tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84885992009-11-21T15:29:41.065-05:00This is May Dreams Gardens because all year I dream of the days of May when the sun is warm, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the garden is all new again!Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.comBlogger1290125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-31951066432515102832009-11-21T10:41:00.007-05:002009-11-21T15:01:21.523-05:00

I’m channeling The Beverly Hillbillies as I clean out the pots on the patio and stow them all under a tarp along with anything else that shouldn’t be left out in the snow.My big pile of stuff reminds me of Jed Clampett’s truck all loaded up with all they owned, ready to head out to “Californy”.Only my pile isn’t all that I own, it’s just the stuff that I don’t like to drag around to the garage to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-42237335499324721082009-11-20T00:05:00.000-05:002009-11-20T00:05:00.038-05:00

I picked up the mason jar with the compost in the bottom* and was about to toss it to the worms when I saw a little flash of green. A seedling! A tiny little seedling, in its little seedling stage with two little seed leaves held up on the thinnest of stems, already leaning toward the light from the nearby window.I paused to study it, to see if I could determine what it was to become. Of course,

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-69553959153065189412009-11-19T06:54:00.004-05:002009-11-19T07:06:59.839-05:00

Thanksgiving, just one week from today, is sort of a mental cut off day for me when it comes to garden clean up.By the time I arrive at my sister’s house for dinner that day, I like to have all the fall clean up done in the garden so that I can give my full attention to making sure that I get to the homemade noodles for a second helping before a certain nephew does. Otherwise, I won’t get a

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-2353496201702633622009-11-18T05:00:00.006-05:002009-11-18T06:58:57.061-05:00

Through Twitter, email and other social media sites, I have been made acutely aware that many gardeners have already started to get seed catalogs in the mail.I, on the other hand, have not yet received any seed catalogs and am starting to feel as though I have been inexplicably dropped from the seed companies' mailing lists. I wonder, ever so briefly, how this could be because I order as many

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-10705540350234128552009-11-16T22:04:00.003-05:002009-11-17T07:01:47.433-05:00

And now it is time to tell my funny hoe story, the one I was going to tell at the last "Society" meeting before I ran out of time.I will attempt to keep it family friendly as though I am telling it to my eight year old nephew, the one who is going to review The BugFarm™, a new “DVD-Rom simulation game that teaches children 7+ about gardening and the insect world”. All he needs is for me to

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-60547446696965434042009-11-16T19:51:00.005-05:002009-11-16T20:10:19.024-05:00

And the winners of the new book What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) By David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth (Timber Press) are...Avid gardeners!Gardeners with questions!Gardeners wanting to know what's wrong with their plants.The 1st lucky number drawn was no. 8 - Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden! Rose commented, "During the gardening season, I would probably be consulting this book

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-40916773508784758342009-11-15T00:05:00.011-05:002009-11-15T00:05:00.177-05:00

Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for November 2009!This fall season seems to be one of the longest I can remember, as though it started much earlier in a summer that never seemed to get all that hot and still lingers on through ever-shortening days that seem warmer than normal.I expect I'll wake up one morning and winter will have just arrived with no warning. But that won't be for awhile,

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com80tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-72250126026246659432009-11-14T11:01:00.006-05:002009-11-14T12:43:14.677-05:00

If I were a more patient photographer with a better camera, and maybe a telescopic lens or two, this would be a picture of birds sitting around in some large viburnums in my back yard.Instead, it's a picture of a little pile of tiny radishes, truly the last harvest this season from my vegetable garden.We should all be planting large shrubs if we have the room for them. They not only can be a "

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-42440201073053412552009-11-13T00:05:00.006-05:002009-11-13T07:04:55.660-05:00

Greetings to all members of the Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Old-Time Gardening Wisdom, Lore, and Superstition (SPPOTGWLS or “the Society”, or the newly designated Garden Club for Everyone),I assume that all remember that the Society likes to meet whenever the 13th falls on a Friday, as it does today. I, your self-appointed president, came up with a full agenda for this

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-16815080508969424622009-11-12T18:08:00.006-05:002009-11-12T18:28:53.507-05:00

As noted in the bylaws of The Society for the Preservation and Propagation of Old-Time Gardening Wisdom, Lore, and Superstition (SPPOTGWLS or “the Society”), which were written and adopted by me, the self-appointed president, we are required to have a special meeting on all Fridays that fall on the 13th of the month.Such a Friday being tomorrow, there will be the minutes of a meeting posted here

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-56045739106664000302009-11-11T05:00:00.004-05:002009-11-11T07:02:21.838-05:00

Can more be said on the subject of compost? Apparently yes, more can be said on this subject.Someone requested that I show you all what my homemade compost sieve looks like.I made it myself from scraps of 1” x 6” lumber, sized to fit over my wheelbarrow, using half inch hardware cloth for the screen part. I’ve been using it for five or more seasons with nary a sag in the sieve. (“Nary a sag in

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-44495214816299518362009-11-09T22:00:00.002-05:002009-11-09T22:23:16.914-05:00

Show of hands if you already have a book in your personal library that helps you find out what’s wrong with your plant?If you raised your hand, I’m guessing you already have What’s Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?) By David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth (Timber Press).If you didn’t raise your hand, I’m guessing that like me, you have literally hundreds of gardening books, but no one

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-18398232311234428522009-11-08T21:33:00.004-05:002009-11-08T21:44:08.522-05:00

