About a month before the last frost date is the best planting time for potatoes in my zone 7b garden. That starts the planting season for potatoes here in Tennessee in Mid March. If you need a better guide than that think of St. Patrick’s Day and plan around it within a few days. Potatoes … Read more
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 … Read more
This time of year all of us gardeners are probably thankful for a little break. Winter can be a time to regenerate, rest, and plan for next year. While it isn’t technically winter yet the weather we have received in Tennessee certainly feels like it. (We had 18 degree F temperatures this morning!) This is … Read more
Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons in the garden. Fall because I love the changing leaves, the cool crisp air, and the feeling of closure that comes with shutting down the garden. Spring is my other favorite because of the rebirth. All the spring flowers and foliage are emerging and everything is brand new … Read more
We’re in full fledged spring garden mode here in Tennessee. What does that mean you ask? Everything is blooming or budding. While allergy sufferers dread this time of year it still remains my favorite. I love the bright green colored grass as it comes up fresh from the earth. I love the play of the … 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
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
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
Every year I notice these little green insects, aphids. Well, sometimes they aren’t green, I’ve seen them in orange and yellow and they come in red, brown, and black too. Whatever fashion sense these insects display one thing is for sure: you don’t really want aphids on your plants! Aphids are a soft-bodied insect that … Read more
It’s January and my garden is a mess. That’s OK because it’s January! My garden could be the perfect mixture of evergreen conifers and winter color landscape plantings specifically designed to brighten the gloomiest winter day, but it’s not. I would love that, but my garden was never put together for the winter color. I’m … Read more
On a cold morning such as this you might be wondering “what can I do in the garden?” Or you might be wondering “why does he know what I’m wondering?” Or…maybe not, whatever the case is cold winter days are good for the garden and the gardener. The garden needs those cold winter days to … Read more
It may not be obvious, or maybe it is, but I think in 2013 vegetable gardening will be more important than ever. There are a myriad of reasons why I believe this and you can pretty much observe it everywhere you go, some sign that points to the importance of gardening. Let’s examine a few … Read more
Please forgive the randomness of my title for today’s post. It’s hard to sum up a weekend in just a few words! Weekends are always busy times in the garden when the weather is as beautiful as it has been. Sunday’s humidity was a bit high in anticipation of the rain that’s falling on the … Read more
This time of year the only thing us gardeners think about is the garden! Because “the garden” is such a broad subject in itself we are really thinking of all kinds of things like timing, soil, seeds, cuttings, and list could go on! One of the main tasks I need to accomplish is preparing my … Read more
This weekend was a busy one in the garden! The weather was sunny, although with a fair amount of wind on Saturday but Sunday afternoon was very pleasant. This time of year is always exciting. Gardening activities are resuming in earnest and a lot can be done to prepare for a great gardening season. On … Read more
It’s been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden. Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I’ll share a few photos of the various garden areas. The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem … Read more
Hi there! I’m taking over dad’s blog today and giving you a bit of a tour of the garden. Or at least of the things I like about the garden! I’m not quite sure what he’s trying to do out there. He digs a lot, sticks funny plants in the ground, and dumps water out … Read more
It seems like I’ve blinked and it’s gone from May to September! This summer has been a complete blur to me, but that’s how life is sometimes. Needless to say there are many garden chores that are coming up that will need done this month. Here’s my September garden chore list! Finish pruning trees and … Read more
Before reading a certain garden blogger’s post I had never heard of a cotton plant with dark foliage (Gossypium herbaceum ‘Nigra’). Then this spring Nancy Ondra of Hayefield emailed me and asked if I would like to try some seeds. Me being the seed collecting addict I am I said of course! She also sent … Read more
At my parent’s house there is a small garden location where the contemplative gardener can go to relax. Nestled between the cherry trees the garden bench that my dad and I built for my mom several years ago. What I thought made this scene so special was the fallen cherry blossom petals from the nearby … Read more
This past weekend the weather was perfect for what else? Gardening! I spent most of my time outdoors getting the garden ready for the growing season. There’s always a lot to do in the spring to prepare the garden for a great year. The most frustrating thing about this weekend was my riding mower battery. … Read more
Its that time of year, just before blossoms begin to bloom when the garden looks it’s worst. Mulch hasn’t been spread – or at least not enough, old dead growth from perennials hasn’t been cleared away, and in general things look like a mess. But that’s OK! You have to start somewhere right? Every garden … Read more