Letters from the Garden

How to overwinter dahlias
DIY

The how-to of storing dahlias

Dahlias have become quite the favorite flower. Dare I say they’ve even become a bit trendy? I hate the idea of a flower being a fad. I prefer to chalk up the interest in dahlias to a combination of access to lovely new varieties, more information available on how to grow them and social media nudge from floral designers and ...

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Cottage

ORC WEEK 5: MORE TIME, PLEASE!

This is the part of this six-week challenge where I’ve come to the full realization that there will be no major reveal in a week. Not a complete one anyway. This has been a frustrating project in that regard because nothing is seeming to come easily. I would guess this is more typical of most projects people do than when ...

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Cottage

ORC WEEK 4: EASY + BEAUTIFUL DIY FLOOR

I knew the floor would be the single biggest change in our basement renovation. The old floor was just so terrible that it absolutely could not stay, not to mention we needed a floor to not just change the look of the space, but add warmth, sound dampening and be durable. I can’t tell you how happy I am with ...

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Cottage

ORC WEEK 3: CHA CHA CHANGES

Ah yes, Week 3 of the One Room Challenge. I remember this week from when I did this last year. It is when the panicking properly starts. Because right now it does not feel like I’m even remotely halfway through this basement project. You can catch up on Week 1 and 2, but most of the work is happening on ...

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DIY

How to pot up dahlias for a jump on summer

It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog or follows me on Facebook or Instagram that I have a dahlia addiction. This has been an ongoing problem and my collection seems to keep growing (although I continue to play with different methods of saving tubers from year to year and have yet to hit on one ...

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Cottage

ORC WEEK 2: FLOOR OPTIONS GALORE

Welcome to Week 2 of the One Room Challenge. I’m “playing along” as a guest participant in the blogging event that has people making over a room in six weeks and linking up via Calling it Home. In Week 1 (which I just published a couple days ago) I laid out the room, the issues, the challenges and a very ...

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DIY

HOW TO POT ON TOMATO SEEDLINGS

There comes a time in every seedling’s life when it must move out of its cramped confines into bigger digs that will allow it to keep growing. Given proper heat and light, tomato seedlings grow faster than most other kinds of seeds, so they need almost constant tending from the moment they are planted. I sowed my tomato seeds—two seeds ...

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The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.

Thank you to Longfield Gardens for partnering with me on this post. I’m starting to think that old gardeners can learn new tricks. I’m not sure what else would explain that for the first time, possibly in history, I have a bulb plan. Allow me to explain: Typically my bulb-purchasing strategy is to order some […]

This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE® Brand, but all opinions and questionable design choices are my own. Oh the poor front door. These days it just doesn’t get a lot of use. In fact the only person who’s seen it in several months is the UPS guy. But even though we might not actually be using […]

They say the first step is to admit you have a problem. So I admit it: I have a dahlia problem. I grew about 100 dahlias this year, and I estimate there were between 25 and 30 varieties. I try not to count these things too carefully because denial is easier if you don’t have […]

Longtime readers will know that that we have a pretty clear delineation of yard duties around here. I manage the garden and Mr. Much More Patient handles the lawn. So it’s rare when he weighs in on garden-related matters.  But the other day he very carefully suggested that floppy plants were becoming an issue in […]

The facts are indisputable:  I enjoy starting interesting and different flowers from seed. Doing No. 1 is a great way to create lush borders on a dime. I grew way too many plants from seed this year. Restraint is called for. Those facts all call for a brutally honest analysis of the new flowers I […]

I’ve always been a reluctant seed saver. Even though I’ve been growing flowers, vegetables and herbs from seed for many years now, I save seeds from very few of them. In some cases I’m not willing to give up any flowers in order to allow the plant to produce seed, but most of the time […]

Mr. Much More Patient recently made an observation that painfully spot on. There was a time in this gardening journey when I used to aim to be more or less finished planting by shortly after Memorial Day. Later, when the sheer volume of plants being put in the ground here got so large that was […]

I regret to inform you that the enemy has broken the terms of the 2019 Rabbit Peace Accord. All rabbits are hereby put on notice that no further temporary treaties will be entered into no matter how cute baby bunnies are. For many years I enjoyed a gardening existence that was delightfully free of rabbits. […]

Thank you to long-time sponsor Troy-Bilt for partnering with me on this post. As usual, all words and ideas are my own. Let’s be honest, every yard and garden has its problems, and, especially at this time a lot of people are trying to solve them. We’re spending more time at home, and noticing all […]

A lot of people are ordering plants online this year, and although I’ll always suggest you check an independent garden center first, there are a lot of reasons to order online (from what are almost always also family-owned small businesses). But if you’re new to ordering online, it can be a little scary.  Fortunately, I’ve [&hell

I own very few things that anyone will be interested in when I go to the great garden in the sky, but there is one possession that is so dear to me that I’ll have to find just the right person to bequeath it to. I don’t expect that the lucky person who inherits it […]