Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I’d like to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! And please, for the sake of this fellow and his friends here, take it easy on the turkey! I usually fill up on the sides anyway!

I’m a huge hosta fan. I wouldn’t call myself a collector but I really enjoy how well hostas thrive with very little need for attention. Hostas certainly have a few issues but to me they are a very easy going plant to grow in the garden. There are so many varieties of hosta available with all kinds of variegation that…

I’ve finally gotten around to one of the chores I’ve been meaning to do for two years! Amazing how that works isn’t it? You intend to do a project in the garden then you get distracted with other projects and it becomes to late to accomplish. Today I finally mulched the west side of the planting bed outside of the…

Over the past month quite a few people have hit this blog searching for information on various topics. Sometimes their searches are in the form of a question and I thought it would be fun to go back and answer the questions. Most people looked for information with the word “how” but a few used “what”even fewer used “where” and…

I thought I would do something a little different for this Sunday and highlight a couple Garden Blogger posts this week that I thought were either very interesting, had very cool photos, showed me something new, or took me somewhere fantastic! I hope you’ll pay a visit to the bloggers listed below and see what I found to be very…

We all make mistakes in the garden on occasion. In fact I do it on a regular basis. Usually my mistakes are those where I forget to do something or I intend to come back and finish something but run out of time to get back to it. My biggest mistake is typically taking on too much for what my…

Isn’t it great to have a few easy to propagate plants that you can grow to increase your garden? The plants in the video below are all easy to grow from cuttings. salvia catmint creeping phlox monarda lemon balm General Propagation Procedures for These Plants (and Many others) Before you Start Taking Cuttings As with all cuttings clean your pruners…

There are always a ton of things to do in the garden when the growing season is in full swing. Hopefully most of the garden is set up and ready to go with only general maintenance needing the gardeners attention but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes projects pop up, problems arise, and then sometimes we haven’t gotten everything done…

I’m a couple days late on my entry for the GROW project so here it is!  The Italian Cameo basil is still going strong and is beginning to flower.  It’s done well in a soil mix that I think is probably too compacted.  I didn’t get a picture of it but it really doesn’t look much different than it did…

Over the weekend we went to visit family at my in-laws’ house for Easter. While there I saw this amazing flowering display on the Bridal Wreath Spirea (Spiraea x vanhouttei). It was literally covered in branches of white blooms. They planted this spirea well over 10 years ago. I really can’t say exactly how long it’s been here (it’s not…

Is it spring yet? The weather sure seems like it! Today and tomorrow we are looking at temperatures in the mid to upper 60’s. Yesterday was warm also in the lower 60’s. The difference today will probably be the sun. That bright orange combustible ball of incandescent gas is out and warming things up instead of shyly hiding behind the…

The past weekend I set out to complete small project with a little help from my gardening assistant. The goal was to put together a small pathway made from cheap concrete stepping stones that would lead up to the front porch area of my garden shed. Prior to this the area was weedy. So weedy that regular mowings were necessary…

The historic dryness finally gave way to some rain on Halloween. About 0.83 inches came down that day give us a good soaking. We still need more rain, and regular rain but it definitely helps. I’ve been concerned about the lack rain and the fall color potential but fortunately some trees have done really well despite the lack of rain….

This post is a little bit of a Hodge-podge of topics. A conglomeration of a couple of interesting things and one maybe no so much for you (but something I can whine warn you about!) Sunrise This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise that highlighted the early morning clouds.  I snapped I picture from our upstairs bathroom window. It’s a…

I’ve been riding a gardening high since everything seemed to be going so well. The summer squash has been putting out squash prolifically and everyday there have been more cucumbers to pick. Things are changing. Now there are some pesky pests who are honing in on my vegetables. The squash vine borer and the cucumber beetle are the villains.These two…

I decided several years ago that I didn’t want to mess with chemicals in my garden.  It was an easy choice for me.  We had kids and I didn’t want to risk their exposure to dangerous substances.  I didn’t want to eat food covered in chemicals at the dinner table.  A tomato with a side of pesticide just wasn’t a…

I made big plans for this weekend. Plans that, at least in my mind, were very attainable. Unfortunately the weather did not concur. When I made my chore list for the weekend the weather forecast said Saturday and Sunday would be in the 70’s and sunny. We had a such a great weather day on Saturday that makes saying it…

Despite what the weather may lead us to believe Spring will arrive soon. Maybe it will help us believe it if we repeat that phrase: Spring will arrive soon! (Repeat as needed) It’s March and during March we can expect a number of tumultuous and turbulent weather systems that will toy with our psyche. Have faith gardeners because spring and the gardening…