Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It won’t be long before the warm weather approaches (or at least I keep telling myself this) and gardening begins for the 2009 season in earnest.  One of the projects I have planned this season is the self sowing garden.  A self sowing garden is pretty self explanatory, it has plants that seed themselves year after year without much attention…

The Corner Shade Garden – April is when it all gets seriously growing. It’s not completely full of hosta foliage since the season has really just begun but as the days pass, the plants will grow, and the garden will fill in very nicely! Looking at the corner shade garden through the arbor you can see a Japanese maple that…

You may have noticed that the daily blogging has slowed down a little bit on weekends. It’s been for a very good reason: The Patio Project. My commenting on other blogs has suffered as well but everything should pick up once the final touches have been made on the backyard remodel. It’s become more than a patio project and really…

I couldn’t imagine my garden without herbs. Whether for making tea, utilizing in dinner, or a myriad of other uses herbs are an essential part of my garden. Some of the herbs in my garden are also excellent companion plants in addition to their culinary uses. Herbs are awesome and you should grow them if you aren’t already. What herbs do I grow…

…project! Could you possibly guess what these windows will be used for?   I acquired these windows for a very economical price from a very generous person on Craigslist.  The price was simply the cost of the trip to pick them up! They included two very large picture windows, three doors (two of them French), two storm doors, two large…

Before you really get into producing plants for sale it is very important to come up with a way to get the plants to the customers.  I don’t have a place where costumers could just come by and browse the plants since I do all my production from my own garden.  One day perhaps, but I needed to come up…

Over the weekend I tackled more prep work in the vegetable garden. I’ve already planted several things in the raised beds including onions, potatoes, lettuce, and spinach but planting wasn’t the main weekend task. One of the things I really didn’t like about my vegetable garden is now officially a thing of the past – the grass! In each of…

Spring is just around the corner but the cold days of winter are still present here in Tennessee. Sometimes we have really nice, beautiful, spring-like days in February and it’s so tempting to get in the garden and get a lot of work done. One task I believe that gardeners should wait on is cutting back perennials and ornamental grasses…

I just wanted to take a moment and wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that your list of things to be thankful for far outweighs any other list you might have.  Enjoy the company of family, friends, and food and let Thanksgiving be a celebration for all the joys you have been fortunate enough to have…

What a beautiful fall preview weekend we were granted this weekend! This fall has been very unusual with moderate to cool temperatures here in Tennessee. I hope you we’re able to enjoy the weekend outdoors, I know I did! Here’s a couple pictures I took of the nice weather.   The wild goldenrod on our slope will soon be blooming which…

Did you ever realize that you could go to Florida and see Tennessee fall colors? Well you can today, since Meems brought fall colors from Tennessee to her blog Hoe and Shovel! She recently came here to TN to visit her sister and went to visit the beautiful gardens of Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. She put the pictures together in a…

Rosemary is a wonderful plant for gardening. I love it as a ornamental shrub as well as an edible herb. The problem is it CAN be finicky. Sometimes the winter cold is too tough for rosemary and it sadly dies over the winter. Fortunately there are techniques you can use to make sure your rosemary comes back year after year….

Rain has been ever present in our garden for the last two weeks it seems. Even the “dry” days are still wet when you consider the soggy ground and grasses you have to walk through to get anywhere. Today I thought I would share a couple pictures that are enhanced by the rain. Raindrops on Clover Clover is one of…

Each year I try to expand the vegetable garden a little bit more. The first year in our home I didn’t have time to put together a garden before the growing season started and we missed out on any vegetable garden. The “L” Shaped Raised Beds: The second year I put together a set of raised beds that were arranged…

It’s no secret I like salvia in the garden. It’s easy to grow and hardy here in Tennessee. Most importantly it never fails to produce great blooms. The foliage is nice but nothing spectacular, however today I saw something very interesting. It happens every now and then on various plants and is responsible for the creation of many variegated varieties,…

Another year comes and guess what – I make more changes to my vegetable garden layout! I haven’t done anything yet but below you’ll see what I intend to change from last year’s vegetable garden design. This is step one in altering my garden into what will eventually become an awesome parterre layout. I can envision it now – brick…

Last week I acquired three blueberry bushes in a secret deal from my local big blue box store. OK it really wasn’t a secret since they were offering them for half off to anyone. But what they don’t know is that those three blueberries bushes I bought for $15.00 (Total) might become 50 one day, that is if I can…

By far my favorite plant from the vegetable garden is the tomato.  I don’t buy them from the stores if I can help it as there is very little flavor to be found in store bought tomatoes.  Fresh from the garden is how a tomato should be.  Today on a gray overcast winter day I’m looking back at the tomatoes…