March Gardening To-Do List: Getting Ready for Spring in Zone 7
March is a awesome month here in Middle Tennessee for gardeners. Zone 7, this is the time to shift from planning to actually getting in the garden. Iāve been out in my front garden tackling some essential chores to ensure a productive and beautiful growingā¦
Ice and Trees: Can Your Trees Recover?
Ice and trees do not mix well. A fact that weāre seeing all over Tennessee. The recent ice storm that barraged the state left people all over in varying states. A lot of people lost power due to fallen trees and ice. A lot ofā¦
Stop Losing Cuttings! 10 Tips for Success with Hardwood Cuttings
Have you tried rooting hardwood cuttings only to have them rot or fail to grow? Donāt give up just yet. Hardwood propagation is one of the most rewarding ways to grow your garden for free, but there are a few āmake or breakā steps thatā¦
32 Plants You Can Propagate from Hardwood Cuttings
Hardwood cuttings are cuttings that are taken from trees and shrubs that are fully mature, dormant stems. These cuttings are normally taken during the late fall or over winter several weeks before spring growth will begin. Hardwood cuttings differ from softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings. Whileā¦
Starting Tree Seeds Outdoors: A Simple Guide to Diverse Landscapes
Trees are the anchors of our landscapes. They enrich the soil, provide oxygen, offer shelter and food for wildlife, and deliver incredible seasonal beauty. My goal is to diversify our property by replacing invasive plants with a variety of beautiful, beneficial trees and shrubs. Inā¦
How to Start Tree and Shrub Seeds in the Fall (Seed Prep)
Fall is the perfect time to start preparing tree and shrub seeds that need a period of cold weather before theyāll sprout. When seed starting tree and shrub seeds I use two techniques that help to trigger better germination rates. The first technique is simplyā¦
American Beautyberry ā Callicarpa americana
Every so often, I come across a plant Iāve been hunting for and I get pretty excited. That was the case this week when I finally tracked down American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) a native shrub thatās been on my wish list for quite a whileā¦.
With Dogwood Tree Cuttings Shorter Cuttings Work Best
A couple months ago I managed to root a dogwood tree from cuttings. Only 1 of 3 cuttings rooted but I still considered it a success. After all it was the first time I had managed to root a dogwood tree from a cutting. Youā¦
āOctober Gloryā Maple Tree (Acer rubrum)
Over the weekend I planted an āOctober Gloryā maple tree. I chose this tree as one of my first fall plantings of 2025 for a several reasons. One of those reasons was a little sentimental. You see when my wife and I bought our firstā¦
Maple Varieties and Fall Color
Fall color is one of the main reasons I garden. If you followed this website for a while you may remember the Fall Color project I hosted where Garden Bloggers from all over posted about their fall color and we shared our autumn experiences. Forā¦
15 Perennials to Divide in Fall
Fall is a great time for many garden activities and could be considered one of the best times to divide perennials. The temperatures in fall drop and plants are finishing up their growing for the season. Dividing now allows them time to regenerate roots andā¦
What to Do in Your Garden in Late August | Late Summer Gardening Tips
Late August is an important time in the garden. The summer heat is still with us, but cooler weather is on the way. For gardeners in zone 7, this is the point where preparation meets transitionāwrapping up the summer season while setting the stage forā¦
Thank you for visiting Growing The Home Garden! I started Growing The Home Garden in 2007 as a way to chronicle my experiences in the garden.
All the content here is based on my personal experiences and research. A lot of my content is focused onĀ raised bed gardeningĀ andĀ plant propagation.
There is also a YouTube Channel for Growing the Home Garden which is over 38,000 subscribers (as of March 2024) that has a lot of gardening videos you may find helpful.Ā Growing The Home Garden on YouTube. Thanks for reading and watching!
Raised Bed Gardening
How Deep do Raised Garden Beds Need To Be?
Raised beds are a great option for gardeners but how deep do they really need to be? The depth of a raised garden bed is an important factor to consider because it can greatly impact the health and productivity of your plants. The true answer to How deep do raised gardens need to be really is it depends! What theā¦
Raised Bed Garden Ideas (Planning for the New Garden)
Pretty soon weāll be relocating to our new home. Our family is very excited about this but it also means starting the garden all over again. Everything including raised beds, sheds, and arbors will have to be rebuilt. While this is a tremendous amount of work I think itās a great opportunity to start again and redevelop our garden withā¦
How to Fill Raised Beds Cheap!
