In the Garden

SPRING 2022 UPDATE: I'm pruning the lavender I planted as 6 inch tall babies. I didn't prune last fall (2021) since they were still young and healthy. However, this spring, our year and a half old lavender plants will get a healthy pruning of approximately 2/3 of their growth, … [Read more...] about How To Prune Lavender, and When

During fall season last year, I raked, shredded and added lots of leaves to our brand new, homemade, compost bin. During spring, summer, and early fall of this year, we added fresh cut grass clippings after each mowing. Unfortunately, the compost pile did not get the timely … [Read more...] about The Easy Way To Make Compost!

Are you tired of a soggy yard problem that will not go away? Well, we felt that way about our mushy yard after a good rain. The obvious landscaping recommendation to our inquiry was to "add fill dirt." And, it did help a bit to direct some water to either side of the house. … [Read more...] about A Customized Drain Fixed Our Soggy Yard!

Like many others, I enjoy watching a variety of birds regularly visit our yard to eat from the birdfeeder and enjoy the water in the birdbath. However, having that pleasure comes with a significant amount of responsibility. So, before I hung my birdfeeder or setup the birdbath I … [Read more...] about How To Keep Birds Safe While They Visit Your Yard

As each year passes, we enjoy our woodland garden even more. We love the native plants as well as the shade-loving favorites we’ve added. However recently, we've been fascinated with some unusual behavior of the woodland wildlife. This past summer we added a more attractive … [Read more...] about What’s Eating Our Concrete Birdbath?

Saying that it’s winter in Georgia is a bit of a contradiction to me. I grew up in Ohio and finished college there before venturing out to other areas of our amazing country. I’ve lived in Boston, Northern Virginia, and then a few more years back in Ohio before making our home in … [Read more...] about Winter Chores In A Southern Garden

Please note that I’m not saying, “beware” of butterfly bushes, I'm just saying there's a need to keep a watchful eye on them. The can be pretty sneaky and, before you know it, flowers, shrubs and your favorite lawn chair has disappeared beneath an immense, sprawling bush that … [Read more...] about Be Aware Of Butterfly Bushes!

Fall is here, the colors are beautiful, the temperature is perfect, and all is well…until the leaves start to fall. We are tree lovers most of the time, but there sure are a lot of leaves to deal with right now! Solutions include gathering the fall leaves and putting them into … [Read more...] about Too Many Fall Leaves? Build A Compost Bin!

This next project was pretty much a no brainer. Once the Heirloom Garden Bench and the Flagstone Garden Retreat were completed, it was clear that there was a need for a bit of color and more natural beauty in the space. Fortunately, I remembered we had an old … [Read more...] about Making A Rusty Iron Planter Beautiful Again

My woodland garden, like most gardens, is a work in progress. It seems that I’m continually dividing and moving plants, adding new varieties, and clearing spent blooms and dried leaves. Often I’ll just go there to walk around, relax, and observe the latest changes. Our family has … [Read more...] about Building A Flagstone Garden Retreat While Sheltering-In-Place

As a student of gardening for quite a while now, I read a lot, attend classes, and regularly get head-to-toe-dirty while working in my yard. And, even though I often have questions, I’ve developed a bit of confidence in my ability to maintain healthy garden beds and keep our … [Read more...] about Should I Put Used Coffee Grounds On My Garden?