Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

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.

There are some plants that are tricky to propagate but stevia isn’t one of them! In fact stevia is very easy to root from cuttings. Read on to learn more about propagating stevia from cuttings! Why Would You Want to Propagate Steve from Cuttings? Stevia rebaudiana is an herb often used as a substitute sweetener for sugar.  It isn’t reliably…

To find out the winner of the $100 Gift Card from the Home Depot watch the video!  I pulled in an unbiased assistant in to draw the names.My apologies for the camera quality, my video camera is getting a little older. 😉

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…

This afternoon the temperatures dropped enough for work outside to become “feasible.” Not ideal in any sense of the word simply feasible. Add to that this cough, sinus drainage, and a mild case of pink eye and you would think I would just stay indoors and rest. Not so for this dedicated (or dumb) gardener! My oldest daughter accompanied me…

Here is a quick list of things that need done in our June garden.  Keep in mind that we’re located in Spring Hill, TN in a zone 6b-7 area and these chores may not correspond with the growing season in your area.  You’ll need to do many of these tasks too but at different times. Sucker those tomatoes!  Removing the…

Over the next several days I’ll be doing some minor changes to the site (emphasis on minor!) to help get better organized. I’ll just be making some posts that will house links to related posts to make things easier to find information. When I starting this blog I didn’t give a whole lot of thought on how to do things,…

To say I’m a fan of heucheras is an understatement. I like to think of myself as a collector of coral bells, as they are often called, even though my collection is still just a work in progress. I’m gradually adding different varieties to my garden but seem to be running out of room in the corner shade garden (corner…

Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post I’ve taken some common raised bed garden questions and put together some answers based on my experience. I’ve grown in…

The answer to today’s Name that Seed is the White Ash! The White Ash is a dioecious deciduous shade tree that grows to nearly 80 feet tall. Dioecious means that individual trees (or plants) are either male or female and not both, very similar to hollies. Last week I featured the Persimmon in a Name that Seed post which is…

The redbuds are in bloom! Cercis canadensis is a beautiful native plant here in Tennessee and in other areas of the country. Redbuds are an understory tree that do best on the outskirts of forest areas or with partial shade locations. They don’t grow very tall, somewhere around 20-30 feet or so. Redbud flowers are very interesting because they appear…

Here’s an update from the vegetable garden! So far things are going pretty good. My tomato frost scare wasn’t as bad as I originally thought and since I have some spares to plant I should come out fine. I saw a scary 39 degrees on the forecast for Tuesday night but I’m prepared with coverings. I’m also starting a few…

When you think about power tools do you think electric? Maybe it’s time you should! Recently Greenworks sent me their battery powered Greeworks Pro 80 Volt 18″ Chainsaw (Amazon Aff) to test. I had some doubts. Could a battery powered chainsaw actually cut through well enough to be a part of my arsenal of power tools? Would a charge last…

I have to admit it, I really do like my lawn. The “in” thing right now is eliminating lawns by replacing them with gardens. That’s great idea that I fully support but it just isn’t feasible when you have a large yard. The other option is letting areas become meadows which I think is pretty cool too (and for one…

I’m in a bit of a pickle. Sorry if you thought I was handing out pickles with my post title. In this case the pickle refers to a dilemma or situation. It’s not a bad situation by any means. Something I suspected since we moved into our house was confirmed to me yesterday.While outside doing some winter sowing I thought…

The leaf show hasn’t begun in the south just yet so now is a great opportunity to look at some common leaves before the color changes begin! For a list of Native trees to the United States and information on how to propagate them go to this page: United States Native Tree Propagation List Redbuds Red Buds (Cercis canadensis) are…

Sometimes even getting the little things done in the garden can make you feel like you’ve accomplished something worthwhile. Today since I still couldn’t really get to work on the big garden chores I settled for getting a few little garden chores accomplished.By far the biggest garden task was really a fall yard maintenance one, overseeding the lawn. I overseed…

This summer has been a tricky one in which to garden in here in Tennessee.  June was the driest month I can remember and hotter than any June on record. July was strange too – extra moisture and cooler temperatures made up some of the lost ground caused by the spring drought. Having strange weather has mixed the gardening season…