The results of the soil tests of the skinny bed next to the house and what I call the main garden just off the patio came were not what I would call earth-shattering, but ironically the one thing I thought I knew is probably what I was most wrong about. One of the reasons I wanted to test the skinny garden ...
I’m starting most of my seeds a new way this year and I’m absolutely loving it. Last fall I invested in a soil blocker and I’ve been using it for all but the largest seeds I’ve sown this year. The concept of a soil blocker is that you grow seedlings potless, which restricts root growth by “air pruning” ...
Before you add anything to your soil or plant anything in your garden this year, answer one question: When was the last time you had a soil analysis done? Five years ago? Ten? Never? Soil analysis tests are an investment—usually $10 to $15—but I can almost guarantee that you will recoup that money several times over by not adding things ...
I know that a lot of gardeners don’t necessarily care to get into vegetable gardening. I know that because until about seven years ago, I was one of them. And while I think that vegetable gardening can be one of the most satisfying things a human being can do, I also get that it’s not for everyone so I won’t ...
Not too long ago I offered absolution of garden shopping sins and many of you took me up on that offer (don’t worry, I’m an ordained minister of the Internet Church of the Garden so I’m entirely qualified to offer such absolution). I felt so much better about it that I ordered 40 willow rods the other day, and I ...
Now THAT was a weekend. Temperatures here nudged up to 40 this weekend, birds were singing, the sun had warmth and I got a few more garden chores taken care of. I got the last Limelight hydrangea pruned and it feels good to have that job finished. I also covered up the raised vegetable beds and the compost pile with ...
It might have been 15 degrees last weekend but I was bound and determined to garden, and garden I did. I actually had a very legitimate reason to garden: hydrangea pruning time. I love hydrangeas and have a lot of them, but the only kind I’ve added in the last seven years or so are either so-called smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea ...
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Raise your hand if you’ve ever put something on a list that you’ve already done just to have the satisfaction of crossing it off. I see you all out there with your guilty hands in the air. Let’s face it, it feels damn good to cross things off a list and I’m happy to say […]
I promised I’d be back with a few photos to share from Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and since it’s technically still the 15th, I haven’t missed it yet. Just two photos to share, both demonstrating one of the great things about letting plants stand during winter. They can still be beautiful. I love the fuzzy […]
It’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and I’ll be back later with a few photos to actually participate (for the first time in months) but first I need a little help on a project. Please note, that’s a picture from the store, not one showing my growing silk clematis collection. This is one that has been […]
Gosh, it’s about time for a gardening post, don’t you think? I never really showed you some of what happens here in the winter when it comes to the garden. Winter brings a couple of serious challenges: protecting plants from the freeze/thaw cycle and protecting plants from hungry animals. A lot of people think that […]
The mustard yellow chair and ottoman in the living room went away Monday morning. They are off to get a new look at a local upholsterer. Yeah, I should probably vacuum before I take pictures. The ottoman (and more dog fur). You can see the fabric swatch on the X-bench in the background. I love […]
It’s crunch time. It might not seems like it, but the clock is ticking. The holidays are over and the daily arrival of another seed catalog reminds me that it’s only four or five months until all waking, non-working, non-eating hours will be spent in the garden. And that means that any indoor projects that […]
Before we jump headlong into 2013 (OK, probably too late for that), I thought we’d just take a look back at some what happened over the past year here on The Impatient Gardener. January We started off the year with one of my favorite posts (and one I’ll have to do again) in which a […]
It is amazing to me that I had Christmas decorations up for less than two weeks and yet it feels so good to have them gone. For whatever reason, there is something so liberating about getting rid of the Christmas clutter. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy Christmas decorations, on the contrary I put […]
Happy New Year everyone! It’s new year’s eve as I write this and we just finished up an amazing dinner of surf and turf at home. It was incredible but I’d be just as happy with just the surf. Anyway, I wanted to pop in quickly to wish all of you a happy new year […]
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. My holiday was completely lovely. Insanely good food to be found at every turn and great times with family. Perhaps the nicest Christmas I can remember in recent history. Unfortunately work calls, and has been calling in a big way this week. Deadlines never wait, you know. But […]
I’ve had all kinds of Christmas trees over the year. In 2004 I had a giant 14-foot tall thing that fell over within 10 minutes of finishing decorating (all future trees have been tied on top since then). The year we went to the British Virgin Islands right before Christmas we just had a small […]
Sofas are sort of funny, aren’t they? I mean, it’s just a piece of furniture but they are a big deal. People agonize over sofa decisions, but rarely do they feel that same kind of angst when it comes to choosing a chair or side table. I suppose that’s because usually they are the most […]
Every once in a while I run across a great blog that I just want to tell the whole world about. Unfortunately it often turns out that the whole world already knows about them and I’m last to the party. I have two I want to just quickly mention today, one that you’ve probably heard […]
Holiday-type things are a-happening at The Impatient Gardener cottage. Last Friday we got a tree (a feat that is deserving of its own post), which is up in the house and there are lights on it. The decorating will come, I’m not worried. I know a lot of people who decorate their tree on Christmas […]
