Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

First of all let me apologize for the delay. I had hoped to announce this this morning but Blogger (the blogging platform I use for The Home Garden) has been down since Thursday evening. I was unable to write anything about the drawing for the Dupont Weed Fabric and Lowe’s Gift Card until now. I mentioned the delay on The…

Welcome to my bone dry September garden for Wildflower Wednesday! We have an assortment of fall blooming flower pictures to share. You really don’t need a reason other than their beauty to plant wildflowers but the fact that so many of them require little to no care during our current weather conditions is a great bonus. To have something that…

I sadly saw yesterday a weather report that mentioned the “F” word – FROST.  It’s coming very soon, most likely Sunday and/or Monday nights.  While there are some good feelings about this – like a rest period for the gardener – it’s also a time I dread.  Those fresh tomatoes from the garden will soon be a thing of the…

Finally some rain! This weekend is bringing us some much needed rain, unfortunately it’s in the form of thunderstorms. I guess that’s better than nothing. The last few weeks have been much drier than a normal April. “April showers” is the well known cliche but it just hasn’t seemed to work out that way. So far today we’ve received over…

Yep, the title says it all. I really have lettuce growing among the weeds in one of my garden beds. I planted it in the fall and despite a few nights of subzero temperatures and several cumulative inches of snow over the course of winter it’s still there! The lettuce is small, barely even 3 inches wide but it’s there!…

Here are some pictures that we have taken of 2008!Here is a snowfall on a very cold evening. I like how the white snowflakes are captured, frozen in time, by the reflected light of the flash. A visitor to our new bird feeder! This white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinesis) is cracking open the shell of a sunflower seed for his feast….

Early last year I put together a rain garden in our yard to absorb some of the driveway drainage. Here are a few pictures of how it looks now! Inside the garden we have a variety of perennials that are generally carefree and tolerate a wide range of growing conditions. Plants like coneflowers. Echinacea purpurea is having a perfect year…

Before every Christmas season begins I am asked by various family members “What do you you want for Christmas?” Of course sometimes it’s phrased more like “Get me your Christmas list by X Date!” Does this happen to you too?  As an avid gardener and blogger I thought it might be fun to think of the books I would like…

Here is an inexpensive little project I’m working on that hopefully will work to hold a tomato plant. This homemade tomato cage is made from the pliable branches of a sycamore tree my neighbor limbed up. I offered to take the branches to dump in a pit in the backyard and mentioned I might use a few of the branches…

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…

Two weeks ago I posted about propagating plants for a nursery business but there are other ways to acquire plant materials for sale in your nursery.  I personally enjoy the propagation process because it allows me to tell my customers exactly how they were grown, what products I have used to enhance growth, how to care for the plant, and…

Want to do something nice for the birds?  Feed them!  Here’s an easy way to do it! Get a grapefruit (any suitable citrus will work). Cut it in half. Eat the grapefruit. (Important step) Fill grapefruit halves with bird seed. Set grapefruit halves on a deck rail Enjoy watching the birds! Piece of cake – or rather a piece of fruit!

I don’t think there is any question that parents want safe products to use in their yards, gardens, and around the home. That’s why when the people at EcoSMART contacted me about testing their ecologically safe and family friendly products I was more than happy to give them a try. For this post I interviewed Vijay Das the director of…

The historic dryness finally gave way to some rain on Halloween. About 0.83 inches came down that day give us a good soaking. We still need more rain, and regular rain but it definitely helps. I’ve been concerned about the lack rain and the fall color potential but fortunately some trees have done really well despite the lack of rain….

‘Autumn Joy’ Sedum seed heads persist through winter. This time of year the flowers are mostly faded and few things have retained enough foliage to be markedly interesting.  But those faded flowers have left something behind – seeds!  Seeds can do a few of very cool things: They sustain the plant species for the coming year as new plants are…

Insect pests (like aphids) are always frustrating to find on your plants. I’ve dealt with aphids many times before but I still never like to find them again. Inevitably I do. Aphids are one of the most common insect pests in every garden. If you garden you will eventually find them on one of your plants. I’ve had them on…

Very soon (July) a wedding will take place in the backyard at my in-laws home. A while back I was asked to help spruce up the area around where the ceremony will be to help improve its aesthetics for the wedding. The property itself is roughly 6 acres of mostly wooded land with a cleared area near the house for…

The garden is coming alive now that February is in full swing.  The extra warm winter is supposed to become much more normal over the next week but that won’t stop our spring growth.  Yesterday I saw the ‘Okame’ cherries beginning to bloom.  Unfortunately I don’t have any here in our garden to show you but it won’t be long…