A Bit of Awesomeness : Repurposed Flatware

Must have!

From the top . . .

daisy chestnut
monkeysalwayslook (second and third photo)
RRDesign13
countryfolkheart

Mid-March in the Garden :: To Do's

A few things to get a bit of a head start on your spring garden . . .

1. Treat yourself and your garden to some nice compost. Work this into the soil before you start planting. Like, now. Then your beds will be at the ready once the threat of the last frost passes and you can start getting your annuals and perennials in the ground. Not sure about where to get compost? Try Panorama Paydirt.

2. Think ahead of your peas. Offer them a structure to scramble up. It can be twine or chicken wire or a bamboo teepee. Something simple. If you have a handyman at the ready, check out Corey's pea trellis.

3. Veggies that can be transplanted to the garden right now: cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions (multiplier) and some leaf lettuces. You can find starts of these at the farmers' market and local nurseries. (I saw some nice ones at Ivy Nursery last week - $1.95 for a four cell pack.)

4. You can start the following by direct sowing of seeds right now: beets, kale, leaf lettuce, mustards, onions, peas, rutabaga, spinach, turnips.

5. Container growing your veggies? Lettuces will thrive - even in a shallow container. Give it a shot. It is super easy and very rewarding.

Too soggy to get out in the garden just yet? I'll be celebrating St. Patrick's Day in my own way - by baking (and devouring) some of my grandma's irish soda bread. Smothered with blackberry jam. Giving myself sustenance for the gardening tasks that lie ahead.

Much Ado in the Garden - Autumn 2008

Without the urgency of spring's pace, I have always loved the mellower tone of autumn in the garden. So much of my to-do list can be done gradually - over the next two months. And that suits me just fine these days.

1. Clean out the container garden. Compost plants-past-their-prime.
2. Move a compost container to the back porch - so running out in the winter to a far away compost bin is eliminated. As is the stink fest that results from neglected compost piling up in the kitchen.
3. Shred leaves for the compost bin. For leaf mold.
4. For the *new* front yard - plant that saucer magnolia (for Willa!) and the hedge line of glossy abelia.
5. Put plastic mulch down over raised beds - to prep them for spring planting.
6. Harvest and dry rosemary, sage and oregano from the herb garden.
7. Clean out gardening supplies and post give-aways to local friends.
8. Start forced hyacinth bulbs.
9. Plant bulbs in front beds and more naturalizing daffodils along the wood's edge.
10. Revisit my winter reading: The Herb Quarterly, plant and seed catalogs galore, Second Nature, Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Healing for Women.

*Bonus wish list item* - A cold frame. After asking me what I wanted for my birthday, I told Corey that I would really love a cold frame - so we could have greens all-winter-long. He paused, looked up and said, "How 'bout cash?" He is stretched thin these days. The cold frame can happen. Or not. There's always next year.

And, what is your favorite fall garden chore?

Fall Planning and Friends Who Inspire

I am fortunate enough to only have to work four days a week. Wednesdays are my day with Willa. And, yesterday also brought new ooomph to my garden thinking in August.

First, the White Flower Farm Fall 2008 catalog arrived. Filled to the brim with bulbs galore. Alliums, ephemerals, tulips and daffodils of every shape and size and smell. I gazed at the colors with my cup of tea during an unseasonably cool Virginia morning.

Then, a visit with Kris and Kristin - fellow mamas who love all things green.

Kris is an artist acutely tuned into her natural world. She creates magical terrariums. She also encourages me to consider trying new things - like planting beets and raising chickens. Photos of her mid-summer container garden last year reminded me about the beauty of coleus - and I planted some of my own this season.

Kristin's garden in the city of Charlottesville is jaw-droppingly tidy and efficient. Eggplant, tomatoes, herbs, edamame. I also noted that the afternoon shade offered by the trees in her backyard would be a good idea out in the Holler. It would extend the time me and my Irish skin could spend out in the vegetable garden - even as things got steamingly hot in July and August.

