Category Archives: Gardening

Three seasons of gardening 2022

For the past few years I’ve been working on building a walk-through garden in the sideyard between my house and garage, and this year I got a lot closer to that goal. I joined together two flower beds by the … Continue reading

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How to dry hydrangeas

One of Summer’s most beautiful flowers – and a favorite during Faded Summer, too! – is the hydrangea! Primarily grown in shrub form (unless trained as a tree), hydrangeas have a multitude of large, fluffy blooms and – especially with … Continue reading

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Create a quick and easy, weed-free cardboard flowerbed

For decades (decades, people!) I created flower beds wherever I lived using a very labor-intensive method: I’d overturn individual shovel-widths of sod, break up the chunks by hand to preserve as much soil as possible, and discard the remaining grass … Continue reading

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Shopping for pumpkins in the rain

As you know I marginally resisted the arrival of Fall this year, but once I got back from my Disney vacation on October 1 I was ready for it. So about a week ago I made an executive decision Friday … Continue reading

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Repurposed storage bench: an outdoor planter

This past June when West Des Moines had their annual clean-up week, Greg and I went out driving around looking for good junk on the curb. One of the items we found was an awesome wooden outdoor bench. It was … Continue reading

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