In the Garden

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!

I admit it! For several years now, I’ve pretty much ignored my lavender plant and focused my attention on many other projects. My uninformed assumptions were that “it’s growing well, it flowers beautifully and smells amazing; so I guess we’re all good.” Not so fast, late this … [Read more...] about How To Prune Neglected Woody Lavender

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?

When fall arrived, it seemed that everywhere I looked in my garden, I saw dried plants offering up a bounty of seeds.  Some seedpods were bursting with seeds and seemed eager to be gathered and separated for planting next year.  Collecting seeds is a great way … [Read more...] about How To Collect And Store Your Favorite Plant Seeds

We finished building a rain barrel stand to support our 58-gallon water barrel. Now, its time to install the rain barrel and a downspout diverter to collect rainwater from the roof. We're using a solid base of pavers to safely support both the stand and a full rain barrel. By … [Read more...] about How To Install A Rain Barrel To Collect Rainwater From Your Roof

We had just started the process of installing our new barrel stand and rain barrel when the project came to a quick stop. We discovered a sizable hole in the side of the plastic drainpipe at the base of the downspout.  The damaged flexible pipe was allowing water to … [Read more...] about Replacing A Broken Flexible Drainpipe