Thank you to all the commenters who left entries into the Troy-Bilt CS4235 Wood Chipper giveaway. It is a great tool for the garden and I know whoever is the winner will enjoy making mountains of mulch! We had 39 commenters* who left some great descriptions of their gardens. What I found interesting to read … Read more
The summer heat is coming and with the heat comes a whole new set of rules for gardening. The warm season vegetables grow great while the cool season plants bolt quickly. What if you want to keep your cool season plantings growing longer into the summer? Is there a way to do that? The answer … Read more
As part of the Saturday6 team of bloggers I have the pleasure of getting to test and keep some very cool products. Last year if you recall I tested the RZT (0-Turn mower) which has greatly diminished my mowing time and a 4-cycle trimmer with cultivator attachments. I’m still enjoying both of those products in … Read more
Last year my plum tree was the victim of a savage deer rubbing attack. The bark was stripped all the way around the trunk leaving no possibility of water passing toward the top of the tree through the cambium layer. It was frustrating to say the least. Two varieties of plum trees are necessary for … Read more
Grape vines area great edible plant to add to the garden. Grape vines can be used in many ways and have the attributes of an ornamental plant with high value as an edible plant. As an edible plant grapes can be used to make wine, juice, and their leaves are edible making them an interesting … Read more
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 … Read more
With all the edible choices of plants to add to your garden blueberries are at the top of most lists. They taste good, come back every year, and highly nutritious, and aren’t hard to grow if you do the right things for them. What do you need to do to grow a bumper crop of … Read more
Last weekend we went to a family wedding in West TN. While out there we stopped by and visited my wife’s Uncle Joe in Jackson who loves to garden. He has a variety of plants ranging from broccoli, radishes, and spring greens to tomatoes and peppers. Since I don’t grow broccoli in my garden (I … Read more
While wasps certainly are a normal part of nature and serve an important function we don’t always want to be around them. Wasp stings can be quite painful and some people even have adverse reactions to their sting (as I can attest to, see the post on my swollen foot – not for the squeamish!) … Read more
Gardeners garden for many reasons. Perhaps the most common reason is to get back to that part of us that belongs with nature. We want to see the world around us come through our garden and provide for its positive growth. How we do that can vary in thousands of ways but almost every method … Read more
I went out to water plants in the garden this morning and thought it was a good time to show you how the garden was growing this morning. So far the first week of May have been warm and sunny and the garden is responding accordingly. Here is what you can see in our zone … Read more
I often heard stories from people about their gardening experience when they were children. Usually the story has something to do with the person being forced to pull mountains of weeds. The quickest way for kids to lose their interest in gardening is to force them to do laborious and monotonous tasks, like weeding. When … Read more
First of all let me apologize, I intended to announce the winner of the grill yesterday however I was out battening down the hatches in preparation for storms of epic proportions. Fortunately the storms did not manifest to the extent our local forecasters predicted. That is just fine by me! Our thoughts and prayers are … Read more
How would you like to add a firepit and a grill to your garden at the same time? Well today you get your chance! The people at Serenity Health and Home Decor have given me the go ahead to give away this amazing firepit/grill. All you have to do is comment in the comment section … Read more
Middle Tennessee and much of the south is expected to receive a freeze tonight. We all know how damaging a freeze could be and we have no to look no further back than 2007 to see the results. That year many gardeners lost trees like Japanese maples and crape myrtles due to the flow of … Read more
Recently I was given the opportunity to check out Nancy Ondra’s latest book called Five-Plant Gardens. Nancy Ondra writes the blog Hayefield and has written several other books including The Perennial Care Manual. She is definitely what I consider and expert on perennial plants! This latest book isn’t about the care of the plants it’s … Read more
One of the most despised “weeds” in the lawn is the dandelion. All sorts of chemical companies offer ways to get rid of them and get your “perfect” lawn. It’s too bad that we seek to eliminate this little flower because they have so many healthy benefits! What is a Dandelion good for? I’m glad … Read more
