April 1, 2021 by Born To Organize

Thirty Days in the Garden: Planting Tomatoes

I haven’t had much success growing tomatoes these past few years, but I refuse to give up. Fresh garden tomatoes off the vine are a treat.

My dad grew tomatoes in our garden in Canada. I grew up eating tomato sandwiches for lunch. In California, people add tomatoes to things like salads and sandwiches, but we enjoyed eating tomatoes as the main event.

When I write or type the word tomato, I can hear my mother pronouncing it tuh-mah-toh. Most Americans use the hard a or tuh-mey-toh. Are you saying it in your head now, too?

A year into the pandemic, my husband Mike, is showing an interest in gardening. Who knew? We headed to the nursery together and diplomatically chose two plants each. I frequently buy the brand Bonnie Plants, a company that has been around for over 100 years.

We decided on two cherry tomato plants and two Early Girl. For some reason, the term Early Girl gets on my nerves, but it didn’t stop me from buying the plant. It sounds vaguely patriarchal somehow.

2019: The plants looked healthy, but production was almost non-existent

I have a raised bed in the back garden which has grown a variety of things over the years. I planted geraniums at the end of the summer a few years ago so that Tessa wouldn’t use the raised bed as her personal “litter” box. We eventually transplanted one geranium to a pot, a second one in the front garden, and I think I may have taken the third plant downtown.

2016: Assembling the raised bed, called a VegTrug

With the bed cleared, and the tomatoes planted, I covered the plants with a mesh netting intended to keep out bugs. It won’t be in place for long, as the plants will need to be staked, but I had hoped it would serve as a deterrent while the plants get established.

A few days later my son found Tessa sleeping under the mesh canopy. That cat!

The other two plants are in an Earthbox in the front garden in one of the few sunny spots. Earthboxes are all-in-one growing systems, intended for growing vegetables in small spaces. They’re great for moving around. The box has casters, a watering tube, a perforated watering tray, and even comes with a bio-degradable cover. You stuff potting mix into the bottom corners and soak to create a wick of sorts. Then you add potting mix, some lime, and some fertilizer, mix it all together and plant. You can plant seeds or small plants in the box. I’ve used mine for several years.

Now we sit back and wait to see if our plants will produce those delicious red tomatoes of my youth.

March 31, 2021 by Born To Organize

Thirty Days in the Garden: And in This Corner

We spend a lot of time near the back steps to our home. It’s a cozy spot, sheltered from the wind, and private, even on our small lot.

The first of two steps are wide, accommodating several large pots. The pots once housed a hodgepodge of plants, but an unrelenting pest problem led me to clear them out and start over a few years ago

Any excuse to visit a nursery, eh?

The once-small succulent in the center of the old fountain

I disposed of the pest-laden plants, refreshed the soil, and transplanted a runaway succulent.

The white flowering azalea fills a pot of its own. The other two azaleas are surrounded by bellflowers. I was aiming for what designers call the “thrill, fill, and spill” of container gardens. The azaleas fill and thrill leaving the Serbian bellflowers campanula to spill over the edge. I won’t be winning any prizes in a garden show, but I enjoy the results.

Azaleas are great patio plants. They have shallow roots and prefer living under a tree, or in our case, the eaves of the house. I was stunned to learn that they can live for fifty years!

Pink azaleas, bellflowers, assorted succulents and “Dr. Seuss: the plant”, untamed

The succulent grew at an alarmingly rate, looping up, then down, then back up again. It started as a wee plant in what used to be a fountain. With little information to be gleaned from the nursery’s small plant marker I assumed it would remain small. In no time, it required a pot of its own, then a trellis, and a few hooks attached to the house. I eventually reshaped it to a more manageable size, and the plant continues to thrive.

March, 2021: the succulent reduced and reshaped, no longer topples over

I love this quiet corner of our garden. We’ve been eating lunch outside during this warm spell, and we’ll spend more time there as the days grow longer. One by one, the resident felines wander out to join us. It’s our little oasis, sorely needed during these trying times. It fosters contentment all around.

