Melted snow has mineral content. Use it for houseplants in winter.
Plant new rhubarb, asparagus, strawberry beds in March.
Make biodegradable seedling pots! Three layers of newspaper in a square, mark off nine squares, cut to corners of center square and fold up. Overlap and staple the edges together. Or, cut a 3" strip of brown paper bag and spiral it up to form a bottomless cup, glue sides together. Line bottoms w/coffee filters, pack together in a container for support and fill w/soil. When seedlings are large enough, put the whole pot directly into soil.
Save plastic mesh from orange bags. It is good use for drying out bulbs, herbs, etc.
Nice decorative tree: striped, paperbark or manchurian snakebark maple. They all have brightly colored or striped tree bark looks pretty in winter.
Plant fruit seeds for interesting houseplants. They won't make flowers or fruit, but some have pretty foliage. Try orange, grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, pomegranate. For a real exotic looking one, plant a mango. After removing the fruit, clean the husk and let it dry several days. Pry it open and plant the large seed. 2-3 weeks to germinate.
Plant an avocado from the pit. Save pit and wrap in damp paper towels. Seal in plastic bag and leave in warm place. Check every few days to see that it's still moist. When roots begin to grow from the pit, plant in a pot.
Dry herbs by hanging, then crumble into a jar for storage. Or microwave 2 min between 2 layers paper towels, until brittle.
Plant outdoor ferns early in the fall.
Lay cardboard or large leaves from cabbage, lettuce, among plants in the garden. Slugs hide on the undersides during the day; then you can just pick up the whole thing and discard in trash.
Variegated hosta does best in partial shade. If it gets full sun, the leaves will just be solid green.
In winter at night put a piece of cardboard, newspaper or folded towel between houseplants and the window to protect from a chill.
Keep a bucket of sand in your garden shed. Moisten the sand w/used motor oil. To clean & oil garden tools, dip the blades several times in the sand.
for my garden