Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

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…

This week is greenhouse week! My wife took the kids to her parent’s house and left me to work on my greenhouse project.  While I have no illusions of getting the project completed I do hope I get a major chunk of the groundwork done so that I can tinker throughout the fall until it’s finished, hopefully just in time…

I’ve made no secret about it but maples are without a doubt my favorite shade tree. Maples offer shade in the summer, feed wildlife with their samaras, and are a feast for the eyes in the fall. Reds, yellows, and oranges tend to be the predominate colors and they set the fall landscape on fire! All the gold colored maple…

Last week I caught my first glimpse of something I have never seen before, a fox in my backyard.  There was a little doubt in my mind when I saw it.  Was it some sort of dog that resembled a fox or did I really seen one?  I’ve never been fortunate enough to see one in the wild just in…

I think one of the most important things to consider when planning out the gardens in your landscape is how it all fits together. One of the best ways I’ve tried to figure that out is by considering my vantage points. A vantage point is just a fancy way of saying a good place to look at the garden! My…

I had a very productive weekend! It’s been a while since I spent so much time outdoors and despite the heat, the sun, the sweat, and big case of farmer’s tan a bunch of chores were accomplished. One surprise though was my potatoes. The potato bed was overrun with Bermuda grass as I mentioned the other day but even before…

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.

There’s not much happening on the greenhouse right now – it’s too cold! I walked out this afternoon to see if I could add some weather stripping to the front windows but it was too cold to add them as it needed to be higher than 40 degrees, or so said the packaging. This time of the year it should…

I don’t know about you but I’m ready for spring. Notice I said spring not spring gardening. I haven’t done everything I need to do to get ready for the new gardening season but I’m already lamenting the cold temperatures that we are destined to have for the next two months (January and February). When March comes we usually have…

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…

Over the next several days (until the voting begins on the Better Homes and Gardens 48 Hour Blog Challenge) I’ll be giving small previews of my Arbor project. It’s ready to go and I’m very pleased with the result. Here’s a first look at one aspect of the arbor: Solar Lights: Solar lights are one of those garden details that…

It’s a good thing I took several pictures toward the end of last week since the rain and dreary weather has dampened much of the garden. Sunny days are ahead but until then all we have are a few photos of flowers from the gardens. That will just have to do! Up first we have some achillea. Also called yarrow…

By now you’ve probably heard about the study that says organically grown vegetables are not any healthier than their “conventionally” grown counterparts.  If you haven’t I’ll sum it up in a nutshell. The study examined the nutrients and vitamins present in organic produce and compared it to conventionally grown vegetables and didn’t find a significant difference between the two. This might…

Propagating plants by cuttings is by far the most common way I propagate plants. When you take a cutting from a plant you are making an exact genetic duplicate of the original plant. Essentially it’s a clone. No you won’t see any George Lucas movies about plant propagation (I don’t even want to think about weeds using the Force. The…

I didn’t want to just have one plant to show so I added the Nandina above. Its berries are showing some pretty good winter color.Here you can see the tiny blooms of our Mediterranean White Heather. Erica x darlelensis would look great as mass border planting. Too bad I only have the one, I’ll have to add more this year!

It that transitional time of the growing season where the spring weeds are coming to an end and the warm season weeds are beginning to arrive.  This time of year is also when many of our warm season crops and plants are coming up too.  Sometimes it isn’t easy to distinguish between a weed and a seedlings planted from seed…

With fall almost here it’s time to start thinking about gardening chores and the task that most people have to do in some way is deal with the leaves. What do you do with the leaves is an important question. For way too long many people have burned them which to me is the worst possible way to dispose of…

Yesterday I spent some time out in the garden with my 3 year old daughter. We dug, we raked, we planted, we played with worms, simply put … we gardened! Here are just a few photos from our time outdoors in the beautiful weather and in the garden. (Oh and just so you know “free for all” doesn’t mean you…