It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S. tomorrow so a lot of people are running around like chickens turkeys with their heads cut off trying to get the last minute details out of the way. We’ll be going to my parents house for the largest family gathering we’ve had in years. All three of my dad’s sisters and their spouses will be ...
We got our first real snowfall (a few inches) last night which makes it a little harder to ignore the freight train that is Christmas. Let me start by saying I really hate that Thanksgiving seems to have been forgotten other than to mark the Thursday before the weekend that everyone is putting up their Christmas decorations. I love decorating ...
I’ve whined about the deer problem in my garden many times before and there is no perfect solution. Every year I learn more in the war in combatting them and what I learned last year was that they can do major damage in winter. Up until last year, we’ve had many years of mild winters. But last year we had ...
I am such a sucker for a workout fad. I didn’t even finish this article before I ordered the foam roller. What can I say, she had me at “taller and thinner.” I’ve been doing it for almost a week and it’s definitely helping with my neck pain (I get that tense neck thing so many women tend to get). ...
A few weeks ago I told you that I was contemplating adding some fence panels along a portion of our driveway. I’m still very much in favor of that happening, especially since the house next door recently sold. We don’t know what the situation with the new neighbors will be, but odds are they will be around much more than ...
I forget how difficult it is to keep on top of photos when Daylight Savings Time ends. Seems like I’m only home when it’s dark these days. The deep freeze is scheduled to arrive this week and stick around for at least a week. Temperatures next week will struggle to break 20. In other words, it was time to get ...
Did you all enjoy the weekend? As much as I am not a fan of the whole outdated concept of Daylight Savings Time, the Sunday in fall after we turn back the clocks has to be the single most productive day of the year. You work and work and work and you look at the clock and it’s only 11 ...
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.
If anyone out there is still following this blog, first of all, I’m very sorry for the lack of posts lately. Second of all, I’m back! I have a lot of posts stored up in my brain so you’ll be getting some new stuff to read soon. I have some interesting updates on the status […]
This is probably a subject more suitable for the folks over at Garden Rant but it came up in the paper today and I couldn’t believe it. Seems the folks over in Shorewood (a well-to-do suburb of Milwaukee) are fining people for what they are putting in their front yards. No veggies allowed, they say. […]
I was only gone for a couple days sailing, but it seemed like last week’s hot weather really perked things up in the garden. Between that and the fresh mulch, things are looking good. It’s always nice to come back to the garden after you’ve been away a little while to get a fresh perspective […]
Following is a letter to my future self. Dear Erin, How’s the garden growing this year? Did you finally put something in that spot right in front that you’ve been saving for something “really great”? Did you remember to spray the plants with the deer/bunny repellent BEFORE they started eating everything? The answer to those
Here’s a little tour through the veggie garden. Things are growing slowly here, so hopefully in a few weeks things will look much different (click on the pictures to make them bigger). Come on in!
I’ve done it again. I went out and bought more plants. It’s a sickness, I tell ya. This time it was because a co-op through the Yahoo group I’m in didn’t meet the minimums to order so we had to cancel it. Of course I had already falled in love with those plants, so when […]
The little vegetable garden off the road. An amazing thing has happened since we build the new raised veggie garden: I’m getting to know the neighbors better. The garden is built on the far side of our property, close to the road (because that’s where the sun is). It’s a rural community and a private […]
June 15 snuck right up on me and I completely missed Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. So here’s my contribution, a day late and a dollar short. We’ve had a very cool spring and the garden is not happy about it. There are very few blooms to share. Variegated iris Guernsey Cream clematis is just starting […]
120-pound sloppy-sitting Newfoundland for size comparison only. The other day, Ellie May’s mom posted about Mount Mulch, the pile of mulch that resides in her driveway often for a good part of the summer because she detests dealing with it. I can relate. So much so that reading her post prompted me to call and […]
Swung by a nursery yesterday and as I was perusing the annuals, I came across this little guy with no tag. The saleswoman told me that it maintains its purple foliage, has no flowers to speak of, and doesn’t get much taller than this (about 8 inches I’d say), just fuller. I thought it would […]
The garden feels like it’s at that moment when everything is on the cusp of exploding into bloom. Right now this is one of the cooler flowers I have blooming. It’s one that should really be viewed up close to truly appreciate its unique shape, and the dark purply blue looks awesome next to a […]
In the past, I’ve put a few yummier plants in the circle garden, at least if you ask the local wildlife. A few years ago I put up a willow fence, which deterred the critters of the hopping variety. Of course rabbits like to chew, so eventually, the willow got very brittle and the bunnies […]
I know a lot of you are already well into summer but here in Wisconsin, we’re lucky if summer comes with the solstice. Fortunately there are signs that spring is indeed here.Clockwise from top left: Adorable anenomes, an emerging allium, dicentra Gold Heart in all its glory, purple smokebush starting to leaf out, a wonderfully […]
The tragedy continues …. So rather than delay this unpleasant task, I decided to just go for it tonight. The sooner we get rid of the bad stuff, the sooner the healing can begin, right? So I gathered up my tools and I started pruning. Pruning really isn’t the right work for it because that […]
