Dave 
This year I invested some money into heat mat. I’ve heard for years how bottom heat speeds up seedling and root growth and I thought it was high time I got my act in gear. So toward the end of last year I ordered one. And let me say, I’m enjoying it already! It’s not … Read more
Are you looking for something, anything to keep you going until spring time? Are you frantically searching the garden for signs of life? Here are two early signs to look for that will tell you spring is just around the corner! The daffodils are rising! The foliage of daffodils always comes up early but these … Read more
This year I thought I’d try to start something on each Friday. At the end of each work week I’ll make a list of five things from the garden. They could be anything, everything is fair garden, as long as it can be related to the garden! To start things off I’m going to mention … Read more
This year I’ll be adding a little bit of my garden writing to a local website called Spring Hill Fresh. Their goal is to highlight Spring Hill, TN and the local area which is one of the fastest growing areas of Tennessee. Spring Hill Fresh offers us locals news about current events, local happenings, and local … Read more
This time of year I spend some time looking back at old photos from the garden. It’s fun to see how stuff looked back when it was growing, when leaves were on the trees, and at the most a cold wind only brought you down into the 80’s on the old thermometer. So if you’re … Read more
You have raised beds in your backyard ready to go for spring vegetables but over the winter what are they doing? Are they just sitting there? I’m sure this idea has occurred to some of you before. Why not use the raised beds over the winter to propagate a few plants? The amazing thing is … Read more
Every year I put out a list of my intended gardening projects that I personally want to accomplish this year. Then back at the end of the year I review them to see how I’ve done. This year is a little tricky. I have quite a few projects leftover from last year that I still … Read more
This post is a post I’ve been dreading. Mainly because this year has been tough, probably the toughest I’ve ever had to live through. My garden projects fell by the wayside. My projects and ambitions just didn’t matter when compared to the situations that the course of life brought us through. But we’re getting through … Read more
I would like to wish you and your family a safe and very merry Christmas season! Photos: Nandina berries (top left), eastern red cedar under snow(middle left), blue garden shed (bottom left), happy little bluebird in snow (middle bottom), daffodil coming up in a March snow (bottom right), Our Snow covered house (top right). Coming … Read more
‘Autumn Joy’ Sedum seed heads persist through winter. This time of year the flowers are mostly faded and few things have retained enough foliage to be markedly interesting. But those faded flowers have left something behind – seeds! Seeds can do a few of very cool things: They sustain the plant species for the coming … Read more
I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial. The one where a couple is in an elevator, then elevator music happens and they recognize it as the theme song to Lexus commercials. That’s when it dawns on the unsuspecting member of the couple that the other one is giving them a Lexus for Christmas. Those commercials are … Read more
With many gardening activities slowing down and the temperatures dropping (although yesterday the temperature was actually near 70 degrees!) I spend much more time indoors. Fortunately I can still enjoy the great outdoors by watching the birds stop by to visit the bird feeders. Here are a few of the visitors who stopped by for … Read more
Here’s the situation. I have two pots on my front steps which each house an arrangement of Dusty Miller and cordyline. The problem is the cordyline is looking a little worse for wear. It’s not supposed to be hardy here in Tennessee but so far it’s stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive despite cold temperatures in the … Read more
Technically my title is completely incorrect! We did have snow in January and February but this is the first snowfall of the coming winter season. And technically this isn’t even officially winter yet. I’m just breaking all the rules for this post! I’m going wild! Anyway…yesterday we had a light snowfall. It was the kind … Read more
On Monday I posted about 5 Plants I Want in Every Garden. In case you missed it the post was about plants that should I ever move I will plant again in the new garden. As several of the commenters pointed out it’s hard to just pick five. With that in mind I’ll add four more … Read more
Our current garden is still a work in progress, as every garden will ever be, but sometimes I like to think about what my next garden will be like. We have no immediate plans to move but one day our growing family will need more room in the house (and with two girls probably more … Read more
Today is December 1st, 2011. The first day of the last month of the year, do you know what that means? Mockingbird on a Frosty Morning Only 137 days left until our last frost date here in Middle Tennessee!!! WOOHOO! OK, I sound completely ridiculous here but think about all the stuff that has to … Read more
Yes deer season is in full swing, but that’s not what I’m shooting! The other day I ventured around the garden just to see what was growing (and what wasn’t), what was blooming (and what wasn’t), and what I needed to get done (or put off/procrastinate). In the latter category there is a mountain of … Read more
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and your family have a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with fun, family, and of course food!
