Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

This Garden Blogger fall Color Project Post is all about New Autumn, that is Autumn in New England and New York! If you travel to upstate New York to visit Kerri’s Garden at Colors of the Garden (a very appropriate name, don’t you think?) you will get a grand tour of the New York Countryside in October. Peak colors of…

I am always trying to find new uses for old things. To a some extent I’m a recycler, to an even greater extent I’m a pack-rat. It is just a hard thing for me to throw something away that I might want to use someday. Knowing this, it should come as no great surprise that I tried to find some…

Over Christmas we traveled a little.  Not much, we never go very far.  We just visited with family.  One evening a family member asked me if I knew of some attractive, easy to grow, low maintenance plants she could put in the front of her house.  She wanted something she could plant that wouldn’t require a whole lot of time…

It’s no secret that we like sedums around here. In fact we even have one garden area completely devoted to housing the sedums. It rests between a sidewalk and the driveway where the summer sun unmercifully beats down upon anyone unlucky enough to be planted there. It just so happens that succulents like sedums are perfect for these problem spots!…

A couple months ago I managed to root a dogwood tree from cuttings. Only 1 of 3 cuttings rooted but I still considered it a success. After all it was the first time I had managed to root a dogwood tree from a cutting. You would be happy to! Since then I did another experiment. These are the cuttings I…

Here is Part 5 of Growing The Home Garden’s series of tips on how to garden on a budget. One of the best fertilizers has to be compost. It’s cheap, easy to create, and makes plants grow like crazy. With compost you can replace most of your fertilizer use! Now why don’t more people do it? Maybe because they believe…

Corner Trim on Garden ShedEvery day that I get a few minutes to work on the garden shed I get a little closer to finished. Of course I’m still not close enough for my tastes but I’ll keep plugging away at it and eventually it will get completed. A couple weeks ago I managed to add the trim to the…

Here are a few garden layouts, plans, and designs that I have put together for my garden. Some are landscape plans while others are diagrams of my vegetable garden. The herb garden layouts were never actually implemented in my garden as I went with the interplanting approach. Eventually I may incorporate a formal herb garden in our landscape. You are…

It’s that time of year when we’re all struggling to come up with great ideas to give our favorite people. I’ve always found that the best gifts are those that you can use on an almost daily basis. A couple years ago at Christmas I was given an iron skillet. I thought for second “wow, an iron skillet.” It certainly…

Have you tried rooting hardwood cuttings only to have them rot or fail to grow? Don’t give up just yet. Hardwood propagation is one of the most rewarding ways to grow your garden for free, but there are a few “make or break” steps that determine your success. While you can take cuttings anytime during the dormant season, I find…

I like the look of rocks for bordering my garden beds.  Rocks define the border between the garden area and the walkways, help keep mulch in place, and give the garden bed a structural element.  I’ve gathered rocks from several places over the years and brought them to my garden.  It’s not easy work but I like the end result….

Here is your dose of plant propagation for the day! Eight cuttings with roots (more or less) potted up and ready to go. I was very happy to find roots on the stem of my snowball viburnum cutting.I added three more ‘Purple Homestead’ verbenas to the collection.Here’s that new snowball viburnum. This variety is sterile so vegetative propagation is the…

For this post I really don’t need any words, the pictures will explain why you should plant echinacea (coneflowers) in your landscape. But since this is a blog I have to tell you why I like echinacea in the garden and where I’ve planted it! Echincea is one of the easiest plants I’ve found to grow. Once it’s established there…

This weekend’s weather was a sign that there really is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we call winter – and it’s not another trains headlight! Spring is coming and the warm weather that we’re having this week has me itching to get in the garden – which is exactly what I did over the weekend –…

Recently I ordered plants (which I’ll cover in another post) and while choosing the plants I used a few criteria to guide my selections.  I wouldn’t rule out purchasing plants just because they might miss one or two of these characteristics but I do know that when all five can be found in the same plant I’ve got a winner!…

Every now and then I’ll be writing a post about the common weeds that we find in our yard and garden.  I’ll save these posts for Wednesdays so we can have a bit of a creative alliterative effect by calling it “Weedy Wednesday”!  I won’t be writing about weeds every Wednesday but I feel that it’s an important aspect of…

If you look in the garden you won’t see my nasturtiums. That is because they have developed a rare sort of variation called invisibility. No matter how hard you look you will not find them. They have developed a superpower beyond the ability of all creatures to completely evade detection! At least that’s what I’m telling myself… Well… I tried,…

Recently I put together my newest raised bed.  I was inspired by some pictures I’ve seen lately where metal roofing materials were used for the sides.  It was a very cool look that I wanted to see if I could replicate for my garden. Plus metal materials last longer than lumber for raised beds.  I went to the store and…