Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

There are lot of home and garden products that a gardener can choose to use in the garden. Not all of them are good to use frequently and should only be used sparingly or not all all. Roundup is one of those types of chemicals. It accomplishes its goal very well but will leave residue in the soil. Here is…

After my post yesterday about the Snowy Owl Visit to Spring Hill, TN, Pete sent me a few of his pictures of the owl. He was able to get much closer to the bird than I could and his pictures are fantastic! He prefaced the pictures with a story that I’ll share with you in this post. I am a…

Here are two more great fall color posts for the Garden Blogger fall Color Project. These two posts come to us from the mid-west specifically Chicago, Illinois and Iowa.Mr. McGregor’s Daughter in Chicago, Illinois is observing some really fantastic fall color. The red oaks are competing with the maples for an extraordinary autumn show. Usually the maples win hands down…

So what can you do while it’s under 20 degrees outside and you are stuck inside but still want to do something garden related? Extract seeds from ornamental peppers! That probably wasn’t the first thing on your mind but it works for me! Extracting the seeds from these ‘Black Pearl’ ornamental peppers was one of those small items on my…

For my farmer’s market business I grew a lot of tomato plants.  In fact I grew more than I think I can sell over the next couple weeks and after that no one will be looking for plants.  Gardeners will be wanting to harvest their tomatoes instead of planting more.  I planned a few weeks ago that I would take…

The other day I had a surprise. While washing dishes at the kitchen sink I looked over at a small yogurt cup on the counter top to see this: Several small seedlings had appeared from some tomato seeds I was soaking. I’m going to have to admit one of my major failings here to properly tell the story, sometimes…I forget…

When transplanting plants it helps to have a great container that allows the seedlings to flourish. I’ve found over the years that coir pots are a great option. I used to use them as part of my farmer’s market plant sale business. Today I use them in my garden every year as I transplant tomato, pepper, and all sorts of…

Among many garden chores that come in spring perhaps the biggest is the trimming of the ornamental grasses. Trimming back perennials can be time consuming but the ornamental grasses can be a bear. It’s not the tiny little hair-like strands of the Nassella tenuissima (Ponytail grass), or the tall and narrow ‘Karl Foerster’ Feather Reed Grasses. The panicums aren’t a…

Every weekend is a busy weekend in the garden. At least until the July heat comes sometime in June. No I didn’t misspeak, it gets very hot in Tennessee around the mid to late parts June, but that’s getting way ahead since spring has barely gotten here. For now though the temperatures on a sunny day are fantastic! Warm but…

Spring is hitting us full force right now in mid April. Flowers are blooming everywhere! The mailbox garden is covered in spring time flowers and in just about every other garden is a spot of color to talk about. This post is plant and garden photo heavy so be prepared! April Blooms in the Mailbox Garden We’ll start the garden…

Join in for more Say Nothin’ Saturday’s with TC!

This past weekend was fantastic. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for getting outdoors and getting things done. I was looking forward to Saturday and the perfect weather a week in advance and knew exactly what I was going to tackle. My plan: to work around the garden shed! I managed to accomplish one major task that needed done…

It’s about time! 5 years ago we bought a piece of land only 10 minutes away from where we’ve lived since 2007. We intended to start building the house soon after that but so many things happened that building a home just continued to get postponed. Job changes, life changes, society changes (COVID 19), and quite a few things have…

Even though the summer is upon us it’s still a good time to propagate plants. The key is to keep cuttings moist and at a steady temperature until roots have formed. Then they can be easily acclimated to outdoor temperatures. I do all of my cuttings inside our house on the windowsills or under a grow light to keep the…

Last month I put together a post based on search engine hits in the form of a question to The Home Garden and I thought I’d do the same for August. I picked out several questions that I thought were either interesting or important and hopefully both! August Garden Questions Q. How do you get rid of aphids on a…

It’s that time of year when the fall blooming plants begin to start their show including Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora). This non-native clematis grows prolifically through the summer and gladly will climb and overtake any structure it meets then will bloom in the fall. I picked up two of these on the discount racks and even though I know…

Yesterday we had the good fortune to witness a Monarch butterfly stopping by our ‘Clara Curtis’ mum for a fill-up.  Monarchs are on their way south now to find their winter homes and have to stop for nourishment along the way.  We usually see them a couple times a year passing through looking for places to lay their eggs or…

While the winter is still in gear I thought it might be helpful to begin reviewing some of the toughest plants I have grown over the years. I’ve grown a lot of them (and killed a few of them along the way). In my garden it has to be a tough plant to survive over the years. Today I’m going…