Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Do you want an easy to grow shrub that has very few pest problems, isn’t munched on by deer or rabbits, and looks great at the end of summer? No it’s not impossible, think caryopteris! Caryopteris (Caryopteris x clandonensis also called blue mist shrub, bluebeard, or blue mist spirea) is deer and rabbit resistant if not proof, blooms in the…

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…

Over the last two months life has thrown many curveballs that have beaned the batter on numerous occasions. You would think that I’d be making some runs here or there but unfortunately I seem to be getting out at third every time. What does this baseball analogy have to do with anything? Well sometimes we get taken away from what…

First of all let me apologize, I intended to announce the winner of the grill yesterday however I was out battening down the hatches in preparation for storms of epic proportions.  Fortunately the storms did not manifest to the extent our local forecasters predicted.  That is just fine by me! Our thoughts and prayers are with those in Arkansas and…

I’ve been so busy that I’ve neglected the blog for a few days.  I even had to miss posting the Friday Fives last Friday in order to get everything done!  Fortunately the weekend rains and Mother’s Day gave me a bit of a break to catch my breath but I still feel like I have a to do list a…

This July has been very strange for us here in Tennessee.  We ended June with intense heat and dryness which continued into July then the weather changed.  Rains came back and with them came the hope of producing a quality crop from the vegetable garden.  To achieve the best results from the vegetable garden there are a few things that…

I have a goal in mind for my vegetable garden this year.  I have a similar goal every year but this year I think it’s especially important.  I want to make our garden into our grocery store.  I’m being realistic with this and in no way think I can completely eliminate the grocery store trips but I would really like…

Here is the second of the two hand drawn sketches of my winter garden layout. The first one was symmetrical. This layout uses mostly the same plants just puts them in different places. One addition to this plan is a miscanthus that I originally planted in the Japanese Maple garden. It was only placed there temporarily until a better spot…

My daughter and I recently did a little project. We took materials that were lying around the house and put together a mini-seed starting greenhouse. It was a simple and easy project to work on with my 3 and a half year old daughter. Read on to see what we did.Materials: Paper roll tubes, a rectangular tin foil pan, a…

Winter is one of those times when many gardeners wish they could be growing fresh herbs or produce but the weather just doesn’t cooperate.  What is a determined gardener to do then?  Build something!  I decided to put together an indoor grow box/planter with a grow light to grow some plants while the weather outside is unsuitable.  I used cedar…

I don’t think it would be false to say that Japanese maples are one of the most popular plants in the landscape today. With all the interesting leaf shapes and colors it’s easy to see why people like them. I consider myself a fan of Japanese maples and have two young trees in our gardens (one near the side garden…

Anyone else ready for spring yet? Have a look at some dianthus, it may help to sustain you until spring! Or it might just make things worse…It’s supposed to be 29 here today for the high. I think I’m ready for spring!

Pretty soon we’ll be relocating to our new home. Our family is very excited about this but it also means starting the garden all over again. Everything including raised beds, sheds, and arbors will have to be rebuilt. While this is a tremendous amount of work I think it’s a great opportunity to start again and redevelop our garden with…

I’m sure you’ve heard about Pinterest by now.  If you’re like me you may have thought “that’s just another online time waster.” Or if you’re a guy maybe you thought “that’s just for women!” Well I’ll admit it, those were my first thoughts.  Then I began to see people using it and sharing things from it on Facebook or Twitter….

Last night I had a crazy thought “why not take a few last minute cuttings before the cold weather moves in for good?” The cuttings would need warmth to root and survive, so keeping them outside was not an option at this time of the year. I found a decorative pot that my wife bought a few years ago at…

I put another short shed update on the garden shed page yesterday. It’s short but if you’re interested in seeing what’s coming next for it feel free to take a look!

From my rock haul the other day I managed to finish edging a couple locations in our yard and get a pretty good start on some others. I love using the rocks for my garden borders. Rocks look natural (because they are), they define the garden beds (because they create an edge), and the weed wacker can be used right…

It’s about time I positively identify the Name that Plant. It was a ‘Duke’ Blueberry bush. Our eldest daughter loves blueberries and while I’ll eat them occasionally they were planted for her. I planted two this spring and while we are hopeful that this Northern Highbush blueberry will bear fruit we may have to be patient and expect it next…