September Garden To Do List

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

Fritillary Caterpillar and Butterfly

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

Dry, Dry, Dry

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

An Undersung Herb – Sage (Salvia officinalis)

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

A Bounty of Purple Podded Pole Beans

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

8 Popular Plant Propagation Posts!

rooting coleus cuttings

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

Time to Blitz the Bermuda!

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

It’s Not Time To Pick Cotton Yet!

Ornamental cotton

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

Beautyberry Berries In Color

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

The Border Garden – with a Border!

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

The Long View

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

The Vines Look Sad

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

Another Episode of Dealing with Deer

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

‘Old Time Tennessee’ Melon

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

It’s Been a While!

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

August 2011 GROW Project Update

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

Randomness Around the Garden

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

Searching the Cosmos

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

Weekend Garden Chore: The Vegetable Garden

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

Simple Potting Arrangement for the Front Porch

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

How to Propagate Winter Jasmine by Taking Advantage of Aerial Roots

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

My Dad

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

Bee Photography

Here are a few pictures of the bees in my garden.  I hope you enjoy the beeutiful photos! Bee on a coneflower Purple Coneflower Bee on a sunflower Sunflower Bee on a cosmos flower Cosmos Bee on verbena Verbena bonariensis  Bee on ‘Oranges and Lemons’ Gaillardia ‘Oranges and Lemons’ Gaillardia Two Bees on coneflower ‘Sunset’ … Read more

‘Primal Scream’ Daylily AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

The other day I mentioned I had another daylily that was about to bloom called ‘Primal Scream’, well that daylily is screaming now! ‘Primal Scream’ has large orange blooms that have faint hints of reddish coloring in the outer edges of the petals and a more true orange color the further toward the center. I … Read more

I Have Two Huge…

Hollyhocks! These plants are simply enormous. I haven’t measured them but a rough estimate of six and a half feet sounds very realistic. Unfortunately they are in a really bad location – flanking our front walkway. I should have transplanted them last year to another location more suitable but either didn’t think of it or … Read more

Blooming Daylilies

Daylilies are one of those plants every garden should have. Unfortunately I’ve been lax in adding daylilies to the garden over the years. I’m not sure why really. It might be the fact that daylilies in the garden centers aren’t all that thrilling and that is where I do most of my shopping. I’ve perused … Read more

How to Make a Simple DIY Home Plant Propagation System

Making your own plant propagation chamber is not a difficult task at all. For the home gardener who is only doing a few cuttings at a time propagate plants for friends and family a plant propagation chamber can be a VERY simple project. In fact you can put together a simple home plant propagation chamber … Read more

A Few Nifty June Flower Photos

The month of June brings many new blooms to the garden. Summer blooming perennials are filling the garden with color. Everywhere you look plants are flowering. Here are a few perennial photos of what is blooming in the garden right now! Beautyberry Bush The beautyberry bush is well known for it’s berries but those berries … Read more

Looking Longingly at Lycopersicon!

Those hot days of summer are here again, and while were all complaining about our excess perspiration, lack of precipitation, and all kinds of heat related aggravation – good things are growing. Take the terrific tomato for example! Botanically speaking the tomato is known as Lycopersicon esculentum but I’ll just stick with tomato — or … Read more

Seed GROW 2011

It’s time for the SeedGROW project of 2011!  Last year Mr. BrownThumb and Renee’s Seeds sponsored the first SeedGROW project where Renee sent seeds to volunteer bloggers to document the seed growing experience. Nasturtiums were the seeds selected for last year and this year has a couple more garden favorites including lettuce, basil, and marigolds. … Read more

June Garden To-Do List 2011

There are always a ton of things to do in the garden when the growing season is in full swing. Hopefully most of the garden is set up and ready to go with only general maintenance needing the gardeners attention but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes projects pop up, problems arise, and then sometimes … Read more

On Memorial Day

To our veterans and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice, thank you. Without your sacrifice our country and our world would not be as it is today. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the rights accorded to us through the Declaration of Independence, were what you fought for, what you protected, and … Read more

Cool Companion Plant Combos: Achillea and Asiatic Lily

Sometimes I plan really well and gardens come together perfectly, sometimes I don’t, — and sometimes I get lucky! Luck is the case with the combination of Achillea and Asiatic Lily that I’m about to show you. Maybe I was thinking that because both plants started with the letter ‘A’ that they would go well … Read more

Three Yellow Perennials in My Garden

Yarrow, Yellow Achillea

Yellow is a color that just seems to brighten things up. It’s like bringing  a little sunshine to the earth and into the garden. Most of my yellow plants love soaking up the sun which is great since shade in my garden is extremely limited. Today I’m showing you 3 of the yellow perennials from … Read more

Sounds of the Cicadas

In case you happen to not be in cicada territory and don’t have the joy of listening to their “soothing music” here’s a video of our backyard with our local cicadas from brood 2011 blaring in the background. The sound in the trees is deafening and after 45 minutes of being outside your head begins … Read more

Caryopteris Snow Fairy

It’s always fun to plant new plants in the garden! I’m sure you agree! Caryopteris has been one of my favorite perennials for a couple years now and I’ve gradually developed a hedge of caryopteris along one side of our yard. The hedge row was inspired by a picture I once saw of a caryopteris … Read more

Propagating Chamaecyparis!

