Sara Elliott
Articles by Sara Elliott
Understanding the Microclimates in Your Summer Garden
While you’re in the thick of performing gardening chores this season, start noting how microclimates work in your landscape.
Protecting Garden Plants from Punishing Heat and Drought
Prolonged dry conditions and unseasonably high heat have become a fact of life in some parts of the country and around the world over the...
Moving Plants Inside for the Winter: What You Need to Know
Just because mornings are becoming frosty doesn’t mean your gardening season is over.
How to Start a Square Foot Garden
Mel Bartholomew, construction engineer and efficiency expert, is considered the father of square foot gardening.
Can You Sterilize and Reuse Your Grow Media?
The prospect of saving money and reducing waste by reusing the disposable components of your growroom is tempting, but it doesn’t come...
How to Trellis Your Plants Properly
Are your outdoor plants out of control yet? Adding a trellis to your landscape will offer plants enhanced access to sunlight and better air...
The Do's and Don’ts of Container Gardening
Keeping plants happy in a container requires care and attention by the gardener as they must provide everything to keep the plant healthy.
10 Things to Know About Your Nutrient Reservoir
Let's take a look at 10 things you should consider when pondering the efficacy of your nutrient reservoir and system. Some of your...
Spiraling Out: How to Build an Herb Spiral
While herbs offer some impressive health benefits on your plate, they can present some big challenges in the garden. Incorporating these...
Going Down: Gravity-fed Hydroponic Systems
Understanding the ups and downs of gravity-fed hydroponic systems.
Who is This Kelvin Guy? All About Lighting Temperatures
If you’re a little unclear about the kelvin (K) rating on your grow light, you’re not alone. The Kelvin scale can be counterintuitive in a...
Daily Duties: Keeping Them All in Check
Much of the equipment that provides environmental manipulation and correction in a growroom should be checked every day. Automation has its...
Pantry Prep: Preserving Homegrown Herbs
Many herbs will thrive in indifferent soil and reward you with plenty of leaves, flowers and seeds.
Finding a Happy Medium: Soilless Grow Media Tips & Tricks
Finding a good balance among different products and processes is the key to a successful indoor garden, and plant media is a prime example....
Keeping Things Cool In Your Growroom
When plants become overheated, they begin to show signs of stress. Heat stress can result in spindly young plants and mature plants that...
Shining a Light on Reflective Materials
We explore the illuminating world of light management to help you develop the best lighting strategy for your indoor garden.
Lessons In Hydroponics
From ways to stretch a dollar when it comes to your lighting system, to effectively monitoring your pH levels, to scaling up your hydro...
Extreme Greenspaces: 21st Century Greenhouses and Urban Gardens
The planet is running out of cultivable land to feed an ever-increasing population, but that’s not stopping innovative problem solvers from...
Battling Bugs the Organic Way
There are a number of ways to fight off a pest infestation in your garden the organic way. Some organic methods are preventive, while...
Feeding Plants for Different Stages of Growth
Plants need different nutrients at different stages of growth. They may also have special requirements depending on the nature of their...
What Grow Tent is Right for You?
Using a grow tent can take your indoor gardening efforts to the next level. A dedicated enclosure like a grow tent provides excellent...
Organic Gardening Ingredients
So you want to go organic, but you’re not sure what a natural nutrient regimen might include. One way to ensure the specific needs of your...
Training Your Plants: Pruning, Staking and Trellising to Maximize Yields
A number of gardening strategies can be used to manipulate plants in different ways to maximize resources like space, nutrients and light.
Grooming Your Garden for Fall
It’s the end of another big growing season, and the soil, plants, shrubs and trees that call your backyard home are ready for some down...
Making the Switch to Organic Hydroponics
Organic growing takes a little bit more work, but for those who do it, the end result of healthier crops is worth the extra effort. As the...
Figuring Out Fogponics
Fogponics is a form of aeroponics, sometimes called the next phase in aeroponic technology. It uses the same basic concept as...
Straight Talk About Light Moving Systems
You’ve probably heard of light moving systems and wondered if the rails, motors, and extra wires seem like overkill when you already have...
A Glossary for Growers - Words to Grow On
In the case of hydroponic gardening, learning the lingo may also help you grow better plants.
Managing Your Landscape with Microclimates
By understanding the microclimates in your landscape, you can customize your planting strategies, and maybe even broaden your planting...
The Science of Sweet: How Fruit Ripens
Plump fruits typically burst with flavor, but they didn’t get that way overnight. The process of fruit ripening is a fascinating journey...
Let’s Talk About...Pollination
Let’s face it, when you’re confined to a hole in the ground, finding romance can be challenging. To compensate, plants have perfected many...
Being Green: How Plants Work
When you think about it, plants are pretty amazing. Being immobile, they are unable to hunt and forage for food like animals, so they make...
A Seed Saved: How to Harvest & Store Plant Seeds
Saving seeds at home used to be a much more common activity than it is today. During the first half of the 20th century, it wasn’t unusual...
Growing on Air: How Aeroponics Turns Less into More
What we know as aeroponics today first became popular as a bare bones gardening technique that allowed plant scientists to get up close and...
How Grow Tents Work
A basic grow tent is comprised of a lightweight, six-sided fabric exterior installed over a rigid frame and includes a main opening and...
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