Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Dogwood leaves turning a deep red for fall in Tennessee! Last year when we bought our land I knew there would be challenges. There always are when building a home. I’ve helped a number of people over the last several years get homes built and I’ve seen all sorts of issues from the construction side of…

This week I actually found myself outdoors sowing seeds directly into the soil of my garden. Thanks to wonderful Tennessee weather, where you can count on a few days of warm even in February, we’re able to plant a few cool season crops this month. So far in the vegetable garden I’ve planted: Lettuce – two varieties Little Gem, and…

Fall colors are certainly on their way. Here in Tennessee the trees are beginning the process but many people are worried that the colors will not be what they could be without the rain. Whatever the case we will be happy with whatever colors we do have and will enjoy watching all the colors around the continent as the color…

Disclaimer: The following post is a sponsored review of the Troy-Bilt 3100 PSI Pressure Washer. All opinions are solely the opinion of the author who in exchange for goods and compensation was asked to do this review. There comes a time in the home garden when the house needs some work too. The house is (usually) the biggest structure in…

While searching for a picture to confirm the identity of my mysterious sedum I found a great wildflower website written by another Tennessean! It’s called East Tennessee Wildflowers. The site is full of pictures and information and even has lesson plans for teachers who want to add a wildflower element to their classrooms. Kris, the author and photographer, is a…

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…

It that transitional time of the growing season where the spring weeds are coming to an end and the warm season weeds are beginning to arrive.  This time of year is also when many of our warm season crops and plants are coming up too.  Sometimes it isn’t easy to distinguish between a weed and a seedlings planted from seed…

Lately I’ve been thinking about my fall vegetable planting and since the time is upon us I thought I would put together a fall vegetable garden layout of how I might plant one of my 4’x8′ raised beds. While this vegetable garden design is not necessarily drawn to scale with regard to the number of plants possible it should show…

This week marks the last week of voting on the Better Homes & Gardens and The Home Depot 48 Hour Challenge. It’s been a fun project from beginning to end and while it officially may end, the arbor has brought all kinds of new ideas for that area of our yard. I thought with this last post for the Challenge…

It’s been a busy weekend. We’ve been out of town since Friday visiting the in-laws house. I spent much of the weekend working on their landscape trying to get some things ready for the wedding in July. My task has been to spruce up various areas that will be around the wedding. I won’t be doing any flower arranging just…

I managed to plant all the plants for my new winter garden on what was a warm December day. With temperatures in the 50’s it was somewhat pleasant, which is about the best you can expected from December in Tennessee. You’re probably wondering which plan I decided to go with, the Symmetrical Plan or the Asymmetrical Plan. The answer was…

Fall is fast approaching us here in Tennessee whether it feels like it or not (to me it feels like September) and I’ve started thinking about what to plant. Perennials are perfect for fall plantings since their roots grow slowly over the winter to become established root systems by spring. Then in spring the root systems are ready to go…

Helen at Toronto Gardens is treating us with a blast from last year’s fall foliage past. The palette of colors along the hillside is nothing short of stunning. The pictures are taken from Leaside bridge and offer a nearly bird’s eye view of the leaf landscape. Hopefully the leaves will be on the trees when Helen gets back home so…

Ornamental grasses are some of the easiest plants to propagate and they look so good in the garden. Today I potted up seven rooted sections of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Four of them were ‘Shenandoah’ which gains a reddish coloring in the leaves in late summer and fall and three were ‘Northwind’ which has a taller and more upright shape. Switchgrasses…

I thought I would put together a catch up post for anyone who might have missed the past Garden Blogger Assignments. You are welcome to write about any of the past assignments over the last several weeks. I won’t be putting together a new assignment until next Sunday so please enjoy taking a look back at what some of the…

Cucumber Plant – Deer Damage I was startled the other day when the eventual invader leaped out from behind my shed and scampered off into the woods. I jumped because I thought the deer had gone. I thought that they had picked up and moved on after the neighbors behind us moved in with their dog.  I wish I was…

Every year one of the great performances in my garden is the performance of the poppies. These simple red flowers came in a free packet of seed several years ago and still keep on putting on powerful displays of red paper-like petals. With as easy as poppies are to grow and maintain (I do nothing other than spread the seeds…

This are warming up again around our Tennessee garden this February.  While I’m writing this post spring-like storms are pouring down outside.  February again seems more like March than February!  But that’s how it is sometimes with our weather patterns in TN.  We get some crazy stuff sometimes.  The unseasonable warmth has given rise to many things that would normally…