Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

This time of year more than any other when the cold weather is still stuck upon us we look for any signs of spring. We scour the garden for any hints of warmer weather that will hopefully be on its way soon. We have it lucky right now here in Tennessee. While the snows are burying parts of our country…

I’m definitely ready for warmer days ahead. How about you? ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud Cercis canadensis Here’s just a quick picture from our ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud (Cercis canadensis) taken back in May. The purple foliage reverts to a greenish foliage in the summertime. These are usually propagated by grafting the ‘Forest Pansy’ scion onto seed grown root stock. I haven’t ventured…

You may not believe me but snakes really can be a garden’s (and gardener’s) best friend!  Many people carry a fear of these creatures.  I can understand being afraid of poisonous snakes but the others are quite beneficial.  Yesterday while I was outside near my vegetable garden putting in some outdoor plant shelves (made from old wooden pallets) I moved…

It seems to me, and maybe you feel the same, that a day is not complete without some time spent outdoors. Even if all you do is walk around and look at the garden or take a walk down the street that time is invaluable. Today I went around the yard looking at the garden, the greenhouse project, the deck,…

Over the weekend I was able to do something that I never imagined I would be able to do and it was all because of blogging: I took a business trip for blogging. I received an email several weeks ago asking if I would be interested in working with Troy-Bilt to try out some of their products.  Of course I…

They call it winter blooming jasmine, and last year it really was. I suppose that technically this year it still is but with spring fast approaching it’s almost too late to call it winter, almost. The first bloom happened several days ago but more and more blooms are rapidly opening. Its lateness in flowering is probably due to the extremely…

We’ve talked about how to pick your seeds and we’ve talked a little about the soil to use, but when should you start your seeds?  This is when good planning comes into play.  You want your seeds ready to go when it’s safe to plant but you don’t want to start them too early, so how do you figure that? …

The other day while my youngest daughter was taking her morning nap my other daughter and I went out to play in the garden. It was a nice August day, very atypical as it was comfortably in the 80’s. Our first stop was down to her garden. It was full of the zinnias and sunflowers that we planted several weeks…

Orange! The orange standouts are new to flowering this year although some were planted last year in anticipation of a showy display. Daylilies of course come in all kinds of colors. This one has a little orange in the center while remaining mostly yellow and was picked up at the plant swap last year. The Asiatic lily was a recent…

I had really planned to put up a different post tonight, all about gardening with children featuring my two year old daughter. Unfortunately that post will have to wait for tomorrow since I’m still seething over tonight’s discovery, a rabbit attack. This wasn’t some killer attack rabbit from Monty Python. On second thought maybe it was but plants, not people,…

Here is the beginning of a running tally of vegetables we collect from the garden. I’ve noticed that several other garden bloggers are doing similar vegetable counts and it’s just too cool of an idea to pass up! Hopefully I can keep it updated on a daily basis. Keeping track of the total vegetable crop should be a good way…

I put together a short slideshow of the greenhouse pictures I’ve taken since beginning the project. They start in August with pictures of the site and end with the greenhouse’s current state (in December 2009). I hope you enjoy the look back!

…spring is here!  Spring is happening all over the place.  The trees are blooming, the bulbs are coming up all over, and of course the weeds are growing too! Daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and other flowers are well on their way to a beautiful spring.  Here’s a little of what we get to see in our garden:…

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…

My daughter and I went out to play today in the 70+ degree temperatures. Our goal was to take advantage of the last gasp of warm weather before old man winter came for his annual visit. Almost immediately my daughter darted to the sandbox. We removed the covers from the sandbox to reveal an assortment of toys half buried in…

Great garden books are an awesome resource for any gardener. They become a reference that gardeners can go back to over and a over again to fill in the blanks or come up with new ideas. The New Southern Living Garden Book is just that, a great resource book for southern gardeners. I was sent a copy for review recently…

When I started putting together our first garden areas in our blank slate of a yard I always second guessed myself. Every planting was met with the oncoming thought “is this going to work like I want it to?” or “does this look right?” Ideas flow freely from my mind all the time and I always try to imagine what…