Garden Blogger Posts of the Week Vol.5

What posts stood out to me this week? Read on!

I was struck by the beautiful setting in Rob's post at Our French Garden in the Beautiful Dordogne. The rest of the post is great too but you know what they say about first impressions!

This week was Carol's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day which is always worth a look at all the wonderful blooms each month that people submit through their own postings. Also you really should take a look at Hayefield's post which is written by Nancy Ondra and great garden author. She always has something fantastic took look at! If you liked the caryopteris I showed you earlier in the week pay attention to her Summer Sunshine caryopteris!

And for the first entry to the Fall Color Project go visit Mr. McGregor's Daughter. The colors are just beginning! Her post will have the top spot in next Friday's Fall Color Post. Remember that every Friday I'll put together the Fall Color Project Posts for the previous week in one summary post.

If you want to catch up on what I wrote this week for The Home Garden take a quick gander below! (yep I used the word gander in a sentence for the second time, can you believe it?)

• Last Sunday I wrote a post about what needs done in my front garden. While I accomplished some  weeding and moved a couple small plants there is still a lot to be done. There always is more to be done isn't there?
• I'm pleased with how my caryopteris row is turning out. I only had a couple more gaps to fill in which I tackled later in the week. I can't recommend caryopteris enough for fall blooms. Get it, plant it, love it!
• You may have missed a small update on a shelf-cabinet I built for the garden shed. It's time to get more storage for pots and all the miscellaneous trappings of a busy greenhouse!
• For my entry this month for Bloom Day I added a little collage effect on the pictures. I was surprised by how much I had blooming and needed to consolodate a few of the pictures. The collage was a neat option.
• Cilantro - I like it and it's growing again in the garden!

Garden Blogger Posts of the Week Vol.4

Unfortunately this week my garden blog surfing was cut back severely. I just didn't get the time to go and visit some of my favorite bloggers and as a consequence I've only marked one post for today - but it's a good one!

You might be thinking "he's on a path kick" when you read this next post and remember the posts I mentioned last week. Pathways are one of the most useful garden design elements you can add so they should be talked about - repeatedly! What I find amazing about Shirley's path at Choosing Voluntary Simplicity is that the stones she used aren't necessarily small flat stones - most of them are large round rocks that have at least one flat side. She's placed the flat side up for walking and the rest of the stone is buried under the pathway soil. A lot of work went into her pathway!

A look back at this week on The Home Garden:

You can "see" my invisible nasturtiums in my most recent Grow Project post! OK they aren't really invisible - we've just had too much harsh weather for the nasturtiums to do well this year. Tuesday's post was a highlight of last weekend's big project - fixing the drainage area around my shed! Another weekend project was making some stepping stones from concrete.

And don't forget to capture some images of fall for the Fall Color Project 2010!

Garden Blogger Posts of the Week Vol.3

It's time to highlight a few more neat posts from the garden blogging world! Let's get right to it!

If you're a fan of paths (and I don't know any gardener who isn't) I noticed two posts this week about paths that might interest you. Carol of May Dreams Gardens recently decided to remodel her gardens and is incorporating  a pathway into the mix. Catherine of A Gardener in Progress already has an established pathway that looks fantastic with natural stepping stones that guide you down toward a white picket fence. Along the way you have hydrangeas and Solomon's Seal.

For something useful how about visiting Plants Are the Strangest People? Mr. Subjunctive write a nice tutorial on how to pack and ship plants though the mail. Definitely worth a look if you enjoy swapping plants with gardeners over long distances.

And this week on The Home Garden:

Fall Vegetable Garden

What's wrong with your garden? Would you like to take a moment to rant about that? I did! The weather outside was perfect on Saturday but that hasn't been the case this summer and the garden has suffered. I finally began the fall vegetable garden with a small 3'x4' raised bed. I'll add more vegetables to the other raised beds each week to stagger my harvests.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Earlier in the week I began a new garden using a scalp the grass technique combined with a layer of grass clippings. It works very well for a non-chemical way to eliminate sod in areas for gardens.

Have you ever made a planting mistake? Everyone has...go see one of my recent errors! Of course some people might say my planting of the Sweet Autumn Clematis might be a mistake as well, we'll see!

Garden Blogger Posts of the Week - Vol.2

http://www.growingthehomegarden.com/2010/08/garden-blogger-posts-of-week.htmlWelcome to the second week of Garden Blogger Posts of the Week. Last week I highlighted two posts that I thought were interesting, unique, or stood out in some way (cool pictures etc.). Today I'll mention a few more. Please pay them a visit when you get the chance!

