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Vegetable of the Month: Pumpkins of course!
I officially nominate the pumpkin for vegetable of the month! Do I hear a second?I realize that the selection of a pumpkin may be predictable but it’s such a seasonally appropriate vegetable for October. After all could you have even think of fall harvests and Halloween without pumpkins? Whether they are turned into pies or Jack-o-lanterns these orange globes of…
‘Beni Shichihenge’ Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)
Last week I attended the Bloom N’ Garden Expo in Williamson County, TN. It’s a neat event held each year that offers garden speakers, display gardens, and (of course) plant vendors! I’ve been getting pickier in my plant selections over the past year or so because I want unique plants for my garden. I’m not trying to fill it up…
How to Save Seeds from Sweetgum Trees
Sweet gum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua) are beautiful trees and are great to have around for wildlife. The seeds of the sweet gum tree are eaten by small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks as well as a number of birds including finches, ducks, quail, chickadees, sparrows, towhees, and Carolina wrens. With all that wildlife enjoying the sweetgum trees I can easily…
More on the Brick Floor! (A Garden Shed Update)
For those of you who are interested in the status of my garden shed I posted a little more on the floor. I’m out of bricks and didn’t quite get the whole area covered but I’m happy with the progress for now. Let me know what you think!
Vegetable Family: Legumes (Leguminosae)
The legumes are one awesome vegetable family (Leguminosae). Really, they are! Legumes are essential to any crop rotation plan because of one major trait: legumes are nitrogen fixers! What does that mean? It means that legumes have an amazing ability to take nitrogen from the air and change it into a form usable by plants. But it’s not really the…
Crossing Daylilies
Daylilies are one of the easiest plants to learn how to hybridize. The large flowers with easy to get to pollen make it a simple matter to transfer pollen from one flower to another. There are a couple simple things you need to know before you start hybridizing daylilies. The first is where the pollen is and the second is…
Going Topless
This weekend we were in West Tennessee attending a friends wedding and took a side trip to visit some of my wife’s relatives. While there I saw a horrifying site. At my wife’s grandmother’s house is a wonderful old oak tree that casts a welcoming shade on hot summer days, or at least it used to. On the right is…
Fall Foliage, as Nature Intended
Fall color can be enjoyed in many ways. From a distance where you see swaths of golds, reds, and oranges mixed together with evergreen foliage. Through the observation of individual leaves with their unique textures, colors, and shapes. One way I like to look at fall foliage is to see what they all look like together, merged as Mother Nature…
A Little Birdwatching
With many gardening activities slowing down and the temperatures dropping (although yesterday the temperature was actually near 70 degrees!) I spend much more time indoors. Fortunately I can still enjoy the great outdoors by watching the birds stop by to visit the bird feeders. Here are a few of the visitors who stopped by for breakfast yesterday and the day…
New Gardening Acquisitions
It’s that time of year when the leftovers of the gardening season go on sale at the nurseries and home improvement centers. The last of the stock plants are ready to go home like misbegotten playthings on the Island of Misfit Toys. For whatever reason these plants remained unsold and can now be found as a bargain for the thrifty…
Oops, I Missed One!
In my last post about the irises of May in my garden I showed you several of my irises. Today a new one opened up that we just planted this spring. It’s also a hand me down and has no real identity but it’s nifty to look at! I planted it with several others in front of the garden shed….
Rain Garden Update
The other day the rain garden completed a mini-test. It really was more of a pop quiz. It wasn’t multiple choice or fill in the blank. It was true or false, did it work or not? There was only about 0.34 inches of rain but it easily handled that amount. Here’s what the drainage looked like before the rain garden…
What I Learned About Selling Plants at a Farmers Market
It’s been a couple weeks since I updated the series on starting a nursery business and since yesterday was my first sales date at a farmer’s market I thought today would be a good opportunity to talk about that experience. Going to the market is pretty much an all day affair. It takes time to pick the best looking plants…
Our “Massive” January Snowfall
As usual the weather forecasters just couldn’t nail our weather forecast. Several days ago they began hyping the massive snowfall of 1-3 inches that was on its way. The forecast at one point even predicted 2-4 inches! OK I know you northern gardeners are saying “massive snowfall?” Please keep in mind that everything is relative and a massive for Tennessee…
Mystery Plant or Mystery Weed, Which Is It?
Maybe you can help us figure something out. Jaime sent me this picture of a plant growing where she wanted to plant zinnias. If the plant growing there is something good then she’d like to see it grow to flower but if it’s a weed well, you know what she’ll do to that weed! I’ve checked out several weed pictures…
Starting Seeds for Basil and Pepper in Peat Pellets
It’s time for another seed starting update for our basil and peppers in peat pellets. I plant basil and peppers every year for our vegetable garden. I find that basil is indispensable as a seasoning and for making pesto. Basil also has a some companion planting benefits when planted alongside the vegetables in the garden (particularly the tomatoes!) Peppers are…
How to Fill Raised Beds Cheap!
I love gardening in raised beds. It is one of the simplest ways to have success with a vegetable garden. That doesn’t take anything away from all the other methods of gardening, only that I believe that raised beds are a great way for gardeners of all backgrounds and skill levels to garden successfully. The best reason to like raised…
Pawpaws (Asimina triloba): Finding a Native Fruit Tree
Forgive the slightly blurry picture of this zebra swallowtail butterfly. It refused to hold still for it’s photo! Recently while out exploring I noticed a butterfly floating about. It was a zebra swallowtail butterfly which is the Tennessee state butterfly. I’ve seen them before and so I knew a little about them including one fact in particular, their favorite host…
