Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

This afternoon my daughter and I were out in the garden doing a few tasks that needed tackled: we planted potatoes and filled in a raised bed with soil. We brought a bucket of water with us and stuck newspapers in the wet water before laying them over the grass clippings in the raised bed (you can see a picture…

As I mentioned earlier in the week I prepared a handout for my presentation at the Spring Hill Garden Club. It’s has some basic information on rooting cuttings. You are welcome to download it and use it for your personal use at home. It’s in a PDF file so you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read it. I hope…

Here’s just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! It’s good to have a day to reflect on what you appreciate. Don’t over stuff on the turkey today! It’s usually the side dishes that get me!

Our garden sits precariously between zone 6b and 7.  We’re in a very borderline area with multiple micro-climates within the 1.3 acres of land we have around us.  We’re far enough into the warm season now that the frosts should not happen again until fall, but then we thought we were done with frosts over a month ago! This weekend…

I picked up this sassafras leaf in our backyard. I was struck by its interesting coloration, red on the outside edges and orange around the main veins of the leaf. We have sassafras trees everywhere around in our yard so their leaves are easily found. They have a very strong lemon scent that can be smelled when you crush the…

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!

Another day is done for the greenhouse-shed project and a little bit more has been accomplished. It’s moving along at a good pace; not too fast or hurried but careful and methodical. Yesterday we finished setting the posts and today we ended construction by putting up most of the framing for the first large picture window.Before the window framing we…

It is full fledged spring around our Middle Tennessee garden.  There is no shortage of work that needs to be done in the form of weeding and mulching on top of a myriad of miscellaneous projects.  For now though let’s just take a few pictures of the garden and we’ll think of that monster spring to-do list a little later….

The other day I took this photo of a pot my mom put together of pansies and violas. I’m not much of a potted plant person so most of my plants go in the ground but I thought this easy to put together arrangement of annuals was perfect. The larger pansies went in the center and were planted around with…

Have you ever wondered “How in the world do I keep the squirrels from emptying out our birdfeeders?” It’s a common problem that so many of us have while trying to feed our fine feathered friends. We spend all kinds of money adding seed to the feeders to feed the birds only to have it thrown all around on the…

It’s kind of an odd subject to bring up during spring but propagating mums for profit takes time. Spring is when you have to get started for fall mum sales. For the purposes of this article we are talking about the common chrysanthemum you find in stores everywhere during the fall. Also for this discussion it is important to note…

This week we began a series of posts on edible landscaping.  Below you will find several articles to get started on creating a productive and beautiful edible landcape.  There are many more articles to come in this series so please check back or bookmark this post for updates! How to Begin a Plan Create a “To Grow” list, identify a…

Each year I try to expand the vegetable garden a little bit more. The first year in our home I didn’t have time to put together a garden before the growing season started and we missed out on any vegetable garden. The “L” Shaped Raised Beds: The second year I put together a set of raised beds that were arranged…

Usually when I buy plants for the garden I buy smaller 1 gallon pots and wait (sometimes for years) for the trees grow up. But occasionally, I want something that has a more immediate impact. I recently splurged $200 on a 7 foot tall ‘Sango Kaku’ Japanese Maple (also known as the Coral Bark Maple). Here’s why I think this…

It’s time for the SeedGROW project of 2011!  Last year Mr. BrownThumb and Renee’s Seeds sponsored the first SeedGROW project where Renee sent seeds to volunteer bloggers to document the seed growing experience. Nasturtiums were the seeds selected for last year and this year has a couple more garden favorites including lettuce, basil, and marigolds. In preparation for the SeedGROW…

Here’s just a quick update on the greenhouse-shed project. More work will ensue later in the week but several time consuming things have been done. The roof windows on the south-western side are somewhat framed, the plywood is attached and the shingles are up. The roof is one of the more shed-like aspects of this project. Since the south western…

Scenes from nature often can offer inspiration and ideas for people to imitate. Here are some of nature’s water features.

This plant of the week resembling a swooping bird is known as Trillium grandiflorum! Trillium is a member of a group of plants called the ephemerals. And no, it is not some sort of new rock band, but a group of flowers that appear in late winter and go through a two month cycle. They flower, seed, and die back…