I thought Nancy Bond's pictures of the eagle were very cool. Imagine looking out your front door to photograph a bald eagle! And all I get are gold finches and cardinals!

Gail's post resonated with me this week because of the sentiment she expressed. Much of my garden isn't looking like I want it to because of various factors - and often all I see are the bad things. Gail reminds us to not forget about the good things that make our gardens special to ourselves.

Meems in NYC wrote a post thinking about starting her own garden shed! Of course since I've been working on a similar project I thought her upcoming project is definitely worth following.

Please visit those three bloggers if you haven't already!

And if you would like to catch up on The Home Garden Posts this week here's the weekend wrap up!


Last weekend I tackled a couple projects. One was a plant holding bin/raised bed and the other a birdhouse. The plant holding bin took some time to complete but having a place to put extra plants and the results of my home plant propagating will be very helpful. Another project completed this week was a second raised bed made for housing my strawberry plants. It's a raised bed garden that is built into the slope to give the garden a tiered effect.

Another post mentioned layering as a plant propagation method. Two plants in my garden layered this week to provide me with a couple more free!

I also announced the winner of the organic weed killer products and told you about some little tulip poplars that need new homes.

Garden Blogger Posts of the Week!

I thought I would do something a little different for this Sunday and highlight a couple Garden Blogger posts this week that I thought were either very interesting, had very cool photos, showed me something new, or took me somewhere fantastic! I hope you'll pay a visit to the bloggers listed below and see what I found to be very interesting posts.

Garden Blogger Posts of the Week!

Jodi on Friday at Bloomingwriter in her post showed a very interesting place called Cape Split. The scenery and pictures are nothing short of breathtaking with giant rocks jutting out from the bay to form craggy islands some of which are only accessible by those who are lucky enough to have wings. 

Carol's post at Flower Hill Farm was very interesting. Titled A Royal Beginning it highlights the early stages of development in the life of everyone's favorite butterfly - the Monarch! If you're curious about what the egg or caterpillar of the monarch butterfly looks like she has some very nice close-up pictures. The prefect thing if you are trying to identify one!

Please go pay a visit to those two blogs and see what you think! If you missed anything this week on The Home Garden here's a quick wrap up.

This week began with a look at the blooms in the garden for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. With the awful weather we were having it is a wonder anything was blooming. Fortunately the rains have returned, but unfortunately in the form of thunderstorms and flash floods. You just can't have everything! I also managed to use up all my free Craigslist bricks in the Garden Shed for the floor. I'm still searching for more bricks as I can to finish it out. Melons and peppers are showing up in the vegetable garden. The peppers have been good but I'm still waiting on the first ripe melon!

My fellow plant propagation nuts might enjoy the post on propagating a Shasta viburnum. One of the most beautiful shrubs of spring! If you like pictures better than propagation posts (really how could you?) there were a few garden pictures in Friday's post that might be worth a look. As always beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  And since everyone likes free stuff why not enter the EcoSMART giveaway?

I hope you're having a great weekend! I'll get to show you my latest project this week so stay tuned!

Wait a minute, this isn't radio...

And the Tomato Seed Winners Are...

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing for the 'Woodle Orange' Heirloom tomato seeds. You WILL enjoy these next year or I'll give you your money back! (Oh wait you didn't pay anything - oh well ;))

The winners as randomly selected by Random.org are can be seen below in the picture. Just count down the commenters until you match up the number in the picture to find out who won or simply look at my list below (Darla removed herself from the drawing so her comment should not be counted). If the winners will send me an email (thehomegarden@gmail.com) with your mailing address I'll send the seeds out this week! You won't have time to get them started for this year but be sure to save them with your other seeds to start next spring. Can't you just taste them? Maybe that's just me, they do taste excellent on a burger like I had tonight!

The Winners: 

Melody, Pam, Victoria, Monica, and Tom M

Congratulations and thanks for commenting! 

There will be another giveaway next week so make sure you check back on Friday! 

(or just read everyday so you don't miss anything!)

The Home Garden: A Look Back at the Week

This week like every week seemed to fly by. We finally received some rain which will help out the various gardens immensely. We even had a decent evening because of the increased cloud cover! On The Home Garden I showed a comparison between my backyard from 2008 and present, wrote two posts one of my favorite ornamental grasses: switch grass (on propagating switchgrass, and a followup on switchgrass), and talked about more plant propagation. It's always busy around here with the garden and I know you are busy in yours. Thank you for taking the time to read the posts and commenting!

