Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I have to admit it, I really do like my lawn. The “in” thing right now is eliminating lawns by replacing them with gardens. That’s great idea that I fully support but it just isn’t feasible when you have a large yard. The other option is letting areas become meadows which I think is pretty cool too (and for one…

Heuchera are one of my favorite plants. I say that phrase a lot though, but really, heuchera, also known as coral bells, are awesome perennials that gardeners just love due to the beautiful foliage and versatility in garden design. Most heucheras you will find are hybrids of species plants of Heuchera sanguinea or Heuchera americana and they are found in…

I went out yesterday morning with the camera and took some photos of the shade garden. Rather than stand back and shoot the whole scene I chose to take a few close up photos of the leaves. To me one of the most interesting parts of a plant is the foliage. Many plants have a limited time only policy on…

The dry season is well upon us. Here in Tennessee we haven’t seen a drop of rain in two weeks and even that was only .12 inches (at least in our garden). I’m not sure how long the plants can hang on without a good dose of liquid from the sky. And despite my repeated waterings the plants are suffering….

One of my projects this year is a self seeding garden. I showed you in yesterday’s post what I’ve done so far and I mentioned a few of my personal reasons for planting a self sowing garden but since that post I thought of a few more general ideas why someone might want to consider planting one.1. Cost – seeds…

Here’s a just a short update with what’s going on with my garden shed.Bought three colors of paint (two gallons of the main paint and one each for trim and doors). I’ll let you know what the color scheme will be later but it will blend with our house. Bought glazing to fix and repair the old single pain windows.Cleaned…

Saturday I took another small but significant step toward my quest for a greenhouse, I began the dig! While I still have some planning to do regarding the construction of the greenhouse no matter how I eventually decide to put it together I’ll need level ground with good drainage. That’s why I spent and hour and a half digging out…

So you like blooms do you? Then April is the month for you here in Tennessee. There are so many blooms around I can’t post all of them up here at once. You’ll just have to come back and see them later! For now though I’ve picked some of the best of the blossoms for your enjoyment. Viburnum x burkwoodii …

Yes you read the title right. My greenhouse shed project is mostly screwed. Rather than use nails to hold everything together we’re using coated deck screws as they tend to hold things much better and if you mess something up it’s easier to fix!  The three disadvantages of this is it takes longer, the drill eventually runs out of power…

It’s amazing when you go back and think about time and how quickly it flies by. Earlier we were listening to the “90’s” station on the cable TV music station and I realized that even though the 90’s didn’t seem that long ago 1996 was actually 14 years ago! Yep time flies fast just like 3 years of writing this…

Today my little 2 year old daughter and I went out and planted daffodils. She did pretty good, dropping the bulb into the hole after I dug it out. Initially Grace kept trying to rearrange the bulbs all over the bed. Then she started taking the spade I was using to dig the holes. Eventually we got a process together…

It is full fledged spring around our Middle Tennessee garden.  There is no shortage of work that needs to be done in the form of weeding and mulching on top of a myriad of miscellaneous projects.  For now though let’s just take a few pictures of the garden and we’ll think of that monster spring to-do list a little later….

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…

Springtime is full of all kinds of color.  New foliage comes out, flowers bloom, and all kinds of fresh growth begins.  One of the classic plants many people think of for spring is the tulip.  Tulips are usually best planted in the fall about 6 inches deep in the garden, but sometimes we forget to plant tulips in the fall…

The gardener returned to the garden today from his voyage across Tennessee.  From his home, to the lands of the cedar glades, and to the western lowlands he crossed the miles in only trio of days.  Friends from long ago were coming to visit from the northern winterlands and he had to return in time to see to their hospitality. …

As autumn’s colors have wrapped us in a cloth of color we have peeked into the foliage around the gardening blogosphere. Participants from Canada to Florida and Illinois to England have offered up wonderful illustrations of fall’s foremost feature. It’s time to take a look back and see where all that fall color came from and where it went! I’ve…

Recently I was asked to take a look at some reusable plant tags from the Allsop Home & Garden company. The idea sounded pretty neat – plant tags that can be written on, washed off, and then reused. They would make great markers for herb gardens or vegetable gardens. In the mail I received six plant tags and six stakes….