Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

In between the frequent rains and the Arbor project preparation for Better Homes and Gardens I’ve been able to take a few pictures of the garden to see what is in bloom. Several of our favorite plants like the salvia and catmint are showing their first bloom buds but have no flowers to show. I think they are waiting until…

This is the first year in our garden that I’m trying corn. Last year we didn’t have the space but since we expanded the garden this year with my newest layout I have an 8’x10′ area for corn. I’m planting it in succession.  The first part is planting a small square of corn. Squares are efficient for corn because corn…

One of the lesser shown areas of my yard this year has been the sideyard and corner shade garden. In the past I’ve featured it quite a bit but to be honest I’ve been disappointed with it this year. After I removed a cedar tree in the spring the morning sun began to cook the hostas in the garden. They…

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…

Nandina domestica is not one of those plants that I like to propagate. It’s a nice enough plant but I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s overplanted in way too many landscapes. Every commercial business around has at least one and when a plant is that common I tend to cringe when I see it. Most of those are…

Salvia is a excellent plant to put in a garden. They are drought tolerant (which is important in Tennessee) and look great. They also come in many colors including red, pink, white, orange, blue, and purple. Depending on where you live and the variety you choose it may be a perennial or an annual. According to the website Floridata, there…

Today more than many others I felt the cold of winter beginning to enter our Tennessee garden. The weather has been mild all throughout November and as December approaches noticeable changes are entering my consciousness. Overcast skies seem more prevalent than the sunny days we’ve been fortunate to enjoy, colder air seems to last here longer than the pleasant air….

At least for these plants! This time of year it’s simply amazing how lush and green all the plants are. Green happens to the be subject of the latest Gardening Gone Wild Photo Contest. This morning I went out and took a few pictures of the greenery around the garden that might be contest worthy. Here’s a look at a…

The tomatoes are coming along nicely in our garden which means it’s time to do a few important things for them to maximize their growth.  Here are a few quick tomato growing tips to help you grow your favorite home grown backyard vegetable! (It’s really a fruit though!) Stake and Trellis Your Tomato Plants Stake your tomato well.  Whatever method…

It’s that time of year where the tomatoes are coming in faster than I can pick them. That’s a good thing but I wonder sometimes if I’m in over my head trying to find ways to use all these tomatoes. I planted over 20 tomato plants this year which may have been too many but I couldn’t resist. There are…

While this post might be more interesting to me (for record keeping purposes) than anyone else it contains the list of seed varieties I planted on Monday Feb. 15, 2010. They were planted in peat pots and seed starting medium and are currently under lights indoors in a roughly 70 degree environment. Warmer temperatures might hasten the germination process but…

Over at Clay and Limestone Gail celebrates the diversity of native plants with Wildflower Wednesday so I thought I would join in this week to share a few of the native plants I’ve run across over the past week.  Let’s start with a shrub!  This is what I believe to be a gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  It has white clusters…

Here is Part Two of my weekly series of posts about gardening on a budget, Thrifty Gardening Tips.One of the best ways to get plants and other garden paraphernalia is through other gardeners that you know. Those who garden are generous people and always seem to want to encourage others in gardening endeavors. Often all you have to do is…

Best Wishes for an Amazing 2018! May your life be happy and prosperous while your garden grows green and lush! Happy New Year! Happy New Year

If you are like me, you may have never given your wheelbarrow much thought. It really is a gardener’s best friend. This garden companion is with you in all seasons and through all manner of tasks. The poor little guy is taken for granted yet never complains and always does the job. Often it isn’t until the morning after that…

The title of this post says it all. If I can move a rock I’ll put it somewhere! Thanks to a garden club friend (Evelyn) I found out about a man named Barry who was clearing part of his property so that his wife could have horses. Unfortunately for Barry, and very fortunately for me and several other rock collectors,…

I’ve been busy this week.  I say that as if it’s something new but it seems like life is just a matter of varying degrees of busy.  Sometimes you’re really busy and other times less so but always busy!  This week I dove headlong into my latest project.  I’ve been talking about this one for years and I’m just now…

Please ignore the mess of bricks and leftover lumber lying on the floor at the bottom of this picture. Instead focus on the cabinets! Family friends were cleaning out their basement and passed on quite a few pieces of lumber and odds and ends they thought could be reused. The cabinets came along for the ride too. With a little…