Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The holidays are an extremely busy time of the year. We go from Halloween with spooky decorations, to Thanksgiving with autumn harvest styles, then to finally to Christmas. For those who enjoy decorating (and have the storage space for all that stuff) it can be a great deal of fun, but for others who may enjoy the holidays much more…

The passage of time is an amazing thing, especially so when applied to the garden. To me the passage of time in the garden involves three different dynamics: time over long periods, through the seasons, and how you spend time in the garden. The first dynamic is not as easy to see as the other two and unless you have…

Spring is hitting us full force right now in mid April. Flowers are blooming everywhere! The mailbox garden is covered in spring time flowers and in just about every other garden is a spot of color to talk about. This post is plant and garden photo heavy so be prepared! April Blooms in the Mailbox Garden We’ll start the garden…

One of my greatest gardening pleasures is that of making a new plant, for free!  Well I don’t actually do the work the plant does, but knowing how to give the plant the optimum conditions for rooting is important for success!  The plants I’m listing today for The Friday Fives are easy to propagate plants from cuttings.  In case you…

I am always trying to find new uses for old things. To a some extent I’m a recycler, to an even greater extent I’m a pack-rat. It is just a hard thing for me to throw something away that I might want to use someday. Knowing this, it should come as no great surprise that I tried to find some…

This post may be a little late in coming but I thought I would talk about how I built my raised beds for my vegetable garden. If you you are interested in learning about the advantages of gardening in raised beds be sure check out my post: The Benefits of Gardening in Raised Beds. This spring I built two large…

The cutting bug is back, being spring and all. Everywhere I look I see another propagation project awaiting me. Some projects I’ve done before like the chrysanthemums and others are new experiments like the crape myrtles. Here’s what I did this Wednesday!Cut the grass! OK you may not have expected that one, but technically it IS a cutting.Butterfly Bush cuttings….

I mostly use raised beds for my vegetables but the truth is almost any plant can do great in a raised bed. Herbs, flowers, and ornamentals can all thrive in raised beds.  What makes a raised bed an awesome growing method is the soil that it uses.  You can mix the perfect soil mixture for any plant you want to…

George in Vermont (The Vermont Gardener and Vermont Gardens) has posted some wonderful colors of the Vermont wilderness. Filled with maples, the hills appear to be on fire with the autumn foliage turning. With photos of places like Marshfield Pond and Osmore Pond you start to think thoughts of camping and sitting by a fireside on a cool autumn day…

A shade garden just isn’t a shade garden without plants right? So what plants should get planted in a deer proof garden? Oops I said proof again. Nothing is 100% proof against a deer. Resistant is a better word. So let’s try this again.  What kind of plants should be planted in a deer resistant shade garden?  Surprisingly there are…

The weather here in Tennessee is nothing if not unpredictable.  Some will even say that the only thing predictable about the weather is that it is unpredictable!  So gardeners are left trying to figure out how to best mitigate harsh conditions of any extreme.  Two years ago we were facing floods that washed out gardens, homes, and upturned lives –…

In the world of plants there are few that are easier to root than a willow. Whether you have a weeping willow, contorted willow, or dappled willow they all root very easily. Rooting a dappled willow is extremely simple and can be done in a glass or vase of water. Rooting a Willow Tree To root a willow in most…

Wilted ‘Oranges and Lemons’ Gaillardia As most of you already know the weather here has been abysmal. Temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90’s frequently with little rain to cool things off or water the plants. In most cases I’ve let the plants fend for themselves. Many are drought resistant/tolerant and should come out OK in the end…

This week I started another batch of tomato seeds. For the last set of tomato seeds I used peat seed starting trays, this time I used washed mushroom containers, yogurt cups, and an old refrigerator plastic drawer! Not too long ago our refrigerator decided to quit and we had to replace it. I kept the plastic drawers from the old…

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,…

Alright you tomato crazed vegetable gardeners! It’s time to give away some tomato seeds to start your heirloom tomato collection for next year. The seeds I’m talking about are from a tomato called ‘Woodle Orange’.  Which is perhaps a lesser known variety but definitely not because it under performs. In fact it’s a delicious alternative to the standard reds and…

I mention yesterday that I would share a couple more things with you about the Fall Color Project 2012 so today here are they are! The first news to share today is that there is a prize available for the participants.  All you have to do to win the prize is to join in the Fall Color Project between now…

Several years ago I used to watch a cartoon called Earthworm Jim. (Yes I’ll admit I watched cartoons in college!) It was based on a video game that I never played but I guess was somewhat popular at the time.  In the cartoon Earthworm Jim was a space traveling superhero worm valiantly ridding the universe of bad guys like Professor…