And finally, a phone call from Leora inviting me to a Virginia Native Plant Society outing on Sunday. An area gardener is opening their property so we can come and gawk. Leora is a painter and sees colors and hues that go over my head unnoticed. Visits and walks with her always expand how I see our corner of the world and I cherish them. I can't wait.

Thanks, dear friends. You've injected me with renewed energy and enthusiasm.

The Container Garden :: Before the Heat of August

A glimpse into our container garden.

From the top:

Willa plucks petunias in her favorite garden spot. The container garden is the perfect, eye-level, sensory experience for her in the little Bumbo seat.

An asparagus fern a-top a makeshift side table/upside-down terracotta pot.

Globe amaranths against a rustic trellis.

Purple hyacinth bean vines thrive in the humidity next to our birdbath.

Petunias, fan flowers and succulents.

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I hope to be tucked among the greenery of our porch garden in the mornings and in the evenings . . . with a cup of tea, with a Willa, with a book, with a grin.

Yay - weekends. Hope yours includes a little chill time among your greenery. 'Cause isn't that what August is for . . . ?

Garden Glimpses :: From The Hollow

*Finally* figuring out the power of my new camera. Capturing garden moments from our weekend. From the top . . .

Our cutting flower patch brings me so much happiness these days. I get out in the early morning and pluck here and pluck there. Corey's office is near the patch and he caught a glimpse of me merrily picking out a bouquet and offered to set me up with a larger swatch of land for next spring. Offering to make things happen with the tractor and a pile of compost. This is the best kind of gift he can give me. I think he's starting to get that.

Mint harvested from our container garden and blackberries picked from our land. I have blackberry syrup on the brain - to drizzle over pancakes and waffles, ice cream and . . . a summer-induced need for it to be poured over shaved ice. Like a good Snoopy Sno-Cone!

A maidenhair fern found a home in my newest terrarium-slash-greenhouse. My maidenhair ferns usually dry up and fizzle. I am hoping that the extra humidity from the glass enclosure will prolong this one's life beyond a few weeks.

Not from the garden, but garden inspired. A dress for Willa with tiny flower prints. When the air-conditioning chases me inside - I have been mustering up the courage to work at the sewing machine. I buy the inexpensive fat quilting material quarters at the fabric store ($1.29) and that will make one dress. Or, um, multiple, practice versions of the same dress. (~Smirk.~)

Plant This :: Verbena

When I do the bulk of my container garden shopping, in the spring, verbena has yet to really put on its show. It gets overlooked and the plants that eventually go ka-put by mid-summer win out because of what they can show me in May. As those plants now limp along and beg for morning-only Virginia sun - my newly, July-purchased verbena hasn't broken a sweat. This variety is a trailer; a draips-er - bringing a bit of sweetness to any container that comes its way.

Plant This :: Globe Amaranth

I had a big container of globe amaranth in our container garden two years ago and it got the most attention from visitors. So, I picked up a starter from the Wednesday evening City Market in Meade Park and added it to this year's very simple deck garden. Give it full sun (afternoon sun) and a sprinkle of water here and there. This low-fuss annual will keep blooming well into early autumn. Pair it with trailing chartreuse sweet potato vine (not pictured here - but here's a photo) for a cooling effect. Both withstand our summers beautifully.

The Heat Got Your Garden Down? Plant a Succulent.

I was lucky enough to be asked by a friend to help brainstorm gift planter ideas for a dinner party her school group was throwing. We needed something that would be low maintenance - as we did not want to give the party-goers a frustrating gardening albatross. Succulents saved the day.

Succulents retain water, in the same way a cactus does. So you don't need to throw much H-two-O their way. If you can, purchase cactus potting soil. It is a good investment and gives them the drainage that they need to thrive. They need lots of sun.

We opted to spring for extra-beautiful terracotta pots from Guy Wolff and they complimented the colors of the different succulents just the way we had hoped . . .

These are from a local nursery, The Garden Spot. Their sweet staff was so helpful and their succulent offerings were inspiring. My friend treated me to one of the chartreuse varieties - Spring Beauty - as a thank you. A good plant for a new mom. It will be ignored. And under those hapless of gardening circumstances, it will thrive.

