Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Before I delve into the catfacing issue let’s clear up a big misconception: catfaced tomatoes do not actually look like catfaces! Now that we’ve covered that important fact that let’s talk about what catfacing is and what causes your tomatoes to look like deformed monstrosities. Catfacing is a general term gardeners use to describe deformations of the tomato fruit. It…

Garden writer Nancy Ondra never has a disappointing garden photo (at least not that I’ve seen!) This year her fall color project post is as impressive as ever with viburnums, amsonia, winterberry, purple smoke bush and so many other things to look at.  I wish I could stop by in person to tour her garden this time of year! Nancy…

My fall garden is much less impressive than the trees that surround us. In fact if you were to take away the trees little else would be remaining with any significant color. There are a few things that defeat my previous statement in our garden but I see a definite need for improvement in the fall color area. When I…

You’ve probably heard of adding lime to soil.  Farmers and lawn experts recommend it frequently to add to gardens and lawns to help your plants grow, but why? Why should you use lime for your tomatoes? What is Lime? Lime is calcium carbonate.  Which leads us to one easy answer for why it might help tomatoes – to combat blossom…

As a member of the Troy-Bilt Saturday6 I was provided compensation and products to review from Troy-Bilt.  All opinions and statements in this post are of my own observations and experiences. Today though I’d like to share with you my experiences on the Troy-Bilt RZT Mower. The 46″ RZT Mower is a 0-turn mower which allows the rider to quickly…

My last post about the brick floor only had a small portion of the garden shed covered with bricks. I’ve made a little progress since then and have complete exhausted my supply of free bricks. I’ve been looking for more but so far I’ve come up empty handed. I’m pleased with how it’s turning out at this point but really…

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

Obviously if you are reading this post you have discovered the world of garden blogging, but do you know how it can help you in your garden? Do you know how to best utilize garden blogs for your benefit? I have a tip that may give you a few ideas, but first let’s look at what garden blogging is about….

Here are two more great fall color posts for the Garden Blogger fall Color Project. These two posts come to us from the mid-west specifically Chicago, Illinois and Iowa.Mr. McGregor’s Daughter in Chicago, Illinois is observing some really fantastic fall color. The red oaks are competing with the maples for an extraordinary autumn show. Usually the maples win hands down…

Spring is here and the garden is most certainly coming alive! Unfortunately some freezing temperatures are in the forecast for later in the week here in Tennessee. Here’s a quick look at what you will find in my garden at the moment! Purple leaf plum and forsythia   I trimmed the forsythia back after it bloomed last year into more…

On a cold morning such as this you might be wondering “what can I do in the garden?”  Or you might be wondering “why does he know what I’m wondering?”  Or…maybe not, whatever the case is cold winter days are good for the garden and the gardener.  The garden needs those cold winter days to get enough stratification time for…

Growing corn in the home garden is a little different from growing in the farm fields. Corn has a few traits that you need to understand before you plant so that you can get a successful crop of corn in the late summer and fall. Let’s talk about growing corn as it applies to a home gardener! Planting Corn in…

Once your seeds have grown big enough to plant out in the garden it’s time to find a way to get them into the garden.  Direct sowed seeds have a big advantage in this area as they have grown from the start in the great outdoors are are already well adapted to the weather.  Seedlings grown indoors aren’t so lucky. …

One of the first things to greet anyone at our house is the mailbox garden. It’s the first thing that people see as they drive by or visit. It’s also about the only thing you can see of our gardens from a distance since our house sits down below the street level in a cul-de-sac that most people probably don’t…

Lately I’ve been looking back at all the pictures I took over 2009 like in my last post (the picture of rudbeckias.) Soon I’ll be talking about seeds and getting ready in earnest for 2010 gardening but I find that glancing back at the previous year’s pictures helps to guide me when it comes to the seed catalogs. I stumbled…

My gardens haven’t seen any rain for several weeks now.  The grass is brown and I even commented to my daughter that it sounds like crunchy snow.  Of course the reality couldn’t be further from the truth – it’s hot!  No snowball could survive in our back yard today with temperatures expected to rise into the triple digits.  Droughts do…

Self Sowing Garden Unfortunately I don’t have any new things to share with you like my title says.  The new things in the garden refers to what new things I would like to accomplish with my garden this year. I’ve been doing a lot of virtual gardening lately; looking at old photos of the garden and I glimpsed a few…