Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Several weeks ago I planted Baptisia australis seeds. It’s also known as false indigo. It took some time but with bottom heat from my seedling heat mat and continued patience several of the seedlings have sprouted.  It’s always exciting to see new plants come alive from seed.  It took the Baptisia seeds about a month to germinate.  Please note one…

Among many potential plants a gardener should consider in the garden are ground covers. Groundcovers allow you to fill in areas of the garden for a lush seemless scene. One such groundcover that is very low maintenance is liriope and in this post I’m specifically talking about Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’.  There are other varieties of liriope that aren’t as attractive…

Maybe your garden didn’t turn out so well this year.  Maybe your tomatoes may died out due to disease or other vegetables might not have produced as well as they have in the past.  It happens.  Sometimes it’s the weather that causes it and sometimes insects bring in diseases, but those factors are hard to control.  One factor you can…

In my last post I told you how to begin planning for an edible landscape and how to determine what to grow. Today let’s examine what elements you need to incorporate into the plan.  With an edible landscape we need to focus on one thing: sustainability.  Sustainability is a word used a lot these days and for our gardening goals…

August isn’t really the best time to expand a garden. It’s hot, not much water, and usually the nurseries don’t have a whole lot of nice plants to choose from since they are waiting on the fall stock to arrive. Even though I wouldn’t recommend buying and planting plants right now if you promise the plants that you will water…

It’s been rather hectic over the last couple weeks around here and I’m just now getting to my own Fall Color Project post! I figured a retrospective look back at the last few weeks would find the peak of the fall color season in my area. Way back on October 12, 2010 we had the first of the trees beginning…

Another month has begun and the list of chores keeps mounting. September’s To-Do List didn’t get completed and those items may need attention in my garden this month too. The weather is nothing short of stunning in October with warm sunshine and cool days, and as long as time is available gardening is a top priority! Here’s what I need…

This could be a tense question for all those opinionated gardeners out there but which should you pick, native or exotic plants? There are definitely advantages to choosing native plants with tolerance to the climate being first and foremost. Natives are better for the indigenous wildlife as it provides the food and sustenance they are used to eating.Exotic plants are…

Last week I attended the Bloom N’ Garden Expo in Williamson County, TN.  It’s a neat event held each year that offers garden speakers, display gardens, and (of course) plant vendors!  I’ve been getting pickier in my plant selections over the past year or so because I want unique plants for my garden.  I’m not trying to fill it up…

The forecast is warming up and it’s about time! The cold days might be past us and full time gardening could be about to begin. At least it will for me this weekend as I intend to get more than a few chores done, including some work on my greenhouse-shed, some pine-needle spreading, planting of more cool season vegetables, and…

When I was out and about in the yard with my daughter on Monday I made a small discovery. It was lurking beneath the overgrown ivy topiary in a planter we have had for several years. From time to time we have planted different things in the planter. Once we had ornamental grasses and another time we had bulbs. I…

I decided several years ago that I didn’t want to mess with chemicals in my garden.  It was an easy choice for me.  We had kids and I didn’t want to risk their exposure to dangerous substances.  I didn’t want to eat food covered in chemicals at the dinner table.  A tomato with a side of pesticide just wasn’t a…

We went shopping yesterday so I didn’t have time to post anything but here’s something I’ve been wondering about.The other day I was walking in our backyard near the woods with the camera and found these interesting little pink berries. I was trying to identify what they were and thought about beauty berries or coral berries. The berries are clustered…

The passage of time in relation to plants is an amazing thing. I was looking back the other day at some old pictures from this past spring and was amazed at how different everything looks today. What was once a nearly barren bed in the front of our house has grown tremendously. The tulips of springtime faded and the front…

I’ve written several times before about raised beds.  I’m a fan, a huge fan of raised beds. With a raised bed you can control the soil, control the moisture, and garden virtually anywhere.  It makes sense that raised beds are a great option for every homeowner (here’s why: 8 Benefits to Gardening in Raised Beds).  The question though that new…

Here are some pictures of our sky yesterday morning September 11th 2008. It was a beautiful morning that I spent (at least before 7:00 AM) potting up a couple demonstration plants for what else? A demonstration! I’ll be giving a demonstration at our local gardening club (Spring Hill, TN) about propagating plants from cuttings. I potted up a Veronica and…

All this rain has put me behind on planting in the garden. The tomatoes and peppers are doing good but there is more to the garden than tomatoes and peppers! Hopefully this week I’ll get a chance to accomplish a few of these things: Plant my succession crops of beans, corn, squash and zucchini. Build a better trellis for my…

Over the weekend I put together a garden for the opposite side of my sidewalk. Here’s the layout of the garden. I did this layout after I planted the garden and it isn’t to scale. It is roughly 18-20 inches wide and probably 25 feet long. I only used plants that I could transplant from other locations in my yard…