Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

You know the story. Everyone travels to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. All the family gets together and stuffs their bellies full with turkey, ham, potatoes, numerous sides, and of course the stuffing (oh wait we call that dressing down here in the south ;)). And of course, you know it’s true, every family has one or two, and sometimes many…

A few years ago I wrote post about propagating rosemary from cuttings placed in water. That method for propagating rosemary is a viable method for sure but you probably will have more success if you take your rosemary cuttings and stick them in soil instead. Recently I posted a video on the YouTube channel that explains both propagation methods for…

Rain has been ever present in our garden for the last two weeks it seems. Even the “dry” days are still wet when you consider the soggy ground and grasses you have to walk through to get anywhere. Today I thought I would share a couple pictures that are enhanced by the rain. Raindrops on Clover Clover is one of…

Today was beautiful. The sun was out and the temperature was in the low to mid 60’s. That’s what I call perfect garden weather! I didn’t have much time to garden but needed to do a little something and was able to spend about 30 minutes on a small project. Back in the fall I used my black tarp technique…

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again when everyone thinks of how they can do things better than last year. What can they improve? What should they never, ever do ever again? People call them RESOLUTIONS (insert dramatic music here). While there are certainly things that I can do better and improve on, most of my goals…

Every garden changes and goes through transitions. Some are simply seasonal transitions that will happen every year. We know about these seasonal transitions and are able to adapt and to some extent predict them. Spring changes to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and back again to spring. We are prepared for these transitions since we see them each…

The rainy weather and “normal” temperatures seem to be headed back our way, so why not take a look back at some sunny blooms from summer’s past? These flowers all came from the July of 2009 version of my garden, some are annuals and others are perennials and some are somewhere in between!  The in between flowers are generally perennials…

For today’s issue of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day I can actually share with you some very nice flowers all thanks to the recent rains. The extra water perked up enough of the garden for it to be almost perfectly presentable just in time for the 15th of July. I hope you enjoy them as much as this happily buzzing bee…

Last week I made some cuttings of my ‘Concord’ grape vine in an attempt to make a few more vines. Grapes are great edible plants to have in the garden whether you like eating them at the table, making juice, or even making wine.  Grapes enjoy a full sun location. Here’s how to propagate grapes from greenwood cuttings. How to…

Similar to the “Things to do List” in form my “Things I’ve Neglected List” contains the stuff I should have already accomplished but didn’t for some reason (Greenhouse shed construction). The garden chores that have be displaced by the aforementioned project still need to be accomplished and I really hope to when I get the time! Things I’ve Neglected (in…

As always I’m excited to get new plants through plant propagation and I’m pretty excited to add 5 new dwarf arborvitae to the collection!  I bought the ‘Little Giant’ arborvitae (Thuja occindentalis) last fall on the discount rack and planted two of them in the birdbath garden on either side of the pathway to the bench spot.  The idea was…

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated you on my raised bed vegetable garden. I’m pleased with the way things are looking right now. The tomato plants are taking off as are the squash and cucumber plants. You can see for yourself the benefits of gardening in raised beds! The tomatoes and other vegetables grow faster and larger.In the…

Every year I like to create a list of projects that I hope to complete. I don’t know that it has ever been a truly realistic list. Which means I probably put more projects on the list than time will allow. Since we have a new house and a new garden we have a big list of potential projects that…

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to Gloria Ballard, the garden columnist at The Tennessean newspaper for including me in her latest article! It has some great information on Fall Planting of Vegetable Crops. Please stop over and read her article online at The Tennessean: Second Season Springs to Life in the Garden or visit Gloria’s personal…

I’m a little late on this list since we’re already over a week into August but over weekend I’ve come up with a list of things that I need to accomplish in the garden this month. As is very easy to do the garden has gotten away from me and with the start of football season coming soon it’s time…

Caryopteris cuttings root very easily from internodal cuttings with greenwood or semi-ripe wood. The best time to take cuttings is the the late spring to early summer to allow time for roots to form and the plant to get established before fall. Caryopteris was one of the new perennials I added to my garden last year. It did very well…

Want to do something nice for the birds?  Feed them!  Here’s an easy way to do it! Get a grapefruit (any suitable citrus will work). Cut it in half. Eat the grapefruit. (Important step) Fill grapefruit halves with bird seed. Set grapefruit halves on a deck rail Enjoy watching the birds! Piece of cake – or rather a piece of fruit!

Today is the day. The day when the challenge is evaluated by friends, family, and fellow bloggers through online voting at BHG.com and I need your help to win. The projects have been done and everyone has done a fantastic job by bringing us slick porch remodels, an elegant potting bench, a cool barbecue cart, and my personal favorite: a…