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Weekend Finds
Bulb planting continues for me. I’ve been a bit pokey about it this year, just because the lack of a mid-fall warmup has me running a bit frantic in the garden. There’s lots of cleanup to be done, and some jobs, like digging dahlias seem to be taking longer than I planned. I have about 150 more bulbs—daffodils and alliums—left ...
A changing, and challenged, landscape
We’ve been enjoying a particularly beautiful fall here. Beautiful not in terms of weather, as gray days have far outnumbered those crisp, sunny fall days with royal blue skies, but the trees have put an amazing show. Last year, a late-summer drought stressed trees, plants and gardeners alike, dropping leaves to the ground before most had a chance to develop ...
From empty yard to s’mores in an afternoon
This post is a paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but all words, opinions and the recipe for the perfect s’more for non-marshmallow lovers are my own. If Mother Nature is feeling generous we’ll enjoy a long autumn with a few excellent Indian summer days mixed in for good measure. I know I spend a fair amount of time griping ...
The autumn garden: Beautifully alive and definitely dead
We’ve had several frosts now (Indian Summer, where are you?) so the garden is a mishmosh of dead and alive right now. Some things are looking great and so much else is looking terrible. I’ve been trying to take some mental notes for the future. I went heavier on the annuals this year than I would have liked, in part ...
The perfect way to store your tools (and an OK way that works too)
We interrupt your frantic season-end gardening for a quick message. This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil and Lava® Soap, but all words and opinions are entirely my own. This post may also include affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog. There is a “right” way to store your garden tools over winter: clean, sharp ...
The first frost, the last harvest and a big project nearly complete
Well that was abrupt. Without a lot of lead-up, we had hard frost. And just like that, the growing part of the gardening season is over. I didn’t take the threat of a freeze too seriously because we usually escape the first few frosts that affect even areas just an eighth of a mile away. The moderating effect of Lake ...
The great houseplant migration
The monarchs are making their way south, and the hummingbirds are all but gone. The geese overhead seem to be pointing south and all this migration can only mean one thing: It’s time for the annual houseplant migration. I like to think of myself as a good gardener, but I am a lousy caretaker of houseplants. If it weren’t for ...
Fall cleanup with a healthy dose of cozy
Put the wheelbarrow down! I know you’re busy working in the garden, but I have to tell you that this post is a partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement. Thanks for checking it out and thank you for supporting the brands that partner with The Impatient Gardener. Life is just periods of blissful unawareness followed by fits of cleaning. That’s my ...
It’s time to cut your tomato losses
As I got farther and farther behind in planting my vegetable garden I knew this day would come. In fact, it comes every year, but I knew it would be even more dramatic this year, as tomatoes just wouldn’t have enough time to produce and ripen all the fruit they were meant to provide. But here we are: If the ...
Taking drastic measures to save a special plant
It’s funny how some plants mean more to me than others. Often these are among the first plants I bought. Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Orangeola’ was, I think, the first expensive plant I ordered online. It was certainly the first tree I bought online. I say online, but I think I actually placed the order on the phone, after spending the ...
How to grow tulips even if you garden with deer and rabbits
The first fall after we moved into our house 16 years ago, my mother-in-law bought me a collection of tulips. It was a sweet gesture and one that was particularly lovely the following spring when they all shot out of the ground and showed that hint of color as their tight buds started to open. I was a novice gardener ...
A challenging (swat) time in the garden (buzz, slap)
I’m about to gripe about gardening, but I want to preface that by saying that I realize that in light of what many people are dealing with from Hurricane Florence and other natural disasters, this is small potatoes. So on that front, I am thankful that I’m in a position to be able to whine for a moment about the ...
How to give your lawn a fall boost (and still have time to enjoy the season)
Hi friends: I just want to tell you that this post is paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but you know how I roll on these things: You’ll always get my honest opinion. I’ll be the first to admit that I will never have a lawn that looks like a golf course. And I’m 100% OK with that. My goal ...
Why you should order bulbs now
The start of the gardening year is signaled, in my garden at least, by the blooming of the first bulb. Last year it was a race between one insanely long-lived and abused daffodil and the winter aconites. Even though I cannot bear to think of the months that precede that moment right now, I know the joy that comes with ...
Three water systems to establish new plantings
There is great irony in writing about varying methods of watering a garden after of two weeks of nearly constant rain here, a weather cycle I can’t remember the likes of but I know so many other gardeners have faced this year (or the exact opposite, and I’m not sure which is worse). Still, after coming off the most deadly ...
Friday Finds: Moments in the garden
Well here we are, on the eve of Labor Day weekend in the U.S., the date many people think of as the end of summer. Well there will be none of that here! The garden is still going strong (although everything is a little beat up after our heavy rains) and I have a lot of “real” gardening left to ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
