The Garden
Honest note: no ads, no Amazon affiliate. Affiliate and referral links are always marked. Full disclosure.
I grow a lot of what ends up on this blog, and the getting-there is half the joy. This is the gear that actually earns its keep across a season: the trays I start seeds in, the timers and tubing that keep everything alive when it’s 95°F, and the bird feeders that survive both the squirrels and the Georgia weather.
Seed starting — Epic Gardening trays
Epic Gardening is a cornerstone of how I garden, and I’ve followed them since it was one guy filming in his front yard, so watching them grow into this has been a genuine thrill. Their seed-starting trays are the ones I use: the 6-cell and 4-cell propagation trays that sit in a 1020 bottom tray. Here’s why they last: at the end of every season I hose the dirt off, and at the start of every season I run them through the dishwasher to sterilize them for new babies. Mine are five years old and still like new. Buy good trays once instead of flimsy ones every spring.
Where to buy:
Epic 6-cell trays · Epic 4-cell trays · 1020 universal bottom tray
Heat mats — Epic Gardening
My seed starting lives in the Barn, which has no insulation and no heat, and January in the Barn is genuinely cold. Heat mats aren’t optional in a setup like that; they’re the difference between germination and a tray of disappointment. If you start seeds anywhere unheated, get one.
Where to buy: Epic Gardening seed-starting heat mat
Grow lights — cheap shop lights (Amazon honesty)
You do not need fancy “grow lights.” Full honesty: I use plain, cheap LED shop lights, and my seedlings have never known the difference. This is a plain Amazon link because that’s where the cheap ones are and I’m not going to pretend otherwise.
Where to buy: LED shop lights on Amazon (plain link, earns me nothing)
Seeds — Burpee, Johnny’s, Outside Pride
My three go-to seed sources. Johnny’s is the one I’ll point out is 100% employee-owned, which I love; Burpee is the reliable classic; and Outside Pride is where I go for the more unusual stuff (especially flowers and cover crops).
Where to buy: Johnny’s Selected Seeds (employee-owned) · Burpee · Outside Pride
NOTE: Why you won’t see Baker Creek here. I’ll be straight with you: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Rare Seeds) puts out a gorgeous catalog and genuinely stocks rare heirlooms you can’t find anywhere else, and I understand the pull. I don’t buy from them, though, and since this page is about who I’m glad to send you to, I’d rather tell you why than stay quiet. In 2019 they booked Cliven Bundy (a man on record suggesting Black Americans might be “better off” under slavery) to headline their spring festival, and only uninvited him after public outcry. That, plus ongoing criticism of how their marketing has handled race and of heirloom varieties with Indigenous roots being sold without credit, sits wrong with me for a blog built on food justice and giving credit where it’s due. Reach your own conclusion; I’ve reached mine. When I want the unusual, story-rich varieties folks go to Baker Creek for, I go to Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Southeast-adapted heirlooms; they actively steward and credit African American and Indigenous seeds) or Truelove Seeds (culturally rooted varieties that pay the small farmers who grow them).
Where to buy instead: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange · Truelove Seeds
Watering Timers — Orbit B-hyve
The system that runs my watering. The trick with B-hyve: you buy the hub once, and after that you can keep adding more B-hyve timers that all connect to it, so you’re not re-buying a hub every time you expand. I run a 4-outlet timer in the back and a 2-outlet in the front
Where to buy:
Orbit B-hyve system overview · 4-outlet (back): with hub · without hub (orbit-24634) ·v2-outlet (front)
Drip irrigation — Dripworks
All my irrigation tubing comes from Dripworks. The setup: 1/2″ line for the mains, then 1/4″ lines off of those running to the beds and containers. Dripworks has the tubing, the fittings, and the drippers/emitters, and their stuff actually fits together, which is more than I can say for cobbling it together from a big-box store.
