
The Gardening Me
64 FOLLOWERS
I'm Margaret. I started my vegetable garden in 2011 with 4 small raised beds & a lot of enthusiasm. Little by little, the garden was expanded and now contains 18 beds for annual vegetables, 3 asparagus beds, and numerous fruit trees and berry bushes. Follow my journey.
The Gardening Me
7M ago
Whether you are a newbie or seasoned gardener, no doubt you are familiar with Bonnie Plants. Being the largest grower of vegetable and herb plants for the home gardener in North America, they are ubiquitous on garden centre shelves throughout the country.
I was thrilled that one of the stops during the recent National Garden Bureau Summit was the new Bonnie Plants headquarters in Opelika, Alabama.
Their new headquarters is an amazing space that includes both indoor and outdoor workspaces as well as a trial garden.
One of the outdoor workspaces
And this is the view - wow ..read more
The Gardening Me
8M ago
In Part 1, I provided an overview of my visit to Young's Plant Farm. This post focusses on their trial gardens - they were huge! We *only* had a couple of hours there, but I literally could have spent all day exploring.
The gardens include trials of shade-loving plants as well as those that appreciate a full sun exposure.
Shade-loving plants are trialed under the huge pergola
There were also container trials...
...which included a number of hanging baskets.
I have a large, shaded front entrance so it's not surprising that I'm a huge fan of coleus.  ..read more
The Gardening Me
8M ago
As many of you who follow along know, I'm sort of a plant geek. So when an opportunity presents itself to hang out with other plant enthusiasts & check out some behind-the-scenes action in the horticulture industry, I'm all in.
In early June, I attended the National Garden Bureau's 2024 Summit in Auburn, Alabama. And, of course, since I had not been to Alabama before, I was more than happy to add another pin to my travel map ?
We toured a variety of different locations: The Rane Culinary Center rooftop garden at Auburn University, the new headquarters of Bonnie Plan ..read more
The Gardening Me
10M ago
In Part One, I spoke about 11 different perennials that I'm growing from seed. While the species and/or variety may have been new to me, all were plants that I had grown in the past successfully.
In this post, I'll be talking about a few plants that I've never grown from seed before. I'm always up for experimenting so am super excited to try them out. I don't, however, have any misconceptions that it will be smooth sailing. Perennials are general a bit trickier to grow than annuals so I'm not expecting 100% success - but no matter what happens, I'll have learned somethi ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
Last year I grew a slew of perennials from seed - everything from Echinacea & Rudbeckia to Salvias, Nepeta & Penstemon. While not everything was a resounding success, I had SO much fun nonetheless! And the best part? I ended up with dozens of beautiful perennial seedlings for a fraction of the cost.
A variety of 1st year blooming Salvias in last year's perennial holding bed,
where tiny seedlings grow over the summer before being transplanted into the garden
Seeing those babies germinate and grow, then transplanting them to the ornamental border was so incred ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
Way back in the day when I started to really delve into vegetable gardening, I heard about an amazing seed house called Fedco, a co-operative seed company that's been around for over 40 years. Located in Maine, it specializes in seeds for northern/short-season growers. While the vast majority of their offerings are edibles - from veggie seeds to garlic to certified seed potatoes - they also have a nice selection of herbs & flowers.
In years past, I would read about other veggie gardeners experiences as they thumbed through the Fedco catalogue, trying to decide amongst the hund ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
Heads up: This is not your typical 'Best Gardening Tools' internet list...you know, the type created by people that have never picked up a shovel, much less actually used the tools in an honest to goodness garden. Every single item on my personal "Best Of" list is one that I actually use, year in and year out, and I'll tell you exactly why I love it. There are no sponsors, collaborations or generic lists of gardening tools here! I've provided links to the actual tools I use or, if they are no longer available (my edger is 20+ years old!), I'll link to a close ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
Over the years, I've used a couple of different methods to clean my seed starting supplies and pots. Way back in the beginning of my gardening journey many years ago, I simply rinsed everything off in the laundry room, let it dry, then put it away. Then one year, I was hit hard with Damping Off - the two words that strike fear in the heart of all seed starters. Damping off is a fungus that attacks fragile seedlings shortly after they emerge from the soil. One day your seedling is fine, then the next, it's keeled over and limp as a noodle. If you look clo ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
In late July I went to Niagara Falls for the 2023 Perennial Plant Association (PPA) Symposium and, as is always the case when I attend a plant/garden event, I’ve come back inspired.
The symposium includes a trade show where new perennials are showcased & speaking to the growers/breeders is always a highlight for me. I saw so many plants that intrigued me and in this post, I’ll be highlighting five that I’m particularly excited about.
Spoiler alert - this is one of them...
Stachys byzantina ‘Little Lamb’
When I approached the Darwin Perennial booth there was a LOT to look at ..read more
The Gardening Me
1y ago
I'm not sure what it is about hostas but it seems that lately, I've become somewhat of a hosta-holic.
I can't really put my finger on it, but there's something about them that I simply can't resist. Is it the way that the beautiful, fresh foliage comes up in spring and just keeps going all season long, always providing a cooling respite from the heat & blazing sun of summer? Is it the different shades of green & blue, some plain while others are streaked with cream, white, gold or gray? Or is it all of the leaf shapes, sizes and textures - smooth, puckered, corrugated ..read more