Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s been a very busy week for me and I haven’t had much time to write but I did want to post a few photos of what is growing in the garden. Today is a rainy soggy mess in the garden and not very well suited for gardening so looking back at the garden photos from the week is the…

It’s fall and the gardening season is winding down, but it’s not too late to save a few dollars for next year. There are lots of techniques gardeners can do this time of year to save money for next season. Today I’m going to give you five ideas that will help you save money on next year’s gardening budget! So…

Here are a couple pictures I took on Friday November 7, 2008. In the morning it rained; in the afternoon it rained sunshine.

Seed starting time is just around the corner!  OK it may be a little more than around the corner for some gardeners but while we are planning our holiday gatherings those seed catalogs are coming in, enticing us to get started!  Today lets look at several seed starting techniques and methods that you can use to effectively get good germination and get…

Here is Part 3 in The Home Garden’s series of posts about how to garden on a budget.One thing that drives me crazy about lawn mowing is when I see someone mowing their grass when it doesn’t need it. Imagine the scene: it hasn’t rained in two weeks, the grass hasn’t grown a centimeter, and someone is out riding in…

Pours, and pours, and pours, and pours, and pours to a total of 6 inches of rain within 48 hours. And there is more to come! I have never seen this much rain in such a short period of time since we moved to this house.  During one period within 45 minutes we received more than 2 inches of rain….

I am by no means and expert on the subject but over the last couple months I’ve learned a lot about feed scrapers and content theft. It’s an insidious problem that just seems to get worse. Mr. Brownthumb recently invited me to do a guest post on his blog GardenBloggers (a great place for garden bloggers to get blogging tips)…

I have repeatedly written about how awesome salvias are.  I hope you’re not tired of that kind of talk because your about to get another dose!  Salvias are one of the easiest to care for perennials around. During fall they bloom profusely. They aren’t bothered terribly by heat and in many cases thrive in dry environments where other perennials may…

It’s no secret that this has been a challenging year for our family. My father’s health issues and fight with cancer completely drained our enthusiasm and many things have suffered.  That is one reason why this fall is so welcome.  Fall represents the closing of the growing season. Winter will come soon after and gardening chores and projects will become…

These two crepe myrtles are holding strong to their color. Although these bright red and orange beauties are not mine, I did manage to get a couple seedlings from them to plant in my yard. Most people think of crepe myrtles for their summer flowering colors, but these two are evidence that there is more to a myrtle than meets…

This weekend found me still digging the greenhouse foundation out. Digging out a 10’x16′ area by yourself takes some time, especially when it rains more often than not. But in gardening, as in life, you take what comes and do the best you can with what you have. In three digging sessions I excavated three 4’x8′ areas to eventually remove…

Green onions are a delicious topping to many soups and salads but they will go bad fast when stored in the refrigerator crisper drawer. However there is a way to keep green onions fresh for several weeks or more, and it’s so simple! To keep your green onions fresh put them with the bulb end down in a jar or…

Today I’m going to tell you of a special technique for growing Echinacea or coneflowers from seed. You may have heard of this technique before and perhaps you’ve even tried it. Whether you have or haven’t this technique is worth trying I call it: forgetting you planted the seeds.Here’s how forgetting you planted the seeds works step by step. The gardener…

Here’s a random question for you. If you could plant any plant in your garden that exists outside of your zone what would it be and why? The first and only rule with this question is that the plant must not be hardy in your zone. Other than that any plant you can think of is fair game.With my first…

The rain garden is very close to being finished. We worked most of the day and managed to get the soil put in to make the planting bed. All that is left to do is to select plants and cover with mulch!Here’s a look at today’s progress:Here is where I ended the other evening. A big hole with a trench….

Every month Gardening Gone Wild has a picture contest and I thought for August I would submit my first entry. The subject for the contest is “Down On Your Knees.” David Perry, the photography judge, is encouraging gardeners and shutterbugs to look at their gardens and plants in a different perspective. In the spirit of the competition I took quite…

The other day I came up with an idea for a rustic planter. I had this piece of a pallet left over from my old potting bench that I didn’t have any particular use for. The old pallet itself was the table potion of my previous potting bench and I cut off a piece of the pallet to make the…

This week has been an interesting one! I’m amazed and astounded by the sheer number of comments generated for the compost bin giveaway from Clean Air Gardening. At the cut-off time for the drawing there were 120 valid entries (Nancy’s, of Leaping Greenly, doesn’t count since she’s Canadian but I always appreciate her comments!). Here’s how the drawing worked: I…