May 2013
8 posts
5 tags
Edging
It took me a long time to figure out that what my front yard needed was edging. Like an embarrassingly long time. But these aren’t the kinds of things people talk about! I have never in my life actually seen a person edge their yard. I read about it on a few blogs (probably A Way to Garden, which is quickly becoming my go-to source for everything) but even then I didn’t quite get...
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Asphalt and sod
The first thing you may have noticed in yesterday’s post is that we have a big strip of fresh sod surrounded by dirt (and grass seed) running down the middle of our lawn. Above is the asphalt (!!) walkway that used to be there. And this photo was taken on the walkway’s very best day after our neighborhood lawnmowing kid trimmed up the edges and tried to make it look like a real...
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Camellia
We bought a fall-blooming Camellia yesterday! It is going to replace a half-dead azalea in the backyard. We may try to cut back and relocate the azalea to see if it recovers.
Camellias like shade and I wanted a fall-blooming plant because practically all our inherited plants bloom in spring. Some of the Camellias bloom all the way through winter, so we’ll see how long it lasts.
...
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Edging, mulch, and the front yard
Big changes have been happening this spring on the outside of my house! It’s been really nice to work on the outside since for the first year or so of living here we were focused on making the house safe to live in and halfway decent looking on the inside. We’ve had a nice long and cool spring this year that has also enabled us to do some heavy work outside without feeling like we are...
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Hosta update
I ended up ordering five tiny “starts” of these Hadspen Blue hostas from HostasDirect.com, mainly because they were inexpensive ($5 each!) and available. Very excited. Hope they like it under the Holly tree!
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Remember when I didn't like hostas?
It was only last year when I said I didn’t like hostas. But now I have a huge, shady and acidic part of the yard to fill (underneath our giant holly tree, where not even weeds will grow). It turns out some of the best candidates for shady and acidic conditions are, you guessed it, hostas! Time to eat humble pie.
My first idea was to plant hellebores in this spot, but research indicates...
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Hello everyone! As usual, when you are doing a lot of gardening there is no time for blogging about it! We made five trips to Home Depot over the past two weekends and my hands are sore today from pulling out weeds. Also I am exhausted. Pics soon!
April 2013
2 posts
4 tags
March 2013
1 post
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SOMEBODY
…has chewed three big holes in my plastic outdoor compost bin. I can’t imagine why as there’s just old sod and tree branches in there. I suspect a rat or mouse but could be anything, I guess.
I started digging out the area that will be my vegetable garden this weekend. I also moved the random hodgepodge of bulbs that were scattered around the front yard into one spot in the...
December 2012
2 posts
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Winter chores
There are a few things I promised myself I’d do this winter to get ready for spring:
First off, I really really need to test our soil to make sure we aren’t eating arsenic tomatoes or something. Also it would be helpful to know the soil pH. Here’s some information about selecting a soil testing lab from the University of Maryland.
I need to turn my compost pile at some point. I...
November 2012
1 post
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Greens
I received an email today advertising the 2013 seed catalog of a company I have ordered from in the past. I immediately deleted it. I guess many gardeners love to spend the winter months dreaming about what they are going to plant in the spring but I’m in no way ready for that yet. The idea of the spring vegetable garden fills me with dread over all that has to be done. Let’s not even...
October 2012
1 post
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September 2012
5 posts
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August 2012
19 posts
3 tags
Some window boxes cost a lot of money and others...
Do we even have room for window boxes? I don’t know! But sometimes I get an idea while bored at work and run with it! I have actually been doing SO MUCH gardening at home but as these things usually go I have been doing the gardening but not taking photos of it, and so I can’t show them to you yet. So let’s talk about window boxes!
I just basically want to class up my house like...
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Oh man, you guys, I want an owl house.
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Full sun for gardenias?
I am on a real gardenia kick right now. I bought four gardenia bushes over the last two weeks (I really have to stop buying so many plants but I’m kind of in a “last chance to plant before winter” frenzy—things’ll die down soon).
So I have two full size gardenias and two dwarf variety. I had planned to put all in full sun areas, but after I got home I read the tag...
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Comments!
I have installed comments so that all (three) of my non-tumblr readers can weigh in! Looking forward to hearing about all your gardening adventures, big and small.
