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The Final Frontier
At long last, my entire yard has been conquered. In truth, I thought the job was done several years ago. Turns out, my yard is bigger than I knew. The additional area is a steep bank between my house and the neighbor’s. It’s chock-full of shrubs planted more than 20 years ago, several trees nobody…
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Home-Grown Produce
My summer vegetable garden is a mix of successes and failures. Let’s get the bad. Corn, cucumbers and yellow squash have not done well. Between the chipmunks and vine borers, I was lucky to get two squash, two cucumbers, and a few pitiful ears of corn. Tomatoes have done great. The potted ‘Celebrity’ started off…
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4th of July Flowerworks
Growing flowers from seed allows me to plant uncommon varieties. Some selections are old favorites. Others caught my eye as I was putting together my seed orders. Here’s an update on this years’ choices. Gloriosa Daisy. I wanted Blackeyed Susans but ended up ordering a variety alleged to have double blooms. The petals look to…
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Early Success in the Garden
The 2025 season is off to a great start. Pushing back my seed-starting schedule continues to pay-off. By the time things were ready to plant, the soil had warmed up enough for seedlings to hit the ground running. And they did. Abundent rain and mild temperatures over the past few weeks fueled the growth spurt.…
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Canteerbury Bells
This year has been my best ever for Canterbury bells–a plant I’ve grown on and off for more than thirty years. They’re biennials–like foxgloves, forget-me-nots, and dame’s rocket. Folilage grows the first year and, in the second year, they bloom, set seed, and die. Outside of catalogs, I’d never seen Canterbury bells. I ordered several…
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A Good Start
Spring weather has arrived here in Athens. Locals say Good Friday is the safe planting date to avoid late frosts. Given the way Easter moves around, that’s tricky. I go with April 22–the day between the birthdays of Dad and his mother from whom I inherited a green thumb. Little is blooming beyond some store-bought…
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Pickled Weeds?
A post promoting vinegar (one gallon), salt (one cup) and dish soap (one tablespoon) as a replacement for RoundUp recently came across my Facebook feed. The active ingredient in Roundup is nasty, but effective at killing plants–and lots of other things. A more earth-friendly approach appealed to me. Weeds pop up in cracks in the…
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Patience Rewarded
This year is the best yet for my indoor seed-starting operation. Rather than the end of December, I held off until February to start anything. Waiting made a big difference. On Groundhog’s Day, I started Gloriosa daisy–a double variety of Black-eyed Susan. Seedlings appeared a few days later and stayed under lights until big enough…
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Progress in the Garden
Since moving to this house in November 2012, I’ve removed more permanent plants from the yard than I’ve added. The removals had outgrown their allotted space–and then some. Committing to replacements has been a challenge. I decided to hold off before planting anything to study the space. I fixed drainage issues, improved the soil, and…
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Happy Groundhog’s Day!
February 2 may well be my favorite day of the year. The groundhog definitely saw a shadow at my place. Whether he’s right or wrong, the possibility of an early spring lifts my spirits. I celebrate every year by planting something. Usually, I plant cool-season seeds and seedlings outside. I hadn’t planned to grow any…