I hate to whine about the weather so much, but my goodness it has been COLD here. I have a lot of seedlings in the temporary greenhouse and I’ll be honest, I haven’t gone in there in two days because I’m afraid of what I might find. They cannot have been happy the last few days with very cold nights …
If you’re wondering what all this bathroom talk is in the middle of high gardening season, I’m participating in the One Room Challenge, a quest to renovate one room in six weeks. Start from the beginning of this journey here. We all know that every renovation has its stumbling blocks and this one is no exception. But it is interesting …
Yesterday I wrote about the factors to consider when choosing a container. You can read it here, but I broke it down to four factors: Size (err on the side of bigger) Style (what suits your house, garden and personal preferences) Material (will you leave it out all year or have to move it) Price Now I’m going to share …
You know that gardening season is truly upon us when I start dreaming about container plantings. In preparation for this year’s containers I have been poring over Deborah Silver’s old blog posts, combing through Pinterest and drooling over some of the amazing containers the rest of the world seems to have access to, but for some reason are nearly impossible …
I have more garden cleanup (both my own and at a master gardener project) on the schedule for this weekend, a date with some nasty garlic mustard weed that, I kid you not, grew 5 inches in one night when we got a lot of rain and one more sowing of tomatoes to try to salvage my seed plans scheduled …
First off, thank you all for your wonderful comments from Week 2. I’m happy to say that thanks to some insanely long hours by our tile guy, the tile portion of this project is moving nicely. There were a couple of factors that came into play with the selection of the wall tile. This bathroom was always going to be …
We’re well into seed-starting season at this point. I can tell because I’m bored with it. Well, not bored with it, but it is lot of work to check on those little guys multiple times a day to make sure they are feeling happy. Overall, I would say my seed starting has not been as successful this year as it …
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There is remarkable satisfaction in seeing how a garden project plays out down the road. I recently revisited a pair of Clematis ‘Little Bas’ that I planted in large 24-inch square containers in 2020 and what I found was illuminating. The Clematis have been living their best lives in two container flanking the vegetable garden […
At this time of year a lot of people who like to pretend to be experts armed with crystal balls predict trends with a concerning degree of confidence. Pantone’s Color of the Year is selected in a process the company says is “the culmination of macro-level color trend forecasting and research.” I think that means […]
Thanks to Park Seed for partnering with me on this post. As always, all words, thoughts and vegetable opinions are my own. There are gardeners who have spreadsheets and schedules that tell them exactly what seeds they should be starting when. Those same gardeners undoubtedly started seeds for fall sowing under lights probably a few […]
Thank you to Wave Petunias for partnering with me on this post. I’m often asked a question that is perplexing to me: “Do you grow annuals or perennials?” I don’t fault the people asking the question as I think there are some people who grow one or the other, and perhaps that was more typical […]
If you have a gardener on your holiday gift list you are a lucky person indeed. Not only do you probably share an interest, you also have an excellent starting point to give them a gift they will absolutely love. And then there’s the benefit of being able to do a little shopping for yourself […]
For no good reason at all, there is still an annual debate about when you should clean up your garden. Well debate no more, because as far as I’m concerned, the answer is that you should do what’s best for you. But there are some compelling reasons to sit tight until spring to clean up […]
This post is done in partnership with Ball Horticultural, which not only produces amazing plants, but also throws a mean party. Thank you so much to Ball for a fabulous night. If you ever wondered how many container combinations could be made with a dozen or so plant options, I can offer an answer: Way […]
There is a tendency to think of plants as delicate things that require coddling, but some demand the opposite treatment. That’s how I found myself in a full-on assault a couple weeks ago as I engaged in the abuse of Brazilian fern tree seeds. The three-quarter-inch long, flat seeds were hard as a rock and […]
Thank you to Park Seed for partnering with me on this post. As always, all words and thoughts are my own. You might be asking yourself what begonias and peppers have in common that they’d end up in the same article. A lot actually, at least when it comes to starting them from seed, which […]
There are two types of plant shoppers: the kind who spots the variety they are looking for and they grab the first one they see and the kind who will look through a minimum of a dozen plants before choosing the one. It’s pretty clear what category I fall into. I have never purchased the […]
I’m thinking about starting my holiday shopping soon. It appears that I’ve been having a bit too much fun planning for next gardening season and forgot about things like Christmas shopping. If you’re like me and you have, well, all your shopping to do I can at least help out with any gardeners on your […]
I have a long list of gifts that make excellent gifts for gardeners, but I have a short list of things that are poor gifts for gardeners. At the top of that list are hand pruners. My rule for hand pruner gifting: If you don’t know the recipient well enough that you’d be comfortable buying […]
Thanks to Park Seed for partnering with me on this post. As always, all words, thoughts and vegetable opinions are my own. There are gardeners who have spreadsheets and schedules that tell them exactly what seeds they should be starting when. Those same gardeners undoubtedly started seeds for fall sowing under lights probably a few […]
I’m not much for nighttime gardening, preferring to spend such hours sitting on the deck watching the fireflies, but last week you would have found me in the vegetable garden peering under leaves with a blacklight. I was on the hunt for an enemy I’ve not done battle with before: tomato hornworm. Just a few […]