Container Gardening for the Sweltering South

Plant swap find - my container hosta.

Boxwood as backbone.

Glazed, fancy pottery. A late season sale purchase didn't hurt the purse.

Salvation Army pottery find for hens and chicks - $2.

Galvanized tin bucket for petunias.

Elvis Costello, Weezer, Loudon Wainwright and Frank Black have been keeping me company while I get a few things done in our Sugar Hollow Deck Garden. After a few years of container gardening (one of my all time favorite ways to garden, by-the-by), I have a few tips that I hope can save you some precious time and Benjamins - while keeping the frustration factor as low as possible. 'Cause you don't want to run away from the experience pulling your hair out, right? Right.

1. Treat yourself to some backbones. Good for quick greening up of a space. Little evergreens, boxwoods, hostas, ivy - all surprisingly interesting when potted up in a container garden space.

Keeping-it-cheap - I find my little boxwoods and shrubs at The Big Home Improvement Stores for a few dollars. My hosta found me through a plant swap. Ivy can be propagated easily through cuttings. Quick growing vines like morning glories and hyacinth bean are easy to start from seed and fill out vertical spaces.

2. I love the look of terracotta. However, it is a losing battle during the really hot months. And the smaller the container, the more difficult it will be to keep things watered.

Keeping-it-easy - Put (or keep the plants) in the plastic container you bought them in. Use these as inserts for the terracotta pots. They'll retain water while you enjoy the look of the terracotta. Kick back with container garden cocktail with all of the time and energy you save on watering.

3. Containers don't need to be expensive. I use old bushel baskets, galvanized tin containers and thrift store finds.

Keeping-it-cheap - Check out my post on transforming galvanized buckets into a salt-of-the earth container for your garden goods.

4. If you can afford them, buy glazed containers. Real deal pottery. These can get pricey. I usually wait until the end of the season and treat myself to one or two - at 40% off. But they withstand winters, retain moisture and can add another depth of character to your garden.

Keeping-it-cheap - Wait for October or November to make your purchase or visit local thrift shops for unique finds.

5. Plant wisely. Certain plants are more rewarding than others during our summer months.

Keeping-it-easy - My thoughts on what has worked during the thirsty months of July and August are here.

6. Watering can start to bite you in the ass. I know it is hard for me to keep up with it. Think about ways to cut back on feeding the water monster (with the right containers) or consider an on-the-fly container irrigation system.

Keeping-it easy-and-cheap - This idea from Gayla at You Grow Girl for a pop bottle irrigation system. Going on vacation? Put your beloved plants in an inch or two of water in your bathtub.

Super Easy Herb Container Garden: Mints!

Chocolate mint iced tea. Steph's Meadow Tea. Mojitos. Mint juleps. All are within reach if you have a somewhat sunny spot and a container to host a mint plant or two. Mints will even come up year-after-year within a planter. With little to-do. And, when all is said and done, you'll be happier that you kept them in the container garden - as they can be very invasive within the regular garden patch.

I grow Kentucky Colonel mint (perfect for all cocktails), chocolate mint and apple mint. Plant them in a nice potting soil and throw some organic fertilizer their way every-so-often (think compost tea) if you are so inclined. They'll produce all summer long.

What could be better, on a hot, sultry eve, than to have friends over on your deck or porch - among your mint plants - while you serve up cocktails fresh from your container garden? Not much.

Is 2 p.m. too early to start drinking on a spring Friday afternoon?! Ack. I have to stay off the sauce for a while longer. I'll probably treat myself to an herbal iced tea instead. Willa will be the better for it.

Snippets of New Momma Gardening Endeavors

My new life hit me literally overnight. I went from being a pod and a vessel to a food source. A master laundress. A mama.

So, my gardening these days comes by piece meal. Which, I thought would frustrate me. Instead, the slower pace has been an eye-opener. Splicing up my gardening time and projects into little moments that I find intriguing - with the time to look at more of the details. Close up. Before they disappear and I am called away from them.

