Posts tagged as:

garden_maintenance

A Little Bit of Deadheading

July 31, 2009

Just deadheaded for 15 min. Long overdue & makes me feel better, even though it’s the tip of the iceberg

Mud Season Chores: Cleaning up

March 24, 2009

I hate to admit it to you Southerners, but when the snow melts, what it invariably reveals is…a mess. I’m not just talking about the dead vegetation that needs to be cut back. There’s human-made messes that ought to be dealt with, too. But let’s talk about the plants first.
Cut back and clear out dead [...]

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50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants: Book Review

February 24, 2009

I confess, when I first heard 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants by Tracy DiSabato-Aust was coming out, I was dismayed. I have the first edition of The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, which was incredibly satisfying because it was based on her own close observation and methodical experimentation. At the time it was published, it was very [...]

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

July 14, 2007

Long-time readers of my blog know that I have never shied away from being honest about the poor upkeep of my garden. Sometimes I find beauty in the weeds, and sometimes they depress me, but I’ve never pretended they didn’t exist. I agree with Colleen that fear of “not doing it right,” or “not being [...]

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Spring madness: Search and rescue

May 8, 2007

If you are short on time, energy, and money, but notably the first two, be conservative. You’ll be more pleased with one fair-sized, well-composed, well-maintained bed than with a half-dozen large beds that are choked with quack grass and creeping Charlie.
That’s excellent advice from The Complete Flower Gardener by Karan Davis Cutler and Barbara W. [...]

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The Intimate Garden: Book Review

April 8, 2007

The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden by Gordon and Mary Hayward belongs to the rare breed of landscape design book that is actually helpful:

One private residential garden–not little glimpses of a dozen gardens
The garden was developed over many years. (They figured it out as they went along)
They tell you the [...]

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Triage Weeding

May 23, 2003

As I’ve mentioned already, I’m perpetually behind on my weeding. Really behind. I decided I’d share my techniques with all of you, in case you find yourself up against a flower bed that’s really been let go too long.
Make it easy on yourself.
Make sure the bed is moist, either from recent rainfall or from supplemental [...]

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Paths: The beginning of a garden

October 31, 2002

I’m so psyched! Rundy finally started mowing a trail through the secret garden with the DR Brush Mower. It has been my dream for years to have walking trails through our acreage and it’s finally coming true. Ever since I walked the paths in my Grandma LaFemina’s Long Island yard, and followed my Uncle Jimmy [...]

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