Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Last year I put together the circular raised bed in my vegetable garden.  It’s in the center of the garden layout which is in the parterre style garden layout I planned last year.  Of course my plans are changing a little this year too.  It never fails, the only thing I don’t change in my garden is the fact that…

The leaf show hasn’t begun in the south just yet so now is a great opportunity to look at some common leaves before the color changes begin! For a list of Native trees to the United States and information on how to propagate them go to this page: United States Native Tree Propagation List Redbuds Red Buds (Cercis canadensis) are…

Stopping to smell the daylilies may get you a mild to severe case of nasal pollenitis. Symptoms include a dusty yellow-orange substance that can be found on the surfaces of the nose, possible sneezing and runny eyes, as well as a possible case of severe giggles.

Do you say “Do you feel lucky, punk?” when you stare down weeds while wielding a bottle of herbicide? Do you cringe when you hear crabgrass? Then don’t forget that this coming Wednesday July 29th is Worst Weed Wednesday where you get to rant all you want about the worst possible garden invaders to your yard! For more details check…

When pruning shrubs and trees there are certain characteristics you need to look for to determine where to cut, how to cut, when to cut, or even what to cut. It’s like a good mystery movie with the who, what, when, and where! One very important thing to watch out for is crossed branches (this would be a who). Crossed…

In the vegetable garden there is always a need for more space.  You never have enough.  The garden is constantly being filled with more plants than you really have room for and you have to find ways to organize it.  That’s why going vertical is a great option and the most classic way to go vertical is to use a…

By far my most favorite shrub is the viburnum. I’m working on collecting as many as I can, either through propagation or buying them, to fill in areas around our gardens. If you don’t have a viburnum in your garden you really should plant at least one or two. Some are fragrant, some are evergreen, and they are great for…

Imagine my puzzlement when I glanced at one of my two spireas and saw empty branches. This was a plant that was flushing out with its reddish amber to golden leaves just a couple days ago. The leaves around the tips were completely intact but some of the stems were nearly naked. What caused this damage? Aphids! What do Aphids…

This time of year people are looking for answers to their gardening questions.  Perhaps the most common gardening questions start with the word when.  As gardeners we realize that time is a very important factor when planting plants because it can greatly effect how a plant grows in the garden. Here are a few gardening whens that people have been…

I wanted to share a few more pictures from my visit to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens the other day but also wanted to give you a Friday 5 post so I thought why not put the two together?  For today I’ll give you 5 Great reasons to visit Cheekwood and show you some of the great features I saw during my…

I’m glad you asked! I’ve been updating you on the status of the raised bed garden over the last several days but I have mostly written about the structure of the garden like the mulched paths.  I haven’t really written about what is growing in there.  It’s time to remedy the situation! The first picture is a little radish sprout….

How about a fall foliage trip to Bethlehem? Bethlehem, PA that is! Yet another example of fine Pennsylvania foliage is on display with photos taken from Penn’s Peak by Marie at Garden in Bethlehem PA. Oaks, maples, locusts and all kinds of other trees are coating the hills like paint on a canvas.Kylee of Our Little Acre has fall colors….

One of the great flowering summer trees of the south is the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica). They typically grow well in zones 6-9 (Tennessee generally falls in the zone 6 area with a few areas in the 7). One of the growing traits of a crape myrtle that makes them good for propagating by cuttings is their ability to sucker….

Here is a collection of vegetable gardening posts that I’ve written over the last few years. Some are gardening designs and others are more general but in either case hopefully they will be of some use to you! Garden Layouts and Designs The garden layouts and designs section contains a group of posts about designing a raised bed vegetable garden. …

One of our favorite vegetables to grow each year is the yellow summer squash. These are some of the best looking squash plants we’ve managed to grow. It could be due to the increased rain this year or maybe the raised beds, but whatever the reason the plants are looking full and strong. They should provide an abundance of squash…

The other day I came up with an idea for a rustic planter. I had this piece of a pallet left over from my old potting bench that I didn’t have any particular use for. The old pallet itself was the table potion of my previous potting bench and I cut off a piece of the pallet to make the…

This post will begin a series of several posts that I believe are “must have” garden plans! These are plants that I think are great for the garden in some way. Maybe they are beneficial for growing other plants, have some important benefits, maybe in the case of vegetable produce are delicious, or are simply beautiful plants to have around!…

Last year one of the areas of our yard that I was sorely behind on updating was the mailbox garden. Since mailbox gardens typically are the first thing that people see when they come to visit it’s nice to have something to greet them. It really doesn’t take much to refresh or renew a garden. A few bags of mulch…