Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Today in the garden I spent a good deal of time cleaning up and clearing out the old vegetables of the 2008 season. The tomatoes are gone as are the cucumbers, squash, and beans. The cantaloupe stopped producing weeks ago and surprisingly the watermelon gave us one more last week before its demise. It wasn’t much of a watermelon but…

Last week I was out of town teaching and was forced to come home early due to a awful case of food poisoning (watch out for those buffets!) When Saturday rolled around my outdoor work plans were drastically changed. I had planned on getting some mulch on a few spots but just couldn’t stand being in the heat and humidity…

Here is a list of topics about propagating plants for your home landscape. The first three posts have some important information on propagating plants while the individual plant posts offer information about propagating the plant in question as well as my own experiences with them. Enjoy! Propagating Plants: The Basics of Cuttings What in the World are Plant Patents? 10…

I’m a big fan of foliage! There is no better time of the year than autumn for those who love foliage, and naturally fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I thought I would share with you some photos I have taken over the last month of the foliage from my garden. Tennessee often has amazing fall…

Jump on over to Our Little Acre to see the fall colors! Not my acre, Kylee’s! She has viburnums, a gingko, sumacs, and many other plants that are showing some great fall foliage. The bald cypress and the beautyberry are two that I will have to add to our garden! Don’t forget to journey up to Kalamazoo, Michigan and the…

I have a goal in mind for my vegetable garden this year.  I have a similar goal every year but this year I think it’s especially important.  I want to make our garden into our grocery store.  I’m being realistic with this and in no way think I can completely eliminate the grocery store trips but I would really like…

You’ve seen them. In your cherry trees. If you haven’t yet then take a look, they are on their way. Tent Caterpillars can be devastating to the foliage of young trees especially those of the prunus genus. They may look all cute and cuddly up close but when allowed to let loose they feast like there is no tomorrow upon…

This Sunday’s weather was gorgeous.  A little cooler than we’ve been having but a great day to get out and get some big jobs done.  I spent much of the day mowing and preparing the vegetable garden then went around taking pictures of the gardens.  Things are coming along nicely but there was one issue I’m not too pleased about:…

This past weekend we went to visit my wife’s family. On the property they have a couple Japanese Dappled Willows (‘Hiroki Nishiki’) that I’ve taken cuttings from in the past. They are several years old and have really become large shrubs stretching over ten feet tall. Needless to say a shrub this large needs a special place and if doesn’t…

Last year I embarked on a quest to start my own nursery business.  One of my dreams for a long time has been to own my own nursery and I began putting plans together around a couple business ideas that I could do from home.  I researched all over the internet to find resources and advice on how to start…

Tonight we were able to make good use of our vegetables from the garden. Here’s a quick look at what my family had for dinner tonight!Now the chicken was the main course and it didn’t come from the garden but the squash did! I covered it in olive oil with a little salt and pepper then grilled the squash halves….

This Garden Blogger fall Color Project Post is all about New Autumn, that is Autumn in New England and New York! If you travel to upstate New York to visit Kerri’s Garden at Colors of the Garden (a very appropriate name, don’t you think?) you will get a grand tour of the New York Countryside in October. Peak colors of…

It is full fledged spring around our Middle Tennessee garden.  There is no shortage of work that needs to be done in the form of weeding and mulching on top of a myriad of miscellaneous projects.  For now though let’s just take a few pictures of the garden and we’ll think of that monster spring to-do list a little later….

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…

This time of year it’s interesting to see which plants are still performing well.  If we pay attention to how things perform and how long they last we can make better decisions when designing our gardens with plants in the future.  If you want to extend the foliage we need to note which plants have long lasting foliage.  The same…

I’m always excited to learn how to propagate something new. Recently I’ve managed to get a few cuttings of a dwarf chamaecyparis to successfully root. I started the cuttings back in the fall and kept them overwintered in the garden shed. I didn’t have any bottom heat even though I’m sure that would have sped the rooting process up significantly….

Spring is officially here!  Spring’s arrival means it is really time to be thinking about the garden (as if we haven’t been since fall).  It’s always important to get the spring gardening season off to a great start.  Today let’s look at a few garden tasks that need done to help get your garden going. 5 Garden Preparation Chores and…

One of the most beautiful trees we have in the Spring is the Red Buckeye, Aesculus pavia. In the fall it produces seed pods which you can gather and plant to grow more red buckeye trees. Last year the squirrels beat me to it but not this year! Here’s a short video of me gathering and planting red buckeye seeds….