A Coach In the Garden Hypertufa Workshop and a Lucky Facebook Winner!

There was a lot of scooping and packing and molding yesterday....

as a group of very nice people came together for a Coach In the Garden Hypertufa Workshop. 

All of these lucky folks like my Coach In the Garden Facebook page and were privy to this workshop being held. They signed up immediately for it via Facebook. This was only the first of many workshops I plan to hold so don't despair if you were not in on the first one. These nice ladies were very kind to help me out and be my guinea pigs for how to effectively operate my first large workshop. And make no mistake, hypertufa workshops are a pretty big deal and require preparation-and some patient guests. I hope to post a picture of the completed pots on my Coach In the Garden Facebook page as soon as they are ready....

Front Row L to R: Yvonne, Barbara,Ann
Back Row L to R: Christy, Eddie, Donna

in the garden....

Now to the winner of the free ticket to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. It is Wendy Y.! Wendy is a local reader so she will get the free ticket and plans to attend the show this Sunday. She was announced on my FB page after the drawing yesterday. I used a random number generator to generate a number. Then I took that number and counted down the people who like my Facebook page to the right number (5) to determine the winner. Thanks to all my friends and readers of this blog who liked my page. Much appreciated!

For me, the blog, my business, and gardening is all intertwined-hence the business postings. Just thought you'd want to know. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Giveaway and Coach In the Garden's FaceBook

  Good morning! Scooter, the local Canada goose who escorts visitors across the Cumberland River, says hello! Local folks may recognize his picture from the local newspaper talking about this unique goose who rides the ferry between Cumberland City and Indian Mound each day. I have seen him myself on the ferry (it is my picture above) and what a treat! So, to shamelessly promote my FaceBook page I thought I'd ask for his help in introducing a little giveaway. 

It is simple, all you have to do is like my Coach In the Garden FaceBook page found here. Or you can click through via the FaceBook badge on my sidebar on this blog. You may leave a comment here, or there, or not, that is up to you. Benefits of liking Coach In the Garden are that you will get updates from this blog, interesting local garden information, information on workshops in the garden, and all sorts of neat ideas-directly to your FaceBook account. Plus you might win a free ticket (value $10)! My FaceBook page along with this blog are the way I get information about my business (and passion) out into the world. All new and old likes will be entered into a drawing for a ticket to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show which starts Thursday, February 28th and runs through Sunday, March 3rd. The drawing will be Tuesday at 9:00 AM. I must be able to contact you-which should be no problem through a FaceBook message once you like my page. Please make sure your message settings on FB are set where anyone can message you. Once I get your address after contact I will announce the winner publicly. I will then put a ticket in the mail to you that same day! Or, if you are local I can make other arrangements. I will be at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show Thursday so meeting there is an option as well. If you are unable to go to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show or are not local, I will be happy to oblige that situation by providing the winner with a $10 gift card to Lowes. Giveaway is open to United States citizens only. If we get an awesomely incredible amount of new likes I may provide for more than one ticket or gift card so don't be afraid to share my page. Thanks! And good luck! See ya at the show....

in the Garden....

While you are liking my page you may wish to look at not only the Nashville Lawn and Garden website but their FaceBook page as well. It can be found here. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Before and After Photos of a Client's Home

I was contacted by a possible client last spring to help update and change a front garden in an established neighborhood. At the time I had only just begun the garden coaching business and had not considered garden or landscape design as part of my business model; however, garden design is not too difficult so I was game and came up with a design the client liked. I don't think she'll mind if I use her first name so I'll call the client Barbara. The before pictures in this post were taken on May 26, 2009, the after pictures were taken on June 2, 2010 so you can see just how the garden has changed in the same season.
Barbara wished for hydrangeas and a natural feel to the front of her home but the area was challenging because Barbara's home faces east and the entire front of the house is shaded by mature dogwoods, and a very large black walnut (yikes!). To say the front of home gets very little sun is a true statement and a fact alone makes designing a garden in this location rather difficult. I spent a lot of time researching plants that could resist juglone (the chemical from the black walnut that usually makes the ground inhospitable to plants). I found there are actually several plants that can grow under black walnuts-including hydrangeas. Whew. Some hydrangeas do better than others but so far all of these hydrangeas (paniculata, quercifolia, and macrophylla) are doing well.

I did not do the install, only the basic design. In my design I saw several oakleaf hydrangeas near the foundation of the house with mopheads, hellebores, and hostas wrapping around the oakleafs. Additionally, a weeping Japanese maple was put into a prominent position for year round interest as a focal point. The plants are small right now but will have enough room to grow into their allotted spots as time goes on. All of the plants have or are blooming right now.

The lady who did the install first had to clean out this overgrown garden. The azaleas, ivy and a very over grown cherry laurel needed to be cleaned up, removed, and/or pruned depending on what it was and whether or not it had a spot in the design. Several nandinas were moved to the northern end of the home along the foundation making the foundation bed wrap around the home. A dying maple tree was removed and replaced with a river birch, all grass was removed and covered with mulch, plants planted and here you have a completely different home! The curb appeal went up immensely.

