Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Layering is a fantastic way to make more free plants with very little risk. Propagating a plant through layering usually involves pinning down a branch to make contact with the soil so that the branch can begin forming roots.  I’ve used layering to propagate more difficult to root plants like oak leaf hydrangeas.   Below you will find a short…

Plant a tree. It’s a simple enough sentiment. They give us shelter, they give us shade and fruit, and they give us life. There are so many reasons why you should plant a tree that the opposing list of why not to plant a tree is very short. In fact some of those reasons are way out there.”I don’t have…

Despite recent events at the White House the security of my greenhouse shed just won’t ever be as good as that of the Secret service. Since it is also a shed and will be housing my lawnmowers, weedeater, various garden tools, hoses, and all the plants I hope to propagate I need something to keep people out. Tools don’t walk…

One of the neatest perennials in our garden is ‘Husker’s Red’ penstemon (Penstemon digitalis).  ‘Husker’s Red’ has reddish foliage that adds color to the garden during the growing season but it also blooms prolifically for several weeks in the spring.  Ours are just now starting to fade so I thought I would take a picture to share with you.  The…

This weekend found me still digging the greenhouse foundation out. Digging out a 10’x16′ area by yourself takes some time, especially when it rains more often than not. But in gardening, as in life, you take what comes and do the best you can with what you have. In three digging sessions I excavated three 4’x8′ areas to eventually remove…

It is inevitable. You will find a weed somewhere in your lawn or in your garden.  As things begin to grow this spring you’ll notice weeds coming up where you don’t want them.  In fact that is the general definition of a weedy plant – a plant that grows where you don’t want it!  Any plant can become weedy but some have…

Nandina domestica is not one of those plants that I like to propagate. It’s a nice enough plant but I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s overplanted in way too many landscapes. Every commercial business around has at least one and when a plant is that common I tend to cringe when I see it. Most of those are…

Hostas are one of my favorite garden plants so it stands to reason that I like to propagate more! The propagation of hostas is done primarily through division which is a very simple process. Like any process there are several methods that will work to propagate and divide hostas. The Best Time to Divide Hostas The best time to divide…

I’ve finally gotten around to one of the chores I’ve been meaning to do for two years! Amazing how that works isn’t it? You intend to do a project in the garden then you get distracted with other projects and it becomes to late to accomplish. Today I finally mulched the west side of the planting bed outside of the…

Late this winter (or early this spring) I was contacted to try out some of John and Bob’s Organic Soil Amendments.  They have a variety of different formulations that contain humus, beneficial minerals, and microbes that help the soil do what it does best – feed the plants!  They sent me several things to test and I fully intended to…

Welcome to my Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day Post for September 2008. On the 15th of each month Carol at May Dreams Gardens encourages her fellow garden bloggers to show what’s blooming in their garden. Please stop by her site to see what else is blooming around the blogosphere!We’ve made it through August and survived with the minuscule amounts of rain…

As you can tell I love gardening.  There’s nothing more satisfying than going out on a nice day to dig in the dirt, transplant plants, pick tomatoes, or propagate plants.  That’s why when our local garden club took on a new project I was excited to offer my help.  I was tempted to volunteer as the coordinator for this effort…

Beans are simply the best vegetable in the garden. I know, all you people out there who hate eating your greens disagree, but really when you compare factors like the ease of growing, pests, and diseases beans really win out.  In many cases beans will just continue to grow when other plants halt in the tracks due to dry weather…

Hello home gardeners, I need your suggestions!  You see a couple years ago my dad helped me build the  Blue Garden Shed.  One of the things I was eager to install was a green roof but I determined that I didn’t have the knowledge or the money at the time to do it correctly. As s substitute one of the…

Lately I’ve been looking back at all the pictures I took over 2009 like in my last post (the picture of rudbeckias.) Soon I’ll be talking about seeds and getting ready in earnest for 2010 gardening but I find that glancing back at the previous year’s pictures helps to guide me when it comes to the seed catalogs. I stumbled…

Since we were gone for a few days one of the first things I did was check the vegetable garden’s progress. Things are shaping up even if it is a bit unkempt. The tomatoes need tied off again. I’m using bamboo stakes and twine to tie off the plants as they grow. I could easily have used store bought tomato…

To say that sweetgum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua) are a favorite tree in the garden is going to be hit or miss with a lot of people. Sweetgum trees are well known for having some amazing fall color (which is why I love them) but also have a very polarizing downside: the seed balls! Sweetgum seed balls drop in the fall…

Several years before we had a house with a little land we had to garden on our back porch. Friends and people I worked with thought we were crazy but it really makes a lot of sense. For small spaces gardening in pots is an excellent way to garden. Many vegetables come in varieties that are perfect for pots due…