Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

After being cooped up all winter my daughters and I hightailed it to the backyard and spent the day outdoors digging in the dirt. We accomplished many of the chores I mentioned on Friday (wait they weren’t chores because I enjoyed doing them!). One of those tasks was a rearrangement of the vegetable garden. I wanted to move four small…

I had a question posed to me through a comment on this blog that I’ve not really written about dealing with plant propagation: Why do I use sand instead of soil for cuttings? Before I answer let me say that most (maybe about 95%) of my successful cuttings were done in sand alone with the rest in either in a…

I did a video a while back on Youtube about collecting oak leaf hydrangeas from seed. I thought since now is the ideal time to start collecting those seeds again I would go ahead and direct sow some oak leaf hydrangeas from seed. Below you can watch a short video of the flat I put together but it is a…

I’m sure you can understand why the January garden doesn’t get much picture time here. It’s not because it doesn’t look great – even though it doesn’t – it’s because it’s pretty darn cold! This winter has been one of the coldest we’ve had in a long time here in Tennessee and I like it much warmer. I remarked this…

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about fall planting of vegetables. Even though it goes against our natural inclination to think about cool season vegetables in August it’s definitely time. Like with any task good preparation is important for success. My first step in preparing the garden for planting is to determine what I want to plant. Beets…

It’s been a while since I joined in with Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day so I thought I’d share you a little of what is blooming in the gardens around our home.  For our garden this year it’s the usual suspects who are in flowering.  Daffodils, crocuses, and winter jasmine are coming along strong while other early spring/late winter flowers are…

Memorial Day isn’t about cookouts or backyard BBQs. It’s not about the fireworks or vacations either. It’s about paying tribute to the memory of those who have given their lives in the service of their country. Originally it was meant to honor those who died in the Civil War and eventually changed to honor those from all wars after World…

Today I actually found myself in a home improvement store looking for paint for the garden shed. How I found myself or more importantly how I got lost there I’ll never know but I ended up coming home with four gallons of paint. The colors will be revealed at a later date. They aren’t groundbreakingly unique colors but I think…

Fall color is one of the main reasons I garden. If you followed this website for a while you may remember the Fall Color project I hosted where Garden Bloggers from all over posted about their fall color and we shared our autumn experiences. For me few trees have more outstanding fall color than the maple. Red maples and Sugar…

I finally managed to get my Indoor Hanging Wall Planter Project up on the wall!  I ran out of screws so I’ll have to run to the store to pick up a couple more and make sure it stays up securely.  It’s fine for now but I definitely need those screws attached before adding pots and soil for plants.  I…

Arborvitae is a very nice plant for the home landscape. Also called Thuja occidentalis, arborvitae is an extremely versatile evergreen tree in the landscape. It can be used as a foundation planting, privacy screen, or even as a windbreak. These columnar evergreens tend to evoke a formal mood in the garden. There are cultivars that range from 2 feet in…

To me grass clippings are one of the best resources a gardener can get! I see grass clippings from lawn as an amazing way to gather organic matter for other uses in the garden ranging from composting and garden beds to mulching! Here are some really great ways to utilize this free organic resources in your gardening if you are…

This week I went to my mom’s house to do a little digging.  Back in the late spring we noticed small butterfly bush seedlings beginning to sprout in the pathway’s of her vegetable garden. As they grew large enough to transplant the weather became hot and transplanting wasn’t a great idea. Then my father passed away and just about everything…

There’s no rhyme or reason to the pictures in this post. It’s all random and just for fun! Or does saying that give it a theme or a reason? Hmm…. Verbena bonairensis beginning the process of reseeding in the self-sowing garden. Celosia in the reseeding garden! The front garden on October. I’ve noticed that this year there is a definite…

When the flowers are pretty much gone it’s time to harvest the result: seeds! Saving seeds is a great way to reduce your plant budget for next year, especially when the plants you save seed from are known for easy germination. Recently I collect some poppy seed from our red poppies in the self-sowing garden. Some of the seeds I’ll…

I’m always excited to see Nancy Ondra’s garden through her blog Hayefield and now the fall color in her Pennsylvania Garden is ready for our annual tour!  Nan has been participating in the Fall Color Project for several years now and we’ve all been able to enjoy the fantastic varieties of plants, shrubs, and trees she has in her garden….

This summer heat, humidity, and assorted family issues have kept me behind in most of my goals.  One of which was expanding the side border garden so that the caryopteris wasn’t completely absorbing the whole area. I tend to take a more conservative approach to pruning my caryopteris and consequently I didn’t prune them back enough this spring. They responded…

It’s time for another backyard greenhouse shed update and I’m excited about this one!  You might ask why am I so excited…the doors have been set! This is when I can see that everything is starting to look like I originally intended. The front doors are on after a little bit of repair work. We shaved off an inch of…