OOPS! It looks like the page you were searching for isn’t here. To help you find it type it in the search bar below or check out the categories to see if it changed. Thanks for Visiting Growing The Home Garden!
Maybe One of These Articles from Growing the Home Garden would Interest You?
-
PPPP From Gail
Last year at a meeting of the Tennessee Garden Blogger Society (this does not officially exist but it seemed appropriate!) Gail brought some plant goodies to share. One of which was her Practically Perfect Pink Phlox. It’s now officially made its presence known in our garden. Thanks Gail!
Propagating Beautyberry Through Cuttings
If you’re looking for a plant that provides fall color in the form of berries as well as late season nourishment for the birds than look no further than the beautyberry (Callicarpa). Our beautyberry that we purchased in the spring is turning a deep purple that will last into the winter. While it may never be listed as the birds…
How Long Do Seeds Last? (Seed Viability)
Everything has it’s own time, even seeds. They just don’t last forever! Fortunately though many seeds do last a long period of time and you can use seed from previous years to grow your garden. I’ve had tomato seeds germinate that were over 10 years old. Best of all they produced healthy tasty tomatoes! I’ve had echinacea seed as well…
Training a Crape Myrtle into Tree Form
Recently I came across a crape myrtle on sale and decided to add it to our front garden. It’s a variety called ‘Tuscarora’ that can reach about 15 feet wide and up to 20 feet tall. There are a wide variety of crape myrtle trees available but ‘Tuscarora’ produces beautiful reddish-pink, almost watermelon-colored blooms. It’s very similar to a tree…
Vegetable Family: Solanaceae (The Nightshades)
The other day I wrote about crop rotation, it’s importance, and it’s benefit in the garden so today I thought we’d begin looking at the individual families of vegetables and how they fit into the grand scheme of things. Since it is probably the most popular family, because of one of its members (the tomato), we’ll start discussing the nightshade…
A Few Vegetable Garden Seeds Planted
While this post might be more interesting to me (for record keeping purposes) than anyone else it contains the list of seed varieties I planted on Monday Feb. 15, 2010. They were planted in peat pots and seed starting medium and are currently under lights indoors in a roughly 70 degree environment. Warmer temperatures might hasten the germination process but…
Framed
Through the diamond shaped hanging frames of the Arbor I spied a daylily and a salvia in the front garden. The blooming of the daylilies has begun! Arbor voting is still in progress!
Butterflies and Other Winged Wonders in the Garden
One of the greatest pleasures of the garden is being able to see wildlife. While there are many kinds of wildlife from birds to bunnies and squirrels to deer that are regulars around us, the most common form of wildlife in our garden are the butterflies. Butterflies belong to the Lepidoptera order of insects and are drawn all the nectar…
Garden Designs and Layouts
Here are a few garden layouts, plans, and designs that I have put together for my garden. Some are landscape plans while others are diagrams of my vegetable garden. The herb garden layouts were never actually implemented in my garden as I went with the interplanting approach. Eventually I may incorporate a formal herb garden in our landscape. You are…
Helpful Gardening Hints: Back Saving Wheelbarrow Techniques
If you are like me, you may have never given your wheelbarrow much thought. It really is a gardener’s best friend. This garden companion is with you in all seasons and through all manner of tasks. The poor little guy is taken for granted yet never complains and always does the job. Often it isn’t until the morning after that…
5 Vegetable Garden Things to Do in July
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…
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) on Coneflower (Echinacea)
The other day I wrote about the value of using echinacea in the garden. As it turns out that it’s not only valuable to us as an ornamental or as a pollen plant for beneficial insects but it also can be a host plant for the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis)! This weekend I discovered this mass of tiny black…
Name That Plant: Hosta
There’s no denying it . The most recent Name that Plant was indeed a hosta. This one is a ‘Patriot’ hosta I picked up at the end of the season last year. It was named the Hosta of the Year in 1997. It has some really cool variegated green foliage and little purple flowers that rise up on stalks later…
The Colors are Rolling In! (Fall Color Project 2010)
Welcome to another Fall Color Project Post! The leaves are changing faster as we progress through one of my favorite seasons which means we get to see more fall color from our blogging friends and neighbors! Last Friday an Obsessive Neurotic Gardener (aren’t we all? ;)) put up a post with some beautiful scenery. Could pictures of fall that include…
In Case You Missed It!
My wife told me today that when I post to one of the other offshoots of this blog I need to let people know with a post here! I should listen to my wife more, but don’t tell her that! So what has been updated? For one the Fall Color Project now has several posts on it that will direct…
An Undersung Herb – Sage (Salvia officinalis)
I think I’ve failed to fully express my appreciation for my culinary sage. So let’s fix that! Sage (or Salvia officinalis) is one of those herbs that I use in all kinds of culinary concoctions from soup to seasonings. Almost any kind of meat tastes better with fresh sage. Chicken, meatloaf, turkey, just about everything…it’s almost like the bacon of…
Growing Broccoli in the Garden
Last weekend we went to a family wedding in West TN. While out there we stopped by and visited my wife’s Uncle Joe in Jackson who loves to garden. He has a variety of plants ranging from broccoli, radishes, and spring greens to tomatoes and peppers. Since I don’t grow broccoli in my garden (I like it but my family…
Here’s a Pickle For You
I’m in a bit of a pickle. Sorry if you thought I was handing out pickles with my post title. In this case the pickle refers to a dilemma or situation. It’s not a bad situation by any means. Something I suspected since we moved into our house was confirmed to me yesterday.While outside doing some winter sowing I thought…