My commitment to growing easy cutting flowers has not faultered. My inability to say no and limit seed purchasing has no end, however. As of today, I have seven varieties of zinnia seed packets. More probably to follow. I'm planting - Apricot Blush, All Summer Cutting Mix, Giant Flowered Mix, Exquisite, State Fair Mixed Colors, Fruit Smoothie and Granny's Bouquet.

Flower and fern pressings from this past fall. Watching one too many Victorian-set BBC programs has me framing my ferns! An obsession with tea and crumpets to follow.

Bulbs in containers. It was my first year trying this and I am thrilled to pieces ('Thrilled to pieces?!' When did I start saying things like that?! Egads. Must be another side effect of the BBC addiction.) My absolute favorite tulip color totally does my blue pottery justice. I keep peeking out our back door to gaze and gander at them.

New Mother Gardening - 2008 Visions

For new mommas and new gardeners alike. My thoughts on keeping the garden season light and simple. I will miss starting my own seeds and some of my container garden plantings - but need to embrace sanity and time savers. For this spring, at least!

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Whenever possible, let others do the seed starting. This is satisfying for two reasons - ready-to-plant seedlings and an excuse to visit and wander around local greenhouses. My wee papoose will join me as I visit Milmont Greenhouses in Stuarts Draft and Shady Lane Greenhouses in Free Union. Both offer heirloom varieties of tomatoes, other vegetables and herbs.

Pare down the container garden. This will be tough. Especially since I get into an irrational tizzy when I see a plant that can be nurtured in a container.

1. Allow small shrubs (boxwoods, arborvitae and dwarf spruces are fun), ivy and vinca to become the backbones of the container garden. Ivy and vinca are too invasive in settings other than a pot.

2. Stay away from multiple, small containers (they need more watering) and focus on the architectural offerings of larger containers.

3. Treat yourself to organic potting soil mix in a bag. Making my own potting soil ain't gonna happen this spring. Nope, it just ain't.

4. Remember the plants that thrive in the heat and a little bit of neglect - the fan flower, marigolds, geraniums, globe amaranth. Because, this year for sure, they *will* be neglected.

Vegetable Gardening - Stick to the No-Brainers. Tomatoes, zucchini, rhubarb, snap peas, green beans, different lettuce varieties, spinach, mustard greens, radishes. With the exception of the tomatoes and rhubarb, these can be started by sprinkling seeds directly into the earth - with some watering and high returns.

Cutting Flower Garden - Stick to the No-Brainers. Zinnias (as many varieties as possible - including Benary's Giant Mix and Sunbow Mix), cosmos, sunflowers, bachelor's button, calendula, nasturtium, love-in-a-mist, salvia, the Prized-Strain mix of sweet peas. These can be sown directly into the soil, as well. With little to-do.

The Herb Garden. I am going to move (most) of my herbs out to a raised bed. Too many of them are fussy in containers and seem to thrive with more soil, air and light. The herbs that like to run rampant (i.e. mints and lemon balm) will stay in large containers on our deck. Plus, they seem to be okay with that whole neglect-thing.

Mulch needs to be easy on the back and light as a feather. No hardwood mulch allowed. Think shredded leaves, pine needles, cardboard, straw. This will also cut back on watering.

Enjoy field trips and visits to nearby gardens. Even if I get out for an hour or two, I always-always-always find this rejuvenating. Through the Garden Gate tours (from the Charlottesville Virginia Cooperative Extension), Albemarle Garden Week, Ted Peter's azalea garden and Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

Remember the ants! Remember the anthills! Gardening is about contributing to your vision - one plant, one project, one weed-pulled- at-a-time. A seed resulting in an herb or a flower is to be cherished. A tomato plucked from your own garden is a victory - for yourself and for the local food movement. A lesson learned one year is a money and time saver for next year.

And so the cycle of gardening and the gardener goes. Every season will leave you knowing a little bit more, I promise. As for myself, I'm hoping that this upcoming season will teach me even more about the small steps. The small victories. Incremental gardening at its best.

