Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I did several little things in the garden this week that weren’t worthy of individual posts but when grouped together give me a little something to talk about.  Planted seeds for rudbeckia ‘Cappuccino’, gaillardia ‘Arizona Sun’, Verbena bonariensis, mixed heucheras, Panicum virgatum. Constructed a suspended staking system out of fallen poplar branches for our sugar snap peas.  I’ll go into…

On a cold morning such as this you might be wondering “what can I do in the garden?”  Or you might be wondering “why does he know what I’m wondering?”  Or…maybe not, whatever the case is cold winter days are good for the garden and the gardener.  The garden needs those cold winter days to get enough stratification time for…

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 plants. I’ve had them on…

Now here is a cool list of trees for those who may like to bring a bit of the Smokey Mountains into their landscape. On the Great Smokey Mountains National Park website they have published a list of all the trees in the park and even included the non-native ones denoted with an asterisk. What I find interesting is where…

This winter has been bitterly cruel.  Not bitterly cold, just bitterly cruel.  It’s tempted us into believing that spring was almost here, then the ground hog predicted 6 more weeks of winter..and we laughed. The weather was warm and what do groundhogs really know about the weather?  Do they have live Doppler radar in buried in their dens?  I don’t…

A while back Teak Closeouts sent me several samples to try out and see if I could use in the garden. They carry a really neat line of products that general come from overstock teak wood products and sell it at better prices.  They also have other products made from teak root which can be very interesting when used for…

Kids in the garden are funny creatures. Although your kids may be too young to do many of the garden chores that need done it’s important to get them out there not only to learn but to get fresh air. Gardening is an invaluable educational tool because children can learn how to do things, procedures, why things are done a…

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 looked a couple years ago…

I’ve been saving seeds like mad this year.  Collecting the seeds from my own garden and using them for my nursery as well as for personal use is one easy way to make sure I have quality seed at a low cost!  Unfortunately the amount of seeds produced by plants this year will probably be fewer due to the drought…

Layering is a fantastic way to make more free plants with very little risk. Propagating a plant through layering usually involves pinning down a branch to make contact with the soil so that the branch can begin forming roots.  I’ve used layering to propagate more difficult to root plants like oak leaf hydrangeas.   Below you will find a short…

I’m only a little of the way into a remodel of our side garden but I thought I’d show you what there is to see so far.  Our side garden connects the front yard (and arbor) to the back yard and was designed several years ago to eventually become a shady location for hydrangeas and hostas.  Since it takes time…

There are few structures in the garden more prominent than a gate. A good garden gate can invite a person into the garden, protect the garden from intruders, and becomes a feature to draw the eye. This weekend I put together a gate for my vegetable garden fence (which is still under construction). I managed to complete the majority of…

One of the tasks I accomplished last week on the greenhouse garden shed was to complete most of the siding on the backside. It was a complicated task due to many little cuts and some creative problem solving that was involved. One of the issues was with the “secret door.” I wanted the backdoor where my mower will enter the…

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…

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 the garden. Things are winding…

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 tomatoes are all from volunteer…

If you are like me I didn’t know the answer to that question a couple years ago. It’s a strange concept when you stop to think about it. How can you claim sole proprietorship for something that is alive? It seems strange but when you consider it more it can begin to make sense.First of all what exactly is a…

Every garden changes and goes through transitions. Some are simply seasonal transitions that will happen every year. We know about these seasonal transitions and are able to adapt and to some extent predict them. Spring changes to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and back again to spring. We are prepared for these transitions since we see them each…