Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Yesterday I showed you part one of the state of the garden which contained mostly the front yard and side yard, today we go into the backyard to visit the gardens. The Vegetable Garden Let’s start by looking at the department of agriculture. The vegetable garden isn’t being very productive right now even though it could be. Hoop houses constructed…

Every year I try something new in the vegetable garden. When I was selecting seeds back in the dormant season I ran across this small melon called ‘Tigger’.  Of course as a parent with three children anything with the name ‘Tigger’ catches my attention. The ‘Tigger’ melon was described in the Baker Creek catalog as “vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red,…

Arbor with Moonflowers One thing I really like about garden structures: no matter how much rain, how hot, or how dry they always look good! Fortunately our arbor also has the added benefit of a nice annual vine plant (moonflower) wrapping around it. Here is the arbor from the side yard looking toward the front yard. The homemade stepping stones…

It’s always fun to join in with Carol’s Garden Blogger Bloom Day every 15th of the month but the early summer day are some of the best for blooms. Some of the spring blooms are hanging on despite the extreme heat (it’s way to hot for June!) and the summer blooms are definitely getting into gear. Today I’ll show you…

If you enjoy gardening and consider yourself a garden chances are you walk around with the same perspective that I have. Everywhere I go I find myself observing, mentally recording, and analyzing how plantings work in various gardens. It might the house down the street, a business, a park, or any other place with some semblance of a garden that…

Last Father’s Day my present was a little Japanese Maple. It rested in it’s pot for a while and finally was planted in the fall when I had the perfect location for it, the Japanese Maple Garden next to our newly constructed patio. It’s a young garden bed with just a few plantings but in time it will grow as…

First let me apologize for not getting these posts up sooner.  This weekend has been a fun filled hectic one with carpet cleaning and a surprise leak that required a new kitchen faucet replacement.  The two events were not related unless you count the fact that they took time away from the computer! Skeeter is at it again at In…

When gift giving holidays are upon us (and happen during the growing season) I like to find gifts that can be planted in the ground and will give back the pleasure of the first gift many times over. I did that again this year with Valentine’s Day. My usual gift to my wife is the sweetly scented hyacinth.  The flowers…

Have you ever stood back and tried to observe your garden at a different angle? Maybe from up high on a slope? Or down low from the ground looking up at the flowers and trees? Sometimes it’s helpful to take a different perspective in order to plan out your garden better.  Here’s an example. I took this picture the other…

Fall is creeping closer and closer each day which brings to mind cool evening breezes, pumpkins, festivals, the Fall Color Project (more on that later), and of course the fall vegetable growing season.  Most gardeners seem to garden almost exclusively in the spring or summer and don’t even consider the fall.  It’s probably since starting plants this time of year…

Yesterday would have been my father’s 68th birthday.  He was a Halloween baby born back in 1943 but since July 6th, 2011 we’ve been without my dad.  I think about him in some way everyday and I definitely don’t need anything to remind me of how much he helped me through life, but to honor my dad in a small…

I think in many ways people who garden in the “traditional” or “conventional” methods* don’t realize how easy it really can be to garden organically. In fact some of these organic ideas are probably done by everyone who gardens in some capacity. For this Friday’s Friday Five let’s take a look at 5 easy ways to be organic.  There are…

Large cocoon on ninebark For several months I’ve been watching this strange cocoon attached to my ninebark.  I was curious what might come from it, and a little apprehensive too, then yesterday I found a second one on a viburnum.  What if it was something that would chow down on my garden?  What if it was some dangerous?  What if…

I think in many ways March is the busiest month in the garden. So many chores need tackled this time of year from mulching to pruning to planting that sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to tackle first! Among the major chores like lawn mower servicing and tree planting there are quite a few little chores.  Like trimming back…

Thank you for all those who took a stab at the latest Name that Plant. Several of you knew exactly what it was, sulphur cinquefoil or botanically known as Potentilla recta. This wildflower member of the Rosaceae family grows between 16 and 32 inches long with palmate leaves that have 5-7 leaflets on the lower parts of the plant and…

No I’m not referring to the stimulus package here. I’m talking about what possibly could be the most handy tool you ever use for spring gardening – the tarp. As my gardens have grown over the last several years I’ve added many more plants. As all gardeners know with more plants comes more responsibility and more work when spring cleanup…

Every weekend is a busy weekend in the garden. At least until the July heat comes sometime in June. No I didn’t misspeak, it gets very hot in Tennessee around the mid to late parts June, but that’s getting way ahead since spring has barely gotten here. For now though the temperatures on a sunny day are fantastic! Warm but…

The summer heat is coming and with the heat comes a whole new set of rules for gardening. The warm season vegetables grow great while the cool season plants bolt quickly. What if you want to keep your cool season plantings growing longer into the summer? Is there a way to do that? The answer is yes there is, move…