The shovel, the rake, and the hoe. Three tools no gardener should be without. Ever. They dig, they grade, and the chop the earth. They cut roots and aid the gardener in tilling when the tiller is kaput. While they take a little muscle to use they are capable of great deeds, such as Bermuda … Read more
This time of year it’s interesting to see which plants are still performing well. If we pay attention to how things perform and how long they last we can make better decisions when designing our gardens with plants in the future. If you want to extend the foliage we need to note which plants have … Read more
Of all the fall colors I’ve seen this year the Japanese maples seem to have topped all other trees. This Japanese maple at my mom’s house was figuratively on fire with red foliage lighting up the scenery. I didn’t have my camera with me when it was at its peak but even past peak it’s … Read more
Yesterday in the garden I finally got around to adding more evergreen plants. When the deciduous trees drop their leaves every fall the garden is left bare with very few spots of color. The blank slate of yard we inherited over four years ago has grown and matured every year but there has always been … Read more
It’s finally time to get the chore to end all chores done: cleaning up the vegetable garden. After a year of intermittent neglect, frustration, summer heat, and family tragedy it is definitely time to put this year’s garden under wraps. Mostly under wraps that is. We actually have a crop of greens on the way … Read more
Last year I planted two ‘Winter’s Snowman’ camellias in the front garden. I was hoping that they would bloom last year but alas it was not to be, but they have started blooming this year! The first of the white camellia blooms opened today. It wasn’t fully open when I snapped the picture but I … Read more
Here are a couple pictures of the morning sky through the newly bare trees. The trees with leaves are either oak or eastern cedar depending on where you look. The cedar of course is evergreen but the oaks tend to hang on to their leaves until much later. This old tree is marked for cutting … Read more
This week we had our peak fall color. Not to be confused with a peek at fall color which we will do also!. Our fall color is loaded with maples, sassafras, and a few other trees along the way. We’re gifted to have our property situated on one side of a woods that gives us … Read more
November finds my GROW project seeds from Renee’s Seeds pretty much finished. We’ve had 3-4 frosts which have brought the end to my ‘Yellow Splash’ Marigold and ‘Italian Cameo’ Basil plants. Both of these two annuals did very well in my garden. The basil was tasty and able to take a fair amount of neglect … Read more
I mentioned in my last post I would show you the trees that dad planted. There are quite a few and in this post I really can’t show you all of them but maybe you can see just how much dad loved his trees. This crape myrtle is really a beautiful fall color tree. Most … Read more
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 … Read more
The first frosts are almost always something that this gardener dreads. Mostly because it is the end of the growing season – mostly, some plants will grow on through the winter. But if you look closely at the frost you can also find it is a thing of beauty. Frost on Viburnum x burkwoodii Frost … Read more
Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is one of those beautiful plants for fall color that unfortunately gets mixed up with one of similar appearance but of very ill repute: poison ivy (Rhus radicans). The difference has traditionally been summed up in the phrase “Leaves of three let it be, leaves of five let it thrive!” Physically … Read more
I always wonder exactly when the colors are going to peak. It always seems though that you never quite have it figured out until you’re actually past peak. With that in mind are our fall color peaking? Are the color changing maples, oaks, and sassafras at the height of their autumn radiance? Hopefully not but … Read more
My wife told me today that when I post to one of the other offshoots of this blog I need to let people know with a post here! I should listen to my wife more, but don’t tell her that! So what has been updated? For one the Fall Color Project now has several posts … Read more
Since my garden shed’s construction was complete my updates have been less frequent. OK it’s not really complete yet but the physical structure is finished. (Feel free to check out the YouTube slideshow on the shed’s construction) There is a huge list of things I would like to add or improve on the shed and … Read more