Spring is in full swing here in Tennessee and that means people everywhere are headed outdoors. Some to play, some to work, and others to just hang out on the front porch with glass of sweet tea. That’s what we do here in the south, sweet tea on the front porch. This week I put … Read more
It’s another beautiful spring morning here in Tennessee and I thought I would share a little of the garden with you so you could see what is growing. Yesterday was in the 70’s and the rest of the week is predicted to be the same which is simply perfect springtime weather. We all deserve a … Read more
Everyone is thinking about the garden right now, if not they should be! The vegetable garden is where you can really reap the rewards of your backyard. Sometimes though you don’t know what you should be doing and when or (if you’re like me) forget a few things every now and then! So here is … Read more
Spring is officially here! Spring’s arrival means it is really time to be thinking about the garden (as if we haven’t been since fall). It’s always important to get the spring gardening season off to a great start. Today let’s look at a few garden tasks that need done to help get your garden going. … Read more
It isn’t often that you get to be a part of something very special. Recently the Troy-Bilt Saturday6 team had the opportunity to visit a place in need of some help to grow the community, the Perrine Community in Florida. Together with the other 5 Saturday6 members, the Troy-Bilt team, and the Keep American Beautiful … Read more
Last week I attended the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. I’ve been very busy planting seeds and getting the garden ready and I haven’t had a lot of time to post lately so I thought I would share a few short posts with your from the show that had some clever design ideas that you … Read more
This winter has been cold and nothing if not unpredictable. Here in Tennessee we’re experiencing a warm day every now and then followed by extreme cold. Hopefully now that March has arrived and spring is close things will be shaping up very soon. With that in mind I put together a project that will help … Read more
On my trip to the Vizcaya gardens in Miami I saw this salvia (Salvia leucantha/Mexican Bush sage) and thought it was a perfect way to display it – against a red backdrop. This salvia was located in front of a large patio area made from limestone blocks facing Biscayne Bay. The faded red from the … Read more
The last week has been extremely busy and there are a mountain of fun things to talk about that sprang from it as well as quite a few neat things that will be coming down the road for the garden. Of course right now we have results of the last of this winter’s oppressive ice … Read more
This week is the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show! For those of us here in TN this is a great opportunity to go out and take care of that gardening fix after a long cold winter. There are always some interesting ideas to be found in the displays so make sure you bring a camera! … Read more
It’s just about time to start seeds indoors for peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes here in TN so I thought I would share a quick post on how I make my seed starting medium (mix). Seed starting mixes can be bought with the same ingredients as what I’m about to share with you but when you … Read more
We’ve all been stuck indoors too long. It’s February and here in TN we should be getting 50 degree temperatures for highs but instead are stuck in the lower 30’s or below. In order to help alleviate the cabin fever and feed the gardening fix I put together a little project for one of our … Read more
Once all your prep work has been thoroughly completed gather up all your lists and get ready to design the plan for your edible landscape. When making an edible landscape plan it is important to keep all of your end goals in mind along with the time it will take to reach those goals. Time … Read more
Whenever you start to design an Edible Landscape/Garden it helps to have some inspiration to use as a guide. You may have a ton of ideas in your head, but – trust me on this – sometimes those ideas don’t always work! It’s never a bad idea to have some backup ideas or to just … Read more
An important thing to consider on your way to developing an edible landscape is how you want to grow your plants. What growing system do you want to use? As part of your plan you will need to figure out how you want to structure your garden and the growing system you choose can provide … Read more
After you have a good list of the elements your edible landscape needs and you have pieced together a solid “To Grow” list you need to evaluate what you already have in your garden. Some people might put this step first and that’s OK but if you do your evaluation after you decide what you … Read more
This week we began a series of posts on edible landscaping. Below you will find several articles to get started on creating a productive and beautiful edible landcape. There are many more articles to come in this series so please check back or bookmark this post for updates! How to Begin a Plan Create a … Read more
