New Leaves and Catkins on ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ Dappled Willow

The greening of the willows! It’s just more evidence that we’ve left winter behind and are heading full speed into spring. The leaves on the ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ dappled willows are emerging. And so are the catkins! The catkins are the reproductive mechanism of many plants like willows and birches.  Willows are dioecious and have separate … Read more

Garden Shed Plant Propagation Update

This year was the first year I’ve been able to house my cuttings in the garden shed. It’s been great so far. There’s no heat but the plants have been protected from the coldest of the winter lows. Essentially I’ve moved them 1-2 heat zones south without having to leave my yard.  Here’s a look … Read more

The Arbor, Daffodils, and the Front Garden

It really seems that spring has sprung already. The warm temperatures have brought everything to life, I only hope that the plants aren’t doomed by the next freeze happens to come along. It’s reminiscent of the spring of 2007. Back then we had an early warm-up followed by a hard freeze that damaged a significant … Read more

The First Daffodils of 2011

The daffodils are officially in bloom here in my Tennessee Garden! Every year I like to mark the beginning of the daffodil blooms as it is one of the many signs of spring. (Coming very soon: Forsythia) It’s hard not to get excited about spring’s arrival after such a cold winter isn’t it? The first … Read more

Henbit is Here!

Coming soon to a lawn or garden near you … Henbit (Lamium amplexicauli)! The cover-all-lawns-with-purple-spring-color ground cover. If you’re tired of the green look – consider purple. It’s easy care with absolutely no maintenance and pollinator friendly! You don’t even have to plant it as henbit will find its own way to your lawn. It’s … Read more

Over the Weekend

The weather this past weekend was perfect for outdoor gardening activities! Unfortunately we are still a good six weeks away from safe outdoor planting and many of the tasks on my long term spring agenda need to wait until the frosts are done, but there is always something that can be done! Garden preparation! By … Read more

A February Garden Shed Update!

It’s been a very, very long time since I mentioned anything new with the garden shed. Today I went out and took a look around at my overwintered plants, watered a few things, and saw some good signs that most of my plants made it through the winter – at least so far! Garden Shed … Read more

Garden Shed February Update

It’s been a long while since I’ve mentioned anything about the goings on in my garden shed world. This should take too long, after all it is February, not much is growing, and it’s a small world afterall! Let’s dig right in and look to see how things have overwintered! Right now I’m using my … Read more

A Thank You!

I wanted to say thank you to Barbara Wise for an excellent container gardening presentation this past weekend at the Spring Hill Garden Club Meeting! The slides and photos of the work you do were fantastic and the garden club appreciated seeing the ideas created by a expert in the field of container gardening. It … Read more

Give Things that Live!

When gift giving holidays are upon us (and happen during the growing season) I like to find gifts that can be planted in the ground and will give back the pleasure of the first gift many times over. I did that again this year with Valentine’s Day. My usual gift to my wife is the … Read more

Nashville Lawn and Garden Show

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show is coming up soon, here’s the info! Press Release: Tennessee’s Largest, Most Popular Gardening Event ! Thursday, March 3 – Sunday, March 6 at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Live Gardens + Thousands of Blooming Plants + Free Lectures Floral Design Gallery + 250 Exhibit Booths Tickets are available now … Read more

Merry Christmas…In February?

This winter has just been weird. The weather, despite the weather prognosticators claiming a milder winter back in fall, has been colder than usual. Today’s snowfall just makes it seems like a second white Christmas here in Tennessee. Now before those of you north of here disparage what I’m saying keep in mind that Tennessee … Read more

Food Production Systems DVD Video (Review)

Recently I received an email asking me to review a video all about backyard food production systems. I was curious so I said sure. I grow a large vegetable garden in the backyard every year and if there were ideas inside this DVD that I could use and incorporate into my garden it might be … Read more

Winter Sowing, Shallot Seedlings, and Seed Sowing Saturday!

Last week was the first Seed Sowing Saturday on The Home Garden! Starting Seed Sowing Saturday has  definitely motivated my planning, thinking, and preparations for the seed starting this year. I failed this week in one element of my seed plans – the planning! I had intended to put together a list of the seeds … Read more

The Circular Raised Bed

After being cooped up all winter my daughters and I hightailed it to the backyard and spent the day outdoors digging in the dirt. We accomplished many of the chores I mentioned on Friday (wait they weren’t chores because I enjoyed doing them!). One of those tasks was a rearrangement of the vegetable garden. I … Read more

Growing Shallots from Seed (Seed Sowing Saturday!)

