Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Here are some pictures that we have taken of 2008!Here is a snowfall on a very cold evening. I like how the white snowflakes are captured, frozen in time, by the reflected light of the flash. A visitor to our new bird feeder! This white-breasted nuthatch (Sitta carolinesis) is cracking open the shell of a sunflower seed for his feast….

Even in winter gardeners in Tennessee need to keep up with the weeds.  Cool season weeds like chickweed and henbit can easily take over while you aren’t watching your garden beds.  I actually like the look of henbit in the lawn but not in the garden beds.  If you have a warm winter day get out there and do a…

This week I was excited to find that something I had given up for lost actually worked, cuttings of a red twig dogwood. I took some cuttings in an attempt to propagate Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) back in the fall. After I prepared the cuttings they sat for several weeks without anything happening. Just after I transplanted my butterfly…

It’s time to highlight a few more neat posts from the garden blogging world! Let’s get right to it! If you’re a fan of paths (and I don’t know any gardener who isn’t) I noticed two posts this week about paths that might interest you. Carol of May Dreams Gardens recently decided to remodel her gardens and is incorporating  a…

I was inspecting the Birdbath Garden the other day when a persistent buzzing sound became noticeable. I looked around a little closer and found this little bee happily buzzing among the stalks of the salvia. No wonder I like these plants! They are magnets for these happy little pollinators. This bee buzzed from stalk to stalk sampling all it had…

To say that I’m excited about the completion of our Arbor project is an understatement. In many ways it turned out better than I had hoped. From the plants we used to the materials and the design nearly everything went according to plan. Of course I spent a good deal of time before the project began planning this arbor. I…

Over the holidays we went to the West Tennessee town of Trenton to visit my wife’s grandmother. Her home rests in the middle of several acres of rich Tennessee farmland where they typically grow either soybeans, corn, or winter wheat depending upon the whim of the farmer. The crop is most likely determined through a system of crop rotation. Soybeans…

There are probably a million things I could think of that need done around the yard and in our various gardens but here are a few that are bouncing around in my head at the moment. I’ve been distracted with the deer the last couple days and several things that need done haven’t been tackled yet.Dave’s Fall Garden To-Do ListBuild…

Yesterday I put together a small vegetable layout plan for my raised bed garden. It’s just one of many possibilities for companion planting and it only deals with a small number of plants. This plan features tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and marigolds in a 4 foot by 8 foot bed. All of these plants are listed in various companion planting guides…

Recently I was invited to the 48-Hour Challenge with Better Homes & Gardens. For my project I chose to build an arbor! I’ve highlighted a few aspects of it over the last several weeks but I haven’t put down a play by play of our challenge. Hopefully you can follow along and if you want to tackle this project you’ll…

Yesterday the weather was great so I went outside to tinker and putter around. Tinkering and puttering is just when you look for little things to do that don’t take a lot of time but you need or want to get done. Here’s what I did:I trimmed the ornamental grasses down. They were looking pretty ragged and since they never…

Today I stopped by one of our big box home improvement stores and visited the declining stock in their gardening area. I’ve mentioned before about the good deals you can find there and so today I found a couple deals! While they are desperately cleaning out their summer and autumn wears to make room for Christmas trees, I picked up…

This is the first video update from the garden shed. Hopefully I’ll be able to add more videos to The Home Garden over time include how-to’s and mini-garden tours! I hope you enjoy the look inside my messy construction and plant filled shed. Please be forgiving, as always it is a work in progress! http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZgrlCzP0-oQ

I’m another step closer to actually using the greenhouse garden shed I built. I actually have the structure up for my big plant bench. I just need to do a few more finishing touches! I’m thinking of painting it white eventually to add some light reflection but that will most likely have to wait until spring.

For years now I have complained about our Bradford Pear Trees. In my mind they are one of the most problematic trees ever planted in the landscape. I despise Bradford Pear trees. There are so many reasons why Bradford pear trees are terrible for planting that I constantly wonder WHY were these things ever released to the public for purchase….

I invited native plant expert and advocate Benjamin Vogt to write a guest post on attracting bees to the garden with native plants. I hope you enjoy it! -Dave This morning, once the sun hit the main garden, I took my video camera outside. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, recording the most active part of the day in…

Last weekend I put together a small front porch for my garden shed. It’s nothing fancy – just a small platform measuring 8’x4′ made from pressure treated lumber. It’s wide enough to fit a couple chairs when needed and provides a platform for entering the garden shed. The deck is free floating and can be moved if needed. It isn’t…

I would like to thank Roben Mounger (AKA Ms. Cook) for the great write up on her culinary blog Ms. Cook’s Table! I would also like to welcome any new visitors from the Columbia Daily Herald who found me because of her article. I hope you find something that interests you in this visit, if not keep checking back I…