Posts by Doug Scott
Fertilizing Basics: The ABCs and NPKs of Fertilizer
A couple of weeks ago I started a series of posts on dirt…err, soil. The first was on the basics of what soil is…your plants’ home and its food. Last week I gave you some basics on why and how to amend your soil. Today’s post I’m going to explain the ABCs of fertilizing your…
Read MoreWhat’s Your Story?
Do you have the kind of friend who will really tell you like it is? Not in a jerky kind of way…well because that’s not a friend, that’s a jerk. No, I mean the kind of friend who will speak into your life in a critical, yet life-giving kind of way. I do…in fact I’m…
Read MorePlease won’t you be my neighbor?
There are few things that make my mind zoom back to my childhood quicker than hearing the song from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look at the video below or ask one of your parents.) Man that was a long time ago…and when I consider how different many…
Read MoreThe Basics of Amending Your Soil
Last week I posted on the different types of soil…and how clay-heavy soils and sand-heavy soils provide less than ideal growing conditions for your plants. And unfortunately most of us are dealing with one end of that soil spectrum or the other…which requires us to do more than just throw our plants into the ground.…
Read MoreAmending Your Soil …. the DIRT on Dirt!
I love dirt. I love the way it feels between my fingers and toes. I love the way it smells. I love what it represents. I love seeing it on my kids’ hands and faces because of what they’ve likely been up to. I just love dirt. But all that dirt is to me…it’s not…
Read MoreThe Hanging Daybed – a Perfect Spot to Read or Snooze
So Britt has started this series of posts on redeeming your ground by reading outside; however, as she suggested last week…I’m not much of a reader. I know I should be for so many reasons, but I’m just not. Sorry. That said, I redeem my ground in different ways…and one of those ways is to…
Read MoreTips for Watering Your Lawn
I’m going to take a break from my deeper WHY redeem your ground posts to give you some helpful information on HOW you can redeem your ground. And I mean quite literally…how to best water your lawn. Given that it’s already getting into the mid-80s here, it’s something a lot of people are asking. But by…
Read MoreGet Outside & Play! (The Importance of Outdoor Play)
Odds are, if you’ve read even just a few of our posts you’ve gleaned that one of the reasons Britt and I are doing this whole redeem your ground thing is out of our desire to get kids outside to play more…ours, yours, whomevers! A lot of that is likely due to the fact that…
Read MoreMy Top 5 Chicken Coop Designs
Now that spring is here and the weather finally seems to be cooperating, I’m chomping at the bit to get some of my projects outside underway. One area of our yard I’m going to focus on first is in and around our chicken coop…my ladies are needing just a bit more attention! So off to Pinterest…
Read MoreRedeem Your Own Self…Live a Healthier Lifestyle
Today I’m going to take a break from posting about how you can redeem your ground with beautiful flowers and chickens and veggie gardens…to post on something that helped kick-start this redeem your ground journey of mine in the first place. That was to “redeem my own self”…by living a healthier lifestyle of diet and…
Read MoreThe Window Box at My Back Porch…Before and “During”
In last week’s post (Container Gardening 101…a la Helen Weis…) I mentioned that not only had Helen so graciously shared some of her container garden magic with all of us…but personally, she gave me some suggestions as to what to put in a few of my container gardens as well. The window box at our…
Read MoreThe Grand Lady Banks’ Rose
With all of the many flowers bursting at their seams with life and color this time of year, you’ll find more of my posts detailing out some of my favorites. Today’s spotlight flower is the Lady Banks’ Rose. I actually have very few roses in our outdoor spaces. Not because I don’t like them, because…
Read MoreCrisp & Clean…White Spring Flowers
As I have mentioned on a previous post or two, I have a penchant for white flowers. And there’s no better time of year to see some of my favorites on grand display than right now. Whether if it’s the white Chinese Snowball Viburnum poofs weighing down its branches…or the dainty flower of the Reeves’ Spirea –…
Read MoreDelicious Recipe for Rosemary Bread
If you’ve visited RYGblog over the past couple of months you’ve gotten to know my friend and fellow home gardener, Tracy Prather. Her Creamy Asparagus & Roasted Artichoke Soup recipe made us all think twice about two veggies that are often avoided (at least I once did)…and her last recipe for Parmesan Pork with Fresh Oregano definitely…
Read MoreTop 10 Landscape Design Tips (Part 2 of 2)
Last week I laid out the first five of my Top 10 Landscape Design Tips … and today I’ll finish up with the other five. As I concluded last time, if you want more details on a specific point, let me know and I’ll focus a future post on just that topic. So here are my…
Read MoreWhy Redeem Your Ground? Your Kids.
