Gardening How To & DIY
Improve the value of your home by discovering our gardening step-by-step tips & ideas.
Filed under:
How To Create a Rain Garden
Moisture meters can detect wet, damp surfaces and help homeowners avoid expensive damage. Host Kevin O’Connor learns how to use one from home technology expert Ross Trethewey.
Fall Fertilizing: Essential Tips to Make Your Yard Grow
Read this guide to learn why autumn is the best time of year to fertilize your yard.
How to Build a Potting Bench
This handy piece of outdoor furniture will serve as headquarters for your gardening gear.
How to Create a Full-Sun Garden
Landscape contractor Jenn Nawada helps a homeowner install a full-sun garden in front of the home’s entrance for kids and guests.
How to Create a Woodland Garden
Landscape contractor Jenn Nawada helps a homeowner create privacy with a woodland garden created from native plants.
How to Build a Classroom Compost Bin
Carpenter Nathan Gilbert and landscape contractor Jenn Nawada build a compost bin for an elementary school’s garden project.
How to Build a Self-Watering Planter
Create a raised garden bed that you won’t have to babysit. With this simple DIY, you’ll use naturally rot-resistant cedar, fitted with some clever planter inserts, to make a low-maintenance container that automatically distributes water on its own.
Testing Soil at Home
Landscaping contractor Jenn Nawada shows host Kevin O’Connor how to use a home soil test kit to check the condition of his soil.
How to Grow Your Own Kitchen Garden From Scratch
A handy, productive home vegetable patch is more popular than ever. Planned and built right, it can even enhance the look of your home. Here’s how one pro delivers on all counts—and you can, too.
How to Build Window Flower Boxes
In this DIY Smarts project, This Old House carpenter Nathan Gilbert and landscape contractor Jenn Nawada build and plant custom window boxes for a colorful touch of curb appeal.
How to Build a Space-Saving 3-Tiered Planter
Using rot-resistant cedar lumber from the home center, This Old House DIY Expert and House One Editor Jenn Largesse shows how to build a space-saving tiered planter.
How to Make a Tall, Tapered Planter
This Old House DIY Expert & House One’s Jenn Largesse shows how to set up a miter saw to create geometric planter, shelves, and more.
How to Make Geometric Planters
This Old House DIY Expert & House One editor Jenn Largesse shows how to set up a miter saw to create geometric planter, shelves, and more.
How to Build a Self-Watering Vegetable Garden
In this DIY Smarts project, Ask This Old House landscape contractor Jenn Nawada travels to Raleigh, North Carolina to help a couple build and plant a self-watering vegetable garden.
How to Build a Raised Garden Bed | This Old House: Live
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Jenn Nawada demonstrates how to build a raised garden bed in her backyard as part of This Old House: Live—an initiative providing daily programming and opportunities to connect with our experts during these challenging times.
How to Build a Basic Garden Bench
House One’s Jenn Largesse demonstrates how to build a DIY bench for your garden.
How to Plant an Indoor Garden
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Jenn Nawada installs a unique kind of indoor garden for a homeowner who wants to grow vegetables year round.
How to Plant Hardier Foundation Plantings
In this DIY Smarts, Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada helps a homeowner replace and improve foundation plantings that have been crushed by snow piles.
How to Install Winter-Proof Planters
In this DIY Smarts, Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada installs a front entry planter for a homeowner that will last through the winter.
How to Choose and Use Pruners
Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada shares some tips about pruners.
Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants
A dozen garden stunners you’ll love but those four-legged foragers won’t
All About Raised Garden Beds
With little more than a few boards, a shovel, and some soil, you can easily create an ideal habitat for growing vegetables in your yard.
How to Create a Vertical Garden for Small Spaces
Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada installs a vertical garden to maximize space for a homeowner
How to Create Bonsai from Regular Trees
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook learns about the ancient art of bonsai
How to Plant Authentic Dutch Flower Bulbs
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook helps a homeowner originally from Holland plant authentic Dutch bulbs
How to Plant Edible Foundation Plants
A homeowner selects foundation plantings that include edible varieties for both people and wildlife.
How to Install a Self-Watering Garden
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook shows a homeowner in Orlando how to plant a low-maintenance vegetable garden using hydroponics.
How to Replace a Lawn with Shade Perennials
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook offers some alternatives to grass in a shady spot.
How to Start an Organic Garden
Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada shares some share DIY Smarts tips on starting an organic garden.
How to Turn a Feeding Trough into a Planter
Ask This Old House landscape designer Jenn Nawada travels to Tennessee to build a planter out of an animal feeding trough
Big Container Plants for Small Yards
On a lot that has more hardscape than planting space, container gardening is one way to indulge your green thumb. In fact, you can grow seriously sizable plants in pots—even trees. Here are three surprisingly XL options that still work for XS footprints
All About Garden Sheds
Whether you have small or large garden shed plans, we offer an all-encompassing guide on your installing, building, and purchasing options, as well as designing and custom accenting your cozy workspace.
How to Fight Aphids Naturally
Ask This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to tend to plants that are infested with aphids