Mother Nature and Me

The last several days Mother Nature and I have had an interesting relationship. There were times when we've gotten along but other times are far from a friendly!

Take for instance Thursday morning when I was laying bricks in the shed.  I had just finished with the second wheelbarrow load of bricks and returned to the brick pile to get load number three for the morning. The first couple bricks went in fine but something went horribly wrong as I was attacked by swarm of kamikaze wasps intent on defending their brick castle. I'll admit that "swarm" is somewhat of an exaggeration as it was a relatively small nest and only 5-6 wasps chased me as a ran screaming across the yard. And yes a few choice words came out as the wasps hit their target. Fortunately only two of the wasps got me and only once a piece - it could have been a lot worse. I've noticed that the wasp stings bear a similarity to the bite I received last fall when a mystery insect caused me to end up with the worst case of hiccups I've ever experienced. How do wasp and insect bites lead to hiccups? One word - medication! Since I know for sure what stung me this time the doctor's office is unnecessary and I'll grin and bear the pain while popping down the Benedryl. It may knock me out but at least it won't give me hiccups! The stings are starting to swell my leg a little but hopefully that will diminish in a few days.

The other sign that mother nature sent my way was when I was working in the shed. I heard a strange sound on the roof and looked up through the skylight to see the distorted shadow of a large bird. I thought maybe that was a crow or even a mockingbird who had too many wild cherries to eat. To my surprise I found a black buzzard larger than my oldest child perched on the peak of the garden shed! Was mother nature trying to hint that I should get out of the nearly 100 degree heat?

Today while mowing I had a birding experience of different kind. I was riding through the backyard when a baby mockingbird who couldn't fly hopped out of the grass in front of me. I shut the mower down then looked skyward to make sure any dive bombing mommies wouldn't be heading my way. Mockingbirds are nothing if not territorial and even more so when it comes to offspring. I scooped up the little bird and transferred it to an area I had already mowed under the shelter of willow tree while keeping an eye on the sky.  Hopefully the mother bird found her little fledgling and brought it back to the nest.

The Home Garden Weekend Summary
This past week didn't bring too many more wild encounters. The Grow Project and my arbor began the postings for the week. It's too bad the nasturtiums aren't doing better but the weather has been very uncooperative. Because of the dry and hot weather I put together a post on the Do's and Don'ts of August Gardening. The next post was all about a new favorite tomato of mine: The 'Woodle Orange'. You really should try it sometime and if you want a few seeds for it don't forget that I'm giving some away. The other post of the week was on the garden shed page. You can see a little bit of the brick floor I mentioned earlier in this post.

I hope you're having a great weekend!

A few words of wisdom: look before you pick up bricks!

Double Dew Daisies - Photo Post

Two Shasta daisy flowers covered in the morning dew.

Early this morning (not too early maybe after 7 AM but much earlier than we've been getting up due to the new baby!) I went out with the camera to see what pictures I could find. Back by the greenhouse garden shed where my Russian sage, rudbeckia, and Shasta daisy combination is I found the flowers all covered in the morning dew. It's amazing that there is still moisture to be found out there with all the dry weather we've been having but moisture there is! The morning dew gives an impression of cool temperatures that truly just aren't here at any time during the day. The mornings are hot, the days have been excruciating, and the evenings cool off but not nearly to a comfortable level. I spent a few minutes last night even looking at the January snow fall pictures with longing! (Someone please tell me I'm crazy and to get those thoughts out of my head!)  The white daisies is the closest we'll come to snow for a long while as it should be but I'm definitely looking forward to the predicted precipitation for this week.

This past week I showed you all around the garden shed. I did some real gardening (in spite of the heat) and fixed up the plantings with a nice layer of mulch all around. One of my favorite combinations of plantings I added happened completely by accident with the sunflower and 'Shenandoah' switchgrass blending together. The rest of the plantings will fill in over time including beautyberry, another crape myrtle (I'm definitely a fan of a properly pruned crape), several salvias, and all sorts of other neat plants.

I'm really enjoying the tomatoes this year. Cherokee purples, Romas, and all kinds of delicious tomatoes are filling boxes every day for us. It seems every other day I'm making another batch of tomato sauce for storing.

Every week is a busy week! I hope you've been able to get outside an enjoy your garden despite the oven outdoors. How's your garden growing?

Finally Some Rain!

