Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I had to drive our cat Amber to the vet today to get some tests done on her. She has kidney renal failure and we have to periodically see how her blood is. She’s been doing really good but has lost her appetite recently. While I was up in town I thought I’d drive around a few minutes to see…

One of my projects this year is a self seeding garden. I showed you in yesterday’s post what I’ve done so far and I mentioned a few of my personal reasons for planting a self sowing garden but since that post I thought of a few more general ideas why someone might want to consider planting one.1. Cost – seeds…

Maybe you’ve heard of this already or maybe you’ve seen it in the stores yourself but Triscuit is promoting the “home farming” movement. It’s an interesting idea that backyard gardeners have been doing for many many years. Simply put home farming is growing your own food in the home garden. While gardening may be an all inclusive term to describe…

Lately I’ve been working on getting everything up and running with my vegetable garden. I followed the raised bed layout I made and filled the beds several weeks ago. I’ve already planted lettuce, tomatoes, marigolds, peppers, beans, cucumbers, watermelon, catmint, and squash. In the picture to the right you can see the little cucumber sprouts popping up through the soil….

Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) are garden favorites for many gardeners because of their showy cone-shaped blooms, cold hardiness, and easy-care nature. Whether you’re nurturing one plant or dreaming of a whole hedge, learning to propagate panicle hydrangeas can be both rewarding and cost-effective. I purchased a single ‘Limelight’ hydrangea last year to add to my garden with the idea that…

Here’s just a quick list of what needs done with the rain garden in chronological order. 1) Finish excavation: I need to expand the “Big Dig” to its final size. I’m not 100% sure how much bigger I’ll make it but I want to shape into more of a curve. I also need to finish excavating the channel parallel to…

Here is a list of 10 plants that are very easy to propagate for your garden that I have found to be extremely easy to root. There are many plants that could be on this list but I decided to stick with some that I have done and know for a fact that their root development is very reliable. I’ve…

In yesterday’s post on propagating switchgrasses I left out the picture of the ‘Northwind’ Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Also I didn’t post any details about the two switchgrasses that I mentioned. So here’s a little more about switchgrasses! Switchgrasses are native to the United States and flourish during the warm season. In my observations they are later to emerge from winter…

You can go out and spend all kinds of money for a fancy compost bin but sometimes a simple solution can work just as well. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a lazy composter. There I said it. I don’t get out there to the bin to turn it regularly. I don’t check it with a fancy compost…

Over Thanksgiving we spent some time in Mt. Juliet at my in-laws home. I always enjoy traipsing around the woods near their house just to explore. I did that often as a kid at my grandfather’s house and I’ve always been fond of spending time in the great outdoors. Often I come home with rocks for my garden borders but…

Through my YouTube channel I’ve been doing an end of the month tour of our garden each month. This July was a rough month for us personally and resulted in less time in the garden. Overall I’m happy with the garden this year and the produce we are getting. The tomatoes and peppers are the prime crop right now and…

…One looks to the sky.

So far this year we have planted two actual trees along with a number of shrubs. I’ll talk about the shrubs another day but here are the two trees we planted. I have always admired the canopy of maple trees and the fall color of the red maples in particular. We put this tree in a few weeks ago. It…

It’s been a little while since my last greenhouse shed update but things are coming along. It’s been difficult to deal with the cold temperatures and find suitable days to work but that’s the challenge of working on an outdoor project in the winter. Lately we’ve been focusing on applying siding to the solid areas of the building. I picked…

Knockout roses are great additions to any garden.  They are more resistant to pests and diseases and continue to provide blooms throughout the summer.  This rose is planted in a corner bed between our front sidewalk and the driveway. Gallery of Other Roses from Our Garden More from Growing The Home Garden

Welcome to another Fall Color Project Post! The leaves are changing faster as we progress through one of my favorite seasons which means we get to see more fall color from our blogging friends and neighbors! Last Friday an Obsessive Neurotic Gardener (aren’t we all? ;)) put up a post with some beautiful scenery. Could pictures of fall that include…

Over the years travelers have brought back interesting plants from all over the world. Some plants are brought back because of their beauty. Other plants are brought to the U.S. to serve a purpose like roadway stabilization as in the case of Kudzu. Often these exotic plants from overseas become problematic. They can take over the local habitat in ways…

We’re entering the middle of November which means not only is that turkey get closer to being roasted but it’s also time for hardwood cuttings! There are quite a few plants that will easily grow from hardwood cuttings and are well worth trying for any budget minded gardener.  Free plants are always a good thing right?  Well unless they’re weeds……