Planted Happiness

10/12/2026

Time to deadhead….

🌼 Do these 4 simple things to keep your mums colorful instead of watching the flowers fade all at once.

10/12/2026

Good stuff right here!

Before you clear out the garden this fall and yank those pepper plants, stop. Pulling them up is what almost everyone does, and it might be throwing away the earliest, biggest pepper harvest you've ever had next year.

Here's what most people don't realize. That plant you're about to compost isn't actually done, peppers are perennials at heart, and they only die because they can't survive frost, not because their time is up. There's a way to carry the very same plant through winter and put a mature, established grower back out come spring, one that leaps ahead of anything you'd start from seed. A few different methods let you do it depending on your space, and one even keeps you picking fresh peppers through the cold months. But the window to set it up is closing as frost approaches.

Put the shovel down. It's all in the first comment.

10/03/2026

Time to propagate for more rosemary herbs.

10/03/2026

My next to do plan in the garden. Yummy stuff! 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱let’s do this!✅

10/02/2026

Nice article on Rosemary! It likes a drier more sunny, dry soil. Makes a difference what you try to companion plant next to it. 🌱

Rosemary is powerful in the garden, but don’t plant it near these six incompatible plants—it could ruin your harvest!

10/01/2026

Before the pruners come out, 13 perennials want their dead stalks left right where they are. Those brown stems feed winter birds, shelter helpful insects, and shield the roots from hard freezes. So which ones in your beds should stay standing?

10/01/2026

I’m fixing to pick mine! Sick of pesto but drowning in basil? Here are 15 unusual ways to use up a big harvest (most have nothing to do with pesto).
🌿 https://www.ruralsprout.com/unusual-ways-to-use-basil/

Go pick as much basil as you possibly can, right now, and don't feel one bit guilty about stripping those plants bare. Because once you see everything you can do with a big pile of it (and no, it's not more pesto), you'll wish you'd grabbed even more.

Here's why it's worth the harvest. By now your basil has probably gone bonkers, monster bushes taking over the garden, and you're all pesto-ed out, six freezer bags deep and unable to look a Caprese salad in the eye. But that fragrant plant is capable of so much more than the usual couple of recipes. There's a whole world of unexpected things to make with it, from cool summer drinks and sweet frozen treats to a few genuinely surprising uses that have nothing to do with eating it at all (yes, including your skin and even a headache remedy). One good harvest goes a very long way. And picking it hard is actually good for the plant, it just grows back bushier. There's a simple way to preserve the rest so none goes to waste.

Grab an armful and get busy, it's all in the first comment.

09/30/2026

Definitely pause before you squish! 🦋

🦋 Monarch caterpillars are usually found on milkweed, and they become one of America’s most loved butterflies, famous for their long migration.

🦋 Black Swallowtail caterpillars are often found on parsley, dill, fennel, carrots, and Queen Anne’s lace, and they become beautiful garden pollinators.

🦋 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars usually live on wild cherry, tulip tree, birch, ash, and other native trees, and the adults are important nectar visitors.

🦋 Mourning Cloak caterpillars are often found on willow, elm, birch, poplar, and hackberry, and they become one of the first butterflies seen in spring.

🦋 Red Admiral caterpillars usually hide in folded leaves of nettles and false nettle, and the adults help pollinate flowers while feeding on nectar.

🦋 Luna Moth caterpillars are found on walnut, hickory, sweetgum, birch, and persimmon, and they become one of the most beautiful native moths in the USA.

🦋 Cecropia Moth caterpillars are often found on maple, cherry, apple, birch, willow, and lilac, and they become North America’s largest native moth.

🦋 Tomato Hornworm caterpillars are usually found on tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and potatoes, but they become large native hawkmoths, so it’s better to move them instead of crushing them.

09/28/2026

Did you know? https://kitchen-secrets.blogerusa.com/the-most-potent-herb-that-destroys-parasites-urinary-tract-bladder-infections-herpes-and-flu-viruses-2/

09/28/2026

Indeed! Go harvest your rosemary for so many benefits! Check it out! That rosemary bush does way more than flavor a roast, here are all the clever ways to use a big harvest (and how to make it last).
🌿 https://www.ruralsprout.com/rosemary-uses/

Go pick as much rosemary as you possibly can, right now, and don't feel one bit guilty about stripping the plant. Because once you see everything you can do with a big pile of it, you'll wish you'd grabbed even more.

Here's why it's worth the harvest. Most people think of rosemary as the herb you snip a sprig of for a roast chicken and then forget about. But that fragrant, woody bush is capable of so much more, there's a whole world of uses well beyond the kitchen that hardly anyone taps into. From ways to capture its flavor and scent so they last for months, to a few genuinely surprising uses around the house and even for your hair and skin, one good harvest can go a very long way. And a hard pick is actually good for the plant, encouraging bushy new growth. There's a simple way to preserve your haul so none of it goes to waste, plus a long list of clever things to make with it.

Grab an armful and get busy, it's all in the first comment.