Yesterday we were finally the recipients of rainfall. It's funny when you think about our weather situation. At the beginning of May we had way too much rain with some areas of Tennessee receiving 16-18 inches of rain and now we are just hoping for enough rain to wet the ground for a temporary reprieve from carrying out the hoses. The weather never quite cooperates the way you would like it or the way you need it.  Ideally the flooding rains would have spaced themselves out to an inch or so per week throughout the summer - but the clouds didn't ask me how I wanted it to rain.

Yesterday we managed almost half an inch of rainfall. It's a good start but we could use more. It was a slow rain that had time to absorb into the soil as it fell rather than a rain that was washed away down gullies and streams. I think it may have been enough of a rain to encourage me to plant a few more things that I've been waiting on putting in the ground. My front porch has become a mini-nursery of sorts with all kinds of cuttings that I haven't planted yet. Mostly because of the convenient watering location but also due to time.

This weekend's garden chores: 

• Harvest tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumbers from the garden
• Plant a few more plants grown from cuttings.
• Plant more squash and zucchini
• Continue weeding various gardens
• Deadhead spent flowers like coneflowers and coreopsis for a second burst of blooms
• Prune back artemisias and catmint

I've neglected the weekend update the last two Saturdays so it's time to get back in gear!

Monday July 5, 2010

• My Hiatus - One Special event drew me away from blogging for a few days. Come say hello to my son!
• Grow Project: Hangin' In There - Nasturtiums in the south can be a challenge.

Wednesday July 7, 2010

• 5 Garden Chores for July and the Summer Heat - 5 chores that I attempt to tackle in the intense heat of the summer.

Thursday July 8, 2010

• Reclaiming the Vegetable Garden - I finally rescued a few raised beds from the invading weeds.
• Sightings!

The Border Bed Outside of the Vegetable Garden

I've finally gotten around to one of the chores I've been meaning to do for two years! Amazing how that works isn't it? You intend to do a project in the garden then you get distracted with other projects and it becomes to late to accomplish. Today I finally mulched the west side of the planting bed outside of the vegetable garden. It doesn't look like much now but I've got a plan!  In previous years this area was filled with zinnias grown from seed. I never really worried much about the mulch even though it would have helped keep the weeds at bay which definitely enhances the look of the garden. Despite the weeds the zinnias always made the spot look good.  I have a few planted there but other plants will be finding their homes in the bed soon.

Because of the deer invasion I'm putting in some plants that the deer may not want to sample like Russian sage and Pineapple sage. The two aren't related so don't let the sage part fool you! Perovskia atriplicifolia has scented leaves that the deer should find unappetizing and the Salvia elegans has pineapple scented leaves that may or may not be attractive to deer. It blooms a bright red. From what I've seen deer never touch most salvias which makes pineapple sage worth trying. The boards you see in the picture will be the border of the garden. I ran out of time to get the border situated today. The grass along the fence is on the inside of the garden and will be on its way out very soon. Like I said it doesn't look like much now but we'll check back at the end of summer (or maybe sooner) and see how it's doing!

A look back at the week:

Monday June 14, 2010

• Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)on Coneflowers - Have you seen these caterpillars on your coneflowers?
• Rooting Heuchera through Cuttings - Just what it says!

Tuesday June 15, 2010

• The Garden Blooms of June in Tennessee - Another episode of Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!

Wednesday June 16, 2010

• Touring a Hosta Garden - a few pictures from the Hosta Garden of the president of the Middle Tennessee Hosta Society.

Thursday June 17, 2010

• 5 Annuals I Plant Every Year - A guest post by me.

Friday June 18, 2010

• Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Update - It's coming along!

Deer and Beetles

The gardening adventure is full of ups and downs. Of excitement and disappointments, of frustration and elation. It wouldn't be exciting any other way I suppose but those low periods sure can be low. Take for instance the deer infultration this week. The vegetable garden is my main concern - I want to eat food from this garden - it saves me money over the summer and we are planning on canning for the winter.  It's the most important garden asset in our yard but other areas have been affected too. A little purple leaf plum was cut in half - again - this might be the third time and my earliest blooming hostas have had their flower stalks nibbled off. It could always be worse. The good thing is that it's early enough to replant the cucumbers, squash, and a few other vegetables.

