Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

My daughters from 2009 – Ages 2 and 4 My kids are kind of strange.  Of course I know what you’re thinking, all kids are a little weird.  They have their quirks, their unique traits that will eventually turn them in to unique adults. That’s not the kind of weird I’m talking about.  While visiting family over the Christmas season…

Rosemary is an herb we use frequently in our cooking, at least when we have it around. In years past I’ve been able to walk out the front door and cut a few sprigs off the large rosemary bushes in front of our steps. I love how easy rosemary is to propagate. In fact rosemary is so easy to root…

Without this world of blogging there are so many places I would never have seen or even known about. Thanks to VP at Veg Plotting I’ve just learned of one more place that if I’m ever in England I would have to visit. Go read about VP’s trip to the Westonbirt Arboretum and view some of the photos she took. …

I have to ask do deer use pruners? I was walking in my yard transplanting a willow and went over to one of the free maples I planted.And to what did my wondering eyes appear?A slice off the tip of my maple by a deer!Perfectly sheered as if the deer carried a set of bypass pruners in its pockets! I…

From afar the garden doesn’t look too bad and fairly typical of a garden in December. Dead branches, bare bushes, and fading perennials are all common this time of year. But there is something in these garden areas that I’m disappointed in and it’s my fault…weeds! The winter weeds are creeping into every garden all because of my lack of…

A spiral vegetable garden planted with lettuce and greens is a very interesting way to grow vegetables or herbs. It has obvious design appeal with its circular form yet is fundamentally a raised bed. I can see where a spiral garden might make an interesting centerpiece for a parterre garden layout. We saw this spiral at the Nashville Lawn and…

Another second of the month has arrived and it’s time for an update on my seeds for the 2011 GROW project! Here’s the Italian Cameo Basil – I have it planted in a container but I suspect the soil mix is too heavy for the basil. Its growth has been fairly limited over the last month and I may need…

It’s already time for another look at what’s blooming in my garden for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. It’s mid-October and the trees are just beginning to turn but there are still plenty of blooms to see. And if you’re interested in showing off your fall foliage colors then please participate in the Garden Blogger Fall Color Project!Here’s what blooming in…

Over the course of the years gardeners learn many things through experimenting, reading, and talking to other gardeners. There are many different ideas and concepts to use in your garden and eventually you develop a little niche. Dictionary.com defines an ecological niche as ” the position or function of an organism in a community of plants and animals.” Your gardening…

Spring is coming. Really.Signs of the coming gardening season are beginning to appear all over from the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths beginning to emerge to the swelling buds on the trees. Very soon warmer weather will begin again and we will be fully emersed in the garden once again. In anticipation of the coming gardening season I thought I’d give…

A couple weeks ago a representative for DuPont contacted me and asked me to review one of their products. It was a weed control fabric (DuPont Garden O.N.E® Biodegradable Weed Control Fabric). I was skeptical about it at first (since weed control fabrics and myself don’t usually get along) but I said go ahead and send it and I’d take…

The greening of the willows! It’s just more evidence that we’ve left winter behind and are heading full speed into spring. The leaves on the ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ dappled willows are emerging. And so are the catkins! The catkins are the reproductive mechanism of many plants like willows and birches.  Willows are dioecious and have separate male and female plants. If…

Gardeners experience many challenges when starting gardens. One frequent challenge is usually how to get good germination in your seeds. Achieving good seed germination isn’t a difficult task if you consider one very important aspect of growing seeds: moisture. The secret to good seed germination any garden is to keep the moisture levels consistent. Once a seedling is planted the…

The world is full of creative ideas and this ancient method of watering plants is a very cool one.  An olla is a clay pot that is buried in the soil near plants.  The non-glazed clay pot has a watering hole in the top that allows the gardener to fill it with water when needed.  When the soil is dry…

…spring is here!  Spring is happening all over the place.  The trees are blooming, the bulbs are coming up all over, and of course the weeds are growing too! Daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and other flowers are well on their way to a beautiful spring.  Here’s a little of what we get to see in our garden:…

Yesterday our family visited the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. It’s put on each year at the Nashville Fairgrounds and has a ton of garden vendors and lectures for gardeners. The vendors at the show were selling unique plants (like succulents, hellebores, and confiers), garden equipment (mowers, pruners, hoses, foods and spices, soaps, and home improvement products. We visit the…

Since it’s been raining and not much can be done outside, I’ll share a few pictures I took a couple weeks ago at my in-laws house. If you remember I did some wildflower hunting (Yellow Corydalis, False Garlic, Sedum puchellum) while we were there. Today I’ll show you the more cultivated side of their yard.Here are a couple blossoms off…

This weekend I worked on two garden projects. One took a a good deal of time to complete while the other only took about an hour and a half. The big project was a plant holding bin to hold my propagated plants that aren’t ready for in the ground planting yet. Fortunately I was the recipient of some old deck…