When I was invited over to take a look at the 'new' garden I almost couldn't believe the transformation. I hope you can see the differences in these pictures I decided to post (with Barbara's permission). The moment was most gratifying for me and I'm looking forward to seeing my other designs put into place in all my client's landscapes....

in the garden....

Thanks to Darla, Frances, Marnie, and Jean I have four new identities for my daylilies! Awesome and so much appreciated! I updated the post with the names.

Also, on my poll for sponsored give a ways it looks like it is pretty evenly divided so I will decide on a case by case basis as the opportunities present themselves. I don't want to change the character of this blog but like the idea of give a ways to a lucky person or two. Problem is, not everyone can win.

Thirdly, I'll be out enjoying the holiday weekend and will be back 'In the Garden' as soon as I am able to. So....

Everyone have a safe and fun Fourth of July...in the garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden

Landscape Design and Coach In the Garden

From In the Garden

Can you guess what I have been busy doing? I have finally ventured into the realm of landscape design. Yes, I've been designing landscapes a very long time but I've never really put the designs down on paper. This school term sees me in a landscape design course at Nashville State. Our instructor is very knowledgeable and is sharing a great deal of tips with us all, too bad the above pictured design had to be completed for a client prior to my third class. I find that kind of funny-and difficult.

Fortunately I have some really good landscape design books (Todd Bertauski is the author) that are fairly simple and self explanatory about the process of drawing landscape designs. Still, I find that I have to find my own style of putting my designs down on paper. Conveying the look of a landscape is not an easy thing to do. Not to mention measuring, erasing, drafting, erasing, labeling, erasing. Oh, did I say erasing again? Let me explain. Landscape designs are typically drawn on a high quality see through paper called vellum. When you make a mistake and have to erase-grrrrr-it is difficult to fix it completely. I am learning this the hard way. An alternative to drawing directly on the vellum is to put tracing paper over the vellum and draw your design on the tracing paper. Then you put that tracing paper under the vellum and draw the design again. That is an easy process-if you have a light table. I do not. Can you see where I am going? Landscape designs take a lot of time and attention to detail.

I have added landscape design to my business model. Many clients seem to desire landscape design more so than garden coaching, or if they need some coaching, they want design too. It only makes sense to add that element of the horticulture market niche to my business.

As we go along I may share some tips and methods of drawing landscape designs so you too can do your own landscape designs. It seems there are not a lot of sources of information for learning this skill-unless you wish to pay for it. Additionally, if you Google landscape design, guess what you come up with? Landscape designs with no input on how you get the actual thing on the paper-not an easy thing! So I'll try to help. It was always my intent to share what little knowledge I have about gardening with you readers when I started this blog. I have very little knowledge about drawing landscape designs but will doing quite a few in the next few months so we can learn together. If there is anything specifically related to the process you might like to see I'll try to fit it in here if you let me know, either by email or a comment.

Why I never thought of venturing into landscape design before is a question I am asking myself quite a bit lately....

in the garden....

My clients are quite delighted with their landscape design and are busy purchasing the plants and installing the design themselves-with a bit of guidance from me along the way. I am currently building my portfolio of landscape designs. Look for updates as I go along. This will be the first design I'll feature but there will be many more. I have before pictures and will take after pictures (required for certification though not required to practice landscape design in case you were wondering) once the landscape is complete. I can't wait! While these particular clients don't often check things on the computer they have given me permission to post their design and are most excited about it all. I'm excited because without the referral and the need the clients had to get a landscape design I might not have seriously considered designing landscapes so I am grateful to these folks.

P.S. The title block is cut out to protect the privacy of the clients but the direction North is straight up (that is part of the title block).

Do check out my new website located here for more info on landscape design.

Matron of Down on the Allotment is posted a dogblog post. Do check out all the dogs in the garden and send her a note letting her know about your dog...in the garden.

Update: The Blotanical Awards winners have been announced. Congratulations go out to all the winners. In the Garden did not win any awards but just being nominated was winning enough!

A Coach in the Garden: A Garden Coach

I have finally found my niche and have made a decision. I've decided to become a Garden Coach. What exactly is a garden coach? It is not really difficult to define, but it is difficult for folks to understand. I am providing you with a link to a Garden Coaching blog by Susan Harris. Susan also had an article in this month's issue of Organic Gardening that describes more about what garden coaches do. But I am going to relay a short story to you (with permission of course) about garden coaches. I had the opportunity to visit with Skeeter, her husband the Saint, and Skeeter's parents recently. We met at a local German restaurant and shared some chit chat over schnitzel. When I told them all I was going to come out as a 'Garden Coach', Skeeter asked, "Now what is a garden coach?". Her mother, so charmingly looked across the table at Skeeter and said, "Someone who teaches you to garden, duh." I simply loved it! I sure wish she would join me at my presentation tomorrow night. I am scheduled to talk to about 75 local folks at the Master Gardener Mini Course. It is at this presentation I will be announcing my new vocation. Not new really, but now professional. I am sure I will get many questions so Skeeter's mother's response was right on!

