Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Today I’ll show you a few more pictures of the mums but I also wanted to remind you that today is the last day to enter the $50 Gift Card Contest to Lowe’s!  The folks at Lowe’s Creative Ideas are providing anyone who comments on the mums project posts this week an opportunity to win that $50 gift card.  All…

This post will mostly be a show and tell for my seed starting progress. If you haven’t started your seeds yet you still have time to get them going. Starting from seed is an easy way to save a few dollars in your vegetable garden budget. A pack of tomato seeds might cost you $2-3 and you get 20-30 seeds…

Here’s a quick look at the view from Mt. Juliet, TN where we spent our Christmas Eve. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Obviously if you are reading this post you have discovered the world of garden blogging, but do you know how it can help you in your garden? Do you know how to best utilize garden blogs for your benefit? I have a tip that may give you a few ideas, but first let’s look at what garden blogging is about….

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing for the ‘Woodle Orange’ Heirloom tomato seeds. You WILL enjoy these next year or I’ll give you your money back! (Oh wait you didn’t pay anything – oh well ;)) The winners as randomly selected by Random.org are can be seen below in the picture. Just count down the commenters until you…

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!

Last week I told you about a garden pavilion I’ve been working on and off again in my parents yard. I was working on building the railing to begin enclosing the structure for eventual screening. We completed the rails last Wednesday and here’s how it looks now. The railing pattern: We designed this pattern after a couple images we saw…

They call it winter blooming jasmine, and last year it really was. I suppose that technically this year it still is but with spring fast approaching it’s almost too late to call it winter, almost. The first bloom happened several days ago but more and more blooms are rapidly opening. Its lateness in flowering is probably due to the extremely…

I love surprises in the garden.  Plants that pop up where you least expect them – unfortunately those are usually called “WEEDS.”  Sometimes though we find plants of value that pop up.  Here are a few pictures of some self-sown coleus plants that came up in my front garden this year.  I grow coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) every year but have started…

First before I tell you who won the Jet Blower from Troy-Bilt I wanted to say thank you for entering! Giving stuff away is really one of the more exciting parts of blogging! The Jet is an easy to use leaf blower made by Troy-Bilt. The Jet easily blasts away grass clippings on driveways and leaves making cleaning up after yardwork…

It’s been a few weeks since I last mentioned a notable weed but I can tell you that doesn’t mean the weeds haven’t been growing!  Ragweed and Johnson Grass are coming up in force with the warm weather and so is the weed I’m about to talk about today – pokeweed!  Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a very prolific weed in…

I had an idea a while back that needed a little more refining before I posted on it: A Seed Swap! At first I thought I would just offer a couple types of seed to trade among anyone who follows this blog but then I thought a little bigger. I thought “What if a bunch of garden bloggers hosted their…

On Monday morning I was on WAKM AM radio show Spotlight on Spring Hill again to talk garden talk. Since here in Tennessee we just had a 2 week dry spell I thought some water conservation tips would be helpful to mention on the radio. Here’s a few tips I gave: Water in the Morning If watering is necessary, water…

Let’s be real, foliage is more important than flowers!  Foliage is there 3 out of the four seasons and unless you have some fantastic re-blooming plant that blooms incessantly from spouting to leaf drop you aren’t going to have something interesting all the time – unless you plant with foliage.  Color, leaf texture, leaf shape, and leaf size all make…

The current project I’m working on for Lowe’s Creative Ideas fits into two categories for me: indoor gardening and vertical gardening.  “Migration” was the theme given to us which means we were to bring the garden indoors but the issue with that for me is space.  I bring plants indoors to overwinter each year like coleus or my avocado tree…

Large cocoon on ninebark For several months I’ve been watching this strange cocoon attached to my ninebark.  I was curious what might come from it, and a little apprehensive too, then yesterday I found a second one on a viburnum.  What if it was something that would chow down on my garden?  What if it was some dangerous?  What if…

It probably seems early and with scattered snow it certain feels early but it’s never too early to start thinking about the vegetable garden! Store bought vegetables just don’t thrill me the way the fresh garden picked varieties do. It makes sense when you consider that garden grown vegetables don’t have to be picked days before use just to be…

Since I’ve been doing posts on trees this past week for Arbor Day (April 25th) I thought I would take a second to talk about one threat to your trees, tent caterpillars (Malacosoma americanum). They are quite common in Tennessee and many other areas of the country. Watch out for these little caterpillars on your hardwood trees. Once they form…