Gardening Tips
How to Control Weeds in Pathways and Between Beds
Keep garden paths and between-bed areas weed-free with permanent solutions. Compare gravel, wood chips, landscape fabric, and paving for low-maintenance pathways.
Uncle Vee is the editor behind Planters Realm, creating and reviewing practical gardening guides about plant care, edible gardens, soil, pests, and garden tools. Articles are updated when recommendations, product details, or seasonal guidance changes.
Keep garden paths and between-bed areas weed-free with permanent solutions. Compare gravel, wood chips, landscape fabric, and paving for low-maintenance pathways.
Smother existing weeds without digging using the sheet mulching method. Layers of cardboard and organic material kill weeds while building incredible garden soil underneath.
Tackle one of gardening's most persistent weeds. Bindweed's deep root system makes it incredibly difficult to eradicate, but this systematic approach reduces it over 2 to 3 seasons.
Use cover crops to smother weeds while simultaneously improving your soil. Learn which cover crops suppress weeds most effectively and how to manage them in home gardens.
Eliminate invasive creeping Charlie from your lawn and garden beds. Learn why this persistent weed is so difficult to control and the multi-season strategy that finally works.
Create virtually weed-free garden beds with layered prevention strategies. Combine physical barriers, dense planting, mulching, and smothering for permanent weed suppression.
Suppress weeds with the right mulch applied at the right depth. Compare wood chips, straw, leaves, and living mulches for effectiveness, cost, and soil-building benefits.
Identify the weeds invading your garden with this visual guide. Learn which weeds are beneficial, which are aggressive, and the most effective control method for each.
Eliminate weeds without synthetic herbicides using these proven organic methods. Vinegar, boiling water, mulch, and suppression techniques that actually work.
Stop spending weekends pulling weeds. These 10 science-backed strategies dramatically reduce weed pressure so you can enjoy gardening instead of fighting it.
Grow fast-spreading ornamental sweet potato vine for instant color in containers, borders, and hanging baskets. Learn about chartreuse, purple, and variegated varieties.
Use structural specimen plants as garden focal points that command attention year-round. Yucca, agave, phormium, and other architectural plants provide bold form that anchors any landscape.
Create stunning container displays centered on foliage rather than flowers. These foliage stars provide season-long color and texture in pots, window boxes, and hanging baskets.
Grow brunnera for stunning heart-shaped silver leaves and delicate blue spring flowers. This shade-loving perennial provides three-season interest in woodland and shade gardens.
Transform deep shade into a lush garden with these 15 foliage plants that not only survive but thrive in low-light conditions. Color, texture, and structure without a single ray of direct sun.
Add depth and richness with purple and burgundy foliage. From smoke bush to heuchera, these dark-leaved plants create stunning contrast against green and silver companions.
Grow graceful Japanese forest grass for flowing golden mounds in shade gardens. Learn about this award-winning ornamental grass that transforms shady spaces with cascading foliage.
Light up dark garden corners and indoor spaces with variegated foliage. Learn which variegated plants are stable, which revert to green, and how to maintain colorful leaf patterns.
Create dramatic focal points with plants that have huge, attention-grabbing leaves. From rodgersia to gunnera, these bold foliage plants make a statement in any garden.
Grow versatile coral bells in every color from lime to nearly black. Learn about the best varieties for sun and shade, division timing, and crown rot prevention.
Keep your garden alive through winter with evergreen foliage plants. Boxwood, holly, mahonia, and other evergreens provide structure and color when everything else is dormant.
Grow vibrant caladiums for tropical color in shade gardens. Learn bulb planting depth, sun vs shade varieties, and overwintering techniques for these stunning annual foliage plants.
Add sophisticated cool tones with silver and gray foliage plants. Lamb's ear, dusty miller, artemisia, and other silver beauties provide stunning contrast to green and colorful plantings.
Grow lush ferns indoors and outdoors with this complete guide. From delicate maidenhair to robust sword ferns, learn humidity, light, and soil requirements for each type.
Create tropical paradise vibes with bold foliage plants. Bananas, cannas, elephant ears, and palms deliver instant jungle drama even in temperate gardens.
Grow eye-popping coleus for instant color in shade and part-shade gardens. Learn about new sun-tolerant varieties, pinching for bushiness, and overwintering favorites.
Add movement, texture, and year-round structure with ornamental grasses. Compare fountain grass, miscanthus, switchgrass, and sedge for every garden style and size.
Master hosta growing for spectacular shade garden foliage. Learn about the hundreds of varieties from miniature to giant, slug prevention, and division for free plants.
Who needs flowers when leaves this beautiful exist? These 21 foliage plants deliver year-round color, texture, and drama that no flowering plant can match.
Trigger reliable blooming on your Christmas cactus with the right light and temperature schedule. Learn the 6-week treatment that produces abundant flowers every holiday season.
Create a stunning succulent living wall or vertical garden frame. Complete DIY guide covering frame construction, planting technique, watering systems, and maintenance.
Grow succulents outdoors year-round even in freezing climates. These cold-hardy varieties survive sub-zero temperatures and thrive in rock gardens, green roofs, and dry borders.
Diagnose and save struggling succulents. The 7 most common problems — from overwatering to etiolation — with specific fixes that bring your plants back to health.
Multiply your succulent collection for free using leaf and stem propagation. Step-by-step guide with timing, soil mix, and the patience required for each method.
Create magazine-worthy succulent arrangements with these 21 design ideas. Learn color combinations, container choices, and the planting technique that keeps arrangements alive.
Grow a thriving jade plant that can live for decades. Learn watering, pruning into tree form, propagation from leaves, and why jade drops leaves when stressed.
Plan companion plantings for every month of the growing season. This monthly guide ensures the right companions are in place when specific pests and planting windows arrive.
Learn why mixed plantings consistently outperform single-crop plots in pest resistance, pollination, and total yield. The science and practice of garden polyculture.
Shield cabbage family crops from their many pests using aromatic companions. Learn the herb and flower combinations that reduce cabbage worms, aphids, and flea beetles.
Use garlic as a natural pest deterrent throughout your garden. Learn which pests garlic repels, where to plant it, and how to maximize its protective volatile compounds.
Harness the power of nitrogen-fixing plants to naturally fertilize your garden. Learn how beans, peas, and clovers convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant food.
Protect strawberry plants and improve berry flavor with proven companion pairings. Learn which plants boost strawberry health and which steal nutrients and harbor shared pests.
Sacrifice a few plants to save your entire garden. Learn how trap cropping lures destructive pests away from valuable vegetables using their own preferences against them.
Protect cucumbers and squash from vine borers and beetles with strategic companion plants. Learn the best pairings for the cucurbit family.
Avoid these 15 companion planting disasters that stunt growth, attract pests, or kill neighboring plants. Learn the science behind harmful plant interactions.
Boost pepper yields and health with the right companion plants. Learn which herbs, flowers, and vegetables grow best alongside peppers and which to keep away.
Keep houseplants perfectly hydrated while traveling or busy with DIY and commercial self-watering solutions. Compare wicking systems, reservoir pots, watering globes, and smart plant monitors.
Identify and eliminate the seven most common houseplant pests. Detailed identification guide with targeted organic treatments for spider mites, mealybugs, fungus gnats, thrips, scale, aphids, and whiteflies.
Grow dramatic alocasia elephant ears indoors with their stunning arrow-shaped leaves. Learn dormancy management, humidity needs, and how to prevent the common spider mite infestations these plants attract.
The pot you choose affects your plant's health more than you think. Learn when to use terracotta vs ceramic vs plastic, proper sizing, drainage requirements, and decorative cache pot strategies.