Where to buy: Tubing · Fittings · Drippers & emitters
Ideas & the occasional splurge — Gardener’s Supply
I always check Gardener’s Supply when I want something. Full honesty: they can be pricey, but they run good sales, and just as often I’ve gotten a great idea from their site for something I then went and built myself. (They’re also employee-owned, which is a nice bonus.) Worth browsing even when you don’t buy.
Where to buy: Gardener’s Supply Company (employee-owned)
Hand tools — pruners, a hori-hori, and gloves I like too much
The stuff that actually goes in the dirt with me.
Pruners (Fiskars). All my pruners are Fiskars, picked up at Home Depot, and they’ve never let me down. I run a bypass-and-lopper combo for the big jobs, but the real workhorse is the little 6″ titanium Micro-Tip pair. I own three sets on purpose, one for the garden, one for the kitchen, one for the office, because once you’ve harvested herbs with a sharp micro-tip you’ll never go back to a knife or your fingers.
Hori-hori knife (Barebones). If you only add one new garden tool, make it a hori-hori. It’s a digging knife, a trowel, a weeder, a twine-cutter, and a root-slicer all in one, and once it’s on your hip you reach for it constantly. Mine’s the Barebones Classic (a Bob Vila pick, and it earns it).
Gloves. Full confession: I am a sucker for a pretty floral pair, and I’ve got several I’ve grabbed at Home Depot and Walmart. Mine are thorn-resistant, which matters if you grow roses or wrangle anything with a temper, but honestly, buy the ones that make you happy to put them on. It’s not a lifetime-tool category for me; it’s a small joy.
Where to buy:
Pruners: Fiskars bypass + lopper combo · Fiskars 6″ titanium Micro-Tip shears (the workhorse)
Hori-hori: Barebones Hori-Hori Classic
Gloves: floral thorn-resistant gloves at Walmart · or whatever pretty pair catches your eye at Home Depot
The little touches — plant markers & a garden sign
Not essential, purely a pleasure, and both from Real Steel Center (laser-cut steel that holds up outdoors). I mark my rows with their steel seed/plant markers, and the entrance to my garden wears a dragonfly monogram sign that says “Kara’s Garden.” Does the garden grow better because of it? No. Does it make me happy every time I walk in? Absolutely.
Where to buy: Real Steel Center plant markers · dragonfly monogram sign
Frost Cloth & Shade Cloth — whatever’s on sale
When a late frost threatens the seedlings, frost cloth (row cover) buys you a few critical degrees. I’m not brand-loyal here at all: I buy whatever’s on sale at Home Depot when I need it. It’s a commodity; don’t overthink it.
Where to buy: frost cloth / plant covers at Home Depot
Bird Feeders — Droll Yankees
If you’re going to feed birds, Droll Yankees is the source. Yes, they’re expensive. Yes, they’re worth it. They survive the Georgia weather, and when they say squirrel-proof, they mean it. My favorite is the Classic Sunflower feeder with Ring Pull Advantage (A-6RP), a $65 feeder and worth every dollar: the ports are stainless steel, so a squirrel can’t chew its way into the plastic and destroy it, and they’re too small for a squirrel to yank the seed out. You can add cardinal rings to it, too. (I bought mine at Pike’s, but good news, it’s on their own site.)
Where to buy: Droll Yankees A-6RP, direct · Duncraft or The Audubon Shop (birding specialists) · Droll Yankees, all feeders
Bird food & a basic feeder — from Chewy
A trick worth knowing: hot-pepper bird food. Squirrels won’t touch the hot stuff; the birds genuinely do not care. Paired with a basic nugget feeder, it keeps the squirrels off the seed. (I’ve also got a couple of decorative feeders, little lighthouses with bronze roofs, from an arts-and-crafts festival years ago.) For plain seed, I just grab it at Costco, Walmart, or whatever garden store I’m standing in.
Where to buy: C&S Hot Pepper Nuggets (on Chewy) · C&S Wild Bird Nugget Feeder (on Chewy)