In this continuing series of edible landscaping we’re going to discuss more elements that should be in the sustainable edible landscape plan. In the last post we brought up the importance of good soil and water systems as well as having a good way to take care of pests. If you’re new to this series … Read more
In my last post I told you how to begin planning for an edible landscape and how to determine what to grow. Today let’s examine what elements you need to incorporate into the plan. With an edible landscape we need to focus on one thing: sustainability. Sustainability is a word used a lot these days … Read more
There is a trend emerging, a very good trend, toward homeowners filling their garden with edible plantings. Homeowners are trading out ornamental plants for the practical plants that produce food and nourishment for themselves. How does a gardener begin with changing their landscape into a practical edible garden? You might be surprised. Try creating your … Read more
Maybe you’ve seen the picture that is floating around the internet. In the picture there are two peppers. One has three lobes and the other four with captions that claim one is female and the other is male. It also claims that the male produces fewer seeds than the female. This completely incorrect information. In … Read more
The cold temps are keeping you indoors and you are going stir crazy. You need to do something in the garden, with the garden, or for the garden and the seed catalogs showing up in your mailbox just aren’t good enough to get your gardening fix. Then do this – plant an indoor garden! Recently … Read more
Layering is a fantastic way to make more free plants with very little risk. Propagating a plant through layering usually involves pinning down a branch to make contact with the soil so that the branch can begin forming roots. I’ve used layering to propagate more difficult to root plants like oak leaf hydrangeas. Below … Read more
It’s always fun to go back and look at the year. It helps to examine what went well or what didn’t. Usually I end the year with a post on how my garden projects went but this year I thought I would mention what the top posts on Growing The Home Garden were for 2013. … Read more
I don’t make many New Year’s resolutions. I make goals instead. I put together ideas of things I would like to accomplish and set out to do them. I usually don’t get through every goal I set but by setting a few goals that are attainable I accomplish more than I would have otherwise! I’ll … Read more
Christmas is just about here and our minds are all focused on celebrating the season with family and friends but soon after Christmas our gardens will be need attention. In gardening the correct timing can mean the difference between a great harvest, OK harvest, or even no harvest. Let’s take a quick look at some … Read more
Weeds are one of the most troubling elements of gardening that gardeners face. A gardener’s definition of a a weed is simply a plant you don’t want in a place you don’t want it! Which means that even desirable plants can become a weed pest in the wrong place. Gardener’s want simple and easy ways … Read more
This time of year it isn’t unusual to see the garden in a crystallized form. Wet winter weather insures that enough moisture is around to turn the landscape into a frosted garden. The unique appearance of the frosted garden gives the gardener a great opportunity to play around with some photography. Here are a few … Read more
Winter is one of those times when many gardeners wish they could be growing fresh herbs or produce but the weather just doesn’t cooperate. What is a determined gardener to do then? Build something! I decided to put together an indoor grow box/planter with a grow light to grow some plants while the weather outside … Read more
I mentioned earlier today in a post on Facebook about using homemade seed packets as a gift idea for stocking stuffers. You can read more about that type of seed packet in this post: using wrapping paper for homemade seed packets. If you want a more typical style of seed packet that you can customize … Read more
I do a lot of thinking. Too much probably but I have ideas and they have to work themselves out in my head or in the garden one way or another! The gardening “off-season” is when I plan. It’s when I take those thoughts in my head and entertain them before discarding the impractical ones. … Read more
Here at Growing The Home Garden I’m a huge proponent of raised bed gardening. Raised beds can be made of all sorts of materials and have all kinds of advantages for growing a garden. Raised beds are great solution for many tricky situations in the garden. Here are a few ways that raised beds can … Read more
Emily Rose who gardens and blogs in the Chattanooga area has a very picturesque setting for her fall colors! What could be better than fall colors reflected in a pond? Oaks, maples, and other trees all offer up a piece of East Tennessee fall color. Stop by and check out Emily’s fall color pictures at … Read more