Some gardeners have a dirty little secret that they don’t want anyone to know about. They think they are hiding it well, but one look around their garden and it is obvious.They aren’t composting!They don’t have compost bins or any means to compost the refuse from their garden. I don’t know what they do with all their plant clippings and leaves and apple cores and leftover jack-o-lanterns, and I’m

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-9492752673582309862009-11-07T15:00:00.005-05:002009-11-07T16:20:47.959-05:00

Once upon a time, when the gardening season was just beginnning, many garden bloggers converged upon the city of Chicago to visit gardens and meet one another in person.My reputation for hoeing being well established by then, several gardeners were excited to tell me about this sculpture of a boy hoeing in a garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden.Today, I found this draft post on my blog with this

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-76771986962855920292009-11-06T06:06:00.015-05:002009-11-07T16:31:59.446-05:00

TGIF for gardeners... Thank God It's Flowering, or at least this white carpet rose was flowering a few weeks ago.I don't know if I'll find a dried up rose on the 15th for the next bloom day or not. Regardless, fellow gardeners from all climates, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day will take place all through the winter.You'll be surprised how clever and resourceful we temperate climate gardeners can be

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-924791653353909362009-11-04T22:19:00.008-05:002009-11-05T06:38:49.930-05:00

Raise your hand if you thought that the Viburnum genus was still in the Honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae.Yes, I thought so, too, and many online resources and books still include it in that family. But it appears that after careful review using molecular phylogeny, botanists decided that the genus Viburnum should be moved to the Moschatel family, Adoxaceae.Molecular phylogeny? I also naively

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-78114717251545691902009-11-03T22:40:00.001-05:002009-11-03T23:16:23.518-05:00

Basketball season has begun and our thoughts turn to gardening, as they always do.If a gardener is going to follow a sport, I've always suggested it should be basketball, especially pro basketball, as in the NBA, because it's timed so that its season doesn't interfere with most gardening activities, at least here in USDA Zone 5.For the most part, the season begins in late fall, after the first

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-69274025174309860612009-11-02T12:00:00.001-05:002009-11-02T20:33:35.749-05:00

It’s once again time for a lesson on the language of gardeners.Today’s lesson is on the terms that experienced gardeners use for “distance” and what they really mean.We will begin with three terms used for distances within the garden and conclude with one term used for distances outside of the garden.As deep as you can digFor most bulbs planted in the fall, the instructions indicate to plant the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-70861134531145627562009-11-01T08:25:00.005-05:002009-11-01T09:38:40.112-05:00

We get an extra hour today!How are you going to spend it? Who is going to decide how you spend?Unfortunately, like it or not, how we spend an hour is often decided by others around us, by forces and fates that are not ours to control.Today, a force referred to as “Jack Frost” has decreed that the extra hour gained today by turning back the clock an hour will be spent in the garden preparing for

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-21835432045245934032009-10-30T10:30:00.011-04:002009-10-30T17:07:51.477-04:00

When a gardener plans a Halloween party…She looks for the perfect video to play for her guests to set the mood. Does anyone remember the ‘Green Fingers’ episode of Night Gallery?Part 2Part 3Watch it with the lights turned out! Listen to these classic lines:“Think I’m going to be stopped by some antique broad with a pitch fork?” “Everything I plant grows, everything… I think it’s the soil… it’s

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-53328904920204431202009-10-29T06:43:00.005-04:002009-10-29T07:03:05.444-04:00

Are you ready for the Halloween Hare to visit your garden?Did you set aside a few pieces of candy to appease him when he makes his midnight witching-hour call on your garden?What will he find? Or rather what will he not find? And if he doesn't find what he's looking for - oh the horror! WHAT WILL HE DO TO YOUR GARDEN??For those who are now confused or who've never heard of the Halloween Hare,

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-48723342456238035852009-10-27T21:50:00.001-04:002009-10-28T18:33:01.731-04:00

Given how quickly many gardeners learned and affirmed the gardener’s definitions for “quantities”, it is time to move on to how gardeners define “time”.So gather around all you new gardeners, here's some insider informaton on the language gardeners use to describe “time”.But first, remember that it is true what the philosophers tell us, time does stand still in a garden. This fact alone shapes

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-81209967451761028452009-10-26T19:14:00.007-04:002009-10-27T21:34:16.992-04:00

I thought it might be helpful to provide a gardener’s guide to “quantities” to help new gardeners speak the language of gardeners with more confidence.Here are six ways gardeners describe “quantities” and what they mean.A coupleWhen a gardeners say they want to get "a couple of" fill-in-the-blank, as in “I think I’d like to get a couple loads of topsoil”, this actually means that they would like

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-3595463790808273152009-10-25T05:56:00.006-04:002009-10-25T07:21:16.622-04:00

The frost claimed what was left in the vegetable garden last week, leaving cold-blackened plants for me to pull out and add to the rapidly filling compost bins. I look now at the bare raised beds and see that once again, henbit is staking its claim for the winter.There’s not much left to do prepare the vegetable garden and the gardener for winter. I should do some chipping and shredding of the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-28878906382301621622009-10-24T07:47:00.007-04:002009-10-24T12:38:02.613-04:00

Inspired by the hard frost we had last weekend, I wrote a little piece on fall clean up for my Indy Garden Sense column in The Southside Times.Today, I'm going to begin some garden clean up of my own, starting with the garage. I believe the last time I did any cleaning, straightening, sorting, pitching, sweeping, spiderweb removing in there, I founda garden center's worth of hand pruners.I

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com7