Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Friday we had thunderstorms rolling through Middle Tennessee. The rain came down fast with the accompanying winds. This storm cleated tornadoes that tore apart homes one county south of us. Here are some pictures I took of the storm coming. The rain fell very quickly. Our rain gauge measured at least half an inch of rain in 15 to 20…

This plant is probably easily identifiable. In fact it’s a good bet that if you live in the south you have it in your yard, your neighbors yard, your school, your bank and pretty much everywhere you could think to put it! I saw rows of this at the home improvement store today which prompted me to make this post….

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…

This year I’ll be adding a little bit of my garden writing to a local website called Spring Hill Fresh. Their goal is to highlight Spring Hill, TN and the local area which is one of the fastest growing areas of Tennessee.  Spring Hill Fresh offers us locals news about current events, local happenings, and local business. A couple times a…

Despite recent events at the White House the security of my greenhouse shed just won’t ever be as good as that of the Secret service. Since it is also a shed and will be housing my lawnmowers, weedeater, various garden tools, hoses, and all the plants I hope to propagate I need something to keep people out. Tools don’t walk…

Garden mulch can be an essential part of your garden. Mulch has a number of benefits including keeping the moisture in the soil and adds beneficial organic matter. Mulch can be valuable in reducing weed pressure as well. How much mulch do you need? Below is a simple mulch calculator to help you determine how much mulch you need for…

‘Powis Castle’ artemisia has quickly become my favorite plant of the year. A little pot I purchased this spring has quickly grown into this lush silver foliaged beauty in the picture below.  I really didn’t expect this much this soon otherwise my ‘Mystic Spires’ salvia would have been planted further away but in a way it looks kind of neat…

It’s just about time to start seeds indoors for peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes here in TN so I thought I would share a quick post on how I make my seed starting medium (mix).  Seed starting mixes can be bought with the same ingredients as what I’m about to share with you but when you mix it yourself you can…

Each year I’ve posted about the projects I hope to accomplish in the New Year. They aren’t resolutions, just goals or ideas. I may not even get half of the projects accomplished but I find that if I get some ideas before the garden season starts in earnest I can be pretty motivated to get it worked on before the…

As a garden blogger sometimes life is frustrating. During the winter you reach for things to say, stuff to talk about and begin dragging back old pictures of the previous year just so that you can produce something for people to read. Then before you know it the growing season is in full swing and you’re practically left behind with…

These giant mosquito like creatures called crane flies are all over the Middle Tennessee area right now. They are flies that may look like mosquitoes but aside from their unfortunate appearance have no other similar attributes. Crane flies are perfectly harmless in their adult form but can be very annoying. In their larval form they burrow through the ground until…

What else would you expect with garden blogs but to be growing? Two newcomers are on the scene for Tennessee growing the total to five (that I know about). Gail at Clay and Limestone and Craig at Harvistry. Both blogs appear to have unique content that is worth a look!Gail’s title refers to the content of most soil in Tennessee….

In the very back of our property we have a shady area.  It’s about the only shady area that has occured naturally in our landscape.  A mixture of walnut, sassafras, hackberry, and maple trees create a shade area that until recently was completely unusable!  It was a problem area in our landscape which I thought would make a great subject…

With fall fast approaching and some areas of the world already beginning to see the shades of autumn leaves appearing I thought it might be a fun idea to track where the peak colors are changing. I hope you’ll jump in and participate in this project!Here’s the idea:1) Take pictures of the peak fall colors near you and post about…

It’s time for another edition of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day brought to you by Carol of May Dreams Gardens! August is one of those times of the year before the fall flowers really start to get going where plants are kind of in transition but there are still many things in bloom. Today we’ll step back a bit and look…

My daughter and I recently did a little project. We took materials that were lying around the house and put together a mini-seed starting greenhouse. It was a simple and easy project to work on with my 3 and a half year old daughter. Read on to see what we did.Materials: Paper roll tubes, a rectangular tin foil pan, a…

Last year I began to experiment with hybridizing.  I’m hoping that the plants I cross together result in something really nice but it takes a few years to get something from the crosses.  So far I’ve experimented with daylilies, echinacea, and irises.  Hostas are on my list but the deer keep getting to the flowers before they’ve had a chance…

Yet another use for my pickup load of stone the other day is a bench for the little people. No I’m not talking fairies, elves, or garden gnomes but my two girls.  Of course anyone else who might happen upon the bench and need to take a load off their feet is welcome to do so.  I was lucky to…