Letters from the Garden

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We apologize for the interruption

If you’re not following The Impatient Gardener on Facebook you’re probably wondering what the deal with not posting the second half of the table re-do is. Well, here’s the ugly truth: Thursday night I was enjoying a glass of wine while doing a bit of computing and the next thing I knew, the glass of wine and the computer were ...

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Want more? You got it.

Hi gang. First of all, thank you so much for reading this blog. I hope you enjoy it and that it becomes one of your daily (OK, maybe not daily, but let’s shoot for semi-weekly) reads. There are a lot of little things that come up that I don’t post about on the blog, though. These are things that don’t ...

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Change is a’comin’

Some changes are underway here at The Impatient Gardener. I decided to invest a bit in shaping things up here, making it easier to read and navigate and hopefully a more pleasurable place to be around. I’m also working on some other ways for you to connect with the blog (social media and all that jazz). Frankly I have no ...

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If I still had my summers off I’d ….

Go to the beach all the time. Hudson would be OK with that. Walk the dogs every single day. Hudson and Rita would be OK with that too. Give my dogs a lot more baths than I do. Have a garden that wasn’t a hot mess. Finish all the projects that have been lurking.  See that big, bare wall in ...

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Check out this blog

The gang over at Young House Love featured this blog the other day so you might have already found it, but I can almost guarantee it will be the funniest thing you read today. Check out Catalog Living and get ready to laugh.

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Hello again

Well, the garden has been neglected and the blog moreso. Been sailing … but stay tuned, I’ll be back soon. Promise!

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Oh, the horror

I have met the enemy, and it is Alliaria petiolata. “Alliaria petiolata.” That was all my friend’s Facebook status said the other day. I instantly knew her pain. Alliaria petiolata, better known as garlic mustard weed, is the kind of thing that can ruin your day and maybe even your summer. And many summers to come. If you’re not familiar ...

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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.

Before I get into Friday Finds, a few notes.  I have been working on a post with three book reviews in it for weeks now and still haven’t finished it. Next week. They would be excellent gift ideas too. Our first snowfall of the year is expected to come tonight and it could be anywhere […]

As a Midwesterner, I have been raised to be excellent at complaining about the weather. It’s the No. 2 most popular hobby in these parts, bested only by something related to football. But this fall we’ve had absolutely nothing to complain about. This El Niño year has given us the most lovely weather, including the […]

I’m a bit late on Friday Finds today, but there was some good stuff on the Internet this week. Here’s a taste. The One Room Challenge wrapped up this week. I still can’t believe these people do a whole room in six weeks. I particularly liked this entry and this bedroom. Check out the amazing guest participant […]

I got my latest issue of Gardens Illustrated magazine the other day. I say “my” latest issue, because this British pub take a long time to get to a mailbox in the U.S. and I believe the next issue is already out in England. I put up with that because it’s a fantastic magazine, one […]

Before we jump into some great Friday Finds, a quick update on bathroom renovation planning progress (for the downstairs bathroom renovation that may or may not happen this winter). I have now found two accent tiles that have been perfect … until I ordered them and they were discontinued. I can only assume that the […]

Have you ever cleaned your stone fireplace surround? I bet the answer is no. I mean, how are you supposed to clean craggy rocks? We’re been in our house for more than 13 years and I know we’ve never cleaned our fireplace surround. My guess is that no else in the 70 or so years […]

I’ve been trying to source things for our potential bathroom remodel as I make a budget for it and over the weekend I came to the line on my spreadsheet for lighting. I started looking around in all the usual online places, trying to stay mostly in the huge lighting Internet superstores and away from […]

Glad to be back for Friday Finds this week. Blogland is humming these days; it seems like autumn has everyone in the mood for some seriously creative projects. First off, if you missed my review of the most empowering yard tool I’ve ever used (which was posted late last night because of an a.m. / […]

It is a big time of year for yard work. Those of us in the north know that any day could be our last opportunity to clean up the yard before snow and ice descend. And with the garden more or less minding itself at this time of year (at least until we get a […]

In my mind at least, the downstairs bathroom renovation is ON. My mind and reality are not necessarily in the same place though. One thing I learned when we did our major house remodel four years ago now (I cannot believe it’s been that long! I still haven’t hung any art on the guest room […]

There is a traditional among northern gardeners in which the night before the first frost we all run out to our gardens and cut every tender flower we can find. Last Friday, the night of the first predicted frost, I got home later than I expected, which mean that I ran outside in the very […]

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a few things you can do in your garden in fall to set yourself up for a great gardening year ahead. I accidentally came across another one: check out the sky-view of your garden to look for potential improvements. While looking up something else on Google Earth, I […]

Well, it looks like we may get our first frost tonight. I’ll be making myself a big bouquet of flowers from what is left in the garden and bringing the poor spider plant after work. I don’t think I’ve told you about the abused spider plant before and I’ll have to something. I bought it […]