Tag Archives: gardening

Mums the Word

I recently added a bunch of potted mums to our porch for a fresh Fall porch-scape (is this a thing?). After a few weeks of procrastination/indecision, I finally transferred them from their crappy plastic pots to legit planters.

And then that very night, a storm blew through, and I woke up the next morning to planters, potting soil, and mums strewn across my front yard. Joy. In my frustration, I failed to take pictures. Sorry.

Now, the mums aren’t looking so good. And one seems to lose stems just by being looked at.

Anybody have any tips on caring for mums? Or is this just what mums do?

Friday Photo Reel


my latest owl buddy, hanging out on top of one of my copies of Pride and Prejudice


autumn isn’t that far off! these colors stood out to me; bold, warm and the perfect palette for my purple & yellow family room / kitchen!


discovered this enormous caterpillar, plus his three BFFs, on my tomato plants this week. Google told me he’s a nuisance to gardens (i.e. eats like there’s no tomorrow), so they were promptly relocated to the woods.

You can follow me on Instagram @onuwriter06

Have a lovely, long holiday weekend!

Home Sweet Cincinnati

As much as a long drive home can be boring, tedious, and literally painful, I always love when you get the first glimpse of “home.” Whether it’s a familiar highway exit, a “Welcome to ___” sign or, in our case, a view of the city skyline, there’s always something special that signifies what’s near and dear. Tom and I even went out of our way (kind of) to make sure we crossed the Ohio River to catch this glimpse of the skyline – we both agreed it was more eventful than taking the back-roads route home.

When we got home, I was excited to find that my veggie garden seems to be picking up. It’s the end of August and I’ve only harvested 2 cucumbers and 1 lonely little strawberry!But I was able to pick this assortment this week:

Yep, that’s a cantaloupe! I don’t think it’s quite ripe yet, but I’ll give it a couple of days on my kitchen counter and hopefully it will be ripe enough to eat! I can’t remember what type of tomatoes those are. I thought the smaller two were Romas, but they might just be some kind of salad tomato. I think the larger two are Brandywines. My notes got all jumbled when I transferred my seedlings into the ground. I’ll have to do a better job of tagging my plants next year!

What do you have planned for your weekend? I think I’ll be making some kind of tomato salad. And hopefully enjoying some fresh cantaloupe!

(You can follow me on Instagram @onuwriter06)

Grow Local!

This weekend I attended the Ohio Valley Greenmarket at one of Hamilton County’s local parks, Glenwood Gardens. The Greenmarket was a collaboration between the Park District and Edible Ohio Valley magazine. It featured local vendors, talks on native gardening, growing organic, conservation and more. You can read more about Edible Ohio Valley magazine and the event here.

The sky was cloudy, the air was hot, but the turnout was great! My mom came with me, and we had a nice time strolling past the booths, talking to some of the vendors, sampling some delicious treats and learning more about sustainable efforts around town.

I came away with a few spoils of the day: some delicious herb mixes from The Spice and Tea Exchange. One is the “Tuscany Blend” and the other is the  “Coastal Blend” (heard it’s great on seafood!). I also picked up some fresh-baked sweets and savories from a local bakery, including a fresh baguette loaf, a chocolate chip croissant, and two blueberry scones. Yum!

Hope you all had a fun-filled weekend! Did you partake in any locally-focused activities?

Wild Thing

After 7 weeks, it has become pretty clear that I did not give my garden enough space. While my father has always told me that plants grow better when they’re closer together, I think my makeshift square-foot method was too close.

Case in point:

It’s outta control!

The zucchini squash and cantaloupe in front have just started growing under the netting fence. Due to some recent rough winds from a storm, the tomatoes are all leaning precariously forward. The netting fence doesn’t seem to be doing much good at this point! Although maybe it’s keeping the deer and rabbits at bay? I’ve seen plenty of each in our yard, but none of the plants appear to be chewed up or missing from our garden (would I even notice at this point? If they were just nibbling here and there??)

Oh well, even it if looks a bit unruly, the veggies are growing! Tomatoes are cropping up, a few cucumbers are tucked under the leaves, and, what I’m most excited about… a cantaloupe! A baby melon on the vine!

Wahoooooo! I rationalized that if I got one edible melon out of this plant, it’ll have paid for itself, haha!