Today I went out briefly and began spraying my deer prone plantings with a simple spray made from hot pepper sauce, liquid dishwashing soap, and water. I tried this last year and nothing bothered the plants after it's application. Fortunately my timing couldn't have been better since the Japanese beetles have now arrived! Why is that good timing? Because Japanese beetles don't like my spray. It's a two for one deal deer and Japanese beetle prevention! One squirt and the beetles drop off the plant and fly off. They definitely don't like it. It may not kill them but it repels them from the plants I spray which is good enough for me. I've seen them on crape myrtles mostly but a few other plants like my dappled willows and some viburnums do have the Japanese beetles on them. If you can hold them off for a few weeks while they are active they aren't a giant problem. If you choose to use this spray please be warned - never stand downwind of the spray and take all necessary safety precautions! (You won't like it if it gets in your eyes, trust me.)

Public Service Message: Never buy a Japanese beetle trap for yourself, give it to a neighbor. It does a great job at attracting them! (If you want another way to control Japanese beetles in your garden try planting Four O'Clocks. They attract Japanese beetles and are poisonous to the beetles after they ingest the leaves.)


What You Might Have Missed This Week:

Sunday June 6, 2010

• Grow Project: Spitfire Nasturtium take two. My first attempt resulted in a poor transfer from peat pot to garden but the direct sow option is proving to be more reliable.

Monday June 7, 2010

• The Vegetable Garden - Talking about tomatoes, zucchini, and cabbage!

Tuesday June 8, 2010

• June in the Front Sidewalk Garden - Daylilies, Salvia and several other plants highlight the sidewalk to our front door.
• Tinkering Away -A short update on the garden shed construction!

Wednesday June 9, 2010

• The Vegetable Garden Has Been Breached! - The deer made it into the garden after more than three years of merely passing by.
  

Thursday June 10, 2010

• Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly -What a cool visitor to the garden!

Friday June 11, 2010

• Echinacea in the Garden -Why you should plant coneflowers in your garden!

And The Winner Is...

This week has been an interesting one! I'm amazed and astounded by the sheer number of comments generated for the compost bin giveaway from Clean Air Gardening. At the cut-off time for the drawing there were 120 valid entries (Nancy's, of Leaping Greenly, doesn't count since she's Canadian but I always appreciate her comments!).


Here's how the drawing worked:

• I went to Random.org 
• I asked for a random number between 1 and 120
• I got a random number.
• Then I counted down to the comment that corresponds to that random number. (If you do this skip past Nancybond to get the correct commenter).

And who's the winner? All-American Belle! Congratulations you are the proud new owner of a compost spinner! (email me ASAP at thehomegarden [at] gmail.com and to make shipping arrangements!)

I want to thank Clean Air Gardening for offering the compost spinner for a prize! And thank you for joining in the contest. If you would like to keep up with what's happening here at The Home Garden please subscribe or follow on Facebook.

If you missed something this week take a gander below! (Can you believe I actually said gander?)

Monday May 31, 2010

• In Memory -My thoughts for Memorial Day. 

Tuesday June 1, 2010

• Growing Yuccas from Seed - My yucca seeds were starting to sprout.

Wednesday June 2, 2010

• The First Tomatoes! - Tomatoes are coming, these are still green but there are many more on the way!
  

Friday June 4, 2010

• 5 Daily Garden Chores -If you need help to keep your garden shores organized consider doing a few things everyday like these 5 chores.
• Around the Birdbath Garden - Just another update of the birdbath garden a the stepping stone pathway nearby. It's come a long way since its beginning!

Random Thoughts and the Week

Today I actually found myself in a home improvement store looking for paint for the garden shed. How I found myself or more importantly how I got lost there I'll never know but I ended up coming home with four gallons of paint. The colors will be revealed at a later date. They aren't groundbreakingly unique colors but I think they'll dress up the shed nicely. The colors had to blend with the house and the garden and hopefully they will make a nice blend.

New Roots:


I also found myself with a couple beautyberry bush cuttings ready to pot up as well as two more rosemary cuttings. New roots are always very exciting!

Cancellations:

Today I canceled my mowing for the second time. The other day I was out mowing when a storm came through. When it was over the yard was less than 1/3 mowed and the grass was too wet to continue. It rained again today incoveniently and I never got back to it. Suffice it to say that my grass is tall, very tall but all children are accounted for!

If you missed something this week here it is!

Sunday May 23, 2010

• Meeting Other Garden Bloggers - A visit of another garden blogger to my garden.

Monday May 24, 2010

• Here's What Rooted Today -This time of year I'm always propagating plants, look and see what I potted up on Monday!

Tuesday May 25, 2010

• The Gardens from the Porch Perspective -Looking around from our back deck.

Wednesday May 26, 2010

• What Bolted Cilantro Looks Like - It looks pretty cool I think!
  

