garden inn

There are many educational opportunities for gardeners during the month of October as we move further into the fall season!

Notes from the 2024 Garden: June 30th- First Cucumber July 16th- First Zucchini July 29th- First Cherry Tomato August 2nd- First Green Beans I write garden notes on the calendar. It’s interesting to see the changes from year to year. The harvests were later to start this year, and then started slowing down with some colder weather in August, so there was a shorter harvest window overall. We got more rain throughout the summer than we normally do, and the weather went back and forth from hot to cold. We would have days with intense heat where the garden was wilting and Jeff spent lots of time watering (and protecting plants with remay ), and then days with downpours and cold like we were in the middle of our rainy winter season. Nights got colder earlier, which brought issues with mold earlier. This week (end of September) we had a day in the 90’s where we were sweating in t-shirts, and the next day was in the 60’s with downpours and cold rain, followed by a day with mo...

Ficus carica ‘MAJOAM’ Little Miss Figgy is a compact and highly productive fig tree. It is low-maintenance, disease-resistant, and stress-tolerant. Deb Pilkington, the leader of the Cocoa Cinnamon Project highly recommends it for container gardens and urban environments.

Hi there! I’m Taryn. My son took this picture of me in the garden last year. I don’t show my face here all that often, mostly sharing photos of the beauty in nature, the garden, and our family’s woodworking. You’ll notice that most of the pictures I take are outside. One of the best things I have ever done for my well being has been to make a point to spend time outdoors every single day. Being in nature feeds my spirit, and being out there every day keeps me moving, noticing, and connecting. It humbles me again and again to see such beauty in the simplest things right outside our doors, if we only pause and notice. What inspires you to step outside? Hiking with friends? Walking your dog? Working in the garden? Searching for rocks and shells at the beach? Watching the light reflecting on the water? Meals with family in the yard? Drinking tea and noticing the changing sky? Looking for mushrooms? Whatever it is that inspires us to get out there, let’s do it as often as we’re able t...

The Seed Starters team identified the best tomatoes of 2024, highlighting Chef's Choice Orange and others. Read here for all the results from their July 2024 taste testing event.

As we’re soaking up the last days of summer, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate some of the things we love about summertime. What We Love About Summer: …Walking in the garden, and the feeling of bare feet in warm grass …Blue skies and fluffy clouds …Laundry on the line, warmed by the sun …Sun shining, birds singing …Nature walks through sun dappled forests …Flowers in bloom …Baskets full of garden harvests to bring inside …Open windows and fresh breezes flowing through the house …The sound of windchimes …Watching bees visiting flowers …Sitting by the lake …The colors of summer, everywhere we look in the garden …A rainbow of fresh, delicious food to eat. Watermelon! Crunchy cucumbers… green beans… …Meals enjoyed outdoors with family and friends …The scent of flowers …Being barefoot in the sand, collecting shells and rocks at the beach …Sun Tea …Picking berries, and savoring each bite of juicy goodness …Barbeque season …Swimming in the river with friends …Peac...

Goldenrod is a versatile and beneficial plant, offering vibrant fall color, supporting wildlife, and thriving in various conditions. With numerous species and cultivars available, it’s a great addition to any garden.

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time, you have seen plenty of blueberry posts here over the years. (At one point my blog banner even had a picture of blueberries across the top, remember that?) There was a time when our family went blueberry picking many times throughout the summer. I remember Jeff and I milking goats and finishing animal care in the early mornings to drive to the blueberry fields and start picking before the heat of the day set in. That was before B was born. After that, I wore B in the baby carrier while we picked. Such good memories. When I think about blueberry picking, I can close my eyes and feel the warm summer sun on my skin, taste the flavor of the berries bursting in my mouth, and hear the sound of berries dropping in the bucket one by one. I can hear the people near me, family or friends… picking together, laughing together. There were summers when our family wanted to pick all the blueberries we could to freeze for throughout...

By Martha Keehner Engelke, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County Interest in natural dyes is undergoing a resurgence as people look for environmentally conscious and sustainable ways to make clothing and household goods. I didn’t know much about the topic but this summer I had two experiences that gave me a beginner’s … Continue reading “Dye-ing” to grow indigo plants?

I couldn’t help but go with that corny title. (haha) This was a fun project that B made for the garden this year. Jeff and B wondered about painting rocks to look like strawberries, hearing that the birds would peck them, realize they were no treat (and no fun at all to peck), and then be deterred from eating the strawberries in the garden. Hmm… too good to be true? They wanted to find out. First they found stones that had a “strawberry shape.” Then B went into creative mode. I thought he was going to simply paint them, but he took it one step further and fashioned stems for each one with a 3D pen. (Have you ever used one of those? He has really enjoyed creating things with the 3D pen.) He painted the stems, then he attached them to the stones with a hot glue gun. (Oh, and putting a protective coating over the painted rocks helps them last longer in the elements.) When the stone strawberries were ready, they were placed strategically around the garden, near where we were growing s...

By Gary Crispell, NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County Hey, Y’all! It’s September, the month for football AND baseball, and hurricanes not involving curved sticks and pucks. It is the start of apple season and apparently the month for all things pumpkin spice. And since it is a leap year, we get … Continue reading To do in the Garden: September, 2024

The sun came back this last week, and I was grateful. I love the time of year when there is laundry hanging on the line, open windows to let in the fresh air, and sun tea. We love drinking our sun tea around here. Growing up, I always saw sun tea made with tea bags. You could watch the color seeping out from the tea bags into the water. I liked the way it smelled. I don’t remember drinking it as a kid, but the adults enjoyed the cold, caffeinated tea on hot days. My husband Jeff was the one who introduced me to a new way of making sun tea. One summer he started collecting fresh herbs and putting them in a jar of water. I know lots of people make sun tea with herbs. Usually dried herbs are used though. Dried herbs give the sun tea more flavor. We’ve made sun tea with dried herbs plenty of times, but our favorite way is to use mostly fresh herbs. Fresh herbs don’t impart as much flavor to the sun tea. It’s more subtle, and gentle. It’s delicious, and we love it, and it’s definitel...