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HAPPY HOLIDAYS + THIS YEAR’S CARD
Have I mentioned that I love having Christmas on a weekend? I usually work at least a half a day on Christmas Eve which means I spend the other half of the day running around like a mad person, which is not at all Christmassy. So even though not a present is wrapped or a single package of cookies packed ...
HOW TO TIE A BEAUTIFUL RIBBON
When Mr. Much More Patient proposed to me, the ring came in a perfectly wrapped box (done at the jewelry store) that sat flat on the table. After we got through the whole “Yes!” bit, I went back and examined that wrapping, which was done without tape, just a perfectly cut square of paper and that beautiful red ribbon. I ...
LAST–MINUTE GIFT GUIDE (PROCRASTINATOR’S SPECIAL)
I can procrastinate with the best of them, but we are really at the last minute for gift shopping if you plan to order anything. This is where that Amazon Prime membership really comes in handy. If you don’t have a Prime membership now is certainly the time to get on that. There’s a link at the bottom for a ...
FRIDAY FINDS
It’s weird to have Christmas on a weekend. I love it from a work standpoint (taking off in the middle of the week and having to come back is a drag), but from an organizational standpoint it feels odd. Like there is a lot of Christmas stuff I still want and need to do and given the date, I feel ...
5 FREE WINTER CONTAINER DESIGNS
There is no Christmas tree in my house. That, of course, was not the plan. The plan was to be ahead of the game this year, but once again it’s the last minute and nothing is done. I’m tempted to just skip the tree at this point, but we did that last year and I feel like skipping a tree ...
HOW TO MAKE A HOLIDAY WINDOW BOX
I got a lot of questions recently about how I constructed my holiday containers and window box so I thought I’d share a quick tutorial. I can’t say that I invented this method, but I’ve gotten pretty close to perfecting it after several years of tinkering with it. The inspiration for it came from the professionals, mostly Deborah Silver. Just a ...
GIFT GUIDE: BOOKS FOR GARDENERS
Call me a traditionalist, but I love giving and receiving books for Christmas. Especially now, when real live books (the kind with pages) seem to be a novelty with some folks. I enjoy having a library of gardening reference books in my home, and I refer to them often. Here are some picks for books that the gardener in your ...
THE PRESERVE-YOUR-SANITY METHOD TO OPEN CABLE TIES
I had a lot of questions about my winter window box so I’ll share a little tutorial (more of a tips and tricks because the how isn’t as important as the way you get there). While I was doing the window box last weekend I realized that I use a lot of plastic cable ties in the construction of just ...
FRIDAY FINDS
Well, it’s December and suddenly weekends are full of checking items off a far-too-long to-do list. The main item on mine is doing all the outdoor decorations on Saturday. It’s going to be in the mid-30s all weekend, but it’s going to rain most of Sunday, so Saturday is the day for outdoor work. I hope I can power through ...
VINTAGE GIFT GUIDE
Another sign that I’m getting a little older is that I think getting a vintage gift would be lovely. When you’re a kid you want shiny and new (ew … it’s used?). But the idea of someone hunting for a perfect, unique gift is a lovely sentiment to me now. So I bring you my vintage gift guide. Of course, ...
A WINTER CONTAINER CHALLENGE
One of my favorite projects to do this time of year is decorate outside with winter containers. In the past I’ve used a combination of found and purchased materials. I always cut my own red twig dogwood because the even though the dogwood you can buy is brighter, straighter and, by all accounts, prettier, it’s also incredibly expensive. I also ...
MY GUIDE TO BLACK FRIDAY
I’ve never done the Black Friday shopping thing, but I’m not opposed to picking up a good deal online. Sad as it is, I tend to pick up a lot of things for myself on Black Friday and Cyber Monday because the deals are so good that it’s a great time to stock up on staples. So here’s a roundup ...
GOODNIGHT GARDEN
Well it had to come eventually. The frost that miraculously held off until after mid-November finally came, more than a month after our first frost last year. I knew it was coming, but somehow in my gardener’s brain I had blocked out how dramatically a hard frost changes the garden overnight. I woke up Saturday morning to brown foliage hanging ...
FRIDAY FINDS
So, I’m not entirely sure what happened, but apparently Thanksgiving is next week. I am rather shocked. So I guess that means I better spend some time this weekend figuring out what kind of pie (or pies) I’m going to make. That’s my contribution to the meal. One year I made the turkey. It was terrible. Now I stick with ...
GIFT GUIDE: CUSTOM GIFTS FOR GARDENERS
I held off as long as I could on holiday posts but I think it’s time to get the show on the road. I’m planning to do a handful of gift guides (I’m sort of obsessed with them) this year and I thought I’d kick it off with one that you really have to get going on soon. Everything featured ...
WRAPPING UP A GARDEN PROJECT FOR FALL
Work on the oval circle garden continued this weekend and by the end of the day on Sunday I let out a sigh of relief. If a blizzard came tomorrow (unlikely as we’ve not yet had a frost), I’d be OK with how far this project got this season. On Saturday I reset the outer circle of cobblestones. One thing ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