P.S. Don't think I didn't notice that this list is still too long. Ugh. Crap.

(More) In the Way of Blues and Greens

Ivy spilling out of a blue bowl.

Containers filled with bulbs and boxwood - awaiting spring.

A sliver of our new bathroom.

I've taken to applying my favorite colors from the garden to our ongoing house construction. It is the one of the few parts of the process in which I have any confidence. Tho' Corey *did* teach me how to wire an electrical outlet last winter. Made me feel like a bad ass. A few minutes of cockiness doesn't necessarily equal confidence, but I'll take it.

Mid-November and Still At It

Turns out, autumn gardening is truly a favorite gardening time of mine. No relentless bugs, no humidity, no energy-zapping heat. When you weed, things stay - weeded. When you tidy up - things sit that way for a spell. There's the snap of the fresh air. The smell of fallen leaves. You get the picture. It is precious time - to be taken advantage of - when getting a head start for next season.

I am slowly putting our gardens to bed. My belly has been getting in the way of some of my chores - so, this week, I am going to hunt for a low, step stool that will become a gardening seat. To get me closer to the ground. I mean, us, closer to the ground.

Our raised vegetable beds. Slowly being cleaned up - with lots of help from my mother-in-law. Compost and shredded leaves will be added, and in some cases, sheets of cardboard will be used to smother the sections that host the hard-to-pluck/kill weeds.

My $10 potting bench (from Roses!). I have been rinsing out containers with a bleach and water mixture - to eradicate any lingering pests from this past season.

Lavender plants on their way to being transplanted from a container to our raised beds.

Bringing It All Back Home

Pooped beyond pooped. I rocked a little too much last week (Lucinda Williams on Tuesday, Bob and Elvis on Thursday). Lesson learned (as in "You're no longer 25") and sleep was embraced this past weekend. Ready to slow things down a bit and (happily) get back to routines.

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During my visit with family up in New York, I finally took some photos of my mom's garden. She has created a wonderfully inviting world in what she calls her 'postage stamp' plot. Little corners invite you to sit. Other parts look like decades-old shade gardens - with moss and hostas and vinca. Red window shutters peek out of ivy growing over the garage. And, I'm totally snagging her idea for the arborvitae, verbena, lobelia and brachycome container. It smacks beautifully of Italy. Take a look-see.

Arborvitae, verbena, petunias, brachycome and lobelia.

Black-eyed susans finding support in a rustic fence.

Pale yellow Million Bells in a weathered window box.

I love how these elements work together - slate path stones, mossy brick, grass and the colors of the container spilling out and pulling it all together.

Call It A Comeback

The Black-Eyed Susan Vine. Long figured for dead as August rolled around. A single tear rolled down my cheek as I helplessly watched it become a crunchy mass.

Then, cooler weather and a ton of rain. I can't be quite sure, but I think it actually reseeded itself. Rising like a phoenix from the flames.

I started the Black-Eyed Susan Vine from seed in the spring (very easy and it produced extremely sturdy, substantial seedlings). This vine also does well in part-shade. It is part of my container garden, growing in an old bushel basket and winding up a rustic trellis.

A little bit of sunshine on a cloudy day. I can't take my eyes off of the blooms and the twining leaves. I think it picked up on my smitten-ness. And is giving me its best show.

Long Weekend Bliss - Part Two

From the top: Cuttings from the renewed container garden - forget-me-nots, globe amaranth and brachycsome; homemade linzer tarts with local strawberry-rhubarb preserves; bejeweled-like zinnias from the garden; and . . . a behind-the-scenes to the linzer tart photo. Note the pup on the right licking her chops. Shameless.

The Fan Flower

I have watched this annual put up with both droughts and over-watering in my container garden. Next year, I'm treating myself to more than one plant. So forgiving and such a great shade of blue-ish/purple. It is also known as Scaevola.

From the top: Cypress vine, sunflower, creeping thyme, my fiddle among the morning glory leaves.