Posts under ‘Gettin’ Dirty’

Though I realize it’s probably a bit disingenuous, at this point, to act like I know absolutely nothing about gardening. But five things? That means I’ve learned more than one thing per year. Or something like that. Regardless, today I’d like to invite you to step over to Heather Mak’s Five Takeaways blog, where I [...]

Though I had not planned to end up at a big box store, after the local hardware store employee sent me hightailing it in search of dirt, I decided a return to Home Depot was the most obvious solution to the problem. The day was getting ever-later, and I still needed to put my new [...]

Before I could plant anything, I had to accomplish two wine-barrel-related tasks: Drill holes in the bottom, and install casters. It should be noted for the record that, going into this? I had no idea how to do either. And I definitely didn’t own any of the proper equipment. Related to this issue: I hate [...]

I have rebelled against the issue of putting drainage material in the bottom of containers since I started gardening in Iowa. From day one of this adventure, I took one look at the bags of pea gravel and thought, Haul a bunch of rocks home from the store just to line the bottom of some [...]

While we were in the midst of sorting out the HOA problems, I received a cheery email from my coworker, Pilar, who was in the midst of nurturing tomato seedlings on my behalf. They were just about ready for delivery, she said, and she’d bring them in after the weekend. This presented a dilemma. Tell? [...]

[Editor's Note: This post is from Ysa, the step-daughter of one of my co-workers. She's making her first foray into gardening this years, and I invited her to make an appearance here. Please give her a warm welcome!] Hi. I am doing a guest post. I am 7 years old and I have a garden. [...]

At the risk of allowing this site to become an echo chamber, I want to point you in the direction of Trey Pitsenberger’s blog, and Trey’s take on the issue of the unscented Home Depot tomatoes I highlighted last week. Trey’s post mostly points back at me (echo…echo….echo…), but I think he provides a really [...]

I’m still deciding exactly what needs to go in the wine barrels on the patio, and Bill Thorness, author of Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden has been kind enough to provide me with some terrific ideas, and the following guest post: Growing heirloom vegetables in large pots can be a great way [...]

Here’s the thing about wine barrels. Even when they’re empty (and oh, how sad that they were empty…), they are quite awkward and heavy. The photo you see here may indicate that one person can hold these, and they can, but you may notice the photo is a bit more blurry than I might have [...]

It should be noted that the wine barrels came with instructions. “Have you ever planted in these before?” asked the guy who sold them to me. I admitted I had not. I did not tell him the kind of jackass arrangements in which I had planted before. “Well, you’re definitely going to want to drill [...]