The new raised vegetable garden is almost finished. We still need to mulch the path between the beds, and put up the deer fence around it, as well as the door at one end. We (and by we, I mean my husband) made it with cedar posts sunk into the ground about a foot, and untreated pine 2x10s. The pine …
The compost bin we threw together two years ago in about 15 minutes and four pallets has disintegrated. It didn’t help that we stirred the compost pile with the Kubota. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I REALLY want this: Lee Valley Tools Compost brackets. I first saw this on Gardening by the Yard with Paul James …
For the first time in my life I’m going to try my hand at vegetable gardening. Well, not the first time. When I was a kid my mom gave my brother and I some space in her veggie garden to grow things that are satisfying for kids to grow. In our case it was radishes. I detest radishes, but fortunately …
Local gardeners, take note. The Ozaukee Master Gardener Heirloom Plant and Herb Sale is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 23, at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. More than 11,000 plants will be for sale. Just about every kind of herb you can think of (and plenty you didn’t know existed), plus heirloom tomato, peppers and eggplant will be for …
It really is. And there’s nothing like becoming a gardener to remind you of that. I’ve been gardening for about 15 years now. Well, 15 if you count the peppers I tried to grow in a pot on the front step of my first post-college apartment that I watched with eager anticipation of eating something I grew. Unfortunately the squirrels …
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Here’s my philosophy on vegetable gardening: I’m more interested in growing interesting and delicious food than I am in getting very high yields or never having to deal with a bug. In other words, organic is important to me. As you know, I’m all about encouraging people to do what they want in their own […]
Awhile ago I read that plants abhor copper and that it actually inhibits vines from growing up it. I wish I could remember where, but it probably doesn’t matter because I now think this is unfounded at best and bullpucky at worst. I can’t find any scientific sources to suggest that’s actually the case. But […]
Well, the raised bed gardens are built. And I’ll tell you right now, that took a lot longer than I planned. But they are built and we’re still married. At this point both seem like remarkable achievements. Before I get into it, if you haven’t read part 1 in this series, I’d recommend you check it […]
A quick note before I get into this epic post on an epic project: Troy-Bilt sponsored this post and the Flip the Yard challenge and provided products for my use. It’s funny how projects that start as one thing end up being something else. If you followed me on Instagram last weekend (you can catch […]
I got behind on my weekly reports of what I’ve been planting, but I think that’s how it works this time of year. It’s a gardening flurry and I’m in that part of the spring marathon where it’s plodding along and longing for gardening days when you putter in the garden rather than do an […]
Note: “Five Seasons” is streaming free at this link April 24-26, 2020. At one point during “Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf,” a new documentary on perhaps the world’s most famous living garden designer, the tall Dutchman is driving a Texas-sized Cadillac Escalade down a back road in Texas and he’
I think it’s safe to say I may have underestimated how time intensive the process of building the new raised bed vegetable garden would be. I can say this with some authority since we are now into June and nary a vegetable has been planted at my house. Still, I’m not interested in rushing this process […]
Astute observers will notice that there is distinct focal point in my vegetable garden plan. But the fact is, I don’t know what that focal point is going to be. It might be a small café set, so I can sip a coffee surrounded by my growing vegetables. But I’ve also entertained the idea of […]
I’m ready to go on record. I think this may have been the most deadly winter my garden has ever seen. I’ve been patient and following all my steps for what you should do when you think a plant has died, but most things are growing by now and those that aren’t are probably doomed. […]
With all the plants still perched in temporary storage locations around the yard, you would think I’d gotten nothing planted over the long weekend. But I actually did get a fair amount of things planted this weekend in between working on the vegetable garden. I was very excited to plant Double Take Peach quince (Chaenomeles […]
Sometimes what we picture in our heads for our garden is not how reality works out. That’s the case with a little project I’ve been working on but I have faith it will improve. This spot in the main garden off the patio is the closest thing I have to controversial area. Some of you […]
It’s the time of year when big changes happen quickly in the garden and it’s easy for me to forget about them. So I thought I’d do a weekend wrap-up post to just show you what I got up to. Most of these are tiny bits of bigger projects but if I wait until the […]
I take no pride in admitting that this Plant to Know, which is one I now hope to never be without, is also one that for a time I wrote off as just another garden plant. But that’s a problem with a plant that isn’t particularly flashy and that you rarely need to visit. And […]
The area for the new vegetable garden was finally started this week. Leveling has begun, a messy process that involves moving around a lot of dirt. The next step is building the raised beds and I thought the decision making behind the beds deserved its own post. Gardening in raised beds is very popular, and […]