Tessa defying gravity on the poof, Serbian bellflowers in the background

March 30, 2021 by Born To Organize

Thirty Days in the Garden: Where Fairies May Roam

I read somewhere that fairy gardens are not the same as miniature gardens, but the difference is largely lost on me. When I’ve crafted gardens in miniature in the past, I let my imagination wander.

Do I believe in fairies?

No.

Do I like to imagine fairies stopping in for a visit?

You bet!

Like many hobbies, you can go all out or you can pair down to what feels right for you. I take the latter approach and have fun.

I’ve enjoyed making furniture for the imaginary visitors, and I’m grateful for the lovely miniature furniture gifted from friends over the years. I’ve even bought a few pieces on my own.

Garden umbrella made from half of an orange peal and a knot of raffia | the mini hammock is a gift

I fashioned a New Zealand-inspired mini garden after a group of blogging friends met there in March of 2018. It was a trip of a lifetime.

The Hobbiton facade lasted a couple of years, but the materials eventually gave way to the elements.

The refashioned garden is now more of a tribute to New Zealand and a reminder of my dear friend Pauline. I miss her in the real world and I miss her presence in our blogging community. If you’re a regular reader, you’re surely missing Pauline as well.

On a hurried day in the garden earlier this year, I happened upon an unearthed hyacinth bulb. I looked around for a suitable spot and found the miniature New Zealand garden the easiest place for a quick dig. Of course, the bulb took hold, flowered, and is now entering its resting phase. I will find it a proper home, but for now, it towers over New Zealand Mini.

A nasturtium seedling also took root, providing a nifty umbrella for my New Zealand glass sheep, a gift from our hosts. As soon as the San Jose heat descends, the nasturtium will be ready to move on as well.

I purchased two of the miniature plants you see online from a shop called TwoGreenThumbs. It’s hard to find small-scale plants at our local nursery, and nearly impossible now with COVID. It’s nice to support a small business, and fun getting living plants in the mail. Both times I ordered, Janit tucked in a tiny gift. Check out these miniature gardening boots.

Listen,
all creeping things –
the bell of transience.
Issa

Written in loving memory of Pauline, artist, friend, and blogger extraordinaire.

March 29, 2021 by Born To Organize

Thirty Days in the Garden: When Hummingbirds Stop By

Anna’s hummingbirds are frequent guests in the garden. They love sipping nectar from the abutilon and the sage, both of which grow in abundance. The purple flowering sage flowers for months.

*Those small purple flowers are a hummingbird magnet*

It’s easy to love a plant that looks good, with a wonderfully subtle scent that attracts beautiful hummingbirds and beneficial bees. By mid summer the bees are scouring the plant for pollen. I like sitting on the garden swing as they work. I prune the shrub for shape once a year and do a bit of trimming over the summer months so we can still use the path.

The abutilon needs a hard prune once a year, and then they’re off to grow for the season. We have three planted along the fence line in the back garden and another one near the front window.

*Ana’s hummingbird taking a sip from the abutilon*

The one concerning factor with the abutilon is that if flowers all over. I remove the flowers from the lower branches so the hummingbirds remain high and away from Tessa’s view.

With all these inviting plants, you might wonder why we hang hummingbird feeders. The simple answer: for the pure joy of seeing these tiny birds up close near the windows year-round. Hummingbirds need to eat every 15 minutes, so if you keep your feeders clean and full they’ll return again and again. In fact, hummingbirds come to recognize you over time as the keeper of the sugar water. They’ll buzz overhead if the feeder is low, or simply fly toward your face for a brief visit.

They are a delight to behold.

March 28, 2021 by Born To Organize

Thirty Days in the Garden: Starting Now

There are a number of tips and tricks to pull oneself out of a slump.

It’s time.

2020 really piled it on, didn’t it?

For a while it seemed that 2021 wouldn’t be much better, but we finally dumped the dreadful administration, and COVID vaccines, albeit slowly, are underway. I’m patiently awaiting my turn.

I’m trying to keep myself out of the doldrums by focusing on things I love including blogging and gardening. One of the tips for creating a new habit, or in my case, reviving an old one, is to do something every day for thirty days.