I’ve always been a big fan of solar lighting. I like the convenience of adding light where I want it in the garden without having to wire in electrical lines. I also like how solar energy is collected during the day and distributed later when it is needed without using resources from the power grid. … Read more
Garden writer Nancy Ondra never has a disappointing garden photo (at least not that I’ve seen!) This year her fall color project post is as impressive as ever with viburnums, amsonia, winterberry, purple smoke bush and so many other things to look at. I wish I could stop by in person to tour her garden … Read more
A few years ago I found a maple tree on sale at one of our local nurseries. It was only five dollars so I bought it, planted it, and left it alone. It was a ‘Brandywine’ maple tree which is a cross between an ‘October Glory’ and ‘Autumn Flame’. With parents that good it had … Read more
First let me apologize for not writing much lately. Life has been busy and I haven’t been able to get into the garden as much. Things are winding down for the cold season fortunately and while there is still much to do in the garden it always seems more manageable when the weeds are no … Read more
I’m a huge fan of mustard. There are few snacks I enjoy more than pretzels dipped in a delicious honey mustard. I love it on sandwiches and as an ingredient in all sorts of things from chicken dishes to potato salad. Mustard is simply awesome. That’s my opinion anyway. It’s also extremely easy to grow … Read more
The legumes are one awesome vegetable family (Leguminosae). Really, they are! Legumes are essential to any crop rotation plan because of one major trait: legumes are nitrogen fixers! What does that mean? It means that legumes have an amazing ability to take nitrogen from the air and change it into a form usable by plants. … Read more
The other day I wrote about crop rotation, it’s importance, and it’s benefit in the garden so today I thought we’d begin looking at the individual families of vegetables and how they fit into the grand scheme of things. Since it is probably the most popular family, because of one of its members (the tomato), … Read more
Maybe your garden didn’t turn out so well this year. Maybe your tomatoes may died out due to disease or other vegetables might not have produced as well as they have in the past. It happens. Sometimes it’s the weather that causes it and sometimes insects bring in diseases, but those factors are hard to … Read more
The number one thing people think of when the fall season comes is the leaves. Thoughts of harvests, festivals, and cooler weather come too but when the fall season comes to mind its the leaves that get the attention. Everybody loves the leaves! Here’s why: 5 Reasons to Love Your Leaves The colors. Mother nature … Read more
October is always a fun time of the year. Fall festivals are in full swing, the leaves are changing, the weather is more cooperative for gardening, and of course there’s Halloween. We don’t typically decorate much around here for Halloween. Part of it is the difficulty of managing a whole lot of decorating with four … Read more
Here is a little guide on various plants that you can propagate in your home garden. I’ve included the types of propagation where I’ve been successful (seeds, Layering, Division, Cuttings, etc.). If I can do it so can you! The links in the tables below will take you to posts I have written as a … Read more
It is officially fall and we all know what that means – its time for the Fall Color Project! Every year I encourage bloggers to use Growing The Home Garden as a hub to share the peak colors in their area. Fall color is different every year and in every area. There is no way … Read more
Knockout roses are great additions to any garden. They are more resistant to pests and diseases and continue to provide blooms throughout the summer. This rose is planted in a corner bed between our front sidewalk and the driveway. Gallery of Other Roses from Our Garden More from Growing The Home Garden
Migration isn’t just limited to the birds and the butterflies, it happens in the garden too. We have about a month before the frost date here in Middle Tennessee (mid-October) and it’s time to move and divide the hostas in my garden. Once that frost date comes the hosta leaves will fade away and the … Read more
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 … Read more
I haven’t made it out into the garden much lately other than to gather the occasional item for the kitchen but I did manage to grab the camera and head into the yard this afternoon for a few minutes. Here’s a little of what I found! This is a ‘Golden Globe’ arborvitae. It has a … Read more
The weather is changing, the shadows are getting longer, and of course the leaves are beginning to become more colorful which opens the door to a new season of gardening. Every season has it’s own specific chores and things to do. Winter is for planning, spring is for starting, summer is for maintenance and harvesting, … Read more