This weekend I found myself in the shed working on some shelving and countertops for the reclaimed cabinets I picked up from the dump (yes I’m that cheap!) I’ll talk more on the garden shed later in the week but for now I thought I’d show you a little of what is going on in … Read more
This week I went to my mom’s house to do a little digging. Back in the late spring we noticed small butterfly bush seedlings beginning to sprout in the pathway’s of her vegetable garden. As they grew large enough to transplant the weather became hot and transplanting wasn’t a great idea. Then my father passed … Read more
It’s taken me all summer to get to it but I’m finally taking the first steps toward changing the vegetable garden to the parterre layout. I had some of the blocks sitting around for months now and others I borrowed from our patio sidewalk expansion which I just haven’t had time to get to this … Read more
It’s been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden. Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I’ll share a few photos of the various garden areas. The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem … Read more
You’ve seen it before I’m sure. A surprise plant or two coming up where you would least expect it. A bird may have moved the seed around, or maybe it was caught can carried along on the wind. But have you ever had a whole garden just appear ready to go? I have! Now it’s … Read more
‘Bluecrop’ Blueberry Bush As I indicated in my last post about the two camellias in one pot I’m always looking for ways to garden cheap. Imagine my excitement when I stumbled across some ‘Bluecrop’ blueberries that are normally over $20 marked down to $5 each! Of course I snatched two up (I might have gotten … Read more
When you garden cheap (or try to) you look for all those little tricks that will help save a few dollars. Plant propagation is one of my favorite tricks but here’s another money saving trick that pops up from time to time: multiple plants! Sometimes plant propagators stick more than one cutting in a pot … Read more
No this isn’t some heavy weight boxing fight over on pay-per-view. This is a garden blog after all! This is a comparison between two very similar fall flowering perennials that really are heavy weight garden stand outs! This battle is between ‘Sheffield Pink’ and ‘Clara Curtis’ – the pink mums! In this corner we have … Read more
You may have noticed a few changes here at The Home Garden lately. The changes are not completely set into how I want them to be yet but they are well on their way! You may be wondering why did I change things? To start off there were some major issues going on with something … Read more
As always I’m excited to get new plants through plant propagation and I’m pretty excited to add 5 new dwarf arborvitae to the collection! I bought the ‘Little Giant’ arborvitae (Thuja occindentalis) last fall on the discount rack and planted two of them in the birdbath garden on either side of the pathway to the … Read more
It’s no secret that this has been a challenging year for our family. My father’s health issues and fight with cancer completely drained our enthusiasm and many things have suffered. That is one reason why this fall is so welcome. Fall represents the closing of the growing season. Winter will come soon after and gardening … Read more
I’m a couple days late on my entry for the GROW project so here it is! The Italian Cameo basil is still going strong and is beginning to flower. It’s done well in a soil mix that I think is probably too compacted. I didn’t get a picture of it but it really doesn’t look … Read more
Another month has begun and the list of chores keeps mounting. September’s To-Do List didn’t get completed and those items may need attention in my garden this month too. The weather is nothing short of stunning in October with warm sunshine and cool days, and as long as time is available gardening is a top … Read more
Featured in today’s photo post are two types of gaillardia, ‘Oranges and Lemons’ as well as offspring of ‘Oranges and Lemons’! The offspring gaillardia is more of the typical gaillardia (Blanket flower) with the dark red flower petals highlighted with yellow on the tips. It’s a beautiful flower that starts blooming and doesn’t quit until … Read more
Each month on the last Wednesday Gail at Clay and Limestone hosts Wildflower Wednesday where bloggers can display and share their wildflower photos. Here’s a little bit of the wildness that is my garden! Is there a wildflower more associated with fall than goldenrod? Scarlet sage (Salvia coccinea) is a self sowing annual here in … Read more
