Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Our first group of irises has just started to bloom.  The iris blooms are coming much later than last year due to the cold temperatures that have pushed everything back about nearly a month.  There are a just a couple types of iris here in my garden including the tall bearded irises, the Dutch irises, and some Siberian irises like…

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…

In my second year with our garden I experienced the joys and wonders of living with deer. In the three and a half years since I’ve learned a lot about protecting plants from deer but I still suffer from their exploits frequently. Most notably this year the deer discovered my vegetable garden for the first time. Maybe you noticed the…

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated you on my raised bed vegetable garden. I’m pleased with the way things are looking right now. The tomato plants are taking off as are the squash and cucumber plants. You can see for yourself the benefits of gardening in raised beds! The tomatoes and other vegetables grow faster and larger.In the…

(Time x (Knowledge + Experience) x Money )= Your GardenHow successful is your garden? I think you can tell just by observing the outcome, but there are elements that go into it that effect your desired outcome.Time to me is by far the most important. The amount of time spent planning, weeding, planting, propagating, or even researching play a huge…

I’m still playing in the dirt with seedlings! Aren’t you? This week I was excited to see some of my recent plantings begin to emerge from the soil. What is really cool about seed starting is the variety of plants you could potentially grow. Almost anything is possible! It’s also very cool when the plants are shared from another gardener….

OK perhaps humming isn’t the proper word…buzzing…droning…that’s more like it! The cicadas are here and in action making a cacophony of sound all around. I noticed their cast off shells hanging on the tall grass foliage in the backyard while mowing the other evening but didn’t see any actual cicadas until Thursday. My daughter and I went exploring in the…

The first day of Spring is marked by gardeners everywhere.  Unfortunately not everyone gets to experience warm days, growing plants, and all the wonders of spring at the same time.  It’s different for every region but that doesn’t make it any less significant.  The first day of spring symbolizes the beginning of the growing season for many gardeners.  Even gardeners…

The greenhouse shed project is coming along nicely. As I’ve mentioned before I’m not rushing things along but striving to do things as perfectly as possible. I’m very pleased with the results so far. Side to side and front to back, the greenhouse is almost exactly the same measurement. The greatest difference is about 1/4″ between the longest sides. I…

It’s almost time for this gardener to get some lettuce growing in the vegetable garden and I don’t have a lettuce update yet for the GROW project but I can show you how the basil and marigold seeds have done. We’ve been suffering from drought over the last few weeks and watering on a daily basis is becoming a necessary…

The other use for my pile of rock was for garden borders. I’m gradually edging all my garden beds with natural limestone rock. Limestone is readily available all over Tennessee which makes it either cheap or free! I’m happy with the look o limestone but nearly any type of rock will work well for borders if it is large enough….

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…

Monarda is called bee balm for a reason! This bee balm was brought home as a division from a plant in my wife’s aunt’s garden in West TN. Monarda is a great plant for attracting pollinators! It doesn’t only attract bees, butterflies are more than happy to land upon this flowering perennial. I planted it just outside our vegetable garden…

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…

The siding work on the two gables for the garden shed have been completed! It’s really starting to come together. I can’t wait to get in there and start working on something other than the building!

It’s time to show you a few pictures of the plants around my garden!  The gardens themselves are in need of weeding, mulch, and assorted other chores I haven’t had time to get to yet but that doesn’t stop the plants from looking impressive.  Our weather lately has been wetter than normal for August and July.  That’s a blessing since…

Last week I attended the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show.  I’ve been very busy planting seeds and getting the garden ready and I haven’t had a lot of time to post lately so I thought I would share a few short posts with your from the show that had some clever design ideas that you may want to consider for…

It’s been a busy weekend. We’ve been out of town since Friday visiting the in-laws house. I spent much of the weekend working on their landscape trying to get some things ready for the wedding in July. My task has been to spruce up various areas that will be around the wedding. I won’t be doing any flower arranging just…