Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Previously in my new series of posts about how to garden on a budget, Thrifty Gardening Tips, I wrote about finding and saving discount plants. After writing that post, I had an urge to go out and look to see what I could find. It was the Thursday before the Fourth of July holiday and I had this feeling that…

Our garden sits precariously between zone 6b and 7.  We’re in a very borderline area with multiple micro-climates within the 1.3 acres of land we have around us.  We’re far enough into the warm season now that the frosts should not happen again until fall, but then we thought we were done with frosts over a month ago! This weekend…

The weather here in Tennessee is nothing if not unpredictable.  Some will even say that the only thing predictable about the weather is that it is unpredictable!  So gardeners are left trying to figure out how to best mitigate harsh conditions of any extreme.  Two years ago we were facing floods that washed out gardens, homes, and upturned lives –…

Our first group of irises has just started to bloom.  The iris blooms are coming much later than last year due to the cold temperatures that have pushed everything back about nearly a month.  There are a just a couple types of iris here in my garden including the tall bearded irises, the Dutch irises, and some Siberian irises like…

Welcome to the first Seed Sowing Saturday of 2011! Where all of us seed starting fanatics recap our weekly seed starting experiences and share with each other what we’re working on, how we’re doing it all, and of course the results! I chose to start my seed sowing this week by starting shallots. We do a great deal of our…

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! These pictures were taken after a rare snowfall last December (2008). While we are celebrating the holiday I will be taking a break from blogging until the beginning of January. Of course I reserve the right to write whenever the mood strikes but don’t be surprised…

Layering is a fantastic way to make more free plants with very little risk. Propagating a plant through layering usually involves pinning down a branch to make contact with the soil so that the branch can begin forming roots.  I’ve used layering to propagate more difficult to root plants like oak leaf hydrangeas.   Below you will find a short…

I have always been lax on the indoor gardening scene. It’s not that I don’t have plants inside but more that I prefer the outdoor landscapes and gardens. You can do a lot with plants in pots both indoors and out. the first picture is one that I’m sure many people are seeing bloom right now, the Christmas Cactus. Our…

The gardener gone A.W.O.L. was me of course, but for good reasons I assure you! No doubt you are familiar with the saying “make hay while the sun shines.” Well…the sun has been shining in our Tennessee home garden. The past couple days I have been busy in the yard trying to turn this place into a fantastic garden this…

Last summer I took cuttings from one of my viburnums and a couple spireas. They have a good start this year and are beginning to put on new growth. The viburnum came from a softwood cutting that was about 3-4 nodes long. I need to transplant it into some better soil since all I used for it over the winter…

The last week has been extremely busy and there are a mountain of fun things to talk about that sprang from it as well as quite a few neat things that will be coming down the road for the garden.  Of course right now we have results of the last of this winter’s oppressive ice storms, Titan, hanging around to…

Today I’m issuing a challenge to any glove maker, manufacturer, or garden handware retailer: Make me a glove that lasts longer than 5 months! I’m throwing down the gauntlet, or the garden gloves as the case may be. So far I have not met a pair of gloves that lasts more than a few months. This pair of gloves was…

During a break in the rain on Monday I was able to take these shots. The blue of the sky is just starting to peak through the dark rain clouds. It reminded me of one of my favorite newer U2 songs, Window in the Skies (from U218 The Singles). My oldest daughter’s favorite part is when they sing “Oh, Oh,…

This past week I have been diligently and furiously working on the big patio project. Everyday through the past month there has been a little progress but never more than this week. Maybe it’s just because I can see the project almost complete. Or maybe it’s because I’ve worked myself to death while trying to bring this patio project to…

The end of August is nearly here and the garden is shaping up for its conclusion.  Hopefully it will be a spectacular finish where the flowers bloom out and blend with the foliage as it turns into flaming reds, oranges, and yellows.  That may be the proverbial pipe dream as the weather has been strange this year and we don’t…

Thursday I got my new camera and of course I couldn’t wait to get outside and take a few pictures to test it! Let me just say that I am impressed with this Nikon D40. The pictures are much more clear and precise. The camera just functions better than our old Olympus. I’ll still use the old camera from for…

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…

Up in Michigan Joey has posted some really cool collages for the Fall Color Project. The colors from the maples and other trees around her town couldn’t have been painted more vividly with any paintbrush. It’s a palette of autumn color that awaits you at The Village Voice! The colors have officially reached their peak here in Tennessee. Over at…