In the past, I’ve put a few yummier plants in the circle garden, at least if you ask the local wildlife. A few years ago I put up a willow fence, which deterred the critters of the hopping variety. Of course rabbits like to chew, so eventually, the willow got very brittle and the bunnies figured out it wouldn’t take ...
I know a lot of you are already well into summer but here in Wisconsin, we’re lucky if summer comes with the solstice. Fortunately there are signs that spring is indeed here.Clockwise from top left: Adorable anenomes, an emerging allium, dicentra Gold Heart in all its glory, purple smokebush starting to leaf out, a wonderfully fuzzy bud on the Guernsey ...
The tragedy continues …. So rather than delay this unpleasant task, I decided to just go for it tonight. The sooner we get rid of the bad stuff, the sooner the healing can begin, right? So I gathered up my tools and I started pruning. Pruning really isn’t the right work for it because that indicates some sort of reason ...
Welcome to my biggest of all gardening pet peeves: Leaky hose nozzles. I’m so irritated with having water dripping down my air every time I try to water. Every year I buy one or more new nozzles in hope of finding the holy grail of watering wands. I’m not asking for a lot. I just want something I can stick ...
Just heard back from Lucile. Here’s what she said: “Cut hard. Down into the green wood and pray.” Gulp.
I’ve been keeping an eye on this all spring, and hoping things would be fine, but it’s not looking good. Last spring I bought a gorgeous Kamagata Japanese maple from Lucile at Whitman Farms. I adore this tree and it was gorgeous last year. In winter I treated it just like my other Japanese maple: Lots and lots of mulch ...
I caught my mother rubbing her eggplant this weekend. Relax, it’s OK, really. She was just giving it a little leaf massage. Seems she read “somewhere” that massaging the leaves will make it produce better. I can’t tell you where “somewhere” is because neither of us knows. We read so many magazines, blogs and Web sites, not to mention watch ...
The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.
It feels odd to “reveal” a space that’s been unfolding in front of your eyes on this blog for a year now, but the vegetable garden is finally at a place where almost everything but the gardening bit is finished. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be left only with the task […]
Ask me what my favorite season is and before you can finish asking the question I’ll tell you it’s summer. I’m a summer girl. I like summer activities, summer food, summer cocktails, summer nights and summer gardens. But I have to admit, like a cat with an attitude who deems your lap worthy of laying […]
We’re coming up on 17 years in this house. How that happened I have no idea, but one mark of the passage of time here has been the coming and going of trees. For many years we didn’t cut down any trees here. They were all healthy and more or less where we wanted them. […]
I don’t know what spurred my recent interest in plants with purple foliage, but everywhere I turn, deep, dark leaves are catching my eye. Like other plants with “special” colored foliage, including chartreuse, silver and variegated, purple plants have to be used sparingly, lest they lose their impact. They also work better when
I can’t say what accounts for it, but I’ve noticed recently that I’m a different gardener than I used to. I’m not talking about knowledge, because all gardeners gain that through years of experience and, well, failure. It’s my approach to the physical tasks of gardening that I’ve recognized a change in. I used to
I haven’t cleaned up the garden yet and although I’m feeling anxious about being behind, there’s very little happening right now and I know I still have some time. But while the cultivated parts of our yard are very, very slowly waking up, the natural areas, those that are mostly free of my intervention, are […]
If social media has taught us anything, it’s that you never know what is going to cause controversy. It’s hard to imagine gardening ever being controversial, but there are plenty of strong opinions. I’m good with healthy discussion on any topic, but sometimes I just don’t see the controversy coming. And I certainly didn̵
I have always been a procrastinator. This is not a virtue, and I recently read an article that it’s procrastination is caused by being in a bad mood and living in the present. Personally, I think it has much more to do with living my entire young adult and adult life on a deadline; at […]
My first clematis was ‘Mrs. N. Thompson’, a spindly specimen from a local garden center, but I thought it was something spectacular because it was a clematis that wasn’t ‘Nelly Moser’. Up until that point, I was under the impression that the only two clematis that existed were ‘Nelly’ and ‘Jackmanii&#
It’s been awhile since I’ve shared an update of what’s happening in the garden here, roundabout six months or so. I’m quite happy to report there’s something to report. Mind you, none of this is earth-shattering, but sometimes when I’m busy writing about fake plants or gate colors, the little things happening in
Crowdsourcing aspects of a garden is an enlightening experience. Last weekend I picked up the gate for the vegetable garden. This is a big deal in this very lengthy project. I am an admirer of garden gates. The best ones ooze charm, teasing you to just dare to walk through them. But in my garden, […]
In the 1960s and 1970s double digging was the proper way to garden. That opinion persisted for many years, and the method also known as “bastard trenching” still has its fans. (You can read more about the process, and just how unpleasant it is, here.) As arduous as it was, gardeners persisted in doing it […]
I love gardening in raised beds. In fact I’d argue that everything about gardening in raised beds is easier than growing in the ground. Well, everything except for the part where you make them. But other than that there are so many advantages to growing in raised beds and they are worth considering for anyone […]
Before I launch into what is probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to a rant on this blog I want to just say that I firmly believe in the idea of doing what you like in your own house and garden. These spaces should please you, and if they please someone else in the process, […]
