I am OH so close to revealing my mini kitchen redo, although after six months of talking about this I’m not sure it can be called “mini” anymore. I’m very excited about it so until I put the finishing touches on it (and it stops being so lousy outside that I can get some decent pictures) I thought I’d give ...
I have a new must-have for my garden. This is the first year I’ve grown Allium ‘Ivory Queen’. She’s just poking up now so I’ve not had the opportunity to see the flower yet, but I’m already so enamored with it that the flower almost doesn’t matter. Thick, deep blue leaves are emerging. They look a bit hostalike but more ...
Professional painters amaze me. They are so neat. So fast. So not covered in paint when they are done and tracking it all over the house. I’m none of those things, yet I sort of like painting. And I’ve always sort of wondered about hiring a professional painter. My theory on it was that unless you have a massive area ...
I made my first trip to a nursery for the year this past weekend. I’ve been chomping at the bit to go for awhile, but I’ve sort of been waiting to make it that much sweeter. One of my favorite nurseries had their spring open house during which all perennials are 25 percent off, so of course I had to ...
I usually spend Sunday nights writing a blog post or two based on things I’ve accomplished over the weekend. This is not one of them because I’m not sure I accomplished anything this weekend. The weather’s been cruddy, which is fine because we really did need the rain, I just wish it would come on Mondays and Tuesdays. Because of ...
Seriously, have you? You should. Oh sure, you’ll feel like a weirdo, and if you do it in a public place you’ll undoubtedly get some funny looks (although that’s part of the fun sometimes). My college roommate, who to this day (many, many days since we lived together) remains my best friend, taught me that you must hug a tree ...
Wednesday was a great day in the blogosphere for me. First, I was surprised, honored and a little touched to receive this great award from Rayan over at The Frugal Designer. Rayan is an overachieving blogger. Seriously, I think she’s averaging about three posts a day over there. And she’s not phonin’ it in, either. She has an AWESOME Finishing ...
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It is mid-October and the dahlias in my yard are looking the best they have all summer. Most have been blooming since July, basically nonstop and I’d be hard pressed to find another flower that puts out that kind of performance. Some of their success is part of the nature of dahlias, but the reason […]
Despite how the headline of this post sounds, I’m not giving life advice. That would be most ridiculous case of false expertise blogging in the history of the Web (and if you read blogs you know that there are a lot of “experts” out there). I prefer to think of posts like this as tidbits […]
In the interest of keeping it real, I sometimes feel obligated to fess up to my shortcomings here. And today I will show you what happens when I’m not thrilled with how a container turned out. The poor thing gets forgotten about. The container plantings I did at work this year were not great. The […]
This is going to be so darn cool. I have never even heard of a meal planning system, but I’m pretty sure our current method of a 4 p.m. phone call every day with a cranky conversation about what we don’t want to eat and who is going to go to the store can be […]
The garden is looking remarkably good for this time of year, but things will change quickly, so now is the time to take care of a few jobs to prepare for next year. Here are four things you can do right now to have a great garden next year. I cleared out the half of […]
It’s no secret that I love clematis. I absolutely cannot get enough of them. Last time I counted I think I had 22 different varieties growing in the garden. A few of them are not doing well, so that number may go down, but it’s far more likely that by next summer the number will […]
Yep … another post today! Truth be told, the today’s first post was supposed to run on Wednesday, and then Thursday, but I didn’t get back to it until late Thursday night. Anyway, it’s time for some Friday Finds. The complete guide to shiplap. Because as I told you, there is going to be some […]
The first day of autumn was this week. This depresses me more than it should, and facing winter gets more difficult with each passing year. However, I’m making a concerted effort to be a more positive person, so I give you my list of things to look forward to in fall. Acer japonicum ‘Acontifolium’ at […]
I have learned a lot of lessons about gardening over the years (case in point: don’t buy one of everything!) but I’m starting to think there are some lessons I will never really learn. One of them is the lesson of staking. Plants that need staking need to be staked before they need staking. And […]
The end of the growing season might seem like a strange time to be talking about growing things from seed, but I find it to be a time to take stock in the garden. I’ve had a whole summer to figure out what worked and what didn’t and yes, I’m already making mental lists about […]
We’re still enjoying the bounty of the garden here (it’s really just beginning, actually), and last weekend I made one of my favorite summer treats, but fancied it up. Usually I just chop everything up in big pieces and toss it in a bowl, but it was a special occasion so I stacked thick slices […]
Yikes, it seems I took an inadvertent break last week (and, um, half of this week). Sorry about that; it turns out that the “end of summer” (somebody else’s term that I refuse to use) is an awfully busy time. On top of all sorts of things going on a work, an event I’ve been […]
First, let me start by saying that even though it’s the end of the August and kids all over the country are already back in school, summer is not over. Not even close. Dammit. Now repeat that until you really believe it. Because even thinking about fall and the miserable season that comes after it […]
Did you follow the Gardenista design awards at all? I hate to say it, but I wasn’t blown away by them this year, at least from a gardening standpoint. But this yard is downright cool. In fact, I’m sure I’m not cool enough to hang out in a place like that, but someone very cool […]
