Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

When to plant your vegetables is very important knowledge for all gardeners.  It can mean the difference between a great harvest, a late harvest, or no harvest!  It’s critical to know certain facts about the plants before you plant them. A little knowledge can go a long way to creating a great garden so let’s examine a little bit abut…

Among all the beneficial insects one of the most well known and well regarded is the ladybug (or properly called ladybeetle).  Either the ladybug is really good for the garden or it has a great PR person! Of course it could be both since when you do good things people talk about you and we all know that word of…

Forgive the slightly blurry picture of this zebra swallowtail butterfly. It refused to hold still for it’s photo! Recently while out exploring I noticed a butterfly floating about. It was a zebra swallowtail butterfly which is the Tennessee state butterfly. I’ve seen them before and so I knew a little about them including one fact in particular, their favorite host…

It’s time! I’ve already noticed a few leaves of the cherries and sassafras beginning to turn colors on their way to some fantastic fall foliage. Our August temperatures gave us a preview of the weather ahead but it couldn’t show us the potential color show that autumn brings. With fall foliage comes the 2009 edition of The Fall Color Project….

I’m in a bit of a pickle. Sorry if you thought I was handing out pickles with my post title. In this case the pickle refers to a dilemma or situation. It’s not a bad situation by any means. Something I suspected since we moved into our house was confirmed to me yesterday.While outside doing some winter sowing I thought…

Strange things are always occurring in the garden. Or we think they are strange at first until we apply a little bit of logic to the situation! Over Thanksgiving I was visiting my in-laws. When we pulled up into the driveway I noticed something right away…the irises were blooming! Here in Tennessee we’ve had several hard frosts at this point…

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…

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 are a few of the early March blooming flowers in my garden. Crocus, daffodil, and forsythia. The forsythias have burst into full bloom since the picture was taken!

Last year I set up a small greenhouse in my garage.  It was a gift from my parents and has come in quite handy.  I keep it in the garage next to one of the windows and have an old aquarium light set up for the top shelf.  This little greenhouse is the perfect place to harden off my seedlings…

OK so you’ve gotten your big seed order in the mail, now what?  What do you use to actually start the seeds in?  What kind of pots?  What kind of soil?  After deciding what seeds to order you need to know what medium to plant your future garden in.  There are a lot of variables out there to choose from,…

This Vegetable Garden To-Do list may or may not be relevant to you. If you’re in zone 6-7 it probably is, if not it might be useful later – or maybe you already did it! It’s just a collection of things that I desperately need to complete in the vegetable garden. Maybe desperate it too strong of a word but…

Over the holidays we went to the West Tennessee town of Trenton to visit my wife’s grandmother. Her home rests in the middle of several acres of rich Tennessee farmland where they typically grow either soybeans, corn, or winter wheat depending upon the whim of the farmer. The crop is most likely determined through a system of crop rotation. Soybeans…

Have Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!

It’s been another long break between postings here on the Growing The Home Garden Shed page.  If you follow me on Facebook or read my main gardening blog you know how busy I’ve been with starting my own nursery.  It’s been a challenge and even though I started off with the attitude that I should count a single customer as…

Cosmos in the self-sowing garden framed by a decorative feature of the arbor. Also in the garden: Celosia, ‘Blue Bedder’ Salvia, Verbena bonariensis, sunflowers, coneflowers.

In my opinion you can never have enough fall color! Jan just posted more for us to look at and I highly recommend that you do. Photos of fall reflecting across water with hues of red, orange, and yellow blending in a perfect autumn tapestry is what you will find.  Fall is here at Thanks For 2 Day! See the…

Asiatic lilies are a plant that in the right conditions can develop roots from leaf cuttings. Not all plants work this way but some lilies develop bulbils from the leaf area. This technique below uses that trait to help stimulate root growth from the ends of the leaves. How to Propagate Asiatic Lilies from Leaves I took six leaves from…