Okay…I’ll admit it…it’s been a tough couple of days. A few things that I had hoped would come together didn’t…and a few things I didn’t want to happen did. Launching a new business, particularly in an industry you didn’t build your 20+ year career on, is challenging to say the least…frustrating at times, and sometimes…
Read MoreOur Staycation…Staying Close to Home for School Break
Now, I’ll say it upfront…I may be a bit jealous of my friends and family who are posting pics of their amazing Spring Break trips to beautiful beachside villas or dramatic snow-capped ski resorts. But this year we decided to stay close to home and go on a staycation. And we were not alone. For…
Read MoreTop 10 Tips for Landscape Design (Part 1 of 2)
Greetings fellow Ground Redeemers! If your weather is as amazing as it is here in Atlanta, I’m certain you’re itching to get outside to enjoy your day…or to get some of the projects off your list so that you can enjoy the outdoors even more in the days to come. If one of those projects…
Read MoreGrilled Parmesan Pork with Fresh Oregano
[A few weeks back I introduced you to my friend and fellow home gardener, Tracy Prather…when she got us salivating over her Creamy Asparagus & Roasted Artichoke Soup recipe. Well she’s back today with yet another lip-smacking delicious recipe…Grilled Parmesan Pork with Fresh Oregano. Thanks again Tracy…I look forward to trying this one out too!]…
Read MoreDon’t Miss the Flowers of March
My walk around the yard yesterday and today’s beautiful weather got me out there again this morning…and this time I was struck by the beauty of 3 flowers in particular. One bursting with color – Forsythia. Another dainty and intricate – Loddon Lily. And finally, a graceful addition cascading from my favorite vine – Evergreen…
Read MoreRedeem Your Ground…The Video
Earlier today, as the sun finally shone through after some very gray days, I closed my laptop and took a walk through my yard…stopping to breathe it all in. I was excited to see the hostas and peonies starting to break through the ground…my G.G. Gerbing azaleas promising a sea of white in a matter…
Read MoreOur Family Vegetable Garden…In the Beginning
Our family vegetable garden story started about 4 or 5 years ago when Britt signed Brownie and me up for a “Family Vegetable Garden Workshop” at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. We had talked for years about having a veggie garden, but like many other things we’d talked about, it had remained just that…just talk. But…
Read MoreRaising Backyard Chickens 101: Why & How Many?
My chicken posts from the last couple of weeks seemed to have piqued the interest of quite a few…particularly on the design of our chicken coop. Today’s post will be the first of several where I’ll provide greater context and a bit more detail on not only the design of our coop, but on a…
Read MoreSpring Is Springing…Top 3 Early Spring Flowers
[Sorry for the delay in getting this post out. A combination of Atlanta’s schizophrenic weather and my running around like a madman has left me in bed sick with some nasty crud. But without further a do…] Over the past few weeks, as the seasons are struggling to turn, I’ve finally been able to see…
Read MoreCreamy Asparagus & Roasted Artichoke Soup
[So today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Tracy Prather, a great friend and fellow home gardener. She will be gracing us with some of her delicious recipes from time to time…and today’s Creamy Asparagus & Roasted Artichoke Soup is the first. I wouldn’t be surprised if her healthy recipes inspired you to…
Read MoreRaising Backyard Chickens…Answering Your Questions
We really had a great response from last week’s post on the truth about raising backyard chickens…at least my truths. In addition to a good deal of traffic, we also got some good questions. I’ll answer some of them here. Please keep your questions coming…I’d love to provide you any insight that I can. “What,…
Read MoreThe Real Truth about Raising Backyard Chickens
When I first started raising backyard chickens I really knew next to nothing. I knew what I wanted to get out of raising chickens, but beyond my vast experience at raising parakeets as a kid (which didn’t help much at all…surprise), I didn’t have a clue. Now, after having a whopping 1.5 years of experience…
Read MoreGather, Play…and So Much More
[So I asked my friend and fellow family and outdoors lover, Jen Overly, if I could use her comment on a recent post as a post in and of itself. “Asked” is probably not the most accurate word…more like “told”. I “told” her because I simply didn’t want what she had to share buried in…
Read MoreGetting Ready for Spring…Make the Most of It!
Now that the ice has melted (at least here in Atlanta) and all the love that could be spread on Valentine’s Day has been spread, you may be wondering how to best prepare your yard for what’s just around the corner…SPRING! Of course you are. Well I for one will be glad to have these…
Read MoreWhere am I?
