Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The vegetable garden is finally taking off! Even though it feels like things have been moving slowly, we’re already seeing exciting progress — tomato plants are starting to flower, and our pepper plants are showing off their first baby peppers. This year, I planted around 36–38 tomato plants of various types and a generous amount of both sweet and hot…

The tomatoes are doing great! They have a strong healthy start in our seed starting area. I planted them a week and a half  ago and many of the seedlings are now getting their true leaves.  As the roots start to emerge from the peat pellets I’ll transplant them deeply into individual pots.  Deep planting is the best way to…

They finally came! My experiment with Arbor Day has begun. Earlier in the year I ordered several trees from the National Arbor Day Society. I also got a few free trees with my order. I know many people have had mixed results when ordering from Arbor Day. They either have trees that don’t make it through the winter, receive dead…

I suppose it’s human nature to second guess oneself and lately I’ve been wondering if the vegetable garden layout I decided to make was designed the best way. It’s very functional and all the vegetables have been growing wonderfully (until a couple pests came along, but that isn’t related to the garden’s layout.) Aesthetically the layout works well and there…

In my latest YouTube video I went through and checked on many of the plants I’ve taking cuttings from this summer. There are a variety of plants in the video including rosemary, ninebark, fothergilla, boxwoods, crape myrtle, and cherry laurels. This was actually the first time I’ve tried rooting fothergilla and I had pretty good success taking a few small…

As yesterday we saw more and more fall color from the south in Virginia and Tennessee today brings us more proof that fall is here in the Southern U.S.. SC Gardener has fall foliage that is well worth a look! One post entitled Fall Color Isn’t Just for Trees: Shrubs With Fall Leaf Color gives us a look at the…

I have a goal in mind for my vegetable garden this year.  I have a similar goal every year but this year I think it’s especially important.  I want to make our garden into our grocery store.  I’m being realistic with this and in no way think I can completely eliminate the grocery store trips but I would really like…

Fall is definitely at its peak here in Middle Tennessee! Rhonda at Adventures in My Garden has some great fall color in her own backyard. The view from her back porch is spectacular and would be envied by anyone who likes autumn leaves. Is there really anyone who doesn’t? And the quote she picked out by George Eliot to start…

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 this link you’ll see the…

May your Christmas be a time fill with friends, family, hope, and joy!

Fall colors are certainly on their way. Here in Tennessee the trees are beginning the process but many people are worried that the colors will not be what they could be without the rain. Whatever the case we will be happy with whatever colors we do have and will enjoy watching all the colors around the continent as the color…

This week is greenhouse week! My wife took the kids to her parent’s house and left me to work on my greenhouse project.  While I have no illusions of getting the project completed I do hope I get a major chunk of the groundwork done so that I can tinker throughout the fall until it’s finished, hopefully just in time…

Being mid-November there isn’t much to show for blooms. We’ve had several light frosts and a couple hard freezes which for the most part silences the perennials and annuals that worked so hard for us during the growing season. But there is always something worth looking at in the garden! Like these pansies in the front garden. The salvia by…

I love the spring time with its flush of new flowers and this spring’s flowers have one of the record books. Among those flowering plants one of the coolest is the Fothergilla major. Fothergilla is a small shrub in the Hamamelidaceae family that gets around 6 to 10 feet tall with a spread up to 5 to 9 ft. It’s…

By now you’ve probably heard about the study that says organically grown vegetables are not any healthier than their “conventionally” grown counterparts.  If you haven’t I’ll sum it up in a nutshell. The study examined the nutrients and vitamins present in organic produce and compared it to conventionally grown vegetables and didn’t find a significant difference between the two. This might…

Cilantro is a delicious herb capable of adding so much flavor and character to your foods. While some people don’t enjoy it we love it in our cooking and always try to have some cilantro growing in the home garden. Growing beautiful cilantro plants isn’t a difficult thing but there are a couple things you should know to maximize your…

You’ve probably heard of adding lime to soil.  Farmers and lawn experts recommend it frequently to add to gardens and lawns to help your plants grow, but why? Why should you use lime for your tomatoes? What is Lime? Lime is calcium carbonate.  Which leads us to one easy answer for why it might help tomatoes – to combat blossom…

The holidays are an extremely busy time of the year. We go from Halloween with spooky decorations, to Thanksgiving with autumn harvest styles, then to finally to Christmas. For those who enjoy decorating (and have the storage space for all that stuff) it can be a great deal of fun, but for others who may enjoy the holidays much more…