Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Here is a small diagram of my intended raised bed vegetable garden layout. It will have 4 larger beds. Two of them will be 6 feet long and the other two will be 8 feet long. Each of these will connect to each other through the middle bed that is 4′ x 4′ square. Having several beds should allow me…

It isn’t often that you get to be a part of something very special.  Recently the Troy-Bilt Saturday6 team had the opportunity to visit a place in need of some help to grow the community, the Perrine Community in Florida. Together with the other 5 Saturday6 members, the Troy-Bilt team, and the Keep American Beautiful organization we put together a…

On a cold morning such as this you might be wondering “what can I do in the garden?”  Or you might be wondering “why does he know what I’m wondering?”  Or…maybe not, whatever the case is cold winter days are good for the garden and the gardener.  The garden needs those cold winter days to get enough stratification time for…

I wanted to share a few more pictures from my visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens the other day but also wanted to give you a Friday 5 post so I thought why not put the two together?  For today I’ll give you 5 Great reasons to visit Cheekwood and show you some of the great features I saw during my…

One of the best things about feeding the birds is seeing a new bird you have never seen before. We’ve seen grosbeaks like blue grosbeaks and cardinals (which are a type of grosbeak) but this is the first rose breasted grosbeak we have seen. It’s not a surprise that we haven’t seen them before since they are migrating north to…

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…

This spring has brought us a ton of rain but has also made things really nice for flowering. There are so many things in bloom right now that I may have to save a few for a future post. It’s time to get started then! To the left is out tulip poplar tree in bloom. Catmint ‘Walker’s Low’ is one…

It’s not often that I am so impressed by a nursery that I feel compelled to write about them.  So many nurseries just do things the same way, the established way.  I know it works well but when a nursery steps it up a notch it REALLY works.  Growild Nursery in Fairview, Tennessee to me is an example of one…

Here’s just a quick post to say Merry Christmas to everyone out there! I may not have a chance to post over the next week so I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday with lots of food, family, and fun! Hold true to the spirit of the holiday and it’s true meaning and you will have a very…

My fall garden is much less impressive than the trees that surround us. In fact if you were to take away the trees little else would be remaining with any significant color. There are a few things that defeat my previous statement in our garden but I see a definite need for improvement in the fall color area. When I…

In my last post I mentioned 11 Things to Think About When Designing Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden.  Here are a few more ideas suggested by commenters! Think about a fence (From Tina).  Whether for aesthetics or for function fences are good for the garden. Different fences can solve different issues.  A simple wire fence may keep out the smaller…

While earlier in the week brought progress to the outside of the greenhouse garden shed this weekend brought some progress to the inside. I had already insulated parts of the shed where there is no glass but I needed to cover the insulation. Fortunately there is plenty of scrap plywood laying around the shed from doing the outside sheathing plus…

This bell may not make a sound but it sure strikes a chord with the chickadees and titmice.  We received the seed bell as a stocking stuffer for Christmas.  The birds must have loved it.  After two and a half days the seed bell is all gone!  At least I managed to get some nice shots of the chickadees. Unfortunately…

It won’t be long now until we get to pick our first crop of strawberries from the garden. These were all transplants from the “L” shaped raised bed layout from last year and have flourished in their new bed. The foliage is growing strong and tall and runners are starting to come out all over place, but what is exciting…

I had really planned to put up a different post tonight, all about gardening with children featuring my two year old daughter. Unfortunately that post will have to wait for tomorrow since I’m still seething over tonight’s discovery, a rabbit attack. This wasn’t some killer attack rabbit from Monty Python. On second thought maybe it was but plants, not people,…

Well it had to happen. More insects have attacked the plants in my garden. My second year hollyhocks are the lastest victims of an insect known as the cabbage looper. Eventhough their name is cabbage looper that doesn’t mean they will stop there. They like all sorts plants in the crucifer group like broccoli, collards, kale, and cauliflower as well…

After the storms last night it feels like we dodged the proverbial bullet. Storms blasted through Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, and several other states bringing rain, lightning, hail, and tornadoes. It was not a restful evening by any means but we prepared for it. We used our closet under the stairs for a safety spot and stocked it with a…

This month’s Garden Design workshop at Gardening Gone Wild is all about Whimsy in the Garden. Unfortunately my garden is not the most whimsical that you will find, in fact far from it. My sense of whimsical garden implements dodges the garden gnomes and household items that other gardeners are prone to plant amongst the hostas and heucheras. Truthfully there…