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Cottage

LOOKING AHEAD TO A SUBTERRANEAN DIY PROJECT

First, let me start by saying that even though it’s the end of the August and kids all over the country are already back in school, summer is not over. Not even close. Dammit. Now repeat that until you really believe it. Because even thinking about fall and the miserable season that comes after it puts me in a foul ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Did you follow the Gardenista design awards at all? I hate to say it, but I wasn’t blown away by them this year, at least from a gardening standpoint. But this yard is downright cool. In fact, I’m sure I’m not cool enough to hang out in a place like that, but someone very cool is hanging there. The Prudent ...

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Garden

A REVIEW + GIVEAWAY OF GARDEN TOOLS

I love garden tools. I can’t get enough of them, really. Every tool has subtle differences and I live playing around with them to see what works best for me. Troy-Bilt came out with a line of garden tools this year and I put them to the test. I noticed two things right off the bat: They felt light, but ...

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Garden

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THIS YEAR’S GARDEN

I’ve put off an analysis of the this year’s garden long enough. It’s time for a little constructive criticism of my own work. At the same time, gardening is an imperfect art. Sometimes things do what you expect them to and sometimes they don’t. Mother Nature often decides the design of the garden as much as the gardener. And I ...

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Other

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

I spent most of Sunday in the garden, which was a real treat. It’s fun to garden at this time of year, because most jobs fall under the “pottering” category. I spent a lot of time with my compost, sifting five wheelbarrows full and top-dressing parts of the garden with it. I still have about half a bin of finished ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

In case you were wondering, I refuse to acknowledge that it is getting rather far into August. Please do not remind me. One of these days I’m going to take on the enormous project of making my basement into something other than a storage space (half of it is finished space and there’s a fireplace down there), and one of ...

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Other

A RARE RUMMAGING FIND

I’ve been staying out of thrift stores for awhile now because I have instituted a rule of not buying something if I don’t have an immediate use for it (and will fix it up within a reasonable amount of time). But I am in a few rummage-type Facebook groups in our area and every so often something pops up that ...

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Garden

GARDEN TOUR: WHERE CONIFERS AND TEXTURE RULE

I have never toured a garden and not taken something away from it that I want to put into practice or plant in my own garden. If you ever feel like you’re in a gardening rut, it is the single most inspirational thing you can do. The garden I visited a few weeks ago was one of the most impressive ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

I’m on a really good streak with books. I’m reading Dear Friend and Gardener: Letters on Life and Gardening and although I’m only halfway through it (I’m taking my time with it, savoring every page), I just know this is going to be one of those books I go back to and may become one of my favorites. It is ...

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Garden

REVELING IN A GARDEN VICTORY

There is something rather momentous going on in my garden right now: Lavender is blooming. For those of you who successfully grow lavender, this probably doesn’t seem like something worth dedicating a blog post to. With lavender, it seems, you either have it, or you don’t. I’ve struggled with growing lavender for years, which is why my path is lined ...

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Cottage

YET ANOTHER BLUE DOOR

So I painted another door. By now, this should come as absolutely no surprise to you. When I get an itch, I paint something and 99% of the time it’s a door. What can I say? They are easy and you get a lot of bang for your buck. BEFORE (Wythe Blue door) AFTER (New York State of Mind door) ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS: SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

One of the weekends I was gone in mid-July also happened to be the weekend that every garden tour in southeastern Wisconsin was held (or so it seemed), and I missed them all. What a bummer. Fortunately, last night I toured two fabulous gardens as part of our annual master gardener garden crawl. I’m now full of ideas for how ...

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Garden

NO MATTER THE FUSS, SWEET PEAS ARE WORTH IT

This spring I grew more flowers from seed than I ever have before. The process was incredibly rewarding and I feel like my garden looks better than it ever has, in part due to all the plants I produced from seed. Among those flowers were sweet peas, which have a reputation for being a bit particular about their conditions. I ...

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Garden

CONTAINER SURGERY (LIKE A NOSE JOB GONE WRONG)

And just like that, it’s August. It’s almost impossible to fathom that we’re at the beginning of what I once considered the last month of summer. The weather, though, is changing from what it was like in my childhood, and since I’m not personally tied to school schedules, more and more, my idea of summer continues right through September. We ...

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Garden

VIDEO REVIEW: TROY-BILT HORSE XP TRACTOR

Earlier this year I told you about the Troy-Bilt Horse XP Tractor, and now I’m showing you a little more about it. Get ready for a video full of the inner workings of a lawn mower, mowing to music, creative and possibly dangerous camera angles, dive-bombing dragonflies (we had a huge dragonfly hatch around here when we were making the ...

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Cottage

A DOSE OF FUN COLOR JUST FOR SUMMER

We’ve been enjoying the most amazing stretch of gorgeous summer weather here in southeastern Wisconsin. Save for the fact that we could really use some rain, there is absolutely nothing to complain about. We’ve been savoring every possible moment of it (I seriously try to soak it in and save it for a few months from now), taking walks on ...

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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.