Planted 5 Nanking cherry shrubs in the front yard today Bought the little bareroot plants off Ebay for $12 including shipping!! They look happy, with little leaf buds on them. The seller included 3 extra, but I honestly don’t have a spot for them. Not sure what I’ll do with them, but I’ll keep them … Read more
The walls of the keyhole garden are complete. All told, I spent just about $100 on the 2 top levels of brick because I already had the 2 bottom levels around the yard. I lined the side walls with cardboard, but not the bottom. Some of the other keyhole gardens I’ve seen online line the … Read more
Back in December I came across a video on youtube and started looking into creating a keyhole garden in my front yard. See my original keyhole garden post. The weather warmed up a bit here at the Jersey Shore for a few days so I wanted to begin putting it together to have it ready … Read more
I went to the Beach with my daughter on what seemed like the coldest day of the year. On Feb. 9th I brought A-girl to Island Beach State Park for a couple of reasons. I’m not eating eggs anymore so I wanted to gather some sea shells to crush up and add to my garden … Read more
Dreaming of a Loquat Tree And that’s probably all I’ll ever do because it’s not supposed to grow in this zone. That’s what I get for clicking “buy now” on ebay without researching the plant more extensively first. haha! Oh well, It’s happily stretching out in the container I planted it in soaking up the … Read more
Calling all experienced gardeners!! Help! I just found an open wound on my Lapin Cherry tree I got from Miller Nurseries! The tree is only about 4′ tall now, has 5 branches and lots of buds that look like they will branch out in spring. The wound is a yucky looking hole that’s rather soft … Read more
Happy New Year! Today I made winter sowing flats for bok choy cabbage, golden acres cabbage, bright lights Swiss chard, curly leaf parsley, sweet marjoram and ruby queen beets. I sent in a self addressed stamped envelope to get my heirloom tomato seeds from WinterSown.org yesterday. I’m looking forward to see which kinds they send … Read more
I waded through snow to add some scraps to my compost bin today and was happy to find a lot of snow had melted away all around it. Hot pile! I’m sure some folks have compost that’s steaming in the snow with a nice melted path around the edge, but I was happy to find … Read more
I’ve been researching online and it seems there are pros and cons to each side. Whatever we do, we would rather not spread more weeds all over with the garden by spreading around our home made finished compost. Make sure weeds don’t sprout from your compost by drowning them first! Yes, plants need air… even … Read more
I put together a few flats of winter sown seeds today. Huckleberry, currants, gooseberry, Jack in the Pulpit and elderberry. I know the berries may take longer to germinate – maybe not even until next year – but I really hope it works. I’ll be patient and I won’t toss the containers if they don’t … Read more