15 Gardening Blogs You Should Be Following Before Summer Hits
Spring is here and summer is closer than it feels. If you are serious about making this your best growing season yet, the fastest shortcut is learning from people who have already figured out what works. Not generic advice. Not corporate gardening guides written by committees. Real gardeners documenting real results.
This list covers 15 genuinely good gardening blogs across every niche you care about. Small space, container, herbs, urban growing, raised beds, and everything in between. Bookmark the ones that match your situation and start reading before the first seeds go in the ground.
1. Joe Gardener
Website: joegardener.com
Joe Lamp’l is one of the most trusted voices in organic gardening in the US. His tagline is “Grow Like a Pro, No Experience Required” and he means it. The site covers everything from soil science to pest management without ever talking down to beginners.
What makes Joe Gardener stand out is the depth. Most gardening blogs give you the what. Joe gives you the why behind every recommendation. His podcast is just as good as the blog and covers topics that most gardening websites never touch.
Best for gardeners who want to understand the science behind what they are growing, not just follow a checklist.
Start with: The 5 Steps to Your Best Garden guide linked on the homepage.
2. Here She Grows
Website: hereshegrows.com
Heather runs Here She Grows with a focus on small space gardening that feels genuinely personal. The site covers perennials, trees, shrubs, fruits, and vegetables with the kind of honest detail that comes from someone actually growing things in a real garden rather than writing from a content brief.
The photography throughout the site is beautiful and the writing matches it. This is the kind of blog you read and immediately want to go outside and plant something.
Best for gardeners who want inspiration alongside practical advice, especially those working with limited outdoor space.
Start with: The gardening category to find articles that match your specific growing situation.
3. Bark Secret (This Blog)
Website: barksecret.com
Bark Secret covers small space gardening and natural wellness with a practical no-nonsense approach. The blog is built around real experiments, honest results, and content written for people who are actually trying to grow food or herbs in limited spaces, not people with sprawling country gardens.
The wellness content sits alongside the gardening content in a way that feels natural rather than forced. If you grow herbs you probably also want to know what to do with them, and Bark Secret covers both sides of that equation.
The container gardening and herb growing guides are particularly strong for beginners who want specific actionable advice rather than general inspiration.
Best for apartment dwellers, balcony gardeners, and anyone interested in growing herbs for natural wellness.
Start with: The container gardening and herb growing articles.
4. Growing a Greener World
Website: growingagreenerworld.com
Growing a Greener World is a PBS television series turned comprehensive online resource focused entirely on sustainable living and organic gardening. The depth of content here is exceptional. Hundreds of episodes covering composting, organic pest control, sustainable landscaping, and food gardening are all available to read and watch for free.
This is not a personal blog. It is a full educational resource backed by real production values and expert guests. If you want to understand organic gardening at a serious level this is where you go.
Best for gardeners committed to organic and sustainable methods who want more than surface level advice.
Start with: The episodes section where you can browse by topic and find content relevant to your specific growing challenges.
5. Contained Creations
Website: containedcreations.com
Contained Creations is entirely dedicated to container gardening and it shows. The level of specialization here is rare. The blog covers planter recipes, seasonal container designs, and container gardening courses with a design sensibility that goes beyond just keeping plants alive.
The planter recipe shop is a genuinely clever concept. Instead of just telling you what to plant, the site gives you curated combinations of plants that work together beautifully in a single container. That kind of practical design thinking is hard to find anywhere else.
Best for gardeners who want their containers to look as good as they grow, particularly those interested in the aesthetic side of small space gardening.
Start with: The planter recipes section to see how thoughtful plant combinations can transform a single container.
6. EarthBox Tomato Growing Guide
Website: earthbox.com/tomato-growing-guide
EarthBox has been making self-watering container gardens since the 1990s and their tomato growing guide is one of the most comprehensive free resources available for container tomato growers. The guide covers variety selection, soil preparation, planting, feeding, and troubleshooting in a systematic way that removes the guesswork.
Even if you are not using an EarthBox system the principles in this guide apply to any container tomato setup. Growing tomatoes in containers is notoriously tricky and this guide addresses every common failure point directly.
Best for anyone attempting container tomatoes this summer who wants to actually succeed rather than repeat last year’s mistakes.
Start with: The full tomato growing guide from the beginning. It is more useful than most paid gardening courses on the same topic.
7. Swansons Nursery
Website: swansonsnursery.com
Swansons Nursery has been a Seattle institution since 1924 and their blog reflects a century of genuine plant knowledge. The gardening guides are organized by theme and by month which makes it easy to find exactly what is relevant to your growing season right now.
The March gardening tips page alone is worth bookmarking. Practical, specific, and written by people who have been advising real gardeners for generations. The indoor plant guides are equally strong for those growing inside.
Best for gardeners who want seasonal guidance written by nursery professionals rather than content writers.
Start with: The monthly gardening tips section and the plant care guides organized by plant type.
8. Urban Gardening Mom
Website: urbangardeningmom.com
Urban Gardening Mom is built around the reality that most people growing food do not have ideal conditions. Small urban spaces, limited sunlight, budget constraints. The blog addresses these realities directly rather than assuming everyone has a perfect south-facing garden.
The From Seed to Harvest course is a standout resource for beginners who want a structured learning path rather than piecing together advice from multiple sources. The social media content, particularly on TikTok and YouTube, extends the blog into formats that work well for people who learn by watching.
