compost ingredients, leaf mold, and free organic matter in the garden.

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Watering & Irrigation

Vacation Watering Strategies

How to keep vegetables, containers, raised beds, and young fruit trees watered while you're away.

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Watering & Irrigation

Watering Fruit Trees

How to water newly planted and established fruit trees without encouraging shallow roots or trunk problems.

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Watering & Irrigation

Watering Raised Beds

How to water raised garden beds efficiently during Alabama heat without keeping roots too wet.

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Soil & Compost

What Can and Cannot Go in Compost

A simple list of garden and kitchen materials that belong in a home compost pile—and what should stay out.

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Seasonal Tips

What to Plant for a Fall Garden in Alabama

A practical guide to the best vegetables for an Alabama fall garden and when to get them started.

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Seasonal Tips

What to Plant This Month in Alabama

A month-by-month guide to what Alabama gardeners can sow, transplant, harvest, and prepare throughout the year.

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Garden Problems

What's Eating My Plants?

A beginner-friendly guide to diagnosing chewing, sucking, and hidden pest damage in an Alabama garden.

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Seasonal Tips

When Is the First Frost in Alabama?

How Alabama's average first fall frost varies by region and how to use it for fall planting and harvest planning.

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Seasonal Tips

When Is the Last Frost in Alabama?

How Alabama's average last spring frost varies by region and how to use frost dates safely when planning a garden.

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Seasonal Tips

When It's Too Hot to Plant

How to recognize when heat makes transplanting or direct sowing risky and what to do instead.

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Garden Problems

When NOT to Kill a Garden Bug

How to decide whether an insect is harmful, helpful, or harmless before reaching for a pesticide.

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Fruit & Orchard

When Should a New Fruit Tree Produce Fruit?

A realistic guide to how long peaches, apples, pears, plums, figs, persimmons, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries take to produce.

Vegetable beds and young fruit trees in a backyard garden

Garden Basics

When Should You Fertilize Your Garden?

A practical guide to when vegetables, fruit trees, and container plants benefit from fertilizer—and when they do not.