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BLACK IS NOT BLACK
It is predicted to rain here. All week. And hover in the 45-degree range. The optimist in me assumes this is because Mother Nature wants to make sure we get our fill of April showers so we get our May flowers.It does give me a chance to take a break from talking about gardening, to catch you up on at ...
FIRST PLANTS IN, MORE SEEDS TO COME
It was a great weekend in the garden: two marathon days that left the garden in pretty good shape and my body in pretty bad shape. There is something so satisfying about the pain one feels after long days in the garden. I put some row cover over the peas and lettuce seed, if only to protect them a bit ...
FEATURE FRIDAY: WATER IN THE GARDEN
First of all, thank you all so much for your kind words about the loss of our dog Hudson. So many of you shared stories of your beloved pets and I know that you know just what we’re feeling. Hudson loved water as all Newfs do. In fact they love it so much that having a water feature in my ...
GOODBYE TO A GOOD FRIEND
I try not to get overly personal here and I hate to do posts that can be kind of a downer. But I would be remiss in not remembering a great friend here. Yesterday we had to say goodbye to what was certainly one of the world’s greatest dogs. At just about 10 years and 7 months old, our Newfoundland ...
Getting comfrey with growing my own fertilizer
Since I wrote this post, I estimate that I’ve watched more than 50 hours of British gardening shows. And I think I’ve learned more from them than I ever learned over all the years of watching American gardening shows. Some of that information—how to take cuttings, for instance—may not be completely practical as I have nowhere to overwinter delicate new plants, ...
WHY GARDENING ISN’T TRIAL AND ERROR
A lot of people are blogging about gardening these days. People who normally blog about clothing, interior design and a little bit of everything (or, um, nothing) are writing posts about gardening. I think that is fantastic. The more gardeners in this world the better, so if people are inspired to put a few plants in containers or improve their ...
FEATURE FRIDAY: GARDEN ORNAMENTS
I love garden ornaments and sculpture. The right piece in the right place adds another dimension to a garden. There’s a place for serious sculpture and whimsical ornaments in any garden, but I think the key is to know when to stop. Nothing makes a garden look a little bit like a junk yard with plants growing in it faster ...
A Wythe Blue door on a falling-down garage
I forgot to show you something I did about a month ago. I painted the garage door Wythe Blue (Benjamin Moore color). I’ve been sort of lusting over that color, which is this really interesting grayish greenish blueish, sort of turquoise-but-not color for a long time and I really wanted to paint something that color. Since I didn’t want something ...
COMBATING COLD WITH INDOOR SEED STARTING
I know that it is high time to stop complaining about how bad winter was, but those of us who experienced it will be dealing with its aftermath for some time. In my area, where Lake Michigan reached an absurd 93% ice coverage this winter (for the first time since the 1970s), the water is going to be cold most ...
THE IMPATIENT GARDENER v.7.0 (WITH CIRCLES!)
Yep, you’re in the right place. I just made a change to the design here. Although the last design, which I did myself after not being satisfied with multiple people who I paid to try interpret what I wanted, was a favorite, I think it’s been there since January 5, 2013, so it was feeling a bit stale to me. ...
FINALLY, A WEEKEND BACK IN THE GARDEN
The temperature hovered in the 40s here this weekend but the sun was shining and it was a glorious two days in the garden.It was one of those weekends when there were a billion different things I could have done outside. Which means I was able to happily jump around from project to project, just enjoying being outside. I emptied ...
FEATURE FRIDAY: MIXED BORDERS
I’m sorry the posting has been a bit sporadic lately. Although a deadline a work certainly has much to do with that, I’ve also been spending some blog time working on a redesign. It’s almost finished and I hope to launch it soon so don’t be alarmed if you visit The Impatient Gardener soon and it looks different. Same blog, ...
EVEN I WOULDN’T PAINT THIS WOOD WHITE
Over the weekend I went to the lumber yard. I guess that’s what you’d call it anyway. It was a place that specialized in hardwood.You may be wondering why a person like myself, who has been known to paint every bit of wood she sees, would be at a lumber yard, much less one that was a full hour’s drive ...
OH YEAH, I REPAINTED IT. AGAIN.
The vanity that is. I did this several weeks ago, actually, but forgot to tell you about it.It is now Hale Navy (satin finish) and I’m finally satisfied. You may recall that I originally painted it Hudson Bay (satin), but felt like it was too slate blueish and just dull. Hudson Bay (sanded) on the left, Old Navy on the ...
SCOURING THE INTERNET FOR GREAT GARDEN TELEVISION
I don’t think it’s any secret that there is a lack of quality gardening television shows available in the U.S. There are some, of course, and two that come to mind are The Victory Garden and P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, both on PBS. Although I have the DVR programmed to record every one of these I can (which means ...
FEATURE FRIDAY: SPRING HAS SPRUNG
The declaration in the headline might be more optimistic than realistic, but I thought it would be appropriate to mark the first full day of spring with some shots of spring bulbs in full bloom, even it will be several weeks before such a thing happens in my area. When I did the garden design styles series, one reader had ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
