Halloween Planter Ideas

One trip to the dollar store and it's very easy to add scary to your indoor and outdoor gardening. So, yes, I keep a box of plastic Halloween body parts in the basement. You never know when you'll need a...

Book Review & Giveaway of Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creating a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You

Amanda Thomsen (aka Kiss My Aster on Twitter and Facebook) is what I’d call a punk landscaper and garden designer if we’re using the broader meaning of punk. The punk ideology is really about doing it yourself and doing it...

Product Review & Giveaway: Troy-Bilt TBC57 Cordless/Battery-Powered Cultivator

Oh baby, yeah. Power tools! Nothing like an efficient tool to make gardening a little easier, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-cbe4A3oW8 Troy-Bilt rocks a winner, again. The TBC57 Cordless/Battery-Powered Cultivator is a new item from Troy-Bilt for 2012. The lithium-ion battery enables you...

Vegan Fertilizer Review: yep, there is a fertilizer that does NOT contain animal products! And it works!

Vegan gardeners!! I have great news! There IS a veganic fertilizer now available, it works, and is named Grow Veganic. If you're impatient to order, go here: http://www.growveganic.com, otherwise, read my review below. What is a veganic fertilizer? Vegan +...

SnarkyXmas list: What to get that vegan gardener on your Christmas list.

[UPDATE: After reading Colleen's excellent post on the relationships between corporations and bloggers, I felt the need to update this post since it is a gift guide that lists products I am recommending. My update is at the end.] Buying...

Seeds of Change: The sowing millions project!

Just a few mere days ago, Seeds of Change launched their Sowing Millions Project with the intent to outfit home and community gardeners with enough free organic seeds to encourage organic gardening and eating. Luckily I heard about this in...

Hell Strip: That Part of Your Yard that Hates You.

Timber Press recently held a contest on their blog for the worst of hell strips. For the uninitiated, a hell strip is that part of your yard where nothing grows. It can be hit with too much sun, poor soil...

Hipster Pete Bilts a Garden One Chip at a Time with Troy-Bilt.

In April, I was approached by Troy-Bilt to see if I’d be interested in reviewing one of their products. Since I’d had such a good experience with their tiller last year, I said “Absolutely!” I hate being put in a...

Hoop Hoopy Doop: Groovin’ in the Garden with Hipster Pete

OMG the cold winds of May have totally taken Chicago by surprise this month. Just after I'd planted all my pepper plants and all my tomatoes, we get a frost advisory with temps expected to dip to 34-36 F! What...

Totally ugly yet cheap cloches to keep frost off your lovelies.

Everyone's been throwing around the term cloches lately in the gardenbloggertwitospere. And yes, it is a real word folks and nope, not one I'd heard of as a kid on grandma's farm. After all, it is French in origin and my...

P. Allen Smith’s iPhone App for Everyday Gardeners

UPDATE: I just realized this app will be a free download. You can get it at the P. Allen Smith website and Bonnie Plants starting Wednesday (tomorrow). I just got a sneak peak at a new iPhone app from the...

My most embarrassing ugly vegetable garden photos from 2009.

Keep in mind that I purposefully did not photo the ugliest of the ugly vegetable garden in my back yard for fear of being judged by 'real potager' gardeners who have the means and time to design and maintain better...

Super close up of the amazing @kissmyaster’s Flaming Felcos!

I'm a HUGE fan of Kiss my Aster's garden blog at Horticulture Magazine and the woman in general. She pretty much rocks when it comes to originality and living on the bleeding creative edge of gardening. You won't find anything...

Photo essay of Chicago Flower and Garden Show 2010

I'm going to go ahead and upload a few photos but all 47 will have to wait until I have more time. You'll be able to click on each photo to enlarge if you want to see more detail. Alice...

Progress. In reverse.

Below are shots of a large part of the back yard showing progress during the month of June, most recent at the top so you don't have to wait. You may recall, we had to eliminate a giant weed forest...

Double, double till and trouble.

I'm going to make this short on words and mostly pics because I'm actually, short of words right now. Knees aching, back aching, zits on my forehead from wearing a hat two days in a row, dirt under my nails...

Update on gardening and deck.

I'm so excited about what DH has done to the deck. He completely trashed the old plastic lattice and built a new privacy wall from scratch. It looks so much more modern. (Here are the before shots.) I'm showing you...

Update: Gardening with a vengeance, sort of.

I know, I'm long overdue on an update of the gardening initiative. In a nutshell, I have lots of seedlings ready for planting, 2 plots in Naperville that were under water until last week and I'm already tired of driving...

This vegan’s attempt to eat ‘off the food grid’.

Yep, this year, I'm back to my old ways and preparing to garden with a vengeance. My goal? To grow and store all the veggies I'll need to survive until Spring of 2010 without shopping at Whole Paycheck. Save money,...