Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s not a secret that I’m a fan of plant propagation. Who wouldn’t be? You get free plants! One of the easiest ways to propagate a plant is through a technique called layering. With layering you essentially pin down a branch of a shrub or tree to the soil and encourage it to form roots. The roots usually appear at…

You all know how much I like making new plants, but you should also know that I really like it when plants make it easy for the propagator. Many plants do just that by creating aerial roots that normally will be used to grab onto surfaces and climb. Vining plants (of course) are especially good at this like my Winter…

The Bradford Pear tree (Pyrus calleryana), sure it looks nice but it’s one tree that people should stay away from planting in their yard. At first glance you might wonder “why shouldn’t I plant a Bradford pear tree?” They have a great shape, they grow fast, and they flower profusely in the spring. Unfortunately for the homeowners who plant the…

A few weeks ago I told you about the Greenland Gardener raised bed system. It consisted of several composite boards that could be put together using specially made corners also made from composite lumber. With composite materials you don’t have to worry about the materials breaking down which is a huge advantage over typical lumber. If you read my previous…

Herb Garden Layout I’ve been debating on exactly what kind of herb garden to implement and after making up some rough sketches of various ideas on paper I decided to throw this basic design together. It has a somewhat formal look yet should be relatively easy to maintain. I was considering trying to do a knot herb garden but that…

Yesterday would have been my father’s 68th birthday.  He was a Halloween baby born back in 1943 but since July 6th, 2011 we’ve been without my dad.  I think about him in some way everyday and I definitely don’t need anything to remind me of how much he helped me through life, but to honor my dad in a small…

I don’t have any pictures ready for this post although I did take some. I’m working to prepare my in-laws landscape for my brother-in-law’s wedding in July. Here’s just a quick list of some of the projects we’re working to complete.Weed the various gardens including a patio garden, a front yard sidewalk garden, a shady woodland garden and a raised…

Today I started another segment of my Front Garden remodel. If you recall from my previous posts on this particular garden I wasn’t pleased with the builder’s special hollies and the crabapple I had there. The crabapple was free tree from Arbor Day that I planted in a completely wrong spot. I do that sometimes I get a plant going…

It’s been a long while since I’ve mentioned anything about the goings on in my garden shed world. This should take too long, after all it is February, not much is growing, and it’s a small world afterall! Let’s dig right in and look to see how things have overwintered!Right now I’m using my shed as a holding area to…

Plant propagation sounds like something very complicated.  A lot of gardeners are intimidated by the idea of getting something to root.  It looks challenging but in reality there are a great number of plants that are very easy to propagate.  That’s not to say that a cutting will grow roots each and every time.  In fact I’ve lost many cuttings…

I love the spring time with its flush of new flowers and this spring’s flowers have one of the record books. Among those flowering plants one of the coolest is the Fothergilla major. Fothergilla is a small shrub in the Hamamelidaceae family that gets around 6 to 10 feet tall with a spread up to 5 to 9 ft. It’s…

With all the edible choices of plants to add to your garden blueberries are at the top of most lists.  They taste good, come back every year, and highly nutritious, and aren’t hard to grow if you do the right things for them. What do you need to do to grow a bumper crop of blueberries every year? Here are…

One of the easiest ways to make a new plant is layering. Layering is where you allow the plant to create new roots on a branch while still connected to the mother plant. The advantage to layering is the connection to the mother plant. It continues to feed the offshoot branch allowing it to form the new roots to sustain…

We did our shopping trip at The Home Depot recently in preparation for the construction of our new arbor for the 48 Hour Blog Challenge. Today I thought I’d tell you a few of the materials that are being used. Pressure treated pine lumber of varying dimensions, natural cedar stain, screws, two solar lights, 16″ retaining wall stone, retaining wall…

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…

Maintenance-Free Gardens: Everything You Need to Know A flower garden in full bloom is every gardener’s masterpiece. And like most great masterpieces, each brush stroke is calculated, the color palette chosen in advance, and the overall composition exists in the artist’s mind well before touching brush to canvas, or in this case, trowel to soil. Although we all appreciate the…

I just can’t wait. Pretty soon the tomatoes will be ripening and we’ll be pulling them from the vine as fast as we can. Unfortunately the hard part of gardening is learning patience for we still have to wait. It takes time for things to grow and mature and you have to grow to appreciate the process from seed to…

You’ve probably heard of adding lime to soil.  Farmers and lawn experts recommend it frequently to add to gardens and lawns to help your plants grow, but why? Why should you use lime for your tomatoes? What is Lime? Lime is calcium carbonate.  Which leads us to one easy answer for why it might help tomatoes – to combat blossom…