Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I have a goal in mind for my vegetable garden this year.  I have a similar goal every year but this year I think it’s especially important.  I want to make our garden into our grocery store.  I’m being realistic with this and in no way think I can completely eliminate the grocery store trips but I would really like…

A while back (a real long while) I setup a rain garden to take care of a drainage issue on one part of our driveway. Rainwater was pooling in one area of our driveway because it had no where else to go. The grass and soil was higher than the driveway on the side the water should have been draining….

Nope we aren’t talking football here but fall foliage! Monica the Garden Faerie has posted some fantabulous fall foliage! She also happens to have many of my favorite shrubs in her garden including fothergilla, Red Twig Dogwood, viburnums, and smokebush. I would be right at home in her garden, except or the whole Michigan cold weather thing! Go pay Monica…

I love heirloom plants and hot peppers are no exception. The fact that the genetic makeup of a vegetable or fruit can be traced back in time many years makes the special. In some cases they have a historical context, but the main reason I like them is that heirloom peppers (and other plants) usually have a better flavor than…

You hear about it all the time crape myrtles being unceremoniously chopped off before they can become what they should be. This pruning method is best known as crape murder. The result of crape murder is a plant that ends up with lollipop like flowering tops with branches that flop all around in the slightest breeze. Can you tell I’m…

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…

Before this weekend I made a big list on what I wanted to accomplish and one of those tasks was finishing the siding on the greenhouse shed. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to complete it but I did manage to complete some large and tricky areas. When it comes to projects and time my ideas are always bigger than…

I won’t be posting a Seed Sowing Saturday post this weekend since it’s Easter weekend. I’ve included a dogwood picture and if you would like to read more about dogwoods I wrote post for the Tennessee Gardener online that you may enjoy.  Also for an update on the plants in my garden shed feel free to take a look at…

Thank you to all the commenters who left entries into the Troy-Bilt CS4235 Wood Chipper giveaway.  It is a great tool for the garden and I know whoever is the winner will enjoy making mountains of mulch! We had 39 commenters* who left some great descriptions of their gardens.  What I found interesting to read were the very different situations…

Recently you may have noticed an unusual lack of posts, there’s a good reason for it! We’ve been a little busy around here since last Thursday when we welcomed Samuel David to the world! He was 7 lbs. and 10 oz. and 20 inches. Sam also arrived in record time as labor was under 1 hour and 30 minutes! Mommy…

It’s kind of an odd subject to bring up during spring but propagating mums for profit takes time. Spring is when you have to get started for fall mum sales. For the purposes of this article we are talking about the common chrysanthemum you find in stores everywhere during the fall. Also for this discussion it is important to note…

Tonight we were able to make good use of our vegetables from the garden. Here’s a quick look at what my family had for dinner tonight!Now the chicken was the main course and it didn’t come from the garden but the squash did! I covered it in olive oil with a little salt and pepper then grilled the squash halves….

Good morning gardeners! I wanted to write a post to update you on a few events going on in my life. I don’t write much personal information on this blog. I always like to keep my writing very close to gardening, but I felt it was time to share an update with you. For the last 8 years I have…

Aside from being the Boy Scout Motto, Tennessee gardeners need to be prepared this weekend for some of the coldest temperatures yet this fall. According to the Weather Channel the lows this weekend will be dipping down to a chilly 40 F, 38 F, and will end with a frigid 36 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday evening. Which means that this…

Here is Part 4 in The Home Garden’s series of posts about how to garden on a budget.Often when people go to the plant nursery they look around and see what they can get for that immediate impact in their landscape. They see larger more established plants and can easily see how they will fit in their garden. If these…

It’s finally time to get the chore to end all chores done: cleaning up the vegetable garden.  After a year of intermittent neglect, frustration, summer heat, and family tragedy it is definitely time to put this year’s garden under wraps.  Mostly under wraps that is.  We actually have a crop of greens on the way to help feed the family…

I’m always excited to see Nancy Ondra’s garden through her blog Hayefield and now the fall color in her Pennsylvania Garden is ready for our annual tour!  Nan has been participating in the Fall Color Project for several years now and we’ve all been able to enjoy the fantastic varieties of plants, shrubs, and trees she has in her garden….

This post will mostly be a show and tell for my seed starting progress. If you haven’t started your seeds yet you still have time to get them going. Starting from seed is an easy way to save a few dollars in your vegetable garden budget. A pack of tomato seeds might cost you $2-3 and you get 20-30 seeds…