[Once again…due to Atlanta’s crazy weather, we interrupt our regularly scheduled ground redemption posts to pause…to pause and consider. WARNING: This post is a bit deeper than most…but hang in there with me.] I woke up this morning to see my world covered in a blanket of white. It almost looked other-worldly…a bit Narnia’esque. Although…
Read MoreThe Home Vegetable Garden – Clearly a Family Affair
There’s a ton I could say about today’s guest-blogger, Josh…but I’m going to limit it to these few words or phrases: husband and daddy; outdoorsman; home gardener; and friend. What sets him apart, though, is the infectious fervor with which he approaches each of these areas of his life . He’s that guy who makes…
Read MoreThe Potting Shed…a Solution of Function & Beauty
Earlier this week I introduced you to Brenda…my fast-talking, bigger-than-life mother-in-law…lover of her garden and all things beautiful. Recently she took a trip to visit a friend out of town…and as you can tell by her post below, she was quite impressed by the beauty and functionality of her friend’s potting shed. I think you…
Read MoreFamily Roots Run Deep & Strong…
Not only did I come from a family who enjoys being outside…whether hunting in the woods or getting our fingers dirty in our yard, I was also fortunate to marry into one that does as well. Some of my richest memories of childhood are of being outside with my family…something that Britt and I are…
Read MoreWe Love Our Backyard Chickens … But They’re Not for Everyone
Britt and I were just talking the other day about how crazy it is that we’ve become chicken people…not crazy, walking around with feathers in our hair and chicken poop on our clothes chicken people (well most of the time), but chicken-owning, chicken-loving chicken people. When we got married we would have never dreamed of…
Read MoreSnow Days … the Perfect Time to Pause and to Play
Being the Florida boy that I am … the closest thing I had to a snow day growing up was having to stay home from school because of a hurricane. But those days were characterized by simply being stuck inside and fearing that our windows were going to be blown in. I’ve since learned that…
Read MoreDo you know where your kids are?
As I was starting out on this whole redeem your ground journey, I was told by two completely unrelated people that I should read “The Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv. And I’m so glad that they did. It’s a great read – it’s thought-provoking and for…
Read More“Well hello there!”…What’s Your Home Saying?
The entrance and approach to your home is your house’s way of greeting your guests. Some houses do a great job at that, essentially saying “Hello…welcome, I’m so glad you’re here…we’ve been looking forward to seeing you.” Others on the other hand say “Stay away…don’t bother me…I’m not in the mood to have guests right…
Read MoreWhat’s Your Family Story?
There are few things that move me more than music. Sometimes a song will just send me somewhere. And you can call me a sap, but “The House that Built Me” is one of those songs. Although Miranda Lambert didn’t write it, her performance and the words that writers Tom Douglas & Allen Shamblin penned,…
Read MoreDIY Pallet Board Red Ribbon Star
In keeping with our theme of simplifying life, my dear wife suggested that we all bring homemade gifts for our Christmas gift exchange with her extended family this past year. Although I think it took a little bit of convincing for some (they weren’t certain if making something was really simpler than just buying something), eventually everyone…
Read MoreZip Line Adventures in Our Own Backyard!
Woopwoop! Our first “Share Your Story” submission! Hopefully this trend will continue…where others will start sharing their stories here too – inspiring others to live fuller lives at home outside. As you can see by the submission below, here’s a family that’s doing just that! [Alright, in full disclosure…this story was not submitted by…
Read MoreBringing the Outside In | Our Great Room Renovation … per Doug
[Lesson learned: Britt and I need to be clearer as to whom is going to write which post – we weren’t when it came to writing about our great room. See Britt’s post below. Since we offered different points of view and some different information, we’re going to go ahead and post them both. You’ll…
Read MoreFrom “Land of the Lost” to “Scott Family Farm” … for Our Backyard Chickens
When thinking of how to describe what our side yard used to be like, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite childhood after-school TV shows – “The Land of the Lost”. While there were no Sleestaks nor close calls of being eaten by a dinosaur, it certainly was the part of our…
Read MoreNot Your Average Treehouse
My girls had been asking me to build them a playhouse for some time. For months I thought through design ideas, but I couldn’t get the thought of this diminutive structure being outgrown by both of my girls no sooner than I finished building it…and then it would go unused and become less than worthless…
Read MoreFamily Fireside Chats
There is nothing more mesmerizing to me than staring into a fire. I could do it for hours. At the hunting camp growing up, I can remember ending every day hanging out at the campfire – not only because there was nothing else to do and it was freezing cold everywhere else, but because there…
Read MoreEvergreen Cuttings…Underutilized Throughout the Year
Christmas seems like one of the only times of the year when people use evergreen cuttings inside their homes…and when I say evergreen I mean a landscape shrub or tree that stays green all year round…not just from a fir or spruce tree. I guess one of the few exceptions to that is bringing in…
Read MoreRYGblog Categories…What’s In a Name?
When Britt and I first started talking about doing a blog we knew that we had to come up with a creative way to organize our ideas that captured our passions in a memorable way. We identified six areas in which we’d personally “redeemed our ground” at home and felt like they would resonate with others too. We came…
Read MoreHow We’ve Redeemed Our Ground … and Will!
Winter is a unique time of year for those of us who enjoy spending a lot of time outside in our yards. This is a common time for organizing our tools and cleaning things up, but it’s also a great opportunity to reflect over the past year’s projects, while looking forward to the next. As…
Read MoreRedeem Their Ground…At Home Too!
Although we’re going to invest in redeeming the ground for the kids at Beat the Drum in Kenya…that’s certainly not where it has to start or end. Helping redeem the ground of neighbors or friends…or someone we barely know…is a great way to pay it forward too. It doesn’t have to be overseas…and in fact,…
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