Best for urban gardeners with young families who want practical food growing advice that fits real life constraints.
Start with: The blog section for free content before deciding whether the course is right for your situation.
9. LearningHerbs
Website: learningherbs.com
LearningHerbs has been running for 20 years and remains the most accessible entry point into herbal medicine available online. The site focuses on helping ordinary people make safe and reliable herbal remedies from common plants and the herbs that grow around them.
The free herb notes flashcards covering 12 essential herbs are an exceptional starting resource. The HerbMentor membership and podcast extend the learning significantly for anyone who wants to go deeper into herbalism. The tone throughout is encouraging and practical rather than intimidating.
Best for gardeners who grow herbs and want to understand how to use them medicinally, not just culinarily.
Start with: The free herb notes flashcards and then explore the blog for specific herbs you already grow or want to grow.
10. Just Vertical
Website: justvertical.com
Just Vertical designs and sells indoor hydroponic tower gardens and their content reflects genuine expertise in growing food entirely indoors without soil. If you have no outdoor space at all or want to grow year-round regardless of season, this is the resource to explore.
The site covers everything from their own EVE Tower Garden and AEVA Indoor Farm products to seed selection, nutrients, and growing guides that work for any indoor hydroponic setup. This is a different category of gardening from everything else on this list and it is genuinely impressive what is possible with the right system.
Best for apartment dwellers who want fresh food year-round and are willing to invest in a proper indoor growing setup.
Start with: The what is the difference page to understand which growing system matches your space and goals.
11. Gardenary
Website: gardenary.com
Gardenary is built around one core belief that a well-designed raised bed kitchen garden is achievable for anyone with the right plan. Nicole Burke founded the site after transforming her own small space into a productive kitchen garden and has since helped thousands of beginners do the same.
The free Garden Game Plan masterclass is genuinely useful and not just a sales pitch. The frost date calculator is one of the most practical free tools on any gardening site. The focus on planning before planting sets Gardenary apart from blogs that jump straight to growing advice without addressing the foundational decisions that determine success or failure.
Best for beginner and intermediate gardeners who want a structured approach to starting or improving a kitchen garden in 2026.
Start with: The free Garden Game Plan masterclass to understand the planning process before you buy a single seed.
12. Botany on the Balcony
Website: botanyonthebalcony.com
Botany on the Balcony offers something genuinely rare in gardening content. Practical advice and moral support for the small-scale gardener. That combination of the practical and the emotional is exactly what beginner balcony gardeners need when their first attempts fail and they are deciding whether to keep trying.
The site is organized by care and advice, seasons, and plant type which makes it easy to find what you need depending on where you are in your growing journey. The seasonal content is particularly useful for timing decisions that confuse most beginners.
Best for balcony gardeners who want a community-minded resource that acknowledges the unique challenges of growing in a small elevated outdoor space.
Start with: The Begin section for a structured introduction to balcony gardening from someone who has done it properly.
13. Green Balcony
Website: greenbalcony.com
Green Balcony is a European gardening and plant supply company with a blog that covers herbs, natural beauty, and balcony growing from a practical product-informed perspective. The content on growing herbs for natural beauty use cases is particularly strong and connects growing with wellness in a way that most gardening blogs never explore.
The community section of the site adds a social element that most gardening blogs lack. Real growers sharing real results in a structured format.
Best for balcony gardeners interested in the intersection of growing, natural beauty, and wellness who want European perspectives on plant care.
Start with: The blog section covering herbs for natural beauty if that intersection of growing and wellness resonates with your interests.
14. Creative Vegetable Gardener
Website: creativevegetablegardener.com
Creative Vegetable Gardener is run by Megan Cain who has been helping home gardeners get more food from their gardens for years. The site has a clear no-nonsense philosophy. Less fussing, more harvesting. The content is organized around practical outcomes rather than theoretical knowledge.
The books and courses section extends the blog content into more structured learning for gardeners who want a complete system rather than individual articles. The work with me section shows a level of professional gardening consultancy that lends credibility to every piece of free content on the site.
Best for vegetable gardeners who want to increase their harvest without increasing their workload, particularly those who have been gardening for a year or two and want to level up.
Start with: The blog for practical seasonal vegetable growing advice and then consider the books if you want a more comprehensive approach.
15. My Tiny Plot
Website: mytinyplot.com
My Tiny Plot is exactly what the name suggests. A personal blog about vegetable gardening in a small space written with genuine warmth and accumulated wisdom. The site covers vegetables, flowers, fruit growing, seed saving, and even recipes from the harvest. It is one of the most complete small garden blogs available.
The seed saving content is rare and genuinely valuable. Most gardening blogs skip it entirely. My Tiny Plot covers it with the same attention to detail as everything else on the site.
Best for small plot gardeners who want a complete growing resource from someone with decades of real experience in a genuinely small space.
Start with: The categories section to find the content most relevant to what you are growing this summer.
How to use this list
Do not try to follow all 15 at once. Pick two or three that match your specific situation and start there. A balcony gardener in an apartment needs different advice than someone with a small backyard plot. The blogs that speak directly to your situation are worth more than a dozen general resources.
Bookmark the ones that resonate. Come back to the others as your growing evolves.
And if small space gardening, container growing, or natural wellness is your focus, you will find Bark Secret covering exactly those intersections at barksecret.com.
Happy growing. 🌿
