From the depths of the soil have emerged the most dependable of dependables: the perennial plants. Here's a list of our favorite spring blooming perennials.
We’ve got a network of soaker hoses throughout our landscaping and vegetable garden. The hoses deliver water directly to the plants at the soil line. Less water goes to waste. The roots are not inundated.
Being June, and having a garden brimming with early arrivals, we decided to incorporate ripe strawberries and fresh mint into our Friday night cocktail. The result? Great success! We’ve dubbed it “Early June.”
We fancy ourselves gardeners. We have this running joke. We show people our thumb and ask what color is that? They say a normal color that would describe human skin. We retort: “That baby’s green. It’s a green thumb.” No, no. We don’t actually do that. It would be terrible and stupid. We are neither terrible nor stupid. We do enjoy growing plants. The toiling away picking weeds, laying mulch and watering is therapeutic. The eventual fruits—the hot peppers, the flowers, the literal fruits—fill us with a sense of accomplishment. Gardening is a gratifying hobby. But we have an obsessive streak. Outside by itself no longer satiates us. We’ve brought our garden inside with this Socker Plant Stand from IKEA. It holds 13 pots. Impatiens do well because they prefer shade.
What is beauty? That may seem like an overly subjective even unanswerable question. We, however, aren’t playing philosopher. We aren’t venturing into the abstract. If you own a home, the question is not a hard one to answer. Homeowners understand beauty, and beauty is whatever makes a hard job easier, cleaner and quicker. By that standard, we found something mighty beautiful. It's the Liberty Garden Model 1200 Two Wheel Hose Cart. The Model 1200 looks nice. Its powder coat finish and clean construction make it attractive on its own. More importantly, it neutralizes a potential eyesore. Nevermore will you be the reviled neighbor with a garden hose strewn hastily about the lawn. Your homeowner’s association will relax. Your grass will breathe. Your feet, they will travel freely and untripped. Of course, more factors into beauty than mere looks. Utility is...
We don’t judge. Live your life however you deem fit. But, gentleman to gentleman, can we lend a word of advice? Get control of that garden hose, man. Seriously. It looks like a 50-foot boa constrictor died on your lawn. Your neighbors are annoyed. The grass under it is suffocating. And, it’s a safety hazard; someone might trip, and that someone is likely you. We just got a Liberty Garden Model 1200 Two Wheel Hose Cart. What a wonderful wheel! These days, we keep our hose tight and yard tidy. We’re the pride of the block. Of course, we were before too—just more so now.
We garden. We grow vegetables and flowers. We cultivate them from seed and that fills us with pride and makes us feel mighty. Lately, a realization hit: we spend a remarkable sum of money on soil. That’s right, dirt. It shouldn’t cost that much. It’s everywhere. But the nutrient-rich earth that we rely upon to feed our leafy offspring is burning pocket holes. That ends this spring. We got a Mantis Easy Spin ComposTumbler. We’re DIYing our dirt. As our eggshells and banana peels and coffee grounds and carrot tops decompose, they will intermix with and enrich last year’s soil. We just bought some worms to facilitate the process. You can buy worms by the box on Amazon.com. The internet, man! Remember Back to the Future? Much like Doc Brown engineered that DeLorean DMC-12 to run on waste, our refuse...
We’ve honed enviable gardening skills over the past few summers. Our tomato plants stretch to the sky. Our strawberry plants could feed a brigade. We pickle banana peppers and cucumbers. Herbs? We grow more than you’ve got names for. Until this summer, though, we wasted not a thought on flowers. We subscribed to the moto: “If you can’t eat it, who needs it?” How bullheaded of us. Our eyes have opened. We now live in a world—or at least a backyard—of beauty and serenity. Newbies to flower gardening, we’re learning. We’ve experimented with dahlias, daylilies, cone flowers, mums, morning glories, etc. Our favorite by far: zinnias. We couldn’t imagine a plant easier to grow than a zinnia. And, the reward for your minimal effort is broad, vibrant flowers that bloom heavily all summer. Pat yourself on the back; you've earned...
Spring began officially on March 20. For us, though, Easter marks the start of our favorite season. Chirping birds. Sprouting Plants. No more snow. Here are four reasons why we love spring. 4. Baseball People complain that baseball moves slowly. They don’t get it. Football is our favorite sport, and we hang on every play. But, baseball is our favorite leisure-time activity. It makes the perfect backdrop. You can do almost anything while following the game. Mow. Grill. Day drink. Night drink. Regrettably, they never play in the morning. 3. Grilling Speaking of grilling, do it. The hardiest among us never stopped. They refused to yield to winter’s cruelty. Cheers to them, but we aren’t so resilient. Winter had ended. Let’s all commence to grilling. We’ve got a leg of lamb spinning on our Weber rotisserie. 2. Fresh strawberries If...
We at G@H love gadgets but not gimmicks. We think ourselves above being snookered by shiny and new. So, we approached the Burpee Ultimate Growing System with skepticism. It costs $20. Other 72 cell seed starters cost less than $5. Red flag! Barpee claims its product, unlike others, is self-watering. You fill the bottom tray with water. A mat wicks up water and delivers small but continuous amounts to your seeds/seedlings in another tray on a second tier, ensuring that your plants neither go thirsty nor drown. Guess what: it works. Almost all the seeds that we planted in the Burpee Ultimate Growing System have developed into vibrant seedlings. Only about one-third of the seeds that we planted in a conversional seed starter have spouted, and they are noticeably less robust. This test, of course, is unscientific, but the top-notch...
American farmers, people more rugged than us, built this nation and continue cultivating its greatness. They milk cows, bale hay, harvest crops, and care for livestock. Nine hours of chair sitting exhausts us. They brave drought, blizzards, tornadoes and swarms of locusts. We reluctantly drive in snow. They feed the world. We consume their bounty. When we were children, we pretended to be fire fighters and professional athletes. As adult gentlemen, we impersonate farmers. We toil away in our backyard gardens. Sure, we could buy produce from the neighborhood grocer, but we swear by the superiority of our tomatoes. If you tilled, sowed and fertilized in March, like us at G@H, you are tasting the fruits of your labor. Peas are popping. Lettuce is leafing. Strawberries, man. Strawberries are the best. Pofta buna!
