Seeing Red

... and white... and pink.... and speckled cream.

LBD and I venture over to Sunrise Garden Center on a weekly basis to visit their resident doves and on one October morning, it was hard not to notice the huge shipment of poinsettias the center had received. Rows and rows of green with only brief hints of red and white reveling the plant's true identity.

I've been documenting their transformation.

October

November

December

We have one on our dinning room table. It's name is Elmo.

Now, can anyone tell me why that isn't a classic already?

Have a great weekend!

Terrarium

For our first wedding anniversary, Will bought me an apothecary jar with the intention of me turning it into a terrarium.

That was in January.

Since then, it's been boxed up empty. Waiting.

So, after the house was unpacked, one of the first things I did was visit Sunrise Garden Center where I purchased a small bag of pebbles, active charcoal (not like the charcoal you grill with, but sterilized charcoal specifically for gardening to keep mold and rot away), enriched soil, and three different types of ferns.

To assemble, I layered the bottom of the jar with the rocks, then the charcoal, then the soil, and planted the ferns in the soil. Then I dripped water around each fern, no more than a 1/2 cup total, put the lid on, and waited. After 30 minutes, beads of sweat started to appear on the side of the jar and after an hour the terrarium was foggy, humid with moisture. Confirmation that the little world I planted was a alive and well.

To maintain, all I have to (remember to) do is take the jar lid off every 3 days and let the environment breathe for half an hour to an hour, keep away from direct sunlight in a darker area in the house, trim the plants when necessary, and voila! Terrarium! Yeah!

Demise of the Traveling Garden

I'm sorry to report that my Traveling Garden didn't make the very last leg of the trip. Really is a pity, since they were doing so well until the very end. I mean they made the move from our house in Ludington to Will's parents house and then from Will's parent's house to Kansas City. But come the end of July, the heat completely zapped 'em and when I could have tried to save the project, I completely alienated it. Yup, I'm a plant murderer. I feel really terrible about it though! After the baby getting sick at the beginning and at the end of July, the commute to the library, and finally the move to Lawrence... my sad little garden was no more.

It was a nice idea at the time.... bringing a piece of our life in Ludington with us to Lawrence, but it looks like I'll be starting clean slate.

Which isn't so bad after all.

Because there's a garden center only a few blocks from our new house.

(!!!!!)

Buds and Blooms

The traveling garden grows!

Fresh summer air and evening storms inspired a few petals to peak through and vegetable buds to sprout. My assistant helps me water them in the late afternoon when I return home from work. Her little thumb is already turning green.

So It Begins, The Traveling Garden

We joke that this is grandma's garden. Her field of well-maintained dandelions.

I like them. Better than snow in the backyard that's for sure.

Over the past week, I've been back and forth during the move out of our house on whether or not I would go forward with The Traveling Garden. I'm going to go for it. Well, that is if it fits in the the moving truck that we're packing today...

Good As New: Container Garden

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd round up a few of my favorite upcycled container garden ideas. The snow has almost melted away from the other day, now we're just waiting on some warmer, sandals and sunhats, move my seedlings outside, spend the day at the park type of weather.

Teenage Seedlings

Due to a mischievous cat and freakishly large cucumbers, I did a little transplanting of my seedlings over the weekend. Zydeco has been caught nibbling on my garlic chives and stepping on my zinnias and cucs, some have survived some have seen their demise. To save my now teenage seedlings from their nemesis, I moved them into larger containers....

Seedsitting

While I was in Texas last a week, my husband dutifully took care of the seeds I started.

They made great progress in seven days don't you think?

Seed Start

Ever since I decided to create a traveling garden, I've been eager to get started, but after I read here that I needed to plant my seeds indoors 6 WEEKS IN ADVANCE, I freaked out. It hadn't even occurred to be to start early. I ran into the kitchen to count the aluminum cans, baby food jars, yogurt containers and egg cartons I had been saving for my seedlings. Then, I sifted through the recycling for containers for MORE containers that would also fit the bill.  I poured potting soil in what I had to work with and planted the seeds that afternoon.  Of course, it wasn't until after my minor panic attack that I did a quick search of the last frost date for my area and was relieved to find Ludington's isn't until May 6th. I'm starting my plant buddies right on time.

And so the growing begins...

The Traveling Garden

Since my family is on the move this May, creating a garden like the one I did last year is out of the question. Instead, this year I will attempt to create a traveling garden. Not entirely sure how I'm going to pull this off. My container gardening skills are zilch (not that I'm proficient in gardening in the first place). All I know is to live the life of a nomad this summer, my traveling garden has to be extremely portable and adaptable.

What to plant, what to plant? During LBD's naptime a few days ago I did a little research on what types of vegetables and cutting flowers I could grow in containers and  I came across this Community Container Garden, a carefully chosen selection of plants of which people all over the world, in their unique locations, grow together or "grow along". Does that make sense? From first time gardeners to experienced pros hailing from California, Iowa, Sweden, France, Australia.... all over the place, growing the same plants from seeds, sharing the experience.  This year's plant selection includes the sunspot sunflower, better bush tomato, garlic chives, spacemaster cucumber, and purple petra basil.

They had me at sunflower.

Now that I have an idea of what I'm going to plant, I just have to figure out: A) How to start seeds indoors and B)What I'm going to put them in once they're grown. Transportable for our summer wandering tour...

Suggestions are welcome.


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Lesson in Growing

After we moved from New York City to Ludington last year, I had a hard time adapting to our new environment .  I was incredibly homesick for the familiar tall buildings, the city streets, for the energy, and for my friends. One afternoon, I was on the phone with a friend, in a melancholy mood lamenting over my city nostalgia and he told me something I'll never forget. He said, "Only you can create your own happiness."

Later that evening, while I was doing the dishes, thinking about nothing, thinking about everything, looking out the window,  I narrowed in on a patch of dry dirt in our yard. An eyesore a few yards in length from what I assumed was too much sun exposure and a lack of maintenance.  It needed tending to and I had the time. So, the next day in effort to keep busy and stop moping I started digging in the dirt, manifesting some optimism.

Good As New: Greenhouse

I've been dreaming in green all week. And those dreams have been vacationing to these re-purposed greenhouses.

It snowed here in last night. No surprise.

As I lay in bed this morning, I was thinking how lovely it would be to get up, throw on sweats and a pair comfy boots, and go play in my greenhouse. Like visiting a morning in June any day of the year. (Hmmmm.... )

Is it spring yet?