Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

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…

This past weekend the weather was perfect for what else? Gardening! I spent most of my time outdoors getting the garden ready for the growing season. There’s always a lot to do in the spring to prepare the garden for a great year. The most frustrating thing about this weekend was my riding mower battery. When I went to start…

Over the years I’ve done several vegetable garden layouts for my garden. I’ve always tried to make improvements to the vegetable garden. My goal is to make it more efficient for growing yet still aesthetically pleasing and fun to be in. This year however isn’t just an adjustment, it’s a whole new garden! We moved into our new house in…

A view of our southern sky with the skeletal tree branches making an interesting skyline.A sunset with dark red clouds reflecting the light of the western sun.

Spring in many ways is just like listening to your favorite song. The parts of the song that make it special to you are those that make you replay it countless times over and over again. The chorus of springtime is very much the same. Old favorites pop up again and again for us to enjoy. One of my favorite…

The other day I wrote about the value of using echinacea in the garden. As it turns out that it’s not only valuable to us as an ornamental or as a pollen plant for beneficial insects but it also can be a host plant for the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly (Chlosyne nycteis)! This weekend I discovered this mass of tiny black…

Earlier this week I spent an afternoon outside with my oldest daughter who had a half day off from kindergarten. She was running around outside and playing on the swingset while her brother (our youngest) was napping in the stroller nearby. Since he rarely ever naps I was not even remotely tempted to tempt fate by moving him indoors and…

Last Saturday I was shopping at a nursery where I found a ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint (Nepeta faassinii). I’ve talked about the benefits of Nepeta before so it may not be a surprise that I bought one. I planted the new perennial the other day in our front sidewalk garden. Catmint flowering near a witchhazel and lemon balm. Simply brushing the…

Some plants just really know how to grow! Take this Ajuga reptans (Bugleweed) that I planted in my corner shade garden area last fall for instance. I had one plant that I divided into two and planted on either side of a large stepping stone. Those two plants have now become all those that you see in the picture below….

It’s just about time to start seeds indoors for peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes here in TN so I thought I would share a quick post on how I make my seed starting medium (mix).  Seed starting mixes can be bought with the same ingredients as what I’m about to share with you but when you mix it yourself you can…

I mostly use raised beds for my vegetables but the truth is almost any plant can do great in a raised bed. Herbs, flowers, and ornamentals can all thrive in raised beds.  What makes a raised bed an awesome growing method is the soil that it uses.  You can mix the perfect soil mixture for any plant you want to…

Compost bins are essential in the garden. They take the waste materials from the yard, garden, kitchen, or farm and turn it into usable soil. Good compost is worth its weight in gold to gardeners which is exactly why it is nicknamed “gardener’s gold.” One of the easiest ways to make a lot of compost is to set up a…

Like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie they came. Our house and community were surrounded. Hundreds or thousands, I could not possibly count them all. These small black birds flew in mass formations like blackened thunderclouds about to burst.(Use the player to hear the actual birds. It’s a little soft so you may have to turn your volume up.)They…

Fall color is on its way! Or colour as the case may be! Those Canadians have to do things different don’t they? 😉 However you spell it the fall foliage is well on its way to peaking. Here in Tennessee I would estimate that peak color is about a week or so away but we don’t have to wait to…

I’m glad you asked! I’ve been updating you on the status of the raised bed garden over the last several days but I have mostly written about the structure of the garden like the mulched paths.  I haven’t really written about what is growing in there.  It’s time to remedy the situation! The first picture is a little radish sprout….

I’m a little late on this post but here it is! What questions did people ask in September? Here’s a glimpse of what information some people were looking for and wound up here!How fast does Russian sage grow? Pretty fast! I put in two plants this spring from cuttings and they grew to full size and bloomed. They had ideal…

Last year we designed, built, and grew our first vegetable garden in our new home. The garden was made of two large beds that were subdivided into 3 smaller conjoined beds in an “L” shape. Unfortunately the vegetable garden layout we designed was built more around aesthetics than around function. Since then I’ve realized something: When designing vegetable gardens think…

For today’s Fall Color Posts we have three garden bloggers who all decided to take their photography skills on a walk through the park. Of course since the bloggers live it different states it was not the same park but one thing was the same, awesome photography and great fall color! Oh wait…that was two things… oh well, just go…