Oftentimes, your best tool in the garden is good information. Today’s world of information overload can make it difficult to weed through the clutter. Anyone can share advice on the internet – without qualification or a commitment to accuracy. When searching online for garden resources, look for trusted experts and advice shared by educational institutions (look for the .edu site extension).
I’ve gathered my top spots for trustworthy information to help you get started. Here are my recommendations to arm you with the sites birding, butterflies, beekeeping, weed, pests, insect and disease identification, vegetable growing guides & more. Happy gardening!
Where to find near you
Find your local county extension service / Master Gardener office
Food Pantries and donation sites
Community Supported Agriculture co-ops (CSA’s)
STA Certified Compost
Birding
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
eBird: Birding in the 21st Century
The Audubon Society
Butterflies & Invertebrates
Xerces Society
North American Butterfly Association
Monarch Watch
Beekeeping
American Beekeeping Federation
Beekeeper Linda (My personal beekeeping mentor with a great website)
Weed ID
Is This Plant a Weed?
Rutgers Weed ID Tool
Weed ID and Integrated Pest Management / UC Davis
Weed ID / University of Illinois
Pest and Insect ID
BugGuide / Iowa State University
Disease ID
Cornell Plant Disease Fact Sheets
Cornell Vegetable MD Online
Vegetable Growing Guides
Cornell Vegetable Growing Guides
Tomatoes
Texas A&M Tomato Problem Solver
Cornell Vegetable MD Online-Tomatoes
The Ultimate Tomato Cage (Step by Step DIY and Video)
Where to buy Dwarf Tomato seed varieties
Plant Lists
Mt. Cuba Native Plant Finder
Pollinator-friendly Plant Lists
Invasive Plant Info
Podcasts
The joe gardener Show with Joe Lamp’l
A Way to Garden with Margaret Roach
You Bet Your Garden with Mike McGrath
Living Homegrown Podcast with Theresa Loe
Good to Know / Misc.
Growing a Greener World (Our companion site for our national PBS TV series)
JoegardenerTV YouTube Channel
Frost-date calculator
Plant Hardiness Zone Finder
Homesteading – Living Homegrown Without the Farm
Farmer Veteran Coalition
U.S Composting Council
About Certified Compost
Mulch and Soil Council