We all know about compost. It’s important, perhaps the most important thing we do as gardeners for our plants. Organic matter is critical for plants to get nutrients. It’s also extremely helpful as a waste disposal system. Rather than throw away your biodegradable wastes from the kitchen you can compost it and use it later … Read more
There are few fall performers more majestic than the beautyberry. My beautyberry is Callicarpa dichtoma ‘Early Amethyst’ and is a native of Asia. It’s a beautiful shrub with tiny white flowers in the summer that become loaded with clusters of purple berries in the fall. When I say loaded, I mean loaded! The berries last … Read more
I spent a good deal of time this weekend getting out into the garden to get some long past due chores done. Summertime is one of those stretches where the garden seems to find itself a but neglected. It makes sense. The kids are going back to school, the weather is hot and humid, and … Read more
I’m only a little of the way into a remodel of our side garden but I thought I’d show you what there is to see so far. Our side garden connects the front yard (and arbor) to the back yard and was designed several years ago to eventually become a shady location for hydrangeas and … Read more
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 … Read more
I love surprises in the garden. Plants that pop up where you least expect them – unfortunately those are usually called “WEEDS.” Sometimes though we find plants of value that pop up. Here are a few pictures of some self-sown coleus plants that came up in my front garden this year. I grow coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) … Read more
Every garden has transitions. From the house to the garden, from one garden area to another, even within an established area a garden be transitioning from the sun to the shade, from one color to another or from one type of planting to another. Then there are seasonal transitions. Spring takes over from winter, summer … Read more
Fall is fast approaching. No matter how much we may wish to pause time and reap our summer garden harvest we have to start thinking about the fall garden. This weekend I redid and rebuilt one of my garden beds to update it for fall crops. If you’ve followed me for a while you may … Read more
It’s taken a few years before my premonitions came to fruition. It’s not that I wanted it to happen I just expected it. It was inevitable and couldn’t be avoided. The ‘Bradford’ Pear tree in my front yard split. No storm brought damaging high winds that would wreak havoc among many species of trees. There … Read more
I invited native plant expert and advocate Benjamin Vogt to write a guest post on attracting bees to the garden with native plants. I hope you enjoy it! -Dave This morning, once the sun hit the main garden, I took my video camera outside. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, recording the most active … Read more
First let me thank everyone who entered the giveaway for the Troy-Bilt 4 Cycle string trimmer. I really wish I could be like Oprah. Everyone in the audience would look under their chairs and find a new Troy-Bilt 4 Cycle string trimmer, but her bank account has a much higher capacity than mine! Thankfully though … Read more
July can be a tricky month. The weather is normally hot and very dry which brings with it challenges for irrigating the garden and keep plants alive to produce well throughout the fall. This July in TN has bee a lot different. Out hottest days so far this year were like normal days in previous … Read more
This summer as part of the Saturday6 Bloggers with Troy-Bilt I tested a 4 Cycle Trimmer (TB675 EC). I’ll be completely honest and tell you that weed eating is not one of my favorite tasks in the garden. It’s necessary to keep things cleanly edged, keep weeds down, and even clean out brush areas. Weed … Read more
Coleus is one of my favorite ornamental plants (Solenostemon scutellarioides). It functions as an annual in our zone 6b-7 but is a tropical perennial that can come back each year in the right climate. Tennessee is definitely not the right climate! I enjoy planting coleus because of the many varied colors it can bring to … Read more
OK, maybe you didn’t, but what gardener doesn’t want to see flowers in bloom? Here’s a quick look around at the blooms of my garden for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day hosted by Carol and May Dreams Gardens! The bees always love the coneflowers. Blackberry lily. Blackberry lily gets ts name from the seed clusters that … Read more
You might think that peppers are one of those seed only grown plants. For many gardeners they are, but what if you want an exact copy of a favorite pepper plant? With peppers we typically sow the seeds in late winter and grow the seedlings on to plant out in the spring. Through cuttings we … Read more
