Gardening made easy, life made simpler.

Straight up advice and creative ideas from a plant lover who’s grown hundreds of varieties of vegetables and thousands of pounds of food in her backyard—from the city to the country.

Seasonal Tips

Fall Gardening

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I’ll teach you how to keep your plants alive, maximize your garden bounty, and preserve the harvest. We’re in it together. 🙌

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What People Are Loving

It’s nice to meet you.

Do you love the simple life as much as I do?

You know, a life where good friends, great food, and playing in the dirt are the keys to happiness. A life where the beauty and pleasure of growing something yourself is the thing that fills your cup, daily.

Hi, I’m Linda. I’m all about that too. And my passion is getting people just like us outside, every day, to feel the thrill of self-sufficiency—even if they live in the city—and experience all the wild things that life has to offer.

This is my story
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    • Fundamentals

    Online Tools

    The most recent 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

    Hardiness Zone Lookup Tool

    Closeup of green cabbage with frost on its leaves

    Frost Date Lookup Tool

    Newly germinated pepper seedlings in a black seed starting tray

    Interactive Seed Starting and Planting Calendar

    Man in a straw hat moving topsoil into a raised garden bed with a skid steer

    Perfect Raised Bed Soil Recipe

    A landscaping truck dumping a load of soil in a yard

    Soil and Mulch Calculator

    Black watering can watering a terra cotta container garden full of leafy greens

    Plant Watering Calculator

    Fewer weeds. Fewer pests. No digging.

    Grow more food with less work.

    Lazy Gardening Academy is the culmination of over 15 years of tried, true, and improved “lazy gardening” techniques that help you maximize your garden with a minimum of effort.

    Ready to get more out of your garden this year?

    I’ll show you how

    Look inside

    My Cookbooks

    The National Parks Cookbook

    The No-Waste Vegetable Cookbook

    The Backyard Fire Cookbook

    The New Camp Cookbook

    Preorder now.

    My newest book drops October 28!

    The Route 66 Cookbook explores the places, people, and food of America’s most iconic highway. Here’s a sneak peek inside.

    Preorder now from

    Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BAM! | Bookshop | Indigo | Target

    Overheard

    “Linda Ly has crafted a culinary journey that is about more than stereotypical diners and classic roadside fare.”

    The Route 66 Cookbook by Linda Ly

    Dig in

    New On The Blog

    See More

    Get those hard hats on.

    We’re building our family’s first home from the ground up!

    Follow along as Garden Betty Builds a House and see how we’re planning, designing, and constructing our dream home and dream garden in Central Oregon.

    Praise for Garden Betty

    Letters From Readers

    • I LOVE your blog. I’m sure you hear that all the time. I haven’t gotten around to all of it yet… well, to be honest, I just found it this morning under my search for help with “plants from the supermarket.” I was then led to leggy seedlings, where I was joined by an adorable mason bee hatchling in the corner of my window! (I love the “pop up” videos!) I’m quite a fast reader, and there was so much to learn! Leaving the “blooming” insect, I discovered how to make my own soil mix AND pots (SO COOL!) and it went from there. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself immensely and so much so that I felt inspired to reach out to you.

      I am happy and awed to know that you do all the writing on this amazing site and again it truly inspired me, motivated me and is a prime example of what a great piece of LIFE WORK looks like! The extent of your teachings were not something I came looking for, but you may have upended my life as we know it! You have truly enlightened me in a myriad of ways.
      —Autumn
    • I’ve written a couple of emails to you before, but never sent them… I really do want to thank you for creating Garden Betty! I found it a couple of months ago, at the perfect time in my life. You’ve taught me a lot about gardening and life lessons which I never expected (that you probably didn’t realize were embedded in your blog).

      For me, reading it was so much more than a bunch of gardening tips. It sounds strange, but it altered my life by 1 degree. I had a medical issue and Garden Betty kept me entertained and distracted when I needed it most. I certainly respect and appreciate all the years you’ve spent developing it.

      For this, I thank you Linda! Your blog really is better than you think! And, you’ve convinced me to actually start growing tomatoes and herbs (both indoors and outside) for the first time this year, after procrastinating for 20 years. I check back every week or two and still learn interesting things from you.
      —Jeff
    • Firstly, I would like to thank you for helping me to create a garden that is thriving. Your website is great!!! I focused on several pages of your blog for inspiration.

      This year I grew all my own seedlings and I had enough to give to several friends. This is the first time I used grow bags and the garden is thriving. My hubs cannot eat all the tomatoes we have. That’s a first!

      The grow bags can be turned to follow the sun and that is a great benefit. I have two tomato plants in the fancy Burpee self-watering pots, but they look lousy next to the ones in the grow bags. Grateful in Pittsburgh!
      —Barbara
    • I found your site looking for a recipe, and talk about “going down a rabbit hole!!!”

      I am 65 and my 4 kids are out of the house obviously. Now it is just me and my dogs but I have to tell you that I am absolutely TOTALLY, COMPLETELY, TREMENDOUSLY impressed with you, your family and your website. I don’t know that I have ever met anyone with as much energy as you!

      As a parent I am proud of your philosophy, your genuine care for the planet and equally, your writing. I have no doubt that you are an amazing partner and parent, you kind of blow my mind. You are so thorough, detailed and kind in your explanations for us “novices” and so tolerant of those of us who come to your page at so many different levels. Very appreciated.
      —Shannon
    • I’m sure you get many, many emails a day and can’t read them all. But I thought I would reach out to you just to thank you for your radish knowledge. When I was researching radishes this evening, you came up on the Google page and I clicked on the link.

      I learned all about my little one lonely radish plant that has been growing like a weed and growing a pod. (I want you to know that because I learned it from you—that it was a pod that was growing on it!)

      Anyway, you write very well and kept me interested in everything you wrote. I even went on to read about how you started and what you’ve accomplished since you started. Thank you for the interesting reading, I feel very motivated now!
      —Elisa

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