Gardening Articles & Resources
Ohio Vegetable and Flower Seed Starting and Planting Calendar
This seed starting schedule is for a Zone 6B garden. It helps keep track of when to start seeds indoors and when to plant the seedlings outside.
How to Use First and Last Frost Dates to Plan Your Seed Starting Schedule
Knowing how many weeks you are before the first and last frost dates is important in determining both when to start your seeds and transplant seedlings outside.
What Growing Zone am I in? Ohio Plant Hardiness Zone Maps
Garden Zones for Ohio What garden zone am I in? This information will tell you what plants are hardy in your area and therefore can be grown with assurance that they will have the best chance of surviving and even thriving in your local environment. By starting with...
Planting trees and shrubs this weekend.
I rearranged the garden this weekend. Dug out the French sorrel and moved it to the backyard near the fence. Moved the Rhubarb to the front bed. Cleared out two yard-waste bags full of brambles. (I don't compost thorny things, lol). Then I planted shrubs and trees....
Trees and Shrubs in Edible Landscaping
This is the collection of new trees and shrubs I'm adding to the landscape in 2019. All but the bayberries produce edible fruit and provide food and habitat for birds. Most are being planted on 4/7/2019, due to beautiful weather. Purchased...
Compost Piles – Making My Own Compost
I have two compost piles: Pile #1, to which I am active adding stuff, and Pile #2, which has been sitting over the winter, and is by spring or summer ready and waiting for me to dig out the good compost and add it to my garden. On the active pile, I continuously add...
Edible Landscaping Design for the Front Yard
When we built our house in 2016, I had a "blank canvas" yard to work with for my gardening obsession. While the project was definitely daunting, I was (and still am) ecstatic. Yay, I can put in my DREAM GARDEN!!!! I am building the front foundation beds as edible and...
“Eddy’s Winter Wonder” Hardy Olive Tree
Olea europaea 'Eddy's Winter Wonder' Hardy Olive Tree, unlike most olive trees, is reportedly hardy to garden hardiness zone 6. It was originally discovered in Switzerland.I WANT to grow this!!! For 2018, I have found one possible source: specimentrees.com in Canada....
Starting a Landscape From Scratch
Someone posted in a facebook group asking for advice for landscaping and starting a garden for a brand new "blank canvas" yard. My thoughts, speaking as someone who also started with a "blank slate" and made a mix of good and bad calls. Make note of the sun and shade...
Topsoil and compost for the garden.
This is what it looks like when you get a truckload of ten cubic yards of mixed compost and topsoil delivered, and this is why I took the day off today. I'm doomed. But I'm going to have amazing veggies this year. I can already taste the carrots. This weekend's...
Building a raised bed vegetable garden – 2016 to 2017
My dream has long been to have a huge vegetable garden and a yard with fruit trees and edible landscaping. With our new house (built in 2016), that dream is coming true. The main vegetable garden is on the south side of our yard where it gets mostly full sun, though...
My Front Garden: Before and After 2016 to 2017
Before and after photos as I begin building my edible and perennial landscaping for my (somewhat) deer resistant front foundation beds. As with all else, this is a "from scratch" design. This is the garden as it looked in spring of 2016, shortly after we had moved in...
Uses for Dead Tree Branches in Landscaping
We had a dead elm tree in our backyard, which I honestly was fine with for the most part, because a dead tree makes all kinds of wild things very happy. The local woodpeckers are well fed. Last spring a raccoon decided it was a wonderful place for a nest and raising...