As the year winds down, it’s time to start thinking about next year’s garden. Consider adding a few of the All-America Selections Winners to your garden.

Add flavor and variety to this year’s vegetable garden with the 2013 All-America Selections (AAS) Winners.

The National Garden Bureau declared 2013 Year of Wildflower. Celebrate by including a few wildflowers in your garden.

Dress up your landscape with a decorative suet feeder and the colorful birds that are sure to visit.

Take a walk through your landscape and evaluate your plants for their year round beauty and habitat for the birds. The second week in February is “National Homes for the Birds” week and a great time to look for ways to provide food, shelter and water for our feathered friends.

Add a bit of color and form to your summer garden with Allium ‘Summer Beauty’. This flowering onion puts on its show during the heat of the mid-summer after most alliums have finished blooming.

Give a tree a hug and celebrate Arbor Day on the last Friday in April.

Green petals, misshapen flowers, twisted, and distorted leaves that turn yellow or red and tufts of white hairy roots on carrots are symptoms of aster yellows.

Add a little extra color, motion and interest to your landscape by attracting birds and butterflies to the garden. Make sure your yard provides all the essentials - food, water, shelter and a place to raise young. And be sure to avoid the use of pesticides that can harm the wildlife you are trying to attract.

Bring in the hummingbirds and brighten your landscape with colorful plants.

It's finally here! Your first red tomato. You reach in, twist it off the vine and have a look. And there it is - a big black spot on the bottom of the tomato.

Brown buds that fail to open on peonies and some roses, especially the white and pink flowered varieties is usually the result of Botrytis blight also known as gray mold.

Don’t let a tight budget stop you from starting seeds indoors. Get creative and involve the whole family in the process.

Bring a bit of your garden’s beauty indoors for all to enjoy. Fresh cut flowers right from the garden make everyday a special occasion.

Celebrate Mother’s Day and National Public Gardens Day with a visit to your favorite public garden or arboretum.

Don’t let outdated garden catalogs and magazines go to waste. Give them a second life by creating a colorful collage.

We all need a pick me up now and then and so do our gardens. Here are a few things you can do to add a bit of instant beauty to your landscape.

Keep the flavor of your garden alive all year long. Pick and dry herbs for winter meals and holiday gifts.

Gather the family in the kitchen, prepare a meal, and sit down to celebrate Eat Better and Eat Together.

Every garden season is filled with beautiful or tasty surprises and a few challenges. You can prevent or reduce challenges and damage caused by insect pests and still be kind to the environment.

Don’t panic when you find your zinnias, lilac, bee balm or phlox leaves are covered with a white powdery substance. This fungal disease, known as powdery mildew, is often a yearly problem on a variety of plants.

Early planting and unseasonably cool wet springs can cause bean and corn seeds to fail to sprout or fully develop. These seeds either rotted or were damaged by corn seed maggot.

Plants are the easiest way to bring birds into your landscape, but you may want to increase the number and diversity of winged visitors by supplementing with a few feeders.

Summer heat and drought can be hard on our plants and impact our gardens beauty and productivity. We can’t change the weather but we can help our plants through these stressful times.

Recycle your old newspapers into biodegradable pots for starting seeds this year. It is a money-saving activity the whole family will enjoy.

June 12th is National Get Outdoors Day. So gather the family and head out to the garden.

One of the last flowers of fall, the goldenrod, adds color to landscapes across North America.

Invite the birds into your landscape for added color, motion, and interest while creating a focal point in one of your gardens. Plant a green roof birdfeeder.

Boost your garden’s productivity and harvest garden-fresh vegetables all season long.

Add a bit of nutrition to your diet and landscape. Grow a container full of nutritious vegetables for your patio, deck or balcony.

Parsley is not just a garnish for your meals. This Vitamin rich herb is a great addition to your garden and recipes.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day and National Homemade Soup Day by sharing a bowl of soup with the ones you love. And while you sip some soup, start planning the soup ingredients you’ll grow in this year’s garden.

Reduce your grocery bill this summer by growing a few of your favorite vegetables. And the good news, you don’t need much space to produce enough fresh vegetables for you and your family to enjoy.

Nothing beats fresh-from-the -garden corn on the cob. But this is one vegetable that takes up a lot of space for a small harvest.

Picture this - Your guest reaches over and plucks a sprig of mint from a planter to add to their iced tea or Mojito. Nothing beats the fresh-from-the-garden flavor or fun of ingredients right from your own garden.

Get the whole family involved in growing your own healthful holiday treat. And, believe it or not, it can be quick, easy, nutritional and fun.

Many of us are looking for ways to rid our body of toxins, while improving our eating habits. Asparagus is nature’s own detoxifier and one of the most nutritionally balanced vegetables.

Add a bit of fiber to your garden and diet. Consider growing edible soybeans in this year’s garden.

Make homegrown onions part of your diet. Their flavor is guaranteed to add zest to your meals and their health benefits include lowering the risk of many cancers.

Give them a chill and stop the tears. Cooling your onions and cutting into the root end last reduces the tear inducing impact of the onions sulfuric compounds. And consider improving the flavor and fun by growing your own onions from seed.

