We’ve covered the landscape plan, the hardscaping, planted the lawn - where are we at now? Oh yes, the fun stuff - adding trees, shrubs and perennials to make the new landscape pretty! This was definitely the fun part, but it was also challenging too. So many different areas, so many different [...]

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With all the hardscaping finished at the farm it was finally my turn to get my hands dirty. First up - getting 6000 square feet of proposed lawn area ready for grass seed. Normally I wouldn’t attempt to plant grass seed during the hottest part of the summer, but at the time that [...]

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With all the activity going on at the farm, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time at my brother’s house. (The drive to the farm is only 35 minutes from his house compared to an hour from mine.) As a way of saying ‘thank you for letting me crash’ I try to [...]

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More Simple Green Ideas for Yard and Garden Pest Control
No extra special ingredients required here - just a few tips for helping mother nature do her thing.
Ladybugs, Praying Mantis, Dragonflies - all eat mites and aphids; mantis also eat caterpillars, beetles, and crickets; dragonflies eat mosquitoes (ladybugs are drawn to certain plants [...]

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Remember way back in January I wrote about doing up a garden and landscape plan for the farm (Garden Gone Wild)? Well… after many months, it’s actually coming together.
Plans have a tendency to change, and although I was all psyched up to organize and orchestrate the entire plan, some things change for the better. [...]

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…wild ginger,

…a camouflaged mailbox,

…mutant Queen Anne’s Lace? Genetically altered Joe Pye Weed? (My best guess - Giant Hogweed),

…how many shrubs I could fit in my car,

…a beautiful iron gate,

…a cluster of birdhouses,

and a seedhead at sunset.

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These long bloomers are growing in my garden and I’ve been absolutely thrilled with their performance. Some are old, some are new, some unexpected, and even some blue. With the exception of one, all of the following pictures are representative of what’s blooming in my garden this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Ahhh, [...]

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I know that the 2008 gardening season is not over yet, but I thought I’d do a quick round up of my favourite additions to date. Is it actually possible to have a garden without adding new plants each year?
The majority of perennial additions landed in the new gardens along the dry creek bed:
Heuchera [...]

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I won’t bore you with any of those typical end of season comments like “I can’t believe it’s August already.” or redundant questions such as “Where has the summer gone?” No, I prefer to get right to the heart of the matter and simply say, “Hey, I’m not done gardening yet!!!”
It’s August 13 and [...]

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1. Snip back annuals to rejuvenate them.
2. Fertilize perennials August 30.
3. Remove old raspberry canes.
4. Bring potted rosemary plants inside before August 30.
5. Dry herbs and flowers.
6. Deadhead flowers and collect seeds.
7. Divide and re-plant iris.
8. Plant new trees and shrubs; stake and [...]

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