I equate my chosen avocation to that of a house inspector-but I'll take it a bit further. You know how you wish to buy a new house and the realtor advises you get a home inspection? In fact, oftentimes now a days, home sales are contingent on the results of the home inspection. You hire some guy with a truck and a ladder, maybe a safety suit and a tape measure, and you pay him (usually a him) an exorbitant amount of money to come to your house where he spends about two hours inspecting your home, its exterior and interior elements. He flushes toilets, checks the heating and cooling system and so on. Then he heads back to his house and types up a report (if you are lucky he types it!), puts it in an envelope and sends it to you-the prospective home buyer. You read it and then try to decipher it's contents.

"Okay, my stove was manufactured in 1978 by Whirlpool and is a model 567, check. My heating temperature is right on, check. My exterior door casing is rotted, check-oops-gotta get that fixed."

You understand right? I do, I've paid for several home inspections and find the information most helpful; especially since the whole house is new to me. Most of the time it is money well spent. Well I will be running my garden coach business in a similar manner.

There will of course be a fee for my services, most likely a package deal just like home inspectors provide. I will come to your home and 'inspect' everything close up. I will not do this alone though, I will expect clients to walk with me and I will guide, advise, and evaluate as I walk through your garden. This initial session will last approximately 1.5-2 hours. All the while I'll be taking notes, pictures and most likely measurements. See the similarity to a home inspector here? I will then convene back to my home and type up my findings in an easy to read and understand report format. I will also include recommendations based on the client's needs, desires, and realistic capabilities. How will I determine these needs, desires, and capabilities?

It is pretty easy when doing any type of inspection or on site visit to determine quite quickly what type of homeowner the person is like. Is the homeowner diligent with cutting and trimming their lawn? Or is long, weedy and spotty at best? Are there existing plants? And if so, what condition are they in? Well trimmed, or yellowed and dying? I can determine fairly quickly the capabilities with an on site visit, but I also have to match that bit of the puzzle up with the homeowners desires. Just because they might not be the best gardeners, is there a real desire there? Perhaps the homeowner is new to the home and the garden is left over from the previous homeowner? Maybe even the homeowner is handicapped and will need methods of maintaining the garden that he or she can handle? These questions and more will be answered when a client contracts me for services and I send him or her an in depth survey to fill out. The survey will need to be completed prior to any on site visit so as to aid me in understanding the client. What happens next?

Once the survey is completed, the on site visit is completed, the report is typed up and finalized, I will, at the client's request, deliver the report to the client in their garden-resulting in another visit to the garden. Hey, we all know gardens change very rapidly-I can't tell you how much changes in my garden from the morning to the night-tons! So I can get another eyes on look at the client's garden and see if some of the measures we talked about in the initial consultation have made a difference. Once the report is delivered, I will be available for follow up sessions at a later date.

I expect I will be most busy during the spring and fall seasons, but gardening here in Tennessee can go on all year long. Winter or summer sessions for garden coach services are not out of the question.

I have taken the necessary steps to be approved to operate my business from home, I have the website, email, business license and business cards. I am also registered on a worldwide directory of garden coaches and am ready for business. My shingle is hung-finally!

I hope that in some small way, I can help spread my love of gardening around my community so that everyone can enjoy what nature has to offer. Garden coaching is a start for me, albeit a small start.

Contact information for me as a professional garden coach is pretty easy. Obviously you can contact me here. In fact, the blog and my business website will be linked. With over 600 posts with lots of good information and helpful to do lists for local folks, I hope everyone will use this blog for gardening information they can easily implement on their own. It is what it is here for-in addition to helping me to learn more about gardening, and of course enabling gardeners to connect with one another.

I have also set up my profile on Susan Harris' premiere garden coaching website. You can find me here. In case you forget how to get there, just pull up the Garden Coach Directory, search by state, pull up Tennessee, and there I am!

Additionally, I do have a professional email address: tina@coachinthegarden.com. My business website is: www.coachinthegarden.com. Do check it out-now and each time you feel like it! I made it quite easy to remember and of course, you can see my motto there....

in the garden....

One more note, my co-posters and close friends and family were informed of my plan a few months ago. In case you are worried, this blog will not change. We have been posting for a very long time and I think readers have come to expect certain things from it, we will not waver from our commitment to this blog. Thanks to my co-posters encouragement and help on here, we will still post daily. Though I expect I will become more busy than I have been so we'll see how that affects my blogging. I will also be adding a link to the sidebar for the convenience of any readers who wish to access me professionally when they find they need garden coaching services.

I also must say a big hearty thank you to Helen Yoest of Gardening with Confidence. Without her encouragement and a big nudge for me to 'hang out my shingle', I might not have taken this huge step. I am grateful to her and to anyone who has ever read this blog and encouraged me in some small way in my gardening endeavors that means you!