Thursday May  27, 2010

• Things to Do in the Vegetable Garden - End of May -There's always something that needs done in the vegetable garden. It's important to stay ahead!

Plant Swaps and the Week in Review

This morning I attended the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap at Henry Horton State Park. If you've never been to a plant swap before you really should consider going to at least one. It's a fantastic way to expand the plant varieties in your garden on the extremely cheap side. The concept is simple, bring any extra plants you have to the swap the talk to fellow gardeners and arrange trades! In essence you turn your extras into new plants. The only big disadvantage of this is that you don't always know the exact variety of plant you're getting. I'll bet you're wondering "What plants did he get?" Well I don't have any pictures taken (I know you're thinking "WHAT? A garden blogger didn't take pictures?!) but I'll share a list with you from what I remember (I promise to feature pictures of the plants in the future (most likely during their bloom time))(I know what else you're thinking "Why is he using so many parenthesis?" then again maybe you're really thinking "Why is he telling me what I'm thinking?")(On with the plants!)

The "What came Home With Me From the Plant Swap List"

Iris (Multiple kinds and colors) Tennessee Coneflower - a rare native Daylilies Marigolds Cayenne Pepper Catnip x2 Penstemon grandiflorus

Cannas Hosta St. John's Wort Black and Blue Salvia Hydrangea macrophylla Banana Tree* Orange Asiatic Lily and more!

I'll post more later about the mystery person (and garden blogger) who came to the swap and the person's visit to my garden but you probably can figure that out!

For now though here are the posts from the week:

Monday May 17, 2010

• Front Porch Garden Redesign Project

Tuesday May 18, 2010

• Vegetable Garden Updates - How's your vegetable garden growing?
• The Corner Shade Garden - Do you like hostas and heucheras? Here's your post!

Thursday May  20, 2010

• Achillea millifolium (Yarrow) - an easy plant for any garden!

What Blooms in May in My Tennessee Garden?

Here is what blooms in my Tennessee garden in May 2010. There's always a lot to see this time of year and I'm sure I've missed some things but here we go!

Red Achillea

Patio Garden - Garden Shed in the background

Achillea, Phlox pilosa, and Catmint Combination

Deck Garden - The irises here are done but the foliage still remains.

Nepeta faassenii (Catmint) 'Walker's Low'

Around the Witch hazel with oregano sprawling around.

Nepeta faassenii (Catmint) 'Walker's Low'

Self-sowing garden - not a big self-seeder but I like it so I put it there!

Purple Iris

Rain Garden

Dianthus

from the Arbor Garden/Self-Sowing Garden

Gaillardia 

(grown from seed of an 'Oranges and Lemons' Gaillardia, definitely not true to type!)

White Iris next to a Japanese Maple

Arbor Garden/Corner Shade Garden

Asclepias tuberosa (Orange Butterfly Weed)

Rain Garden

Buds are all over

and Flowers are underneath!

Red Poppies

Self-sowing Garden

Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' and 'Snow Hill'

Front garden - I want to completely renovate this garden. I'll explain in a later post.

Thanks to Carol for hosting Bloom Day!

If you missed anything from The Home Garden this week check out the list of posts below:

Sunday May 9, 2010

• A Little Closer to Finished - A little update on the Garden shed

Monday May 10, 2010

• Making Arrangements for Mother's Day - a peak at a couple of the homemade flower bouquets that I gave out.

Tuesday May 11, 2010

• Must Be A Magnolia - Guess what? I have a magnolia from seed!
• 6 New Plants in my Garden - I added a few new plants to the garden.

Wednesday May 12, 2010

• Hydrangea Propagation - It's so easy you won't want to miss this post!

Thursday May 13, 2010

• Into the Lettuce - perhaps literally!
• Random Thoughts While Mowing - Very random.

Friday May 14, 2010

• Gardening Before Breakfast - Is that the best time to garden?
• I'm No Mr. McGregor! - if you like cute bunnies this post is for you!

Grow Project: Spitfire Nasturium on a Garden Obelisk

Last Sunday I should have posted about the Grow Project with the Nasturtium seeds but unfortunately our internet connection was out and the weather didn't let up until Sunday night. There's only so much blogging you can do without computer/internet access! I'll update you on the progress of the 'Spitfire' Nasturtiums again in the future and hopefully I'll have a bit more to share as these plants are still quite small. To bring you up to speed on the nasturtium progress I planted two of the nasturtiums that I grew from seed in the ground last week (See the previous Grow Project: Nasturtium Post) at the base of this garden obelisk I made during the Arbor project last year. The obelisk was made from leftover scrap material from the arbor's construction. It's a little bendy on one side but still functional.