Welcome to the first Seed Sowing Saturday of 2011! Where all of us seed starting fanatics recap our weekly seed starting experiences and share with each other what we’re working on, how we’re doing it all, and of course the results! I chose to start my seed sowing this week by starting shallots. We do … Read more

The Vegetable Garden in January

What can I say really? It’s January and my vegetable garden is awfully sad. The winter air has been colder than Tennessee cold should be.  If I were by myself I might be brave enough to get outdoors but bringing my almost 7 month old son outdoors during the day really isn’t an option. He’ll … Read more

The Lion in My Garden

The Lion stalks through the underbrush. In search of his prey… He stops to inspect his surroundings, … ever aware, ever watchful…  he quickly and stealthily crosses the open spaces for cover, still on the hunt… close now to his prey, he stalks again behind the cover of the underbrush… and fertilizes!

An Unusual Start

The other day I had a surprise. While washing dishes at the kitchen sink I looked over at a small yogurt cup on the counter top to see this: Several small seedlings had appeared from some tomato seeds I was soaking. I’m going to have to admit one of my major failings here to properly … Read more

Seed Sowing Saturday!

Next week I’ll be starting my seed sowing and I wanted to invite all other bloggers to join in to share their experiences. Each Saturday we’ll post about what we’ve done with our seeds, what we’ve selected, what we’ve planted, and how it’s doing. From sowing to growing it’s all fair-game! What can we talk … Read more

Vegetable Garden Layout – Parterre Style!

parterre raised bed garden layout

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 … Read more

My Overwintering Coleus

‘Henna’ Coleus When the outside temperatures began to drop in the fall I knew there were a few tender plants that I wanted to preserve for next year like my coleus. I brought 2 varieties of coleus indoors in the hopes of planting them again in the Spring of 2011 and both are doing good! … Read more

How to Remove Aphids from Ornamental Peppers!

Insect pests (like aphids) are always frustrating to find on your plants. I’ve dealt with aphids many times before but I still never like to find them again. Inevitably I do. Aphids are one of the most common insect pests in every garden. If you garden you will eventually find them on one of your … Read more

Vegetable Garden Layout with Raised Beds for 2011

raised bed garden layout

Another year comes and guess what – I make more changes to my vegetable garden layout! I haven’t done anything yet but below you’ll see what I intend to change from last year’s vegetable garden design. This is step one in altering my garden into what will eventually become an awesome parterre layout. I can … Read more

Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies (A Review)

OK I’ll have to admit when I was sent Sustainable Landscaping For Dummies for a review I had some mixed thoughts with the title. I’m a fan of sustainability, I think it’s of the utmost importance as we remodel our landscapes and improve our homes, but something about the dummy part of the title got … Read more

Taking Flight

When stuck indoors on a cold winter day while layers of snow blanket the ground there isn’t much else to do other than watch the birds! Well maybe there is something else to do but chores are not as much fun!

Covered in …

…SNOW! Yep the southern Blizzard of 2011 got us pretty good this time. We have somewhere around 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Here are a few pictures of our winter wonderland! Snow on the Arbor Snow on the Blue Garden Shed Snow on the butterfly bush Snow on the eastern cedar Snow on … Read more

2010 Garden Project Review!

Last January I came up with 9 garden projects that I wanted to accomplish. As is my tradition over the last several years it’s time to review and see what I actually achieved! The block areas are from my 2010 project list and the bullets are what was accomplished. 1) First and foremost I need … Read more

Looking Ahead

It’s amazing how fast time flies, isn’t it? It seems like just a short time ago I posted my 2010 garden project list (which I can never fully complete!) Soon it will be time to write a new project list and bring back some of those projects that have been hanging around for years! I’ll … Read more

Propagation Continues – Even in Winter!

On Monday while all three of my children were napping at the same time (that is a major feat!) I spent some time preparing some cuttings. Until Monday I really haven’t had many opportunities to get outside and garden. The weather has been too cold and with my youngest, who doesn’t seem to like taking … Read more

What Evergreen Am I?

