By Tamara Galbraith

1. Try Something New:
Are you a rose freak? An orchid expert? Or maybe you only grow vegetables. At any rate, diversity is a good thing. Take a journey -- however brief -- down another avenue of gardening. Or just try growing a new, cool plant you've never seen before.

2. Learn to Like Spiders (or, at least tolerate them):
Repeat after me..."Spiders are our friends. Spiders are our friends." Don't automatically reach for the Raid or rolled-up newspaper every time you see eight legs and a bunch of eyes staring back at you. Remember, the earth would be overrun with pests like flies, fleas and much more were it not for our fanged friends. If a spider or other relatively harmless bug gets in the house, try carefully catching it in a small container and releasing it outside before instinctively smashing it to bits. Or, if you're like me, allow a few out-of-the-way spiders to hang around. They'll keep your fungus gnat and earwig problems at bay, for sure. (Learn to identify the more harmful brown recluse and black widow spiders, however, and use orange oil on them if spotted.)

3. Don't Beat Yourself Up for Failures:
I guarantee you that even Martha Stewart has accidentally killed plants. Many times, a plant death isn't even the grower's fault - plants, like the rest of us, eventually die. If the plant's demise was your doing, learn from your mistakes and move on.

4. Be Good to Mother Nature:
Wean yourself and your plants off of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Start a compost pile. Plant native and/or waterwise trees, shrubs and perennials. Mulch, and use natural materials when doing so. It's all about building the soil.

5. Give Something Back:
Participate in or start up a community garden in your area. Share your love of gardening with kids and seniors. Got too many zukes? Take them to your local food bank. Gardening is at least twice as much fun when someone else benefits from your labor of love.

• The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned in London, in 1843, by Sir Henry Cole. The illustration was by John Callcott Horsley. President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first official White House card in 1953.

• "Rudolph" was actually created by Robert May for Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's as a holiday promotion. The song was written later by Johnny Marks, and recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 - it promptly sold about 2 million copies.

• Christmas became an official national holiday in the USA on June 26, 1870.

• Poinsettias are the most popular Christmas plant and are the number one 'flowering' potted plant in the United States.

• Franklin Pierce put the first Christmas tree in the White House (in 1856), for a group of Washington Sunday School children. Benjamin Harrison is credited with starting the tradition of the White House tree - he was the first to have a decorated family Christmas tree in the White House in 1889, and Calvin Coolidge put the first National Christmas tree on the White House lawn (not in the White House) in 1923.

• The first reported electrically lit Christmas tree was in December 1882. The world's first practical light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, and a mere three years later, in 1882, an officer of Edison's electric company, one Edward Johnson, electrically lit a Christmas tree for the first time. In 1917, after a tragic fire in New York City that was caused by Christmas candles, Albert Sadacca (fifteen years old at the time) invented safety lights for Christmas trees. Decorating a live Christmas tree outdoors became popular, and eventually moved to indoor trees. The outdoor lights also moved onto houses, and decorating houses in lights became (and remained) popular).

• Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

• In 1979, the National Christmas Tree was not lighted except for the top ornament. This was done because of the American hostages in Iran.

• According to the Guinness World Records, the world's tallest cut Christmas tree was a 221' Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) erected and decorated at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington, USA, in December 1950.

• By the way, NORAD tracks Santa around the world every Christmas. If you'd like to find out how they do it, and how you can follow along, check out NORAD's website here.

By Tamara Galbraith

So, the first major freeze of the season has turned your cannas and bananas into floppy brown messes.

Gardeners in milder climates are lucky; we can leave a lot of our tropicals in the soil year round with just a little bit of above-ground clean up duty. That's where the invaluable machete comes in. But knowing how to use this intimidating tool safely and effectively is very important.

First and foremost, you should ALWAYS swing the tool away from your body, and wear proper eye and body protection.

Jungle expedition experts recommend that you keep your wrist parallel to the cut, and always cut at an angle. The steps for a correct stroke and follow-through are:

(1) As you pull the machete back, let your shoulder come down.
(2) Lead with the elbow.
(3) At the last second, flick or snap your wrist.

For woody saplings and thicker trunks, use a downward chopping motion. For fleshy herbaceous plants, use an upward flick.

Keeping your machete sharp with a whetstone, and sheathed when not in use, will ensure years of quality chopping as you fight through your backyard jungle.

By Tamara Galbraith

Are you a patient gardener? Then leeks, the lazy cousin of the onion, are the veggies for you.

In milder climates, and if you missed planting in the fall, mid- to late-winter is a good time to put in hardy leek transplants. Cold climate gardeners should start their leeks from seed indoors now and wait until early spring to transplant.

After that, be prepared to wait; a good leek takes its time. The toughest varieties can take as long as 125 days to mature. But these cold-tolerant types can also be left in the ground with only a light layer of protection even during frosts and freezes.

Like most root-type crops, leeks prefer deep, loose, well-draining, humus-rich soil. We recommend you use Gardner & Bloome Planting Mix. A common practice is to hill compost around each plant as it grows to help blanch and elongate the stem, and to provide nutrients.

Some cold-hardy varieties to look for include 'Alaska', 'American Flag', 'Arkansas', 'Bleu de Solaise', 'Musselburgh' and 'Winter Giant'.

Harvest your leeks when the stem is about 1-1/2 inches in diameter, and before hot weather sets in. Gently loosen the soil around each plant with a spading fork, then pull. Without a doubt, your springtime soups and stews will be more lovely with the addition of leeks.