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More tomato tips →
from You Grow Girl. Saving for next year!
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Secret garden
My little semi-secret is that I bought a few tomato plants, a red pepper plant, and two zucchini plants on super sale at the end of the planting window earlier this summer. I paid $1 for each. Some of them were a little leggy and dried out looking, but they all recovered just fine.
I didn’t want to do too much with vegetables this year because I knew I wasn’t really ready for the...
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Mint harvest
This morning I got up early and cut about half of my mint and peppermint. If I was a good or smart gardener I would have been cutting it regularly all summer but obviously that does not fit into my patented “plant it and ignore it” gardening style.
I read that you are supposed to harvest mint between 9 and 11am and ideally when the plant is dry to the touch (no morning dew). I got...
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I planted some liriope (transplanted from another part of the yard where it was unwanted) in a little bed that’s going to eventually have other small flowering plants. Will I regret it? The internet says yes! I think it’s the clumping kind and not the runner kind? We’ll just have to wait and see.
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Garden Up - Urban Gardening & Living: Dry Farming... →
This is a cool idea—something I have never heard of before. As the article says, this kind of knowledge will be essential as global warming continues.
gardenup:
Farmer David Little of Little Organic Farm grows potatoes without irrigation in a dry part of California.
This week, as the nation grapples with the worst drought in decades, theUSDA added more than 218 countiesto its list of...
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Succulent resources!
First off, tumblr friend Fuzzy Trees recommended this book, Cacti and Succulents for Cold Climates: 274 Outstanding Species for Challenging Conditions. 274 species is a big number! I may put that on my Christmas wish list.
Second, I found the National Capital Cactus and Succulent Society. Unbelievably, I just missed (last weekend!) their annual sale at Brookside Gardens, which is like 15 minutes...
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Cold-hardy succulents
So far I have really only dipped a toe in the waters of the cold-hardy succulent world with my Hens and chicks plant (which is thriving and now deep purple in color, by the way). In fact, I really didn’t know before recently that there were many varieties of cold-hardy succulents that could survive Maryland winters. But then I started reading Danger Garden (a new favorite blog) and my eyes...
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July 2012
10 posts
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Hostas
For whatever reason I am just not that into hostas. Sometimes I feel like the only gardener in the world who doesn’t like hostas. The only kind of hostas I feel are even mildly okay are the ones with giant darker green leaves and only when they are in big groups. I think I just kind of get sick of seeing the same plants over and over again in every yard.
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Time management
I’ve been feeling a little bummed lately because I seem to barely be able to make time for gardening and doing little projects I want to do. I keep seeing cool projects online (I would love to make some of these to use as planters inside and outside!) but I just don’t feel like I have the time for them. I guess the issue is that in my free time I tend to prioritize things that feel...
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Ultimate Guide to Growing Tomatoes
Saving this for next year!
notquitehippie:
Ultimate Guide to Growing Tomatoes
If you are growing anything on your farm or in your garden, chances are it’s tomatoes. Tomatoes are the favorite child of the growing industry because of their versatility in the field and the kitchen. Growing the perfect tomato is often the ultimate goal of backyard gardeners and large growers alike.
via:...
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Safe Growth Initiative →
Here’s an article about the Safe Growth Initiative which aims to ban the use of cosmetic lawn pesticides. Because seriously, I can’t believe people are still doing that.
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Garlic
My yard is still kind of a mess and I haven’t had time to get out there and do anything this week, but one exciting garden-related thing happened today: I ordered some garlic!
The garlic should be planted about a month before the ground freezes, so probably October for me, I think? I ordered from The Garlic Store. They will ship the bulbs to me in the fall so they can be planted at the...
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I haven’t been able to do much in the garden because things at home have been a bit chaotic. First our air conditioner broke and then we lost power for three days because of a crazy storm!
However, yesterday, on the 4th of July, I finally trimmed those overgrown bushes in front of my house.
June 2012
30 posts
4 tags
Found trellis project
The previous owners of our house left us a few weird things in our basement and shed. I found this old window box in our shed. I’d love to know why they had it because there is no window anywhere on the property big enough for it.
Originally I wanted to buy an arched trellis to go over the back door but because of the size of the steps, the height of the door, and the proximity of the...
