It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when I had very little interest in growing vegetables. You might not know it by looking at my vegetable garden, which is in a sorry state this year, but I get so much pleasure out of growing my own food. Last night, I asked Mr. Much More Patient to bring home …
This is the time of year when I start taking stock of garden with a long-term view. In general terms, it’s easy to spot areas that need attention and improvement. In some cases, though, it’s identifying plants that I need to take a hard look at. And I am officially putting two pretty important plants on notice. It’s time to …
It’s a bittersweet time to be a gardener. My enthusiasm for the small but important jobs around the garden has long since waned. I did some edging this weekend and it was all I could do to will myself to do it even though it was a job that was way overdue and one that I’m always happy with the …
A couple weeks ago when I shared my favorite tools, I suggested that there might be a few gaps in my already expansive garden tool collection. Well, I may have filled them. I think the most glaring omission from my collection, I think, is a fork. Digging forks have a lot of uses but the two instances I think call …
Geez, you would think I was vying for the “Most random posting blogger” award or something. I left you hanging all last week! I’m sorry. Life. You know? It is hard to believe that Labor Day has now come and gone. It has been such a lousy summer weather wise. I know I am a professional weather complainer, but I …
We started with my four most used tools and yesterday I covered pruning and raking tools. Today I’m going to hit you with all the rest, so hang onto your hats. Just to review, these are my favorite tools that I use for specific jobs in the garden. My entire tool collection numbers far more than the tools I actually …
Yesterday, in the first part of My Favorite Tools, I covered what I consider to be my four essential tools; the ones I reach for almost every time I garden. Today I’m going to get a bit more specific and show you what I use for specific jobs. The first is pruning and cutting. Yesterday I showed you the most …
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I’m coming to the conclusion that public gardens may be among the most under appreciated spaces on the planet. That’s not to say that they are not appreciated, just that they are not appreciated enough. I’m delighted every time I go to a public garden and I always enjoy it more than I expected to. […]
I have written thousands of words on this blog about deer: plants deer avoid, ways to fend off deer attacks, homemade deer spray, complaining about deer. Lots of complaining about deer. And a lot of you reading this have deer issues too. I know because not only do you commiserate (particularly with the complaining), but […]
You have gifts to buy and I’m here to help. There’s a lot of gardening stuff out there geared toward gift giving and to be honest, a lot of it is not great. Quality matters and sometimes cute just doesn’t cut it. Gardeners are, generally speaking, a practical bunch, and most of the gardeners I […]
There are two possible explanations for what’s been going on outside here lately: Either the weather is completely off its rocker or I’ve forgotten what this time of year is like. After several decades of experiencing fall into winter in this particular part of the world you would have thought I’d have it down by […]
I suppose the answer to the question posed in the title starts with “What plant?” Sure, there are plants that are special (we all have favorite plant children whether we admit it or not) that many of us would go to some length to protect. But what about replaceable plants? There was a time where […]
This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE® Brand, but all opinions are my own. I also take full responsibility for any messy garages that may be featured. There’s nothing like an abrupt change in seasons to get yourself in gear. Just a week ago I was sitting back, enjoying a beautiful fall day and feeling pretty […]
I might whine about winter and therefore autumn, which is guilty by association, but last weekend we had one of those magical fall days. The sun was bright and warm, the sky was that deep sapphire blue you only see in the last quarter of the year and every bit of foliage seemed to be […]
Fall cleanup used to be more about making sure the tools were put away, the leaves were off the lawn and the pots were cleared out of the way to make sure they won’t get in the way of the snowblower. I’m not sure when it happened but somewhere along the line I started collecting […]
Whew. Life has been a whirlwind lately. Right around June life always starts getting busy. There’s the usual busy-ness of summer and I managed to add to that by having a group of master gardeners tour my garden in August. And just when I thought I’d get a breather, work got busy. Somehow here we […]
There are gardeners who eschew new plants, and although they may have some valid arguments (among them that they are hybridized to a point where they are no longer of use to pollinators and the species is just fine), I’ll never get sick of trying new plants in the garden. I enjoy the challenge of […]
The last day of summer came and went in the most depressing way possible: with an all-day downpour that kept me out of the garden. This summer-loving gardener is not pleased. It is my sincere hope that we have a lot more summerlike weather ahead because as usual, it feels like summer has absolutely flown […]
Everything was going fine until it rained. And rained. And rained. Our weather station temporarily went on the fritz last week when a night of lightning took out the power, but we got somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 inches of rain in about four days. That much rain at this time of year is […]
These are the onions I grew this year. I harvested them this weekend and they may be the single best argument for trying new things in the garden.I can’t give you poundage because I just pulled them and they are curing but I can assure you I’ve never grown more onions before. And here’s where […]
I can tell you the exact moment that summer started at my house: 12:27 p.m. September 2. You read that right. That is the moment that summer started. Reports of summer’s death have been greatly exaggerated. And in this house summer starts the moment that I take the first bite of BLT featuring a giant […]