Is this the ultimate fall flower? Yellow Mums According to Robert Bornstein via Twitter and Stephanie via Facebook Or is this it? Goldenrod (Solidago) According to Suzy via Twitter Or is this it? Shasta Daisy According to Joyce via Facebook Or is it something else? What is the ultimate fall flower? Bloggers please remember the … Read more
Red Spider Lily that is! This Saturday I was mowing and passed by one of the garden beds on my riding mower when this bright red flower jumped out at me. Did it really jump? Nope but one day it wasn’t there and now here it is. Spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) are also called a … Read more
I have repeatedly written about how awesome salvias are. I hope you’re not tired of that kind of talk because your about to get another dose! Salvias are one of the easiest to care for perennials around. During fall they bloom profusely. They aren’t bothered terribly by heat and in many cases thrive in dry … Read more
This spring I bought this pineapple sage at a garden show fully expecting it to thrive and burst into colorful red blooms. Well I can say one thing, it is thriving! For some reason the blooms are just now beginning to form despite it growing to a size of about three and a half feet … Read more
This year I’m determined to grow more out of my vegetable garden than the typical summer tomato! In the past I’ve managed to sustain herbs like cilantro throughout the winter but haven’t been determined enough to nurture many vegetables other than spinach throughout the cold months. (It’s hard to get psyched up to run out … Read more
Oak leaf hydrangeas are an awesome landscape shrub to add to the garden. They get big and need room and enjoy part shade/part sun locations but if you have the right spot for one by all means add one! I’m always trying to propagate a few more but they tend to be rather tricky to … Read more
Hi there! I’m taking over dad’s blog today and giving you a bit of a tour of the garden. Or at least of the things I like about the garden! I’m not quite sure what he’s trying to do out there. He digs a lot, sticks funny plants in the ground, and dumps water out … Read more
Here’s just a quick post to share a few photos! Enjoy the red mums of fall! From bud… To blossoming… …to flower! Don’t forget to join in the 2011 Fall Color Project when your fall colors are at their peak!
It’s been a couple months since I’ve participated in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day so I figured I was due for a post! Amazingly despite a summer of neglect the garden has quite a few reliable blooms to share. If you like to think on the positive side you could consider the neglect as a test … Read more
The fall vegetable garden is coming along! It never fails to fill me with excitement when those freshly planted seeds grow into seedlings. Especially when the seedlings were planted naturally through self-sowing as is the case with my cilantro. Cilantro is one of those expensive to buy but easy to grow plants. It likes it … Read more
Since fall is approaching at breakneck speed it’s worth taking time to mention one of the most important aspects of fall – the leaves! Or more specifically what to do with them! First here’s what not to do with your fall leaves: Don’t burn them – the most wasteful thing you can do. Don’t bag … Read more
This weekend I tackled two major garden tasks that were all about preparing the garden for fall. Task one was planting a few seeds in the vegetable garden. That task was fairly quick and easy to do in my circular raised bed. The other beds are mess still with summer vegetables going everywhere. I need … Read more
It’s been a while since I’ve talked much about plant propagation so that means it’s time to talk plant propagation! Here’s a picture update of what has been rooting in my garden. Almost all the following plants were kept in my simple plant propagation chamber (that’s a fancy name for the two big plastic boxes … Read more
Broken branch of a crape myrtle Sometimes in gardening, as in life, we experience bad breaks. We don’t intend for these to happen, they just do. Whether caused by too much stress, mistakes, or happenstance the only power we have over these breaks is to clean up and hope for the best. Such is the … Read more
The past weekend I set out to complete small project with a little help from my gardening assistant. The goal was to put together a small pathway made from cheap concrete stepping stones that would lead up to the front porch area of my garden shed. Prior to this the area was weedy. So weedy … Read more
Since Labor Day is the unofficial/official end of summer I guess that means it’s time to start thinking about fall! And what else do you think about with fall? FALL COLOR! Which means it’s time for The Home Garden’s annual Fall Color Project! Since 2008 The Fall Color Project has been bringing fall color from … Read more
