Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The last frost date is one of the most important dates for gardeners.  The last frost date determines when to plant the vegetables and ornamentals at the best possible time for maximum growth over the season.  Some plants like being planted before the frost date while others have to be planted afterward. Last year Spring and warm weather came early…

When sowing grass seed timing is everything. The right grass planted at the right time works wonders for a lawn, but the reverse can be true as well. Here in Tennessee we live in an a rather ambiguous area for growing grasses. The cool season grasses do great – that is until it gets hot and they turn all brown….

I’m definitely ready for warmer days ahead. How about you? ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud Cercis canadensis Here’s just a quick picture from our ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud (Cercis canadensis) taken back in May. The purple foliage reverts to a greenish foliage in the summertime. These are usually propagated by grafting the ‘Forest Pansy’ scion onto seed grown root stock. I haven’t ventured…

The herb garden will be a new experience for me. In the past I have used pots for the herbs, this year I’ll see what I can do with the in-ground Herb Garden I have planned (Herb Garden Layout). Most of the plants will be from seed but not all! Here is what we decided on for the herb garden:Basil…

It’s been a while since I posted about the corner shade garden.  Last year it really wasn’t anything to write about, it was a mess.  I neglected it due to other issues and now comes the time when I need to get it back into shape.  A year of neglect in the garden can mean a lot of work later…

You know the saying “If you don’t like the weather in {Insert your state here}, just wait a few minutes!” In the last two days, and possibly much of January, truer words could not be said about the weather here in Tennessee. Gray skies have been intermittent with occasional sun. The temperatures have been warm, rainy, and much more like…

As I mentioned yesterday I had a visit from another garden blogger to my garden. It’s not often that my garden gets company and I’m always a little nervous about the things someone might see. Like the loads of Johnson Grass invading the beds (all the beds) or the currently unkempt nature of certain areas of the garden I just…

The other day while on a shopping trip I sat in the car with my daughters while my wife ran into the store for a few things. In front of our parking space was a magnolia. I doubt it was the full sized magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), as the placement of such a large tree in a limited growth area like…

In my last post I told you how to begin planning for an edible landscape and how to determine what to grow. Today let’s examine what elements you need to incorporate into the plan.  With an edible landscape we need to focus on one thing: sustainability.  Sustainability is a word used a lot these days and for our gardening goals…

The first daffodil blooms of 2012 are now on display in my garden!  Every year I like to track the first daffodil of the season.  It amazing how much each year can differ.  The warmer the weather the earlier the flowers appear.  We’re almost a month earlier than last year’s daffodil blooms! Here’s a look back at the dates and…

Over the years I’ve planted quite a few heucheras for my garden.  Heucheras or coral bells are becoming more and more popular as a wide array of unique cultivars continue to come on the market.  You might even think that heucheras are relatively new to the horticultural world when in fact they’ve been tinkered with by horticulturalists since the late…

Creeping Phlox – April 2011 I wish I could have gotten to this post earlier but Monday’s storms kept the computer off for most of the day. It’s pretty difficult to type a post without electricity! As of this morning 18,000 people in Middle Tennessee are still without power. Over the weekend the weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor activities….

This winter has been bitterly cruel.  Not bitterly cold, just bitterly cruel.  It’s tempted us into believing that spring was almost here, then the ground hog predicted 6 more weeks of winter..and we laughed. The weather was warm and what do groundhogs really know about the weather?  Do they have live Doppler radar in buried in their dens?  I don’t…

Since summer has now officially come and gone and I only started this site a week ago (give or take a day or two), I thought I would share an easy project that I did this summer from another old wooden palette. Originally I was going to turn it into a compost bin, but after using the palette laying on…

It’s time to show you the construction phase of the vertical garden arbor that I’m building for Lowe’s Creative Ideas! In the previous post I listed the materials and dug the holes for the project so if you’re just now finding this project you may want to start with part 1 of this gutter garden project! Working on the Gutters…

Last weekend I pulled out the tomato plants (all but three) and did the yearly Bermuda grass removal. Bermuda grass is one of the two most frustrating parts of my vegetable garden, the other being the deer. Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) grows and spreads through rhizomes (under the soil) and stolons (above the soil). Any piece of the roots or…

Do you need another reason to like Red Twig Dogwoods?  Take a look at these pictures from Ann Althouse.  These pictures illustrate exactly why I like them as much as I do! The fiery stems really add color to the snowy landscape. More on Red Twig Dogwoods: Red Twig Dogwood Propagation Red Twig Dogwoods (Cornus stolonifera) and Why I Like…

Yesterday I traveled up to the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens to listen to Tina from In the Garden. She was doing a talk on Winter Gardening and all that it entails so we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to visit with her and check out the gardens while we were there. We also visited with Gail from…