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Garden

PRODUCT REVIEW: A MACHINE TO MAKE GORGEOUS COMPOST AND FREE MULCH

One of my favorite movies is “Fargo.” The relevance of this will soon become clear. I am alternately fascinated by and intimidated by large machinery. I go into using it afraid that I’m either going to break it or myself, but as soon as I start using it, I’m hooked. And that’s about how it went with the Troy-Bilt CS4235 ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY CHEERFULNESS

I’ve tried a few times today to come up with a Friday Finds post, but it feels a little shallow to share links to a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter a bunch when a lot of people are sad and hurt and angry. So I leave you this Friday with the cheeriest picture I could find: red nasturtiums. Happiness ...

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Garden

ONE-EYED GARDEN

I have a good reason for coming back to the blog rather slowly after the holiday weekend: I’m down to one eye. Somehow I went on a sailboat race Friday night and before the race was over midday Saturday I had brewed up a cornea ulcer which my very nice eye doctor saw me for on Sunday when the clinic ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

I should not be surprised because this happens every year: Blink and it’s Fourth of July. How we got halfway through 2016 and to what we consider the mid-point of summer, I have no idea, but here we are. Summer can slow down already. The floribunda rose I’ve been growing in a pot for a few years is looking so ...

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GardenPlants

LET THOSE HOSTAS SEE THE LIGHT

I have never been great at following rules. I’m not saying I’m a great rebel, but there has always been a part of me that wants to do the opposite of what I’m told to do just because. Perhaps this is why I don’t always follow conventional garden wisdom. It certainly sounds better to frame it that way than to ...

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Garden

THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE (aka A REVIEW OF A VERY COOL HANDHELD BLOWER)

If you’ve read my power tool reviews before, you’ve probably picked up on a trend: I like power but I like it when it comes easy. What I’m about to say makes me sound like a pathetic girl, but I hate pull starts. I’ll use them when I have to, but I feel like my arms aren’t long enough to ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS + A HOE WINNER

Happy Friday, dear readers! It is a glorious summer day and a great weekend is forecast so let’s not waste any time and get to the good stuff happening on the Internet this week. Summer is here: the roses are starting to bloom! How much do interior designers charge? I’m sure this varies a ton by location and other factors ...

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Garden

BAD GARDENER CONFESSIONS: WONKY WATERING

It is stacking up to be one of those summers where it feels like the hose is another bodily appendage. Already we’ve had periods of heavy rain followed but long stretches of windy, hot weather that dries out the ground quickly. It’s been years since we’ve had a summer where I never wanted to see the hose again and it’s ...

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Garden

2016 CONTAINERS

It’s high time I tell you a little about the containers I planted this year. I like to show you them early in the summer if only to prove that no container looks great when it’s first planted (and some look positively pathetic), unless you start with enormous plants, which few people do. It takes time for them to grow ...

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Garden

A HAND HOE TO LOVE: A REVIEW + A GIVEAWAY

I’ve not been quiet about my relatively recently discovered love for Dutch-made Sneeboer tools. After years of buying less expensive gardening tools at the local hardware store or garden center, I broke down and bought a Sneeboer Ladies Garden Spade (my mom is about 5’5″ and she likes the Border Spade which has the same size head but a slightly ...

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Other

GOODBYE, FRIEND

I thought I better check in here just so you all know I’m still around. I have lots of excuses for my weeklong absence here, but excuses are a bore. I’ll be back soon with lots of gardening, a fantastic giveaway and more. But for now, I just want to take a moment to remember our Newfoundland Rita. She died ...

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'Sugar Sweet Blue' clematis
Garden

AN EARLY JUNE GARDEN REPORT

There is so much happening in the garden these day and if I don’t show it to you soon there will be something else entirely happening. I’ve not had time for proper photos, but I did snap a bunch on my phone and I thought phone photos would be better than waiting even longer. I had such high hopes for ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

It’s Friday Finds time, something I haven’t had time to do for a couple weeks. I’m a little behind on my blog reading as well with craziness in the garden, at work and in life. All good stuff, just busy. I wouldn’t have it any other way. How about a pretty picture to start? The ‘Coralburst’ crabapple we planted last ...

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Garden

MAIL ORDER PLANTS REVIEW: GARDEN CROSSINGS & CLASSIC VIBURNUMS

Oh my, there is so much going on in the garden and I’m not sharing any of it! Bad blogger! Soon, I promise. We had the most amazing weather for Memorial Day weekend and I spent plenty of time in the garden. It was lovely. But, once again, I was so busy gardening that I didn’t take any photos. So ...

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Garden

WHAT THE FOX DRAGGED IN (AND OTHER GARDENING TALES)

Gardening is happening, people. That’s the main reason for my absence so far this week. We’ve had amazing weather recently, but no mosquitos, so I’ve been gardening pretty much any time I’m not at work or sleeping and it’s still light out. And I’ve been taking hardly any pictures. That’s the problem when you really get in the zone: There ...

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Garden

MAIL ORDER PLANTS REVIEW: JOY CREEK NURSERY

Another mail order nursery review today but before we get to that, I wanted to share a couple photos of the serviceberry tree in bloom. the flowers are really only at peak for a day or two max so I take a photo of it every year. It’s rather amazing to me that this tree was a gift from my ...

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Letters from the Garden

Garden musings, what I’m digging (literally and figuratively) and some great garden tips are all part of my letters from the garden, sent biweekly straight to your email inbox. Subscribe here.

Letters from the Garden

Garden musings, what I’m digging (literally and figuratively) and some great garden tips are all part of my letters from the garden, sent biweekly straight to your email inbox. Subscribe here.