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 … Read more
It seems like I’ve blinked and it’s gone from May to September! This summer has been a complete blur to me, but that’s how life is sometimes. Needless to say there are many garden chores that are coming up that will need done this month. Here’s my September garden chore list! Finish pruning trees and … Read more
One of the fun side events caused by the gardening habit is the witnessing of nature’s amazing works. Lately I’ve been seeing quite a bit of the fritillary butterfly in its various stages of growth. It’s probably the gulf fritillary butterfly but there are several different kinds in our area and even though I’m a … Read more
The dry season is well upon us. Here in Tennessee we haven’t seen a drop of rain in two weeks and even that was only .12 inches (at least in our garden). I’m not sure how long the plants can hang on without a good dose of liquid from the sky. And despite my repeated … Read more
Late this winter (or early this spring) I was contacted to try out some of John and Bob’s Organic Soil Amendments. They have a variety of different formulations that contain humus, beneficial minerals, and microbes that help the soil do what it does best – feed the plants! They sent me several things to test … Read more
I think I’ve failed to fully express my appreciation for my culinary sage. So let’s fix that! Sage (or Salvia officinalis) is one of those herbs that I use in all kinds of culinary concoctions from soup to seasonings. Almost any kind of meat tastes better with fresh sage. Chicken, meatloaf, turkey, just about everything…it’s … Read more
The heat and lack of rain are taking their toll on the vegetable garden here in late August but there is always something to talk about! The tomatoes are still producing but really could use some good irrigation from the sky. The garden is ready for some cleaning up and soon I will need to … Read more
Beans are simply the best vegetable in the garden. I know, all you people out there who hate eating your greens disagree, but really when you compare factors like the ease of growing, pests, and diseases beans really win out. In many cases beans will just continue to grow when other plants halt in the … Read more
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. Some of these are favorites of mine and hopefully they will be useful for you too! Propagating Shrubs: ‘Shasta’ Viburnum plicatum var. … Read more
Every gardener has an enemy, a nemesis, an evil villain that lurks in the garden that the garden would love to eradicate. I’ve had an invader this year that has been more aggressive than ever before – Bermuda grass. Once it gets a foothold in the garden it is extremely hard to hold back, let … Read more
Along one side of our property there is a narrow strip of land between the house and our neighbors’ properties. There isn’t much room to do a whole lot of gardening (or so I originally thought) and this side of the house felt exposed when we bought our home in 2007. This is how it … Read more
Before reading a certain garden blogger’s post I had never heard of a cotton plant with dark foliage (Gossypium herbaceum ‘Nigra’). Then this spring Nancy Ondra of Hayefield emailed me and asked if I would like to try some seeds. Me being the seed collecting addict I am I said of course! She also sent … Read more
This post is a little bit of a Hodge-podge of topics. A conglomeration of a couple of interesting things and one maybe no so much for you (but something I can whine warn you about!) Sunrise This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise that highlighted the early morning clouds. I snapped I picture from our … Read more
One of the precursors to fall is the beautyberry. Much like the forsythias harken the arrival of spring the beautyberries are always reliably beautiful beginning this time of year. The blooms of summer gradually have transformed from small white blossoms into clusters of tiny purple gems. Our beautyberry is now in its third year in … Read more
This summer heat, humidity, and assorted family issues have kept me behind in most of my goals. One of which was expanding the side border garden so that the caryopteris wasn’t completely absorbing the whole area. I tend to take a more conservative approach to pruning my caryopteris and consequently I didn’t prune them back … Read more
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 … Read more
But the harvest ain’t bad! Just look at this bunch of tomatoes: The round orange tomatoes are ‘Woodle Orange’, the round red ones are volunteers, the small and slightly purple tinted are some ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomatoes that didn’t grow as larges as they should have, and the elongated orange tomatoes are ‘Orange Icicle.’ The cherry … Read more
