In my never-ending search for never-ending Summer, I try bringing pots of annuals into the house when the first frost is eminent and see how long they can keep flowering – with dead-heading and loving care, of course. I have a Garden Room for them now, but they used to take over the house near [...]

More adventures from she who knows little about growing from seed.

I have never tried growing lettuce before. Not having a viable vegetable garden plot (because our soil is like fired clay!), I just never thought I could.

But this year, I got into container vegetable gardening a bit and had a cherry tomato plant by itself [...]

I LOVE tulips!

They’re by far my favorite flower.

It’s taken me years to convince my husband that I’d much rather have tulips than roses any day of the week.

Tulips are the bargain flower! For each tulip you buy, there are really TWO flowers. TWO-lips.

I can prove it. Take a look inside this Tulip! There’s a flower [...]

I have never understood the high price of Basil in the supermarket. A package weighing about an ounce can cost $2.99 or more! So I have wanted to succeed at growing my own never-ending supply. As with most things in the garden, my first tries did not turn out so well. We won’t go there. [...]

No, we are not going to eat our Petunias, and neither is anybody else.

Petunias are common and old-fashioned and need constant deadheading, but I love them just the same. I found these coffee cup planters at Walmart last year and I like how they look sitting on our adobe gate posts – like some giant [...]

For the past week or so, I’ve watched the front yard next door transform from a mound of dirt into a beautifully designed landscape.

From my office window upstairs, I’ve noticed the comings and goings of a vivacious woman whose laugh is infectious and energy contagious.

She uses a little red wagon to haul the plants and [...]

Never enough, evidently.

My first attempt at growing tomatoes was about 14 years ago, shortly after I moved from California to Santa Fe. Starting with 6 plants and great hopes, I ended up with one cherry tomato – and my dog ate that.

This year I decided to try again – and I learned SO much – [...]

And I’m not talking about the usual “Oh I had so much fun, how did it go by so fast” kind of thing.

I mean where did they take it when they stole it?

Summer does not even end on Labor Day which is when they traditionally wanted us to stop wearing white, feeling relaxed, and having [...]