Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

This is a paid endorsement. I have been compensated and provided with products free of charge in return for my honest opinion. All opinions are 100% my own! If you’ve followed Growing the Home Garden for a while know then you might remember that I’ve worked with Troy-Bilt as a member of the Saturday6. Through Troy-Bilt I’ve had the opportunity…

Last year I came up with a layout for our vegetable garden that I later decided wasn’t as effective as I hoped. This year I made a better raised bed layout that focused more on the convenience of the gardener and it is working great! The central path makes getting around a breeze and the smaller paths around each bed…

I think you will see why I bought Coreopsis ‘Limerock Dream’.  I have a fondness for perennial coreopsis since they are so easy to grow here in Tennessee. The colors on this variety drew my eyes instantly. It’s not plain yellow like my ‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis or ‘Jethro Tull’.  The yellow colors seem to begin in the center of the flower…

I’ve propagated many plants over the years and one of my favorite plants to propagate is Russian sage. Yesterday I was able to transplant several Russian sage cuttings (Perovskia atriplicifolia*) into pots to grow for a little while until I can plant them in the garden. In this post I’ll describe how I propagate Russian sage from cuttings. *Plant taxonomists…

Today I went out and took a few quick photos of the birdbath garden. It’s come along way from it’s beginning three and a half years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday, all young and small, with barely a plant in the garden. It’s amazing how quickly they grow up! Here’s a look at the birdbath garden now….

With the rise of gardening in America lots of people new to gardening are taking up trowels and digging in the dirt. Some people are just returning to gardening while others are trying for the first time. Here is just a little advice for those starting off to help you along. 1. Start Small. Don’t bite off more than you…

Here is the answer to the Name That Plant trivia post: Vitex agnus-castus. The chaste tree as it’s also called is a native of China and India but has become naturalized in the southern United States (z6-9). Apparently it’s been here since 1670! It does bear a striking resemblance to butterfly bushes and attracts pollinators just as well. For some…

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…

If you’re reading this now you may be wondering why it’s been so long since my last post. Well, today I thought I’d use this post to give you an update on why my posting has diminished over the last year and where I see it going over the long term. For many years gardening has been my obsession, my…

Let’s try this a little differently this week. If you can identify the plant of the week post what you think it is in the comment area of this post!

For a long time now I have denigrated my Bradford pear tree.  It’s smelly in the spring, although it looks nice.  It produces loads of inedible fruit that spawns offspring in my garden and everywhere else the birds decide to fly.  Bradford pear trees are generally weak trees that split because of their “V” shaped branch unions that cluster with more…

I’ve seen many posts recently about gardening and seed catalogs. Some posts analyze the timing of the seed company’s publications. Most posts are simply people salivating in anticipation of what may come! I have to admit it I am doing the same. Ask my wife what my favorite bathroom reading material is and she’ll tell you that it’s the seed…

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…

Last summer I took cuttings from one of my viburnums and a couple spireas. They have a good start this year and are beginning to put on new growth. The viburnum came from a softwood cutting that was about 3-4 nodes long. I need to transplant it into some better soil since all I used for it over the winter…

No matter where I go when I see seeds that are ripe I’m tempted to collect them. That was the case when walking around Knoxville last year and seeing some ripe magnolia seeds on some Sweetbay magnolia plants. Sweetbay magnolias have several names including: sweetbay magnolia, laurel magnolia, swamp magnolia, white bay magnolia, (simply) bay magnolia, or even beaver tree….

There are lot of home and garden products that a gardener can choose to use in the garden. Not all of them are good to use frequently and should only be used sparingly or not all all. Roundup is one of those types of chemicals. It accomplishes its goal very well but will leave residue in the soil. Here is…