I have a quiz for you - What is white, red or yellow, can be eaten fresh, fried or even raw and is one of the most important staples of the human diet. If you guessed potato, you are right.

Add a bit of color and nutrition to your meals with home grown sweet potatoes.

Grow a few healthy snacks for you and your family to enjoy. Carrots have the crunch of chips and crackers without the fat and calories.

Nothing beats the flavor of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. And, proper harvesting will insure the best flavor.

It’s time to start reaping the benefits of your spring plantings. So break out the garden fork and get busy harvesting.

Growing your own grapes for jam, jelly, and of course wine can be fun. Get the most flavor and productivity with proper harvesting and a bit of bird protection.

Enjoy your garden’s beauty year round. Harvest and dry a few flowers to use in flower arrangements, craft project or as gifts for friends and family.

Get the best flavor and longest storage life from your homegrown garlic with proper harvesting and curing.

Break out the garden fork and get ready to start harvesting onions and potatoes.

Spice up your cooking with fresh-from-the-garden herbs.

Don’t let going gluten-free get you down. Include some fresh-from-the-garden vegetables to add flavor to your gluten-free meals.

Looking for a last minute gift for mom? Don’t worry there is plenty of time to create the perfect gift she will enjoy all season long.

Heat up your meals and improve your health by adding a few hot peppers to your garden and meal plan.

Change your garden perspective. Include a few tall plants in the landscape and start looking skyward.

Trumpet vines are a favorite plant for attracting hummingbirds to the garden. But lots of leaves and no flowers are a common problem for gardeners. Don’t give up; you can get this vine blooming for you and the hummingbirds to enjoy.

If you’ve grown Walker’s Low catmint – you know it’s not so low. In fact, this heat and drought tolerant perennial grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. If this is a problem, I have an alternative for you.

Put your creativity to work and get your favorite youngster excited about gardening.

Have a bit of fun and stretch your gardening muscles with kitchen scrap gardening.

Get outdoors and enjoy the colors, smells and sounds of fall. And be sure to collect a few colorful leaves along the way.

Get the most flavor and nutritional value from your garden-fresh vegetables with proper harvesting, storage and preparation.

Take advantage of weekends, holidays and school vacations to get the children in your life involved with vegetable gardening.

Save money, recycle, and give a gift that adds beauty to the recipient’s life for seasons to come.

Join the National Gardening Association and celebrate the joys and benefits of gardening this month – National Garden Month.

Add a little zip to your garden and meals by planting herbs.

Make a difference one row of vegetables at a time.

Plant a gift for dad this Father’s Day and give a gift he can enjoy all season.

Double your harvest without increasing your garden space. Try planting short season vegetables like lettuce, radishes and beets between long season vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, okra, cabbage, and broccoli. When the short season veggies are ready to harvest, the longer season larger vegetables will need the space.

Don’t let cold soil and late spring frost delay the start to your garden season.

The soil has finally warmed and it is time to get pumpkins, melons, squash and cucumbers in the ground.

Procrastination is a good thing when it comes to cleaning up your landscape in fall.

Are you like me and always squeeze in that extra tomato plant, another row of beans or that one left over pepper plant? It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now you have more produce than you need.

Try a bit of preventative care in this year’s garden. You’ll increase your landscape’s beauty and productivity with less work on your part.

Don’t drag that Christmas tree to the curb. Give it a second life in your landscape.

Cut trees make great windbreaks in the landscape. Strategically place discarded Christmas trees on the windward side of rhododendron, boxwood and other broadleaf evergreens to reduce problems with winter burn.

Don’t panic if your spring garden lacks the vim and vigor the past. You can improve the health and beauty of your garden without starting over.

Be a part of history and save money when planting next year’s garden. Collect and save the seeds from your favorite heirloom tomatoes this fall.

Be a part of history and save money when planting next year’s garden. Collect and save the seeds from your favorite heirloom tomatoes this fall.

Birds can add color and motion to your landscape year round. Planting shrubs that provide food and shelter is an easy and affordable way to bring birds into your backyard.

Don’t panic if your garden plans are bigger than the available planting space. I have some space saving techniques that can help you get the most out of your landscape.

Be the first in your neighborhood to harvest a red ripe tomato from your garden this summer.

Don’t let the calendar stop you from gardening. There is still time to plant vegetables for you and your family to enjoy.

You can stop the neighbor’s cat from wandering into your garden to harass the songbirds and use your garden for a litter box.

Preserve the flavor and zest of herbs with proper storage and preservation.

Improve your family’s health and support your local park by celebrating Take a Walk in the Park Day.

Fall has many of us scrambling to protect plants from frost, move tropicals indoors or finish harvesting our vegetables. Be sure you collect a few green tomatoes to ripen indoors.

Space challenged gardeners can grow tomatoes in containers. A 3 to 5 gallon pot is perfect for a single tomato plant skirted by a few flowers or herbs. Or try mixing a few tomatoes in with your shrubs and flowers.

You waited all season for that first red ripe tomato only to discover less-than-perfect fruit. But don’t worry, you can still have a great harvest and improve things for next season.

Get your garden off to a winning start by including a few All-America Selections winners in this year’s garden.