gardening

Divide and conquer your budget problems. That's the gardener's secret to a cheap or free landscape without purchasing a single new plant. The key is perennials, which are herbaceous plants that do not produce any woody stems or twigs. They sprout anew from the roots in spring and then die back to the ground again at the end of fall.

Chances are that as you read this article, the omnipresent sound of a lawnmower or blower is within earshot. It's that time of year when many of us are outside, mowing, edging, cutting and blowing.

A continuing compendium of tips and tricks from Home & Garden Television:

New to gardening? Master gardener Paul James offers several tips to help newcomers to the world of gardening become successful gardeners:

When I'm not on the road, I enjoy cooking meals at home. I'm big on using fresh ingredients, yet store-bought "hot house" tomatoes in winter will never compare to the quality and taste of homegrown. Many fruits and vegetables travel about 1,000 miles to get to us!

Between work, kids and taking care of a growing family, there isn't much time for flower gardening. But if you can manage a moment here and there, you need not forsake the wonderful world of herbs. Their scent and flavor, beauty and charm touch every woman's heart.

A continuing compendium of tips and tricks from Home & Garden Television:

We can all learn from each other's garden mistakes. Here are a few that come to mind:

-- Wrong plant in the wrong place:

Exult in the pulmonaria. The colorful spring show of this outstanding herbaceous perennial continues well into June.

"Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions."

Longfellow's words are so true, for more people have abandoned container gardening over impossibly high expectations than any other reason. And unrealistic expectations are the rule, not the exception.

As we gardeners and weekend landscapers work to beautify our personal outdoor space, we have a tremendous opportunity to be greener at the same time. In fact, our opportunity may be bigger than it is for most others. That's because many of the things we normally do to make our personal environment look manicured and beautiful are anything but green.

Mention gardening these days, and folks are most likely to equate it with vegetable gardening.

Just recently, that wasn't so.

Vegetable gardening had become almost passe, relegated to the back of the back yard. Declaring yourself a gardener a few years ago more often meant you had an assortment of perennials and other ornamentals.