I’m a little late on this list since we’re already over a week into August but over weekend I’ve come up with a list of things that I need to accomplish in the garden this month. As is very easy to do the garden has gotten away from me and with the start of football … Read more
For while I thought the deer were gone. Then this spring we saw the telltale signs of the whitetail deer. The hoof prints, the nibbles and the um…other signs. Then came the sightings. A single doe came strolling through the backyard taking nibbles of various plants. Fortunately most of the plants in our garden are … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
It’s been a long long while since I’ve updated this page about my garden shed. Of course if you follow me on the main The Home Garden page you probably know why my garden activities have slowed down over the last couple months. I won’t go into detail in this post but if you follow … Read more
Marigold ‘Yellow Splash’ It’s the second day of August which means it’s time to see how the GROW project seeds have fared since our July Update! ‘Yellow Splash’ Marigolds As you can see in the picture to the right we’re starting to get a few flowers on the ‘Yellow Splash’ marigolds in the vegetable garden. … Read more
This was one of those weekends where my garden time was fairly limited. I still managed to get outdoors some and accomplish a few little things. The biggest task was putting together the garden cart for my mower. It took almost two hours. That’s probably where most of my outdoor time went but when it … Read more
One of the more unusual vegetables I am growing this years is the ‘Trombetta’ climbing squash. Its name is derived from the Italian word for bugle or trumpet which is the shape it resembles. ‘Trombetta’ is a climbing squash that when ideally placed has the strong support of an arbor or trellis on which to … Read more
Some days it’s good to go outside and stare off into the cosmos. As you gaze you begin to wonder what’s out there in the cosmos? Is there life to be found somewhere out in the cosmos? Not here, but we’ll keep looking. Maybe here, we should look a little closer… What do we have … Read more
You hear a lot of us garden bloggers always talking about what to do in the vegetable garden, but what about what not to do? We all make mistakes. We all do things that can be categorized under “OOPS”. I’m going to share one of those “OOPS” moments with you today that quite frankly I’m … Read more
I had a very productive weekend! It’s been a while since I spent so much time outdoors and despite the heat, the sun, the sweat, and big case of farmer’s tan a bunch of chores were accomplished. One surprise though was my potatoes. The potato bed was overrun with Bermuda grass as I mentioned the … Read more
Over the last two months life has thrown many curveballs that have beaned the batter on numerous occasions. You would think that I’d be making some runs here or there but unfortunately I seem to be getting out at third every time. What does this baseball analogy have to do with anything? Well sometimes we … Read more
I’m not big into potted plants, but maybe I should be. There’s something satisfying about having a garden 100% complete and only having to maintain it with a little watering and a smattering of organic fertilizer. Essentially a potted arrangement is just a simple miniature garden complete within itself. Of course you can get as … Read more
You all know how much I like making new plants, but you should also know that I really like it when plants make it easy for the propagator. Many plants do just that by creating aerial roots that normally will be used to grab onto surfaces and climb. Vining plants (of course) are especially good … Read more
To say that this month has been difficult is an understatement. My time in the garden has been minimal and its current state is more akin to a wild meadow (and that’s being kind) than a well tended garden at the moment. Fortunately we still have some very reliable blooming flowers to show for Garden … Read more
Have I ever told you much about my dad? Probably not. I normally keep this blog close to the garden subject area. Sometimes I stray and talk about my kids, but there is usually a gardening slant. I suppose today will be no different because my dad has always been supportive of my gardening projects. … Read more
Another second of the month has arrived and it’s time for an update on my seeds for the 2011 GROW project! Here’s the Italian Cameo Basil – I have it planted in a container but I suspect the soil mix is too heavy for the basil. Its growth has been fairly limited over the last … Read more