Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The garden is gearing up for growth are you ready?  Have you prepared the garden and gotten everything set to grow?  I haven’t but the warm weather is going to be here this weekend and I’ll be making some headway into my garden’s preparation.  When to prepare the garden varies depending on where you live but several of these tasks…

…SNOW! Yep the southern Blizzard of 2011 got us pretty good this time. We have somewhere around 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Here are a few pictures of our winter wonderland! Snow on the Arbor Snow on the Blue Garden Shed Snow on the butterfly bush Snow on the eastern cedar Snow on a hemlock Snow on a…

I had to drive our cat Amber to the vet today to get some tests done on her. She has kidney renal failure and we have to periodically see how her blood is. She’s been doing really good but has lost her appetite recently. While I was up in town I thought I’d drive around a few minutes to see…

This time of year can be very confusing.  Especially when the weather throws a few curve balls like extra warm temperatures!  It almost makes you think it will be fine to plant those tomatoes four weeks early.  I know why, everyone wants bragging rights about that first ripe tomato! I thought for today’s Friday Five post that I would mention…

The last several days Mother Nature and I have had an interesting relationship. There were times when we’ve gotten along but other times are far from a friendly! Take for instance Thursday morning when I was laying bricks in the shed.  I had just finished with the second wheelbarrow load of bricks and returned to the brick pile to get…

I just wanted to take a moment and wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that your list of things to be thankful for far outweighs any other list you might have.  Enjoy the company of family, friends, and food and let Thanksgiving be a celebration for all the joys you have been fortunate enough to have…

The other day I mentioned that the Winter Jasmine would be the first thing to bloom… I was wrong! It’s the Witch hazel! It’s the first time it has bloomed in our garden. So what’s blooming in your February Garden?

Many people find The Home Garden in search of gardening tips so I thought today I would oblige all the seekers of garden tips with a post all about and only about garden tips! Garden Tip #1:  Daffodil Tips! Garden Tip #2Compost is good – Use it! Make it!Keep a compost pile in the backyard to get rid of your…

You can feel it in the air can’t you? The coolness of an approaching autumn. The each passing day is getting noticeably shorter. We’re beginning that transitional period from the hot summer growing season to the fall growing season and that can mean a lot of changes in the garden. The vegetable garden may still be going full speed ahead…

Scenes from nature often can offer inspiration and ideas for people to imitate. Here are some of nature’s water features.

To our veterans and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice, thank you. Without your sacrifice our country and our world would not be as it is today. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the rights accorded to us through the Declaration of Independence, were what you fought for, what you protected, and continue to be protected by…

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 and for our gardening goals…

From my window I can observe the court of the reigning king of the hill. This prince of the porch reigns supreme as no one is willing to stand up (or fly) to challenge him. His desire: to save all the suet for himself. This king is no magnanimous monarch, there is no generosity associated with his rule. This iron-fisted…

I posted this picture the other day on The Home Garden Facebook page but thought I’d share it here too. Dandelions may be the bane of the lawn care perfectionist but if you look close I think you can appreciate the beauty in even the weeds.

In between the frequent rains and the Arbor project preparation for Better Homes and Gardens I’ve been able to take a few pictures of the garden to see what is in bloom. Several of our favorite plants like the salvia and catmint are showing their first bloom buds but have no flowers to show. I think they are waiting until…

Herb Garden Layout I’ve been debating on exactly what kind of herb garden to implement and after making up some rough sketches of various ideas on paper I decided to throw this basic design together. It has a somewhat formal look yet should be relatively easy to maintain. I was considering trying to do a knot herb garden but that…

The mockingbird has been causing trouble again. The suet was the issue of contention in the backyard because our resident Mockingbird King claimed it and all the surrounding territory. No other birds were allowed near the feeders, even if they only wanted sunflower seed for which the king has no desire. When the mockingbird gave us (or more importantly, the…

The other day I mentioned something I’ve been putting off: a tree removal. It didn’t take long but it was tough work especially the hauling away part. I don’t own a chainsaw and just used an old bow saw that has been worth its weight in gold over the years. The tree was a cedar. I don’t know exactly what…