I’ve decided to challenge myself to write a blog post every day for a month. Spending time in the garden won’t be a challenge, but I need the discipline of taking photos and uploading them to my computer. After all, what’s a blog without pictures?

Spring in California is a treat for the senses. We have mild temperatures year-round, so we don’t have to worry about a late frost or June snow. Time in the garden sows content and a healthy dose of vitamin D helps fend off depression.

We converted our lawn into a native and/or drought tolerant garden a few years ago. The garden improves with each passing years.

For starters, California has a semi-arid climate. Add in years of drought and global warming and it made little sense to maintain a water-thirsty garden. Unfortunately, we under-watered in the first year and lost a few plants. We didn’t realize that even the natives need a year to establish their roots before you can reduce watering. On the plus side, a few bare patches of soil allowed a variety of seeds to take hold. The results are amazing.

French lavender dominates the upper corner of the front garden, spilling over onto the deck and making a run for it along the path. I’ve had to tame it quite a bit this year to uncover one of the salvia plants(Mexican Sage) and two of the three Kangaroo Paw plants.

Throughout the garden, California’s golden poppies shine brightly. This lovely state flower grows wild up and down the coast. I planted a few from seed several years ago. I let them go to seed at the end of each season, and sometimes shake the seeds onto different areas of the garden. My reward: they plant themselves year after year. Poppies aren’t fussy. They’ll grow in sidewalk cracks and in shallow gravel.

A few years ago we turned the sidewalk strip into a flower garden. A bland strip of lawn occupied this space when we bought our house 25 years ago. We planted a tree soon after moving in, but the curb garden came several years later. I love rounding the corner onto our street this time of year.

Nigella, California poppies, spoon flower, freesias, miniature rose, chocolate mint, and those delightful, no-name yellow flowers

My volunteer work keeps me busy and grounded, but it’s emotionally challenging as well. I hope my 30 Days in the Garden series grounds me differently. Thank you for stopping by.

The raised bed continues to evolve, but I think this is the most beautiful season to date. The chocolate mint dies back each winter leaving a thatch of brown twigs on the garden’s surface. I pull up the twigs and expose a new layer of growth. Mint, like ivy, fills the space by sending out shoots underground. It has a subtle chocolate scent when you rub the leaves and if left unchecked it would dominate the garden. I keep it under control by pulling out handfuls from between the boards when necessary. It rewards me with a lovely green ground cover and its lovely scent.

March 2, 2021 by Born To Organize

Looking Forward to Spring

My heart quickens this time of year. Spring is a treat for the heart and soul and a gift to gardeners the world over.

After a year fraught with unpredictability, I find comfort in the familiar. A trip through the garden teases all the wonderful things to come: buds and bulbs emerge, old-growth gives way to the new, and even the emerging weeds portend more time outdoors.

In the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox arrives on March 20, 2021. It signals the beginning of spring, though the changes are subtle in California. While much of this country is buried in snow and killer ice, our risk of a hard frost has safely passed.

Self-seeding sweet peas, cornflowers and poppies line the sidewalk. Soon they’ll be in full bloom

There are fewer opportunities to plant these days. Like most gardeners, a brown patch of soil is quickly filled with something new. I’ve reserved my EarthBox^® for a tomato crop, but the garden is otherwise fully occupied. That’s not a bad thing, per se, but I do love adding new color here and there.

Front garden facing house. Within a month this will fill in once again.

Side yard shared with neighbor (lemon tree, dinosaur topiary, and other assorted plants)

Abundant lemons this year (they really are yellow, though they look orange in this photo)

Birdsong and buzzing bees are the soundtracks of the season. The effervescent Ana’s hummingbirds are ever-present, but their numbers grow. I spotted one gathering fluff for her nest last week, wishing for the thousandth time that I had my camera in tow. I let the anemone flowers go to seed in the fall. They open like a kernel of popcorn in late winter, producing small clouds of soft white down. It’s always a treat to see the birds grab a bit of fluff.

Anemone flowers gone to seed in foreground. Volunteer spider plants along the fence line.

This is a blurry photo from a few years