Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Today my little 2 year old daughter and I went out and planted daffodils. She did pretty good, dropping the bulb into the hole after I dug it out. Initially Grace kept trying to rearrange the bulbs all over the bed. Then she started taking the spade I was using to dig the holes. Eventually we got a process together…

Here is the current list of seeds I have started so far. Only a few seedlings have popped up but more will come. It is still early and conditions outside are just now starting to warm up. I’m starting them in the garage under the cover of my mini-greenhouse and some plastic containers turned upside down as propagators. Spending $5.00…

I have to admit it, I’m way behind on the Facebook thing! I’m just now getting around to adding an official Facebook page for The Home Garden where people can follow the blog. Many other garden bloggers have already created pages there and it really looks like an easy way for people to keep up with their favorite blogs. So…

What a difference three years makes in the life of a plant. Welcome to my front sidewalk garden at the beginning of July. You will notice right off the bat several flowering perennials on the left side of the sidewalk that could use a little pruning. The Russian sages (Perovskia atriplicifolia) are towering over the walkway. In retrospect this probably…

Over this weekend our travels found us at one of the local big box stores looking for shelving hardware for our downstairs closet (another project but not one that will make it to the garden blog).  While there I went through the seed kiosks looking for the plants that made my master list for seed purchases.  Now you’re probably wondering…

Last year I wrote a post called 10 Easy Plants to Propagate for Your Home Garden. Picking only 10 is a challenge when there are so many out there that the average home gardener can have fun with so here are six more that I’ve found to be easy to propagate in my garden. Caryopteris – I have several of…

This plant is probably easily identifiable. In fact it’s a good bet that if you live in the south you have it in your yard, your neighbors yard, your school, your bank and pretty much everywhere you could think to put it! I saw rows of this at the home improvement store today which prompted me to make this post….

It’s been a while since I posted about the corner shade garden.  Last year it really wasn’t anything to write about, it was a mess.  I neglected it due to other issues and now comes the time when I need to get it back into shape.  A year of neglect in the garden can mean a lot of work later…

This post is a post I’ve been dreading.  Mainly because this year has been tough, probably the toughest I’ve ever had to live through.  My garden projects fell by the wayside.  My projects and ambitions just didn’t matter when compared to the situations that the course of life brought us through.  But we’re getting through things, day by day.  I…

Today lots of people are becoming more conscious of how their activities can change the environment.  One of the things you often hear about is getting rid of the lawn.  I’m not one of those people who advocates getting rid of the lawn but rather being more responsible for lawn care.  Here are a few ways to do that! First…

Here’s a new take on the name that plant challenge, Name that Seed! See if you can guess what plant these seeds came from and what they could grow to be. Each seed is slightly larger than 1/2 an inch in length and ovular in shape. The one clue that I’ll give you is that it came from a type…

Maybe it hasn’t quite reached you yet. Maybe the temperatures are still hanging in the 90’s like they are here in Tennessee and the only leaf drop is due to dryness, but let me assure you fall is here! I have evidence, and it exists within the blogs below. Journey with me to see the first colors of fall as…

This weekend we were in West Tennessee attending a friends wedding and took a side trip to visit some of my wife’s relatives. While there I saw a horrifying site. At my wife’s grandmother’s house is a wonderful old oak tree that casts a welcoming shade on hot summer days, or at least it used to. On the right is…

I had a question posed to me through a comment on this blog that I’ve not really written about dealing with plant propagation: Why do I use sand instead of soil for cuttings? Before I answer let me say that most (maybe about 95%) of my successful cuttings were done in sand alone with the rest in either in a…

Things are going well with the vegetable garden remodel even though the pictures may not fully illustrate it (see the layout to get an idea as to what it will look like). Right now it looks kind of like a war zone complete with with bunkers, foxholes, and fencing but soon it will come together.  You have to start somewhere! …

Last week I put together a daylily and iris bed to cultivate and divide more plants for my little plant nursery.  Daylilies and irises are great plants for any garden since they offer so much for so little.  They grow strong without too much attention, enjoy the sun, and are tolerant various soils – which is good since this area…

On Monday while all three of my children were napping at the same time (that is a major feat!) I spent some time preparing some cuttings. Until Monday I really haven’t had many opportunities to get outside and garden. The weather has been too cold and with my youngest, who doesn’t seem to like taking naps during the day, I…

When I made the decision to begin my micro-nursery (Blue Shed Gardens/HomeGardenBox) I had to figure out first what kind of plants I wanted to produce.  This was a very difficult decision since I like pretty much anything there is to do with the garden. Selecting one type of plants or one area seemed just wrong because I was leaving out all…