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The Smart Greenhouse Upgrade (And the Cabbage Moth War)
We are in the middle of a major heat wave here in Kalamazoo – it’s been in the 90s the past week and there’s no end in sight. Upside, it has been really rainy over the last few days, so it’s a good...
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Greenhouse Gains & Garden Games: Hilling, Digging, and Plant Drama
Last weekend was the last weekend of hard labor for this season! Regular readers will remember that I dismantled the herb bed this year so that I could put my herbs in 7 gallon fabric grow bags. I’ll...
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The Disco Ball Blueberry Shield + A Full 2026 Garden Update
I am officially going to have blueberries this year, even if I had to resort to blinding the local wildlife to get them! This weekend, I built custom box frames for my bushes by upcycling years of old...
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The Tomato Fountain, Blue Potatoes, and the 10 PM Nightdress Maneuver
It’s been a couple weeks of all the tiny things accumulating. In no particular order: Potato time! I got potato sets from The Maine Potato Lady this year. Potatoes are still cheap, but I grow them for...
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Blueberry Row and Garden Rescues: Lessons in Water and Patience
It was a gorgeous Saturday in Michigan, so I took full advantage and tackled some long-overdue tasks in the yarden. Gardening is a constant learning curve, and this weekend was a masterclass in the...
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Square Foot Gardening 101: My Zone 6b Good Friday Planting Breakdown!
Good Friday was planting day at the Not So Seekrit Lair! This year I am being really intentional on my planting and tracking data. I have a Google Sheet set up and if you’re interested in seeing that,...
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Herb Garden Renovation: Fighting Deer & Finding Focus
Saturday I decided I was finally going to take the herb bed in hand and get rid of the deer fence netting once and for all. Back in 2021, it was newly refreshed and a gorgeous thing, tidy and orderly,...
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Soil “Osteoporosis” and the 4-Yard Weekend: Upgrading My Garden Game
Some people take a vacation day to relax. Some take Friday off to get a jump on the weekend. Some people take a full 8 hours of vacation time to shovel dirt. Hi! I decided over the winter to up my...
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My Costco Greenhouse Now Has a 220-Gallon Rain Barrel System, At Great...
Adding rainwater harvesting to my Costco greenhouse seemed like an excellent idea because I want to reduce my dependence on the garden hose. Friday I installed DIY greenhouse gutters, and today I...
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How I Added Gutters to My Costco Greenhouse!
The Costco greenhouse is made by Yardistry, and while it’s a great structure, it doesn’t come with gutters. So in my ongoing effort to make the Farm at the Not So Seekrit Lair a little more...
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Book review: The Hadacol Boogie, by James Lee Burke
It pains me to say it, but I didn’t enjoy the latest James Lee Burke book, The Hadacol Boogie. My good friend Dave Johnson put me on to him many years back and I’ve enjoyed his writing immensely. His...
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A mid-winter update!
We have had a long, long stretch of exceedingly cold weather here in Kalamazoo, more so than usual! Fortunately, the greenhouse did NOT have a repeat of the frozen solid hijinks of my last post. The...
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10th Avenue Freeze-out!!
Except I don’t live on 10th Avenue, and Bruce Springsteen was not available to lend me a hand with this crisis! I opened the greenhouse Saturday to check on my plants and the greens I seeded recently,...
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Greenhouses are…interesting…
I am LOVING my Costco greenhouse! That said, I’m learning that they are NOT magical chambers where one leaves their plants and then returns days later to an abundant harvest of perfectly formed...
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Bucket List Item Activated: Installing a Costco Greenhouse in Zone 6b!
Ever since I started really getting into growing fruits and vegetables, I have wanted a greenhouse. The money never really lined up, so I kept it on the back burner for years. This spring, I started a...
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Garden update and lots of pictures! 6-21-25
Well, I started this post on Memorial Day but it’s been a minute. Back then I had just planted four eggplants, four hills of cucumbers, four red bell peppers, and a small fabric pot of basil to...
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Book Review: Hellions, by Julia Elliot
Oh, I have a new favorite author in South Carolina author Julia Elliot! This book is her third, and her second collection of short stories. The vibe is predominantly Southern Gothic, but full of the...
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One thing led to another in the yarden! 4-27-25
Today was a day that started out one way and ended a completely different way. I was just going to pot up my recently purchased tomato plants in five gallon buckets. Yes, I started seeds, but I just...
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4-17-25 And so Yarden 2025 begins!
Today is a gorgeous day to get started in the yard! I began by taking a hard rake to my front berm to dislodge the thatch leftover from the winter. I don’t do a fall cleanup because I want to be...
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Book Review: You Could Make This Place Beautiful, by Maggie Smith.
I thought this was a technically lovely book. It is arranged in essays talking about her divorce. The author is a very good poet, and I enjoyed her viral poem Good Bones. That is why I picked this up...
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