The title sounds rough and you may be wondering why the heck I go to the trouble of writing this blog, or gardening at all for that matter, when I look forward to saying goodbye to it. Sometimes sooner than later. The short answer is it's exhausting. But the longer answer, and the one I hope you'll relate to, is that saying goodbye for several months makes it all the sweeter when I return to it come Spring. Even on the days when I declare I'm DONE! I'm not really. Until I'm actually DONE DONE and everything goes to hell. It's the same with chocolate cake. By September, I'm feeling the itch to wind down. I've gone full steam since March and tucking the garden in for winter is pretty alluring. The anticipation of putting the garden to bed is the same feeling I got when my girls were ...
I’ve Got Voles…Again
Voles are cute and yet, I want to kill them. My thoughts weren't so violent before I discovered just how destructive those little buggers can be. They ain't so cute anymore. In early October, we had a wicked storm, the kind where the rain falls sideways, trees bend like licorice sticks and wind bellows like an Amtrak train at full throttle. When the storm finally moved on, we were left with water damage between the first and second floors (which insurance won't cover since they attribute it to faulty installation when the home was built 20 years ago!) and one leaning magnolia. I'm more upset about the tree. I have two Centennial Blush star magnolias that flank the corners of my patio. I planted them in 2016 and the one on the east side always seemed to struggle. When the leaves began to ...
Bulb to Know: Summer Snowflake
It seems appropriate that we should be talking about a bulb with snowflake in its name. The snow's been flying since before Halloween and I'm behind on most everything garden related. Including replanting A LOT of displaced summer snowflake bulbs (Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant'). I'm always looking for something a little different. With plenty of daffodils already, although I can never seem to have enough of them, I wanted a new spring flower and one that rabbits wouldn't come from miles around to devour. I thought I was winning the battle a few weeks ago only to find their droppings and tell-tale footprints in the snow. It's a struggle. But I lucked out with Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant,' a variety of summer snowflake, and it's been going gangbusters for four years. Fifteen bulbs ...
Mangave for the Cold Climate Gardener
Mad in Love mangave mix - photo courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc. Have you ever purchased a plant that wasn't originally on your list? Dumb question. We're gardeners. Lists are a distraction and feel so limiting. Therefore, I rarely stick to them. Which was the case last May when my mom and I visited Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park, IL. In addition to the coleus, banana plant, clematis and roses, a mangave landed in my cart. I've grown plenty of succulents and had heard of it before but I can hardly say I knew what to do with it. All I knew was that I had to give it a go. How hard could it be? As it turns out, mangave is one of the most undemanding, and quite surprising, plants I've grown. This is my Mission to Mars mangave the day I brought it home from the nursery. The water spots ...
Softened Water? A Rain Barrel is a Houseplant Lifesaver in Winter
It's that time of year again when the leaves are changing and the garage begins to look like doomsday preppers live here. My husband complains about it and I anticipated his reaction when he came home a few nights ago to find his garage workbench temporarily "altered." Not only has it been wiped clean and the empty chip bags disposed of, but it now has everything I need to keep my houseplants alive through the winter, namely water. In my experience, especially for a man motivated by food, having a good meal waiting on the day I begin infiltrating his man space is an excellent diversion. I've become a pretty good cook. His basement workshop has been "altered" as well. He's chosen to accept it in the same way he begrudgingly accepts that he'll lose a little turf to my garden each year. In ...
Weeding is a Cinch with the Hula-Ho
https://youtu.be/6pBhN9gU2f0 Sorry for the graininess of this video. It's my first and comes with a bit of a learning curve. I forgot to select the proper resolution on my camera. But I think you'll get the gist, grain or no grain. *I was not compensated for this product review. All opinions are my own.* The thought of weeding bugs me. It's like dishes, laundry and dog poop. My garden is rarely without weeds. Yours is probably that way too so we should feel better since misery loves company. Once the urge comes over me to get in there and weed though, I'm like a woman possessed. Putting a dent in the weed population is an incredibly satisfying, albeit fleeting, feeling. Sorta like the one I get from drowning hundreds of Japanese beetles. A weed free garden is a pipe dream, as they ...
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 9
- Next Page »
