Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s October and the temperatures are getting cooler which makes it ideal for planting garlic! I just planted two raised beds full of garlic a few days ago. Garlic loves to start in cooler weather and this coming week we are predicted to have some night temperatures in the 30 degree range. It should be perfect for the newly planted…

It’s not the greenhouse, at least not today or tomorrow. Over the last couple years (yes I said years) my father and I have been working on a project in his backyard. It began as a patio in the middle of their yard where they could enjoy their backyard spaces and gradually grew into a patio covered with a pavilion…

Do you want to dig a little deeper into the science behind the magical fall colors we see each fall? Or maybe you just want to take a peak at the fall show of a Continus coggygria (Smoke Tree). Either way stop over and visit Joco in the UK at Joco Serious. Joco posted a very detailed and thorough explanation…

I never let a good container go to waste (much to my wife’s dismay – admittedly, I do save way too many)! These foam containers are perfect for sowing seeds just like the store bought flats. Just poke a few holes for drainage in the bottom add soil, seeds, and water and you have an instant garden. Well, maybe not…

Here is the answer to the Name That Plant trivia post: Vitex agnus-castus. The chaste tree as it’s also called is a native of China and India but has become naturalized in the southern United States (z6-9). Apparently it’s been here since 1670! It does bear a striking resemblance to butterfly bushes and attracts pollinators just as well. For some…

Kids in the garden are funny creatures. Although your kids may be too young to do many of the garden chores that need done it’s important to get them out there not only to learn but to get fresh air. Gardening is an invaluable educational tool because children can learn how to do things, procedures, why things are done a…

Last year one of the areas of our yard that I was sorely behind on updating was the mailbox garden. Since mailbox gardens typically are the first thing that people see when they come to visit it’s nice to have something to greet them. It really doesn’t take much to refresh or renew a garden. A few bags of mulch…

A couple months ago I put together my little 6’x8′ Harbor Freight greenhouse.  It was an inexpensive greenhouse that I was hoping would be a good way to increase my growing area for my small nursery business.  I thought it was time I gave an update on how the greenhouse is working out for me. After one storm where a…

Today I’m issuing a challenge to any glove maker, manufacturer, or garden handware retailer: Make me a glove that lasts longer than 5 months! I’m throwing down the gauntlet, or the garden gloves as the case may be. So far I have not met a pair of gloves that lasts more than a few months. This pair of gloves was…

This is a paid endorsement. I have been compensated and provided with products free of charge in return for my honest opinion. All opinions are 100% my own! If you’ve followed Growing the Home Garden for a while know then you might remember that I’ve worked with Troy-Bilt as a member of the Saturday6. Through Troy-Bilt I’ve had the opportunity…

I found this plant on a limestone outcropping near the Yellow Corydalis and the False Garlic. It appears to be a type of succulent. The stems and larger leaves have a red tint around the edges while the smaller leaves are more narrow and green. I suspect it is a wild stonecrop of some sort but I don’t know for…

As previously mentioned in my 2009 garden project list I am working on a self sowing garden. I mentioned the advantages to a self sowing garden earlier in the week and my own personal reasons for wanting to plant it and now it’s time for the next step…seeds. But first, what are self sowing plants? Since plants generally reproduce from…

This was definitely the year for trying new melons, at least here at The Home Garden. Yesterday I showed you the ‘Tigger’ melon we grew and tasted, today let’s welcome ‘Old Time Tennessee’ to the blog! Where the ‘Tigger’ melon is small, compact, and tasty ‘Old Time Tennessee’ is large, football shaped (perfect for football season), and tasty.  You will…

Today my little 2 year old daughter and I went out and planted daffodils. She did pretty good, dropping the bulb into the hole after I dug it out. Initially Grace kept trying to rearrange the bulbs all over the bed. Then she started taking the spade I was using to dig the holes. Eventually we got a process together…

The other day I posted about the next evolution of my garden on its way to becoming a more formalized vegetable garden. Today I’ll show you the layout of what I hope the vegetable garden will eventually become. There are some distinct advantages to the layout changes that I am planning on making that I’ll share with you below the…

Here is our house in early spring. We took this picture soon after we bought it. There isn’t much that can be said of the landscaping at this point. It was basically a blank slate to work with. There were two Japanese hollies in front of the garage that died due to the frost and one large Nandina that is…

Well the end of my rock posts has come…for now! Here’s a quick summary of what we did this week with rocks. Feel free to take a look back if you missed anything. If you rocked this week tell me about it! Sunday (August 16, 2009): I’m a Fan of Rocks Monday (August 17, 2009): And the Rock is… Tuesday…

We made our official announcement this morning about building an arbor for the 48-hour Blog Challenge. An arbor has been in my mind to start the side corridor pathway to our backyard.  Now we could go out and purchase the arbor and stick it up fairly easily but that wasn’t in our plan. We had to go and make the project more…