Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

For this post I really don’t need any words, the pictures will explain why you should plant echinacea (coneflowers) in your landscape. But since this is a blog I have to tell you why I like echinacea in the garden and where I’ve planted it! Echincea is one of the easiest plants I’ve found to grow. Once it’s established there…

It is full fledged spring around our Middle Tennessee garden.  There is no shortage of work that needs to be done in the form of weeding and mulching on top of a myriad of miscellaneous projects.  For now though let’s just take a few pictures of the garden and we’ll think of that monster spring to-do list a little later….

You don’t need much space to propagate plants. In fact you can propagate a bunch of plants in some very small spaces like in the containers in the picture. Together I have 5 different kinds of plants ready for rooting including red twig dogwood, rhododendron, azalea, Purple Leaf Plum Propagation, Japanese maple, and Yoshino cherry. To me it’s amazing that…

Ornamental grasses are some of the easiest plants to propagate and they look so good in the garden. Today I potted up seven rooted sections of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Four of them were ‘Shenandoah’ which gains a reddish coloring in the leaves in late summer and fall and three were ‘Northwind’ which has a taller and more upright shape. Switchgrasses…

Several weeks ago I planted Baptisia australis seeds. It’s also known as false indigo. It took some time but with bottom heat from my seedling heat mat and continued patience several of the seedlings have sprouted.  It’s always exciting to see new plants come alive from seed.  It took the Baptisia seeds about a month to germinate.  Please note one…

Here is Part 4 in The Home Garden’s series of posts about how to garden on a budget.Often when people go to the plant nursery they look around and see what they can get for that immediate impact in their landscape. They see larger more established plants and can easily see how they will fit in their garden. If these…

You can’t have a greenhouse garden shed without having a place to put the plants can you? I’ve finally gotten far enough along that I can assemble a long plant bench. Since I’ve collected scrap lumber from a variety of projects and people I decided to use that for this first plant bench. As money allows I may upgrade or…

Today was the day of the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap at Henry Horton State Park. If you missed it I really can’t blame you. The weather was cold, wet, and pretty miserable. It reminded me of early December Christmas parades back when I was a band director, and I sure don’t miss standing around in that weather! My wife and…

If you every wondered exactly why the beautyberry is called a beautyberry I’ll give you two words: “Beauty” and “berry!” These beautiful purple clusters of purple berries are well worth the wait each year for the autumn display. I’ve added several new beautyberries from cuttings to my garden this year and can’t wait until their display matches the first one…

I have a goal in mind for my vegetable garden this year.  I have a similar goal every year but this year I think it’s especially important.  I want to make our garden into our grocery store.  I’m being realistic with this and in no way think I can completely eliminate the grocery store trips but I would really like…

What do winter blooms, buds, bark and branches all have in common?  You will have to look at the end of this post to find out.  See if you can guess!The Winter BloomsThe henbit in our area is beginning to show signs of blooming.  Masses of little tiny flowers will over take yards creating a purple carpet for spring.The lone…

To say that I am ashamed of certain spots in my garden is an understatement. Several gardens have become filled with weeds run amok and whether or not the weather is cooperative I have to get some work done. Today I spent some time outdoors in the 95 degree heat tackling a couple of the raised bed problem areas in…

Healthy potato plants About a month before the last frost date is the best planting time for potatoes in my zone 7b garden. That starts the planting season for potatoes here in Tennessee in Mid March. If you need a better guide than that think of St. Patrick’s Day and plan around it within a few days. Potatoes are not…

Fortunately I’m not one to be squeamish with the natural side of the garden. The wasps usually don’t bother me, nor do the spiders, and neither do the snakes. I know many people can’t even stand the sight of snakes whether they are dangerous or not. It’s probably the fear that they could be poisonous that scares people. There’s an…

The last frost date is one of the most important dates for gardeners.  The last frost date determines when to plant the vegetables and ornamentals at the best possible time for maximum growth over the season.  Some plants like being planted before the frost date while others have to be planted afterward. Last year Spring and warm weather came early…

The battle has just begun. The lines have been drawn and the enemy has been sighted.I began scouting the territory in an attempt to locate the the wily villain and took these pictures. It was a difficult mission.I crept closer and closer to the encampment of the enemy, stopping often to cautiously take reconnaissance pictures. I was afraid of discovery….

So on Wednesday of this coming week I’ll have had this blog open for a month. I find it interesting that about two weeks after I start articles all over pop up about garden blogging. Is it something that is catching on? Or is it publicity brought on by the talented folks who have paved the garden blogging way. The…