Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

One of my goals this year is to add more herbs to the gardens (not just the vegetable garden). Herbs have many different characteristics that can make the attractive as well as useful.Basil (Ocimum basilicum)Last year I became painfully aware that after making a delicious batch of pesto that we were out of fresh basil and it was the end…

In posting yesterday about my mulch (that I got for $1.34 per 2 cubic foot bag) several people left comments about what mulch they like to use. I thought that maybe today it might be good to take a look at the types of mulch and what’s good about each one. The main purpose behind any mulch is to retain…

The number one thing people think of when the fall season comes is the leaves.  Thoughts of harvests, festivals, and cooler weather come too but when the fall season comes to mind its the leaves that get the attention.  Everybody loves the leaves!  Here’s why: 5 Reasons to Love Your Leaves The colors.  Mother nature gives us a spectacular color…

Welcome to completely random gardening. For this post I had a hodgepodge of things to update you on that really can’t be grouped into any kind of category for one single post to talk about. So we’ll just have to talk a little bit about everything!The Greenhouse ProjectI managed to do a little digging on the greenhouse foundation yesterday. I…

Let’s try this a little differently this week. If you can identify the plant of the week post what you think it is in the comment area of this post!

Among many garden chores that come in spring perhaps the biggest is the trimming of the ornamental grasses. Trimming back perennials can be time consuming but the ornamental grasses can be a bear. It’s not the tiny little hair-like strands of the Nassella tenuissima (Ponytail grass), or the tall and narrow ‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grasses. The panicums aren’t a…

If you haven’t been to Blithewold lately you are missing out on a bunch of beautiful fall foliage! Kris just recently put a post up with all sorts of foliage perfection but it’s the Katsura photo that has me trying to figure out where to put one in our yard! Full moon Japanese maples, sourwood, and even large leaved hostas…

Disclaimer: The following post is a sponsored review of the Troy-Bilt TB490 XP ™ 4×4 Self-Propelled mower. All opinions are solely the opinion of the author who in exchange for goods and compensation was asked to do this review. In my last post I told you a little bit about my trip to Savannah, Georgia with the Troy-Bilt Brand Ambassadors….

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…

Every now and then it’s fun to go back and look up the statistics from The Home Garden to see what people are looking for and eventually wind up here. Sometimes the search terms are funny but hopefully the results lead the searcher to great info. So here are ten search terms that showed up that all began with the…

When redesigning the vegetable garden I decided to dedicate one 4’x6′ bed solely to the cultivation of scrumptious strawberries. Since they are perennials this bed is no longer in any kind of rotation with the other beds but it was necessary, at least for now.  The strawberries began blooming this weekend which really isn’t the greatest of times to start…

By far my favorite plant from the vegetable garden is the tomato.  I don’t buy them from the stores if I can help it as there is very little flavor to be found in store bought tomatoes.  Fresh from the garden is how a tomato should be.  Today on a gray overcast winter day I’m looking back at the tomatoes…

Wouldn’t you know it. I had big plans for those delicious garden grown sweet potatoes. Last year they were the best things ever. Candy from the ground and I had little reason to think I wouldn’t have more of the same delicious tubers again this year. I even saved a sweet potato from last year and sprouted this year’s starts…

No you’re not having a bad 80’s flashback. The word rad in the title doesn’t refer to big hair glam bands or jelly shoes but rather radishes! How could you even think of the other stuff? The radishes are in from the vegetable garden and are quite tasty.Here’s the bunch I pulled today. There are still a few more in…

Spring is coming. Really.Signs of the coming gardening season are beginning to appear all over from the daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths beginning to emerge to the swelling buds on the trees. Very soon warmer weather will begin again and we will be fully emersed in the garden once again. In anticipation of the coming gardening season I thought I’d give…

Our House Under Construction Welcome 2023! This year is shaping up to be one of our most exciting years as a family and for myself as a gardener. Our house construction is underway and that has opened up quite a few potential projects. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed doing instead of New Year resolutions is to create a…

As you can see from the picture to the left that this tree has taken a beating. Last fall when the deer were out in force a buck decided to rut against several of my favorite trees. Coincidentally all the deer damaged trees were young trees that I had planted in the yard including two maples, a dogwood and one…

Last week I was in one of the home improvement stores and started wandering the gardening shelves…always a dangerous thing! I looked around at all the packaged plants which in most cases are way too early to plant out and got sucked in by the displays. I ended up coming home with one Arapaha thornless blackberry plant. I love blackberry…