Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Every now and then I take a look around the Gardening Blogosphere to see if there are any new Tennessee Bloggers. And every now and then I find a few! Of course I have to thank Gail of Clay and Limestone for finding DP at Squarefoot Gardening. One of the great things about garden blogging is that each gardener has…

Have you ever wondered “How do I separate those tiny seeds from the chaff?” It’s not hard and shouldn’t cost you a dime to remove all those tiny seeds. There are quite a few methods for separating the seeds from the chaff, this is just one possible method you might use. Take a used plastic container form your recycling bin….

For this post I really don’t need any words, the pictures will explain why you should plant echinacea (coneflowers) in your landscape. But since this is a blog I have to tell you why I like echinacea in the garden and where I’ve planted it! Echincea is one of the easiest plants I’ve found to grow. Once it’s established there…

To say that I’m excited about the completion of our Arbor project is an understatement. In many ways it turned out better than I had hoped. From the plants we used to the materials and the design nearly everything went according to plan. Of course I spent a good deal of time before the project began planning this arbor. I…

In order to raise worms for worm composting (vermicomposting) you have to have a place to put the worms and the kitchen scraps. There are all kinds of composting bins that can be effective but they all work on the same idea. A box houses the worms, kitchen scraps, and bedding. As the worms eat they make their way through…

I think in many ways people who garden in the “traditional” or “conventional” methods* don’t realize how easy it really can be to garden organically. In fact some of these organic ideas are probably done by everyone who gardens in some capacity. For this Friday’s Friday Five let’s take a look at 5 easy ways to be organic.  There are…

This time of year when the weather is inhospitable I take a look back through the pictures I’ve taken and informally review the previous year. That’s one great advantage when you blog, you have a record of most things and photographs of almost everything else! Here’s a picture from September just outside our vegetable garden. In the fuzzy foreground is…

Here’s a photograph of the rudbeckias in my parents’ fence garden from July.  Looking back on warm summer days is just the thing for cold winter January days isn’t it? Or maybe it just makes you long for the warmth of Spring and Summer even more!

Every year I write down my ideas for gardening projects.  It helps me to put down some thoughts and map out where my garden needs to go throughout the season.  I won’t be able to accomplish every project on the list but it does give me some direction.  At the end of the year I’ll go back and see how…

Unique berry producing plants are always welcome in my garden. What do I mean by unique? I’m glad you asked! If you didn’t ask then bear with me anyway. To me a unique berry plant is one that may not be in everyone’s landscape. Plants that look spectacular because of the berries and the berries aren’t just an added bonus….

If there is one shrub I would recommend to every home gardener for spring color, it’s the ‘Onondaga’ Viburnum (Viburnum sargentii ‘Onondaga’). This spring our ‘Onondaga’ viburnum is just beginning to put on it’s seasonal show, and it’s awesome! In the spring its most notable feature is the beautiful flowers; which is a lacecap style that are white with hints…

I want to take a moment to tell you about some other products that were sent to me recently for my garden.I fully intended to run these products through the garden wringer but the funny thing about this season is that I haven’t watered the garden since early JUNE! We’ve had regular rainfall coming through and so I haven’t needed…

Rather than continue with lyrics that will end up stuck in your head for the rest of the day, let me tell you why I say “I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day.”  The weather has turned back toward winter which brings with it clouds and cold, but the unseasonable warmth of the last month has led to earlier show…

It was a moment of pure beauty early this morning. We awoke to find the landscape covered in snow and with a winter wonderland waiting before us. I was out just before dawn to catch the sunrise and take some pictures in a setting that I very rarely get to photograph. I’m especially pleased with the first picture. It’s a…

Never say never right?  In my experience there are very few plants that are truly safe from deer.  This year I’ve had big time deer issues.  The extra tomato bed I planted was completely devoured by the two deer that are camping out in our backyard.  That isn’t shocking really.  I wasn’t able to put a good fence around any…

Here is what blooms in my Tennessee garden in May 2010. There’s always a lot to see this time of year and I’m sure I’ve missed some things but here we go! Red AchilleaPatio Garden – Garden Shed in the background Achillea, Phlox pilosa, and Catmint CombinationDeck Garden – The irises here are done but the foliage still remains. Nepeta…

This afternoon I went outdoors in the beautiful 60 degree weather and harvested our potato crop.  Truth be told its a rather small harvest of potatoes but considering that I didn’t intentionally plant them I am quite pleased!  When you leave behind a few potatoes from the spring/early summer harvest they grow into a nice fall crop.  Growing potatoes is…

Spring means it’s time to take some cuttings!  Today I took a few cuttings of a birch tree I’m eventually going to have to remove.  I planted it way too close to our house and it has gotten too large.  I didn’t want to lose the tree so I thought I would get a few to root and maybe plant…