Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Once you have your seedlings growing strong and you’ve properly hardened them off (more on that next week) it is time to plant your seedlings in the garden.  But where should you plant them?  It may seem like a given that you’ll just go out and stick them in a hole and watch them grow, but it’s not always that…

If you plan to sell plants you have to have plants to sell. So how does one go about getting a supply of plants for a nursery business? As plant retailers we really have only two options: produce the plants on our own or buy them from someone else and resell the plants. Both options have some very good advantages…

Every year I show off the first daffodil to bloom in my garden.  This year, I have to say, my first daffodil is less than impressive.  The cold and wet weather has put a damper on the beauty of this little yellow flower.  So far it’s the only one in bloom that I have seen but I haven’t fully explored…

Have you ever put something in the garden that you just shouldn’t have? Maybe you thought “I don’t have a better place to put this so I’ll just stick it in here” or even “I’ll stick this plant here and keep it trimmed back.” I’ve thought both of those many times and made mistakes and the latter statement gets me…

This morning I attended the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap at Henry Horton State Park. If you’ve never been to a plant swap before you really should consider going to at least one. It’s a fantastic way to expand the plant varieties in your garden on the extremely cheap side. The concept is simple, bring any extra plants you have to…

Alright you tomato crazed vegetable gardeners! It’s time to give away some tomato seeds to start your heirloom tomato collection for next year. The seeds I’m talking about are from a tomato called ‘Woodle Orange’.  Which is perhaps a lesser known variety but definitely not because it under performs. In fact it’s a delicious alternative to the standard reds and…

To say that deer have been a challenge over the years is somewhat of an understatement. Deer love to graze around my garden. In fact over the last couple months we’ve watched as a family of deer has grown. Several fawns appeared in the garden and have been growing like the weeds. Gardeners and deer can coexist but as a…

Today I put the final touches on the birdbath garden for the 2008 gardening season. It’s come a long way since it’s inception last fall. In the beginning it was merely a birdbath with a couple plants next to it. A few irises, two coneflowers (‘Sunset’), and a butterfly bush made up the whole garden. Later I added some discount…

No you’re not having a bad 80’s flashback. The word rad in the title doesn’t refer to big hair glam bands or jelly shoes but rather radishes! How could you even think of the other stuff? The radishes are in from the vegetable garden and are quite tasty.Here’s the bunch I pulled today. There are still a few more in…

While there may be no official contest going I’m entering a very special tomato for the ugliest tomato of 2009. I remember Carol last year challenged folks to find a tomato uglier than one she had.  If I had managed to grow this monstrosity last year I might have beaten hers for I have never seen one such as this!…

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…

The title of this post says it all. If I can move a rock I’ll put it somewhere! Thanks to a garden club friend (Evelyn) I found out about a man named Barry who was clearing part of his property so that his wife could have horses. Unfortunately for Barry, and very fortunately for me and several other rock collectors,…

A couple weeks ago a representative for DuPont contacted me and asked me to review one of their products. It was a weed control fabric (DuPont Garden O.N.E® Biodegradable Weed Control Fabric). I was skeptical about it at first (since weed control fabrics and myself don’t usually get along) but I said go ahead and send it and I’d take…

This afternoon the temperatures dropped enough for work outside to become “feasible.” Not ideal in any sense of the word simply feasible. Add to that this cough, sinus drainage, and a mild case of pink eye and you would think I would just stay indoors and rest. Not so for this dedicated (or dumb) gardener! My oldest daughter accompanied me…

One morning back in September there was a heavy dew that illuminated this web on one of our potted lemon trees. We thought it was pretty cool so we took a picture of it!

Once all your prep work has been thoroughly completed gather up all your lists and get ready to design the plan for your edible landscape. When making an edible landscape plan it is important to keep all of your end goals in mind along with the time it will take to reach those goals. Purple Podded Pole Beans Time as…

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…

Here is Part 9 of The Home Garden’s weekly series about gardening on a budget.Plant propagation, at last, my favorite subject! I was saving the plant propagation post for the last few segments of this series on gardening cheap. Plant propagation is one of the most inexpensive ways to make more plants and expand your gardens. There are several methods…