It’s important for kids to have a place to play outdoors. My kids are outside with me all the time but they don’t always want to garden so to help them have a safe place to play and explore I put together this children’s patio and mini-garden for Lowe’s Creative Ideas. It’s a simple project … Read more
I’m waiting on my garden. Everything is growing nicely (except for plants that got eaten by the deer but taht’s another story). Tomatoes are hanging on the plants, peppers are growing profusely, eggplants are putting on flowers, but everything has been slow to ripen! It’s frustrating but that is just part of the art of … Read more
Peppers aren’t as massively planted as the tomato plant in the vegetable garden but those who do plant peppers have a passion that rivals any other fruit or vegetable from the garden. Some gardeners love the heat and grow the spiciest peppers they can find, while others love the flavor of a sweet red bell … Read more
The world is full of creative ideas and this ancient method of watering plants is a very cool one. An olla is a clay pot that is buried in the soil near plants. The non-glazed clay pot has a watering hole in the top that allows the gardener to fill it with water when needed. … Read more
We have tomato weather but no tomatoes! That’s not surprising for June here in TN as most tomatoes don’t produce ripe fruit until July. Knowing that fact though doesn’t diminish the desire for that first fresh from the garden homegrown tomato! Our plants are doing very well so far, healthy and strong with stout stems … Read more
Every garden experiences pest issues form time to time. Insect pest can be frustrating and sometimes when you discover what is damaging your plants it’s already too late to do anything about it. Here are five common insect pests that you may see in your garden for today’s Friday Five post! Pest #1: Flea … Read more
Here is a quick list of things that need done in our June garden. Keep in mind that we’re located in Spring Hill, TN in a zone 6b-7 area and these chores may not correspond with the growing season in your area. You’ll need to do many of these tasks too but at different times. … Read more
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is one of the easiest herbs to grow. Here are a few growing facts about basil in the garden! Basil grows well from seed. You can sow it in the garden or start the seeds in pots. It transplants well. Keep basil seeds moist until germinated and established. Basil is a great companion … Read more
For my farmer’s market business I grew a lot of tomato plants. In fact I grew more than I think I can sell over the next couple weeks and after that no one will be looking for plants. Gardeners will be wanting to harvest their tomatoes instead of planting more. I planned a few weeks … Read more
The weather has turn hot and humid, of course this is normal for summers in Tennessee. We are blessed with a very long growing season but our summers can be extremely warm. Last year on a record setting June day we reached over 110 degrees. Which also happened to be the day our air conditioner … Read more
Last year I began to experiment with hybridizing. I’m hoping that the plants I cross together result in something really nice but it takes a few years to get something from the crosses. So far I’ve experimented with daylilies, echinacea, and irises. Hostas are on my list but the deer keep getting to the flowers … Read more
The tomatoes are coming along nicely in our garden which means it’s time to do a few important things for them to maximize their growth. Here are a few quick tomato growing tips to help you grow your favorite home grown backyard vegetable! (It’s really a fruit though!) Stake and Trellis Your Tomato Plants Stake … Read more
This week has been eventful. I haven’t been able to post much about the garden due to the happenings here but I did want to catch everyone up on how things are growing. Here’s a quick update on the garden. The beans are climbing the bamboo trellis I put together. I gathered it up from … Read more
A couple weeks ago I redid our self-sowing garden. It was getting messy and too many weeds incorporated themselves into the garden. I suppose they thought they could pass themselves off as desirable plants but their plans were foiled by May’s Lowe’s Creative Ideas Project! The theme for this month was bulb plants. Being one … Read more
As a member of the Troy-Bilt Saturday6 I was provided compensation and products to review from Troy-Bilt. All opinions and statements in this post are of my own observations and experiences. Today though I’d like to share with you my experiences on the Troy-Bilt RZT Mower. The 46″ RZT Mower is a 0-turn mower which … Read more
Over the weekend our family visited Bountiful Blessings Farm here in Middle TN. Bountiful Blessings is in the Williamsport area about 30-40 minutes away from where we live here in Spring Hill. The big draw for us was the strawberries. My mom gave us a couple pints of strawberries from their farm about 2 weeks … Read more
