Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Large cocoon on ninebark For several months I’ve been watching this strange cocoon attached to my ninebark.  I was curious what might come from it, and a little apprehensive too, then yesterday I found a second one on a viburnum.  What if it was something that would chow down on my garden?  What if it was some dangerous?  What if…

I was tagged by Christopher at Outside Clyde to list eight things that make me happy. Then I get to name 8 other victims to do the same!Here are the rules: When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Post these rules before your list, then list 8 thoughts that make you happy. At the end of…

 For More Say Nothin’ Saturday visit TC!

This winter I gathered some seed from a yucca (Yucca filamentosa) and saved it. I’m not sure exactly why other than I thought it might be interesting to see how they grow. I do that sometimes, where I just attempt something for the sake of attempting it (I once planted lemon seeds from a store bought lemon to see if…

It is inevitable. You will find a weed somewhere in your lawn or in your garden.  As things begin to grow this spring you’ll notice weeds coming up where you don’t want them.  In fact that is the general definition of a weedy plant – a plant that grows where you don’t want it!  Any plant can become weedy but some have…

After you have a good list of the elements your edible landscape needs and you have pieced together a solid “To Grow” list you need to evaluate what you already have in your garden.  Some people might put this step first and that’s OK but if you do your evaluation after you decide what you want to grow you can…

Rocks are a great landscape feature to add to your yard and garden. They come in all sizes and don’t need any real maintenance. You can put moss on the rocks or let them rest as silent monoliths watching over your garden. You can use them for edging, for paving stones, stepping stones, and retaining walls. There are just so…

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about fall planting of vegetables. Even though it goes against our natural inclination to think about cool season vegetables in August it’s definitely time. Like with any task good preparation is important for success. My first step in preparing the garden for planting is to determine what I want to plant. Beets…

Spring weather is at best fickle. One day it’s warm and sunny with temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s then next day the weather forecasters are bringing up the “S” word – SNOW! We didn’t have any of the white stuff thankfully. Sometimes I suspect that there’s a fair amount of weather sensationalism out there where bringing it up certain…

The past weekend I set out to complete small project with a little help from my gardening assistant. The goal was to put together a small pathway made from cheap concrete stepping stones that would lead up to the front porch area of my garden shed. Prior to this the area was weedy. So weedy that regular mowings were necessary…

When your goal is to produce food from your garden as fast as possible you want to select vegetable plants that have a very quick turn around. When we are discussing fast growing vegetables we need to look at the days to maturity. Days to maturity means the approximate days from germination until harvest. Notice two important words here: from…

Recently in the gardening blogosphere there’s been a little uproar over a particular post on a particular blog regarding the particulars of gardening. While I don’t wish to officially enter the fray of back and forth I thought I might offer my thoughts on gardening rules that should be strictly adhered to at all costs. Garden Rule Number One: Garden…

One of the more unusual vegetables I am growing this years is the ‘Trombetta’ climbing squash. Its name is derived from the Italian word for bugle or trumpet which is the shape it resembles. ‘Trombetta’ is a climbing squash that when ideally placed has the strong support of an arbor or trellis on which to grow.  The squash itself gets…

Saving seeds of squash and zucchini is a very simple process. When the growing season begins to wan start allowing a few squash fruits to grow. They will become large and tough and won’t be well suited for eating but will be perfect for generating seeds. Once the squash fruits are of a suitable extra large size harvest them and…

To say I’m furious tonight would be an understatement. The deer have struck again, and again this week, relentlessly. This week’s attacks have been the most brutal by far. I normally like the deer. It’s fun to see the fawns scamper through the backyard, or to watch the watchful mother and father deer looking after the young ones. But today…

While the weather outside resembles that of the arctic I spent a few minutes starting Japanese maple seeds. I had two varieties of tree that I saved seed from this fall, ‘Sango Kaku’ and ‘Bloodgood’ (Acer palmatum). Both types of Japanese maples are fairly common and can make good root stock for other, more unique Japanese maple varieties. One of…

Since we were gone for a few days one of the first things I did was check the vegetable garden’s progress. Things are shaping up even if it is a bit unkempt. The tomatoes need tied off again. I’m using bamboo stakes and twine to tie off the plants as they grow. I could easily have used store bought tomato…

I’ve been saving seeds like mad this year.  Collecting the seeds from my own garden and using them for my nursery as well as for personal use is one easy way to make sure I have quality seed at a low cost!  Unfortunately the amount of seeds produced by plants this year will probably be fewer due to the drought…