I love gardening in raised beds. It is one of the simplest ways to have success with a vegetable garden. That doesnāt take anything away from all the other methods of gardening, only that I believe that raised beds are a great way for gardeners of all backgrounds and skill levels to garden successfully. The best reason to like raisedā¦
Common Raised Bed Garden Questions Answered
Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post Iāve taken some common raised bed garden questions and put together some answers based on my experience. Iāve grown inā¦
Plant Propagation Information
Plant propagation is one of my favorite things to do in the garden! Below are some articles on how to propagate various plants. You can also check this page out with specific info on plant propagation: Plant Propagation for Home Gardens
5 Methods to Propagate Plants!
Hereās a topic Iām a huge fan of: PLANT PROPAGATION!Ā Iāve talked about it repeatedly and those of you who have followed Growing The Home Garden over the years have seen some of my plant propagation experiments.Ā I thought for todayās Friday Five post Iā¦
Growing a Beautiful Japanese Dappled Willow (Salix integra) in the Garden
Several weeks ago I wrote a post about one of my favorite shrubs, the Japanese Dappled Willow āHakuro Nishikiā (Salix integra). Itās a fast growing variegated willow that works well as a privacy screen and is hardy in zones 4-9. Itās deciduous so it willā¦
How to Propagate Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
Ninebark (Physocarpus) is a beautiful garden shrub that grows up to around 10 ft tall in the right location. Many varieties of ninebark have been developed for gardeners including āDiaboloāā¢/āDiabloāā¢ and āCoppertinaāā¢ and can be a great addition to add a nice copper color toā¦
How to Propagate Arborvitae from Cuttings
As always Iām excited to get new plants through plant propagation and Iām pretty excited to add 5 new dwarf arborvitae to the collection!Ā I bought the āLittle Giantā arborvitae (Thuja occindentalis) last fall on the discount rack and planted two of them in theā¦
8 Popular Plant Propagation Posts!
Since so much of the garden right now is suffering from lack of adequate rainfall I thought it might be a good time to look back at a few past plant propagation posts.Ā Some of these are favorites of mine and hopefully they will beā¦
How to Propagate Elderberry Bush: Transplanting and Propagating
Over the years the side garden area of our yard has gradually grown into a small forest area. My kids call the area āthe thicket.ā They play in the pathways Iāve cut through. Over time the sassafras trees have grown tall changing the hillside fromā¦
Growing Home Vegetable Gardens
Articles with tips and ideas on how to grow a great vegetable garden.
Fast Growing Vegetable Garden Plants
When your goal is to produce food from your garden as fast as possible you want to select vegetable plants that have a very quick turn around. When we are discussing fast growing vegetables we need to look at the days to maturity. Days to maturity means the approximate days from germination until harvest. Notice two important words here: fromā¦
Edible Landscaping for Beginners: Elements of a Sustainable Plan
In my last post I told you how to begin planning for an edible landscape and how to determine what to grow. Today letās examine what elements you need to incorporate into the plan. Ā With an edible landscape we need to focus on one thing: sustainability. Ā Sustainability is a word used a lot these days and for our gardening goalsā¦
How to Direct Sow Squash and Zucchini Seeds
As far as gardening chores go direct sowing squash and zucchini seeds is a very easy task for any home gardener to accomplish. In fact itās a great one to do with young children who you want to encourage to get outdoors and in the garden. Squash and zucchini seeds are large seeds that are easy for kids to handleā¦.
Edible Landscaping for Beginners
This week we began a series of posts on edible landscaping. Ā Below you will find several articles to get started on creating a productive and beautiful edible landcape. Ā There are many more articles to come in this series so please check back or bookmark this post for updates! How to Begin a Plan Create a āTo Growā list, identify aā¦
Garden Techniques to Deal with the Summer Heat and High Temperatures
Summertime in Tennessee will be HOT. No doubt about it! We frequently get into the upper 90ās and sometimes it can last for several days in a row. You need a plan for your garden to deal with the hot temperatures. Most warm season plants that you grow will do fine with a few basic techniques for dealing with theā¦
5 Vegetables I Will Always Grow In My Garden
It probably seems early and with scattered snow it certain feels early but itās never too early to start thinking about the vegetable garden! Store bought vegetables just donāt thrill me the way the fresh garden picked varieties do. It makes sense when you consider that garden grown vegetables donāt have to be picked days before use just to beā¦