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How Tos

Seed Savers Exchange’s library of how-tos is full of practical guidance on a wide range of topics, including gardening, seed saving, pest control, soil health, and more.

A leafy green plant with purple veins covered in a layer of frost

Extending the Garden Season

With succession planting, smart crop choices, and a few simple tools like floating row covers, extending your garden season well into, and sometimes through, the coldest months of the year is well within your reach!

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A red building and a red barn nestled among a landscape of trees with changing fall colors of leaves.

How to Prepare Your Garden for Winter

If you live in cool climates, it’s time to start thinking about closing down your garden for the season. However, there are many things to consider when it comes to preparing your garden for winter. Follow this checklist to put your garden to bed and set yourself up for success in the new year!

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Several rows of small collard plants underneath an uncovered hoop tunnel structure

How to Plant a Fall Garden

For many gardeners, the gardening season dies down in the summer after the spring rush of seed starting and transplanting. However, gardeners can plant many things from July to September for a fall garden with harvests all the way up to winter, especially with changing climates. In fact, fall might just be the most underrated season for gardening! 

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Four different lettuce varieties in a long deck railing planter

Container Gardening Guide

What can you plant in a container? The better question might be, what can’t you? Vegetables, flowers, herbs—almost any plant can thrive in a container as long as it has the proper soil and care. When land space is unavailable, container gardening provides a viable alternative for you to grow your own food and a beautiful garden.

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A tray of 3-inch pots, each with a hole and a small tomato plant in the center.

A Beginner’s Guide to Potting Up Seedlings

There’s something deeply rewarding about nurturing a tiny seed into a thriving plant. But when a plant outgrows its container, potting up can seem daunting. Fortunately, with care and a couple of considerations, potting up is easy and will help to keep your plants happy!

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A small plant with four starter leaves in a plastic cell with soil.

Thinning Seedlings

What?! I have to toss some of these perfectly healthy seedlings I worked so hard to start? Which do I save and which do I not? That is the reaction of many a new gardener upon first learning that thinning seedlings is a necessary step to ensure healthy growth of plant starts. The reality is that, if left in crowded environs, your seedlings will eventually suffer.

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packets of seeds and small jars of seeds spread out on a red tablecloth

How to Organize a Seed Swap

A seed swap is a gathering of people, usually gardeners and farmers, who have come together to share seeds. Open seed sharing is one of Seed Savers Exchange’s core values since our founding 50 years ago. Keep reading to learn how to organize a seed swap of your own!

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A pile of many squashes with different colors, shapes, and sizes

Squash Hand-Pollination

Hand-pollination of squash ensures that the plants produce true-to-type seed and that the flowers are not contaminated by the pollen from another variety when the required isolation distance is impractical. Because the large male and female blossoms are easily distinguished, hand-pollinating squash can be easy for gardeners of all skill levels.

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