Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

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 again. It’s a really fun…

One of the best times to work out in the garden is the early morning before 7:30 AM. Anytime thereafter the temperature and humidity skyrockets, at least here in Tennessee. Early morning is also one of the best times for watering. It gives the plants water in the coolest part of the day when they can absorb the most since…

I’d like to thank all the participants of the Fall Color Project this year! We’ve been able to see lots of wonderful colors from across the country.  In a few days I’ll put together a wrap up post with all the participants listed but today I would like to take a moment to announce the winner of the solar water…

How do you move three giant boulders? Very carefully and with as much help as you can find! I couldn’t have moved these three large rocks without the help of my brothers-in-law. The three boulders needed moved about 40-50 feet to their final location as a part of the woodland shade garden for my brother-in-law’s wedding. Thankfully for the three…

A couple years ago I propagated a variegated hydrangea from a beautiful hydrangea that was in my wife’s aunt’s garden. Hydrangeas are extremely easy to propagate and well worth the effort but unfortunately the spot I chose to plant it wasn’t good enough. I had assumed that the location had morning sun and afternoon shade (which it did) but there…

They finally came! My experiment with Arbor Day has begun. Earlier in the year I ordered several trees from the National Arbor Day Society. I also got a few free trees with my order. I know many people have had mixed results when ordering from Arbor Day. They either have trees that don’t make it through the winter, receive dead…

For the last part of my Winter Garden series I have a special treat planned. I arranged for snow to fall upon Middle Tennessee so I could illustrate how great a winter garden looks! OK, of course I’m joking but snow is very cool to look at on the garden (please forgive the pun). The weather forecast called for chances…

Hostas are one of my favorite garden plants so it stands to reason that I like to propagate more! The propagation of hostas is done primarily through division which is a very simple process. Like any process there are several methods that will work to propagate and divide hostas. The Best Time to Divide Hostas The best time to divide…

While this won’t happen every Friday (I don’t have enough sponsors) I do have something that some readers and bloggers may want to try in their own homes or gardens. If you remember a month or so back I tested some products from a company called EcoSMART. The specialize in making insect repellents, organic bug killers, and other products that…

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure to test out products from Troy-Bilt. Overall I’ve been very impressed with the quality and the power that they have produced for lawn equipment. Five years later years I still zip around and mow my 1.5 acre yard with the RZT (0 Turn Mower) and have really enjoyed that fact that I never…

The greening of the willows! It’s just more evidence that we’ve left winter behind and are heading full speed into spring. The leaves on the ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ dappled willows are emerging. And so are the catkins! The catkins are the reproductive mechanism of many plants like willows and birches.  Willows are dioecious and have separate male and female plants. If…

Snow is falling in the northern parts of our country as we are experiencing record 75 degree temperatures in Middle Tennessee in December! The forecast goes down from here with even a possibility of snow in the future for the weekend. Strange weather! Mid 50’s would not be surprising for this time of year but mid 70’s? I guess it’s…

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. 5 Garden Preparation Chores and…

It’s the invasion of the lady bugs! Or really the Asian lady beetle. They are coming! As I write there is one on the windowsill in front of me. These beetles are great in the garden, they eat pests like aphids but when they invade they home they can become a problem. They go everywhere and leave yellow stains behind….

Today we worked a little more on the greenhouse project and managed to get another milestone accomplished: the bracing. Unfortunately due to the end of daylight savings time darkness descended too quickly for me to snap some good photos. Besides braces aren’t very interesting, just functional. We put braces on the joists that connect them to the rafters, braces on…

You hear a lot of us garden bloggers always talking about what to do in the vegetable garden, but what about what not to do? We all make mistakes.  We all do things that can be categorized under “OOPS”.  I’m going to share one of those “OOPS” moments with you today that quite frankly I’m disgusted with myself for doing….

One of our favorite vegetables to grow each year is the yellow summer squash. These are some of the best looking squash plants we’ve managed to grow. It could be due to the increased rain this year or maybe the raised beds, but whatever the reason the plants are looking full and strong. They should provide an abundance of squash…

This morning I walked out to get the newspaper through a soft drizzling rain and stood outside overlooking the backyard. Much needed and greatly welcomed, the rain felt fantastic. I observed the backyard and could almost, almost see the grass greening back up before my eyes for the cool season ahead. I’m looking forward to the dormant fescue making it’s…