Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

A few weeks ago Mr. Brownthumb posted an interview with the inventor of Rootcups on Treehugger. Rootcups are an easy to use propagation device that the home gardener can use to help propagate some of their favorite plants.  I contacted Mr. Brownthumb because I was curious about the product and and then got in touch with Mike who sent me…

Why do I like Red Twig Dogwoods (Cornus sericea or Cornus stolonifera)? If you look in the picture below the reason should become red-ily apparent. The multibranched shrubs stand out with a bright red coloring that looks fantastic in the wintertime. When the trees are bereft of leaves and the stems are left, the red twigs won’t disappoint for winter…

The last frost date is one of the most important dates for gardeners.  The last frost date determines when to plant the vegetables and ornamentals at the best possible time for maximum growth over the season.  Some plants like being planted before the frost date while others have to be planted afterward. Last year Spring and warm weather came early…

My daughter and I went out to play today in the 70+ degree temperatures. Our goal was to take advantage of the last gasp of warm weather before old man winter came for his annual visit. Almost immediately my daughter darted to the sandbox. We removed the covers from the sandbox to reveal an assortment of toys half buried in…

I wanted to share a few more pictures from my visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens the other day but also wanted to give you a Friday 5 post so I thought why not put the two together?  For today I’ll give you 5 Great reasons to visit Cheekwood and show you some of the great features I saw during my…

I feel behind in my seed starting. The frost date passed about 10 days ago and I haven’t started my summer vegetable seeds yet. the spinach is looking great and so is the arugula – even the pak choi (‘Green fortune’) I got from Renee’s Garden is looking great (and is very yummy)! The lettuce is a little disappointing but…

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…

Our first group of irises has just started to bloom.  The iris blooms are coming much later than last year due to the cold temperatures that have pushed everything back about nearly a month.  There are a just a couple types of iris here in my garden including the tall bearded irises, the Dutch irises, and some Siberian irises like…

Why should you consider raised bed gardening for your vegetables? It’s a good question. The alternative is to put the garden in the ground which people have done for centuries with success. Why change a good thing? For the small home garden raised beds are a much better option. Below you will find some very good benefits of gardening in…

Broken branch of a crape myrtle Sometimes in gardening, as in life, we experience bad breaks. We don’t intend for these to happen, they just do. Whether caused by too much stress, mistakes, or happenstance the only power we have over these breaks is to clean up and hope for the best. Such is the case with one of my…

While there may be no official contest going I’m entering a very special tomato for the ugliest tomato of 2009. I remember Carol last year challenged folks to find a tomato uglier than one she had.  If I had managed to grow this monstrosity last year I might have beaten hers for I have never seen one such as this!…

Garden writer Nancy Ondra never has a disappointing garden photo (at least not that I’ve seen!) This year her fall color project post is as impressive as ever with viburnums, amsonia, winterberry, purple smoke bush and so many other things to look at.  I wish I could stop by in person to tour her garden this time of year! Nancy…

Columbia, TN which is just down the road from us is currently having it’s annual Mule Day festival. It began on Tuesday and continues through this Sunday. It’s basically a festival with arts and crafts, bluegrass music, clogging, and several mule related events. There’s even a parade! I feel bad for the band members who have to March behind the…

I’m sure you’ve heard about Pinterest by now.  If you’re like me you may have thought “that’s just another online time waster.” Or if you’re a guy maybe you thought “that’s just for women!” Well I’ll admit it, those were my first thoughts.  Then I began to see people using it and sharing things from it on Facebook or Twitter….

The other evening some clouds were blowing. Here’s a look at what we saw. A small storm was on its way through our area which is usually when you get most interesting clouds!Please excuse the power lines. Half the neighborhood has them below ground, our half doesn’t.

One of the locations in our yard that has the most fall color is the back tree line. We don’t have much in the way of mature trees throughout the rest of the yard but the back tree line makes up for it in the way of sassafras, walnut, maples and assorted other trees. One day this area will house…

Spring is a great time for what? PERENNIAL PLANT PROPAGATION! OK, I get excited about making new plants and I wanted to share a little of what I’ve been working on in the garden. Spring really is a great time to take cuttings of your perennials, in fact it might be the best time. If you have never tried propagating…

I thought the deer were gone but I was wrong. After a house was built behind the woods that skirts the edge of our property I thought the deer had left but when I returned home last weekend from my trip I discovered that the deer made a return.While they could easily make it into my vegetable garden they haven’t…