I’m always excited to learn how to propagate something new. Recently I’ve managed to get a few cuttings of a dwarf chamaecyparis to successfully root. I started the cuttings back in the fall and kept them overwintered in the garden shed. I didn’t have any bottom heat even though I’m sure that would have sped … Read more

A Few Blooming May Flowers!

It’s a good thing I took several pictures toward the end of last week since the rain and dreary weather has dampened much of the garden. Sunny days are ahead but until then all we have are a few photos of flowers from the gardens. That will just have to do! Up first we have … Read more

Cicadas are Here and Humming

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 … Read more

The Winner is…

First of all let me apologize for the delay. I had hoped to announce this this morning but Blogger (the blogging platform I use for The Home Garden) has been down since Thursday evening. I was unable to write anything about the drawing for the Dupont Weed Fabric and Lowe’s Gift Card until now. I … Read more

Greenland Gardener Raised Beds – Part 2

A few weeks ago I told you about the Greenland Gardener raised bed system. It consisted of several composite boards that could be put together using specially made corners also made from composite lumber. With composite materials you don’t have to worry about the materials breaking down which is a huge advantage over typical lumber. … Read more

Filling Raised Beds with Layering

The layering technique is my favorite way of filling new or replenishing already established raised beds. Layering (also called Lasagna Gardening) doesn’t require tilling the soil which can disturb the lives of beneficial microbes and soil dwelling organisms. It also doesn’t destroy the soil structure (assuming you have something better than clay or sand!) Often … Read more

Win DuPont Biodegradable Weed Fabric and $100 Lowe’s Gift Card!

A couple weeks ago a representative for DuPont contacted me and asked me to review one of their products. It was a weed control fabric (DuPont Garden O.N.E® Biodegradable Weed Control Fabric). I was skeptical about it at first (since weed control fabrics and myself don’t usually get along) but I said go ahead and … Read more

My Plant Yard Sale Experience

As you probably know (or have guessed by now) my dream job/career would be to own my own nursery. I’ve thought about different ways to do this and researched quite a few options. Ideally I would work from home and be able to produce plants for retail nurseries or landscapers. That dream is still a … Read more

My Favorite Native: Honeysuckle!

This time of year the native honeysuckle growing on my arbor is one of the showiest flowers around. Tons of flowers are covering the controllable version of lonicera. The native honeysuckle goes by the name of Lonicera sempervirens and not Lonicera japonica. I have the exotic foreigner too but it came with the garden! And … Read more

The Scene Around the Arbor

A couple years ago I was fortunate to participate in the Better Homes and Gardens 48 Hour Blog Challenge. Three other blogs and myself competed with projects subject to online voting to see who would win. The winner took home $5000, unfortunately it wasn’t me but the whole project was fun anyway – and it … Read more

Garden Shed – April Video Update!

This is the first video update from the garden shed. Hopefully I’ll be able to add more videos to The Home Garden over time include how-to’s and mini-garden tours! I hope you enjoy the look inside my messy construction and plant filled shed. Please be forgiving, as always it is a work in progress!

And the Willows Grow…

One of the first plants I began planting here in our garden/landscape was the Japanese dappled willow ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ (Salix integra). It’s a beautiful shrub willow with dappled foliage that is said to grow from 10-12 feet tall. I planted it for several reasons. First of all I liked it! The dappled foliage gives three … Read more

Starting Seeds for Basil and Pepper in Peat Pellets

It’s time for another seed starting update for our basil and peppers in peat pellets. I plant basil and peppers every year for our vegetable garden. I find that basil is indispensable as a seasoning and for making pesto. Basil also has a some companion planting benefits when planted alongside the vegetables in the garden … Read more

April is for Awesome Blooms!

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 … Read more

Making A Dry Creek Bed Drainage Canal for Downspouts

What should we do with this sedum garden? That’s a question we asked ourselves several times. It was at one time a sedum garden but for some reason most of the sedum died over last summer. They may have been too wet, too dry, or both! The gutter from the garage roof gushes out water … Read more

Creeping Phlox and Border Rocks

It seems to me that phlox and rocks just go well together. It’s not just the rhyming sounds that make the words blend but it’s how the plants and rocks function together. Creeping phlox just loves to wrap itself around nearby objects and rocks are no exception! When I added the border rocks to the … Read more