Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

A couple months ago I managed to root a dogwood tree from cuttings. Only 1 of 3 cuttings rooted but I still considered it a success. After all it was the first time I had managed to root a dogwood tree from a cutting. You would be happy to! Since then I did another experiment. These are the cuttings I…

The other day I went out to the garden and picked one of the best cantaloupes we’ve ever eaten. The taste of a store bought melon can never beat that of one that is homegrown!Cantaloupes are actually muskmelons (Cucumis melo ‘reticulatus’) that are given the name cantaloupe to sound more palatable. Musk just refers to the smell but if you…

Pictures Taken: November 10, 2008. Red Maple ‘October Glory’ (Acer rubrum)

Periodically I like to walk around the yard to see what there is to see. I was out around 7:30 this morning and took these pictures of the yard. The plants are really showing their eagerness for the spring season.I don’t think many people consider maple trees for their flowers but maybe we should all take a closer look. The…

Today we worked a little more on the greenhouse project and managed to get another milestone accomplished: the bracing. Unfortunately due to the end of daylight savings time darkness descended too quickly for me to snap some good photos. Besides braces aren’t very interesting, just functional. We put braces on the joists that connect them to the rafters, braces on…

I’m amazed this year by the blooms I actually have in the garden. Maybe it was the warm snap, or maybe we’ll be lucky enough to have some great blooms each and every February. My feature plant today is one that comes every spring much to the chagrin of the lawn lover.  Tiny purple flowers bloom enmass across yards all…

Featured in today’s photo post are two types of gaillardia, ‘Oranges and Lemons’ as well as offspring of ‘Oranges and Lemons’!  The offspring gaillardia is more of the typical gaillardia (Blanket flower) with the dark red flower petals highlighted with yellow on the tips.  It’s a beautiful flower that starts blooming and doesn’t quit until the frosts come.  Both gaillardias…

A couple years ago I was given a blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis) to add to my garden.  I planted it when it was covered with seeds and let it go to grow as it could as I do with so many plants. I forgot about it but apparently several seeds landed in different location near our front porch entry area…

One of our favorite vegetables to grow each year is the yellow summer squash. These are some of the best looking squash plants we’ve managed to grow. It could be due to the increased rain this year or maybe the raised beds, but whatever the reason the plants are looking full and strong. They should provide an abundance of squash…

The recent blast of cold that barreled through our country last week caused lots of plant damage. It was unavoidable. The temperature dropped from the 50’s to -3° F in a matter of a few hours. That is a very significant temperature drop that wreaked havoc on our gardens. But don’t look at your brown and black leaf damage and…

October is always a fun time of the year.  Fall festivals are in full swing, the leaves are changing, the weather is more cooperative for gardening, and of course there’s Halloween.  We don’t typically decorate much around here for Halloween.  Part of it is the difficulty of managing a whole lot of decorating with four kids running around and all…

The Good: Cherokee Purple Tomato! Yum. This tomato delicious dark skinned tomato with the greenish shoulders is already gone, only the image remains to remember it by. And I’ll say again…Yum! The Good: Raindrops, although minimal, bring hope that more is to come tomorrow! The Bad: A sneaky deer peeking around the corner of the garden shed just waiting for…

One of the coolest things about gardening is that every month brings a new scene. Different plants come to the forefront while others fade away leaving either seed heads or simply foliage in their place. Some may disappear completely among the foliage or die back to the ground revealing new fresh plantings that are coming into their own while some…

While I’m not officially wrapping up the Fall Color Project for this year the entries do seem to be slowing down! More and more leaves are finding their way to the ground, hopefully to become mulch or compost as nature intended! Today’s entry comes from the blog Garden Sense and shares with us the gorgeous colors that fall foliage brings…

The tomatoes are doing great! They have a strong healthy start in our seed starting area. I planted them a week and a half  ago and many of the seedlings are now getting their true leaves.  As the roots start to emerge from the peat pellets I’ll transplant them deeply into individual pots.  Deep planting is the best way to…

This past weekend I mentioned that we were working on cutting down some dead trees. The trees came down without a hitch and then the real work began. We chipped and cut our way through the limbs and logs. After a quick count of the rings on one of the trees we discovered that it was around 50 years old….

There’s not much happening on the greenhouse right now – it’s too cold! I walked out this afternoon to see if I could add some weather stripping to the front windows but it was too cold to add them as it needed to be higher than 40 degrees, or so said the packaging. This time of the year it should…

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….