Food Ideas, Tips & Guides

Seeing hummingbirds delight at backyard feeders is one of the many joys of birders across the South, but making sure they are kept happy–and staying at your feeder–can be an overwhelming thought.

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Let's be honest: staying on top of cleaning and organizing every room in your home can get overwhelming—and before you know it, piles of junk on countertops and crammed-full kitchen cabinets can feel unmanageable.

Do you have childhood memories of catching lizards in the backyard? Maybe you or your kids kept a few as temporary pets.

Including carbohydrates or carbs in meals can be confusing. What foods contain carbs? Which carbs are good for me? Which ones should I avoid?

You've likely heard that burying banana peels in your garden is a good way to add important nutrients to the soil to grow healthy plants. Banana peels do contain nutrients, but not as many as you may think. Plus, it's not as simple as placing them in the soil and skipping fertilizer or compost.

When the air gets cooler and you are finding you need an extra sweater more than not, it can be easy to want to prune all of your plants and flowers to get ready for the upcoming season.

A vase full of fresh, bright blooms is all you need to dazzle anyone visiting your home. These can liven up the dullest spaces in a heartbeat but cost a pretty penny at the florist. So it’s natural that you want them to stay glorious and live as long as possible! While you can’t make them last forever, here is how to keep cut flowers fresh longer.

The days are getting shorter and temperatures are dropping—which means the end of summer is in sight. As vacations come to a close and kids head back to school, it’s helpful to get prepared for this season of transition. One way to do so? A good, deep clean.

If you've heard the term «pizza pot pie» as of late, it's because the internet can't get enough of the (deep) dish.

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Nothing spoils “blissfully lost in the garden” feels like rodents! Be it your fresh lettuce, juicy strawberries, or even cardboard boxes and electrical wires—rats spare none! They are easily the scourge of all your prized garden staples, but we show you how to keep a rat-free garden without hurting them as much as possible!

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Most ground-nesting wasps aresolitary and mind their own business as they pollinate plants and prey on unwelcome garden pests, such as caterpillars. But social wasps, which live in a colony with a queen, can become a problem when their nests are situated to close to your living areas.

If you’ve ever had an ant problem at home, you know how irritating it can be. They’re incredibly stubborn little pests and, unfortunately, it can be challenging to figure out which home hacks actually work. One non-toxic solution people often suggest is using coffee grounds to kill these little visitors—but does it work?

Gone are the carefree days of summer. School is officially back in session! Simple habits like creating a daily routine, prioritizing healthy eating and supporting their mental wellbeing can help your child succeed this school year.

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Ladybugs, or lady beetles, are insects in the beetle family. There are about 5,000 species of these tiny insects, and most of them are quite helpful. Although best known as a red insect with black spots, ladybugs come in a variety of colors, and some have stripes or no markings at all.

The glossy mahogany-brown nuts of the horse chestnut or conker tree, are commonly known as conkers, after the game played with them by generations of children. However, unlike the nuts of the similarly named but unrelated sweet chestnut tree, conkers aren’t edible to humans unless cooked. However they are widely used for crafts such as model-making as well as games.

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Native plants, as the name indicates, grow naturally in an area or region. There is a growing shift among many people away from a manicured garden with non-local species in support of more natural areas, and especially, for embracing native plants.

Kim Cornelison

If you have a large load of laundry you've been procrastinating on, I get it and let's be honest: we've all been there. But before you jump in, you may not realize some items that you should actually wash with cold water instead of hot water.

Outdoor spiders are hard at work, devouring home and garden pests such as ants, flies, mosquitoes, aphids, and thrips. It’s estimated they kill 400 to 800 million metric tons of prey worldwide annually.“They’re generalist feeders,” says Angela Chuang, a postdoctoral research associate at the Citrus Research and Education Center at the University of Florida. “If they can capture it and it’s small enough for them to handle safely, they’ll eat it.”

Join us this summer as we explore some of the UK’s best 2-for-1 Gardens to visit in August, for fun days out with all the family. Whether it’s an adventure playground or woodland trail for the kids, or a rose garden or restored Elizabethan garden for the horticulturalists, there is plenty to enjoy at these gardens. Visit using your 2-for-1 Gardens card to save money on your trips to all these wonderful gardens.

It might seem like a no-brainer what you can pour down a drain, but not every liquid or viscous substance is suitable for household plumbing for a variety of reasons. Some can congeal in and clog up drains while others can damage the pipes, resulting in costly plumbing repairs and replacements.

If you have a fully operational garbage disposal in your kitchen sink, you’re likely in one of two groups. The first is comprised of conscientious individuals who know exactly what they should and should not toss down to prevent those blades from grinding to a halt.

I think it’s time we have a talk about cilantro. This popular herb is quite possibly the most misunderstood crop in the vegetable garden. If you’ve ever said something akin to: “I can’t grow cilantro. Whenever I try, it bolts right away!”, you’re not alone. Many people have a hard time growing cilantro and some have given up entirely. But all is not lost. With a little bit of planning, it’s possible to harvest perfect cilantro from the garden virtually any time of year. 

Kelsey Hansen

Pot-grown plants are like caged animals; being confined, they can’t ‘forage’ so they rely totally on us for food. Most compost only supplies ‘starter’ nutrients that are soon used up, so begin feeding plants growing in pots six weeks after potting or repotting.

Found everywhere on earth, this elegant flower is one of the most coveted houseplants for beauty. But how do you get started with orchids? Producing some of the tiniest seeds ever, that too mostly dormant, growing orchid seedlings is no walk in the park!

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Every year, Better Homes & Gardens celebrates the doers, dreamers, designers, and creators making their mark in the home, garden, and food space. This year, we were especially inspired by the next generation of influencers: The fresh faces delighting our feeds with innovative ideas and fresh, new content.

Every year, Better Homes & Gardens celebrates innovators, influencers, and creators who offer inspiration and joy in the realms of food, home, garden, and lifestyle. They're called Stylemakers. Some are household names, and others are everyday people making a difference in their corner of the world, but they're all some of our favorite creative thinkers, dreamers, and doers. Here you'll learn a bit about each 2024 Stylemaker plus their current projects and passions.