The Hello Bar is a simple web toolbar that engages users and communicates a call to action.

Vertical Herb Gardens – For the Horizontally Challenged Gardner

Leave a Commentby on April 22, 2013
in Gardening

Photo Credit: Designsquish.com

Winter gardening is a fading memory, and it’s a great time to start planning gardening strategies for spring and summer. I love gardening and truth be told, I also really like to eat. So it kind of works out. Because I live on a small plot of land, I am always looking for different ways to grow and save space. I have talked about raised bed and trellis gardening, barrel gardening, and even water bottle gardening. Along with these space saving concepts is another great one, vertical gardening. While this is a similar concept to trellis gardening, these vertical gardening boxes are mounted on walls or stood upright. There is a frame which can be made up of many different materials which holds soil and can grow shallow rooted plants. [Read more...]

Home Hacks

3 Ways to Keep Your Plants Warm in Early Spring

1 Commentby on April 8, 2013
in Gardening, Resources

Mea culpa, mea culpa. If you read and followed my recommendation on starting cole crops early, I apologize. This rather odd winter made for tough growing and possibly some bad timing, depending on what part of the country you’re in. I know that all my first round of starts died as did the seeds I directly seeded on a day that was over 50°F (average for time). Shortly after that beautiful day we had a hard freeze and the high wasn’t much more than 30°F. This was followed by a week of warm weather and then winter storm Virgil and two inches or more of snow. It has not been a good year for starting plants early. Given mother nature’s fickle nature this Spring, I thought it would be important to share with you three ways to keep you plants warm in what I hope will be the last of these tumultuous spring days. [Read more...]

Home Fail

Latch Onto Your Pot With The Pot Latch Plant Holder

Leave a Commentby on March 25, 2013
in Decor, Gardening, Videos

My wife loves house plants. Our home is the dwelling place for dozens of hanging and potted plants at any given time, running the gamut from beautiful, full and healthy specimens to some that are fodder for the compost heap. (Just because she loves plants doesn’t mean they always reciprocate). In the summer months, most of these plants are tasked with beautifying our back porch; they hibernate indoors for the winter, and the survivors are booted back out in the spring.  [Read more...]

3 Cole Crops You Should Have in the Ground Right Now

Leave a Commentby on March 14, 2013
in Gardening

Gardening now?! Amarillo was recently hammered with snow, and spring seems far off for many parts of the US. However, if you’re in zone 7 or south, time’s a wastin’! If you can, the time is right to get working on those garden beds and starting seeds for transplant. And, now that it’s March, you should definitely have some cole crops seeded out in your garden. If you’re wondering what cole crops are you’re not alone. Cole crops are leafy green veggies that like cool weather. These include broccoli, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and other brassicas. Right now is an ideal time to have lettuce, broccoli, and spinach seeded out. Ready for more details? [Read more...]

Mighty Marker Mount Answers the Age-Old Question – Where The Hell Is My Driveway?

7 Commentsby on January 21, 2013
in Gardening, Landscaping, Safety

We have a small piece of farm property south of Lake Erie, in an area designated by the professional weather-guessers to be within the “persistent snow band.” Anyone living in such an area is intimately acquainted with the sight of snowplows, snow blowers, show shovels, salt trucks, rusted vehicles as a result of the salt trucks, and, oh yeah…snow. [Read more...]

Toro 51599/51609 Ultra Blower/Vac Review – A Blower That Really Sucks!

3 Commentsby on November 19, 2012
in Gardening, Landscaping, Tools

Yard maintenance was easier when we lived in Phoenix; desert landscaping (aka tan gravel) and the scarcity of deciduous trees make for minimal mess.  Sure, you might have the occasional rattlesnake skin to dispose of, or a tangle of Black Widow webs here and there, and maybe a small patch of dead, scorched grass to rake up, but our fall cleanup could usually be accomplished in about 15 minutes.  [Read more...]

Fall Gardening – Just When You Thought Gardening Was Over

2 Commentsby on September 17, 2012
in Gardening

fall garden

Image Credit: Patrick

Summer is dwindling down. Labor Day weekend has thankfully come and gone; since I live on a beach route people get a little crazy this time of year. Even though the smell of BBQ, sun screen, and DEET are beginning to fade, it’s not time to retire that garden just yet. Fall is officially days away, and with fall comes – wait for it – fall gardening! Hopefully your tomatoes are still producing the last few beautiful fruits and there are a few more cucumbers and watermelons hanging on the vine, but you need to start working the soil again and getting seeds and plants ready to go into the ground. [Read more...]

Grow Planner – An App You Can Really Get Your Hands Dirty With

2 Commentsby on September 10, 2012
in Gardening, iPhone Apps

Image – Mother Earth News

To be honest I’m not much into apps. I have a few: Temple Runner, Netflix, and Skype (although I have yet to actually use it). But, I’ve found one that I’m pretty excited about, Grow Planner by Mother Earth News. As you might expect from the inventive title, it helps you plan your garden. For just under $20 USD you can get an app that will help you layout your garden and much more. [Read more...]

How to Propagate Plants – Tips & Resources for Multiplying Plants

2 Commentsby on August 20, 2012
in Gardening, How To

Photo – Brewbooks

Plant propagation is one of the cheapest ways to expand your garden, preserve plants, extend growing seasons, pass plants on or even to start your own little nursery. Plant propagation, which sounds scarier than it actually is, is a term which encompasses a variety of asexual reproduction in plants. That’s right no boom boom here. Which is ok since it can take less time to get a mature plant than hoping that fertilization took and then waiting for the seeds to mature and be replanted. It does take a little more skill to do some of the advanced methods of propagation, but they can also be as simple as plant division. We’ll talk about four general methods here conveniently described from the easiest to the most challenging: divisions, layering, cuttings, and finally grafting. [Read more...]

Growing Swiss Chard – Like the Watches and Knives, Another Great Swiss Product

Leave a Commentby on August 6, 2012
in Gardening

Ok, so Swiss Chard probably has nothing to do with the Swiss. Although I’m sure there are a number of Swiss gardeners that grow Swiss Chard to go into their gemischter salat. There is a better chance that Swiss Chard, a member of the beet family, was first cultivated in the Mediterranean, perhaps Italy. It is used commonly in Mediterranean and Arabic dishes. Swiss chard is a great little vegetable and one that you should think about adding to your garden either for the fall or next year. In actuality this year is the first year I grew it in my garden, and wow, was I impressed. I had read about it in some gardening magazines, like Mother Earth News, and various online gardening sources that raved about this ‘summer spinach’. Because so many people liked it I thought I’d give it a try. [Read more...]