Since the nasturtiums should grow to at least 3 feet I thought this would be the perfect way to display them. They will grow up the obelisk and cover it with foliage and blooms throughout the summer. At least that is my goal!

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee's Garden for the seeds.

Also since I didn't get a chance to post my usual weekly recap post I'm a couple weeks behind. Here's my attempt to catch up!

Sunday April 25

• Snakes in the Garden - They can be such a helpful little critter in the garden but unfortunately snakes are often feared.

Monday April 26

• From the Vegetable Garden: Potato Mounds, Lettuce Leaves, and More!

Tuesday April 27

• The Thing About Box Store Bargains

Wednesday April 28

• Growing Japanese Maples From Seed - Who doesn't like a Japanese maple? Especially when they are free!

Thursday April 29

• A Look at the Backyard - Just a glimpse, or a glimmer if you will.

Friday April 30

• Reusable Plant Tags - A Review
• A Perfect Pot of Pansies

Saturday May 1-Monday May 3

• Get out your floaties! We were getting wet in Middle TN! The Flood of 2010 Knocks out power, washes out homes, destroys property, submerges water treatment centers, washes away Opryland, Titans stadium, and wreaks havoc on the lives of many Tennesseans.

Tuesday May 4

• The Tennessee Flood of 2010 Part 1 - A few pictures from my garden of the worst natural disaster to hit Tennessee in a very long time.

Wednesday May 5

• My Rant on the Media - Yep I ranted. It doesn't happen often but this was important. I'm happy to say that at least one major television network (CNN) admitted to falling short on coverage.
• The Tennessee Flood of 2010 Part 2 - a couple of videos on the flood taken from my backyard. More people have watched the first part than the second - the second part shows the water flowing a lot more dramatically!

Thursday May 6

• The Irises of May - A great flower to have in your garden this time of year.
• Oops I Missed One! - I found an extra iris to talk about that I missed in the previous post!

Friday May 7

• Propagating Rosemary in Water - If you like easy plants to propagate give rosemary a shot.

Don't forget to follow The Home Garden on Facebook!

Rain, Rain, Rain!

Finally some rain! This weekend is bringing us some much needed rain, unfortunately it's in the form of thunderstorms. I guess that's better than nothing. The last few weeks have been much drier than a normal April. "April showers" is the well known cliche but it just hasn't seemed to work out that way. So far today we've received over an inch of badly needed rain with more in the forecast - perfect for watering trees, shrubs, and of course the vegetable garden!

This coming week should bring our first real harvests from the vegetable garden which will consist of the lettuce and other salad greens. The tomatoes have been planted but due to our frost pocket situation suffered a little damage early in the week. Fortunately most will recover fine. The potatoes look great and I've noticed that the zucchini seeds have germinated. It won't be long before the summer crops begin!



Here's what's on the agenda for this week:

• Clean up more of the gardens from weeds.
• Plant a few more plants I have sitting around in pots. 
• Propagate a few more plants for the plant swap in May.
• Plant seeds for summer blooming annuals including cosmos (a great annual!), sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, and anything else I run across!
• Tinker in the garden shed

Here's a look back at the week:

Sunday April 18

• How to get More Plants for Your Money - A few more ways to save a dollar and still get some really cool plants.
  

Monday April 19

• The Fence Garden - Spring Update - A look at how the garden redesign of my mom's fence garden is coming along. It might even be a good idea for a Mother's Day present for your mom!

Wednesday April 21

• Using Brackets to make Raised Beds
• Plant Propagation: This Week's Cuttings - take a look and see what I'm propagating this week from the garden.

Thursday April 22

• Coral Red Honeysuckle - A plant you would really like in your garden!
  

Friday April 23

• 10 Secrets for Creating a Backyard Oasis - a Guest Post from Jay Chua
  

A Late Weekend Gardening Update

I'm a little late in the weekend review post for this week. Mostly because of being so busy outdoors. Friday night was mowing night - I know most people make it into a movie night or something. Saturday morning was the Spring Hill Garden Club meeting and the rest of the day was spent doing non-gardening related but necessary errands. On another front I picket up tow azaleas in 3 gallon pots for $9 at a local nursery - it was discounted as a courtesy to our garden club (we met at the nursery) but even at regular prices was only $6! I'll share with you where they will go once I plant them.

In case you missed anything over the week and would like to catch up check out some of the posts below! (Also don't forget you can follow The Home Garden on Facebook!)