A little more guessing fun on this first day of winter! Do you know this evergreen tree with the black berries? I’ll give you a hint – I’ve written about it before!  No links – that would be too easy! No rhymes either – that would be too cheesy! Oops… Yesterday’s post “What Seeds are … Read more

Maintenance-Free Gardens: Everything You Need to Know (Guest Post)

Maintenance-Free Gardens: Everything You Need to Know A flower garden in full bloom is every gardener’s masterpiece. And like most great masterpieces, each brush stroke is calculated, the color palette chosen in advance, and the overall composition exists in the artist’s mind well before touching brush to canvas, or in this case, trowel to soil. … Read more

How to Save Seeds from Ornamental Peppers

So what can you do while it’s under 20 degrees outside and you are stuck inside but still want to do something garden related? Extract seeds from ornamental peppers! That probably wasn’t the first thing on your mind but it works for me! Extracting the seeds from these ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental peppers was one of … Read more

The First Snowfall

Tonight Middle Tennessee is resting peacefully beneath a blanket of snow. Bitter cold set in here as it has in much of the eastern United States.  With the cold came swirling winds and all this white stuff.  So far this winter cold we’ve been experiencing is about 20 degrees below the normal averages for our … Read more

Stones and Bones

You often hear people mention the phrase the “bones of the garden.” It’s basically used to refer to the garden elements that provide some sort of structure. Many people refer to evergreen plantings as the bones since they add structure and don’t lose their leaves when the weather changes. Structures like arbors and garden shed … Read more

What to Do With Acorns

Yesterday MeemsNYC asked me in the comment section of my What Would Thanksgiving Be Without the Nuts? Plant them of course! I gathered up a small box of acorns and brought them home with me from my in-law’s house. You’re probably wondering why would he gather up a bunch of acorns to plant when they … Read more

What Would Thanksgiving Be Without The Nuts?

You know the story. Everyone travels to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. All the family gets together and stuffs their bellies full with turkey, ham, potatoes, numerous sides, and of course the stuffing (oh wait we call that dressing down here in the south ;)). And of course, you know it’s true, every family has one … Read more

Cedar Waxwings Near a Cedar Glade

Over Thanksgiving we spent some time in Mt. Juliet at my in-laws home. I always enjoy traipsing around the woods near their house just to explore. I did that often as a kid at my grandfather’s house and I’ve always been fond of spending time in the great outdoors. Often I come home with rocks … Read more

Seeing Red

The foliage is still there on some if the trees and shrubs in our garden and is fading fast. Most of what remains now has a reddish hue in the leaves but in some cases what remains isn’t just the leaves. The ‘Shasta’ viburnum is showing red in the last few of it’s remaining leaves. … Read more

Taking Advantage of Good Weather

So far this weekend’s weather has been nothing short of fantastic. We had temperatures in the lower 70’s and part sun most of the day so of course I had to get outside for a little while. The plan on Saturday was to go to the home improvement store and get some interior wood stain … Read more

The Colors are Still Turning! (Fall Color Project 2010)

This year’s wacky weather has given way to quite a lot of speculation about when the actual peak time for the leaves is. I’ve noticed that this year hasn’t really had a peak color moment. The normal sequential leaf change has been extremely erratic and some plants still haven’t begun to change while others no … Read more

3 Years!

It’s amazing when you go back and think about time and how quickly it flies by. Earlier we were listening to the “90’s” station on the cable TV music station and I realized that even though the 90’s didn’t seem that long ago 1996 was actually 14 years ago! Yep time flies fast just like … Read more

Salvia farinacea (‘Blue Bedder’) Mealy Cup Sage How to Grow and Propagate

I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of salvias. It’s no wonder since they bloom prolifically, are easy to care for, and attract pollinators right and left. One salvia in my garden (among many) that I’ve accumulated is the ‘Blue Bedder’ Salvia farinacea which is also called Blue Bedder Sage. It’s not reliably hardy to … Read more

Plant Benches Completed

I wrote in my last post about the plant benches I was working on for the garden shed and this weekend I was able to finish installing the coated wire shelf tops. Now I can add plants in to overwinter, hardwood cuttings for rooting over the winter, or maybe even start seeds in the early … Read more

The Colors are Rolling In! (Fall Color Project 2010)

Welcome to another Fall Color Project Post! The leaves are changing faster as we progress through one of my favorite seasons which means we get to see more fall color from our blogging friends and neighbors! Last Friday an Obsessive Neurotic Gardener (aren’t we all? ;)) put up a post with some beautiful scenery. Could … Read more

5 Garden Chores I Need To Do

This time of year I’m always overwhelmed by the massive amount of work that needs done in the garden. This blog sometimes helps me to keep organized when I put together a list of those garden things to do. 5 Fall Garden Chores I Need to Do in My Garden Clean up the vegetable garden. … Read more