Sunday April 11

• Shirley It's Time for Tulips A tulip named 'Shirley'.
  

Monday April 12

• Creeping Phlox: Uses in the Garden - This was the most popular post of the week! Come take a look at how Phlox subulata is used in my garden.

Tuesday April 13

• How Dave Saves the World I can't do it all myself, what do you do to help the Earth?
  

Wednesday April 14

• How to Propagate Salvia From Cuttings - The propagation season is in full swing! More plant propagation posts to come!

Thursday April 15

• April is for Blooms! - Blooms Day in it's prime - which should continue throughout the year!
  

Friday April 16

• Garden Shed with a front Porch - A small deck attachment to my garden shed - perfect for two parents to watch the kids play from!
  

Saturday April 17

• It's Easy Being Green - Green photography for Gardening Gone Wild's photo contest!
  

From the Vegetable Garden

It won't be long at all before we can go wild and plant everything we want in Middle TN. I've been holding back my tomatoes until all signs of frost are gone in the forecast and it looks like this weekend will be the weekend for tomato planting! Just so you know the best way to plant a tomato is to plant deep. If you want to read more about that look at my post from 2008 about the best way to plant a tomato. Basil seeds need to go in the ground soon and all those annual flower seeds you've been saving for our post frost date will be ready to be planted within a few days. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves let's take a look back at what is happening in the garden now:

The Tom Thumb Lettuce is growing strong!

The spinach is doing well, the bed just needs weeded.

Rainbow Chard is introducing it's colorful self to the garden.

Oooh and we can't forget those strawberry blossoms!

This Weekend's Gardening To-Do List:

• Plant Tomatoes, basil, peppers, eggplant from seed grown transplants.
• Plants squash, cucumbers, and cantaloupe from seeds (direct sow in the garden)
• Sprinkle wildflower seeds along the hillside.
• Construct the entry deck for the garden shed
• Propagate more plants! 'Caradonna' salvia, Chocolate Eupatorium, Asiatic lily and catmint have aready been started.
• Transplant more Russian sage.

This past week found me very busy outside in the garden. I hope you were able to spend some quality time outdoors too!

Sunday April 4

• Starting Nasturtiums for The Grow Project: Hosted by Mr. Brown Thumb and Renee's garden seeds the grow project is a fun way to look at starting nasturtiums! 
• Japanese Dappled Willow Sculpture Update As the foliage grows you can see it's shape much better!

Monday April 5

• Trillium in a Cedar Glade

Tuesday April 6

• I was too tired after a day of transplanting arborvitae and planting a dogwood to post!

Wednesday April 7

• Trees, Shrubs, and Emerging Leaves

Thursday April 8

• Tuesday's Tasks This is where I talk about what I did on Tuesday! Here you can find out why I was too tired to post about it on Tuesday.

Friday April 9

• I visited the Bloom 'N' Garden Expo - I'll tell you later about the plants I brought home!

What I Did Over the Weekend

Creeping Phlox - April 2011

I wish I could have gotten to this post earlier but Monday's storms kept the computer off for most of the day. It's pretty difficult to type a post without electricity! As of this morning 18,000 people in Middle Tennessee are still without power. Over the weekend the weather was absolutely perfect for outdoor activities. I'll share some more highlights later in the week including the tulips blooming in the front garden, the changes to my sedum bed, the strawberry blossoms blooming, and hopefully some more seeds germinating in the vegetable garden. All of which were tackled at some point over the weekend.

Here's a short list of what garden chores managed to tackle this weekend in the garden:

• Mowed the Lawn - it was tall, very tall. I nearly lost the 3 year old in it! It did make for a whole lot of grass clipping mulch though!
• Cut another path or two through the brambles on our slope. 
• Collected Grass Clipping mulch for layering in the vegetable garden.
• Planted two plum trees.
• Weeded the patio gardens and added mulch.
• Weeded the Birdbath garden and added mulch.
• Weeded the viburnum/rose garden and added mulch.
• Watered the plants in the garden shed.
• Began redoing the sedum bed. We had massive deaths in our sedum garden last year for some reason. I lost most of the red leaved varieties. 'Blue Spruce', 'Autumn Joy' and another unknown variety are coming back fine but the small ground cover varieties suffered badly. Fortunately a few sprigs remain so they may come back. Also it needed a drainage issue fixed which is in progress. Hopefully I can share the results of the sedum bed remodel soon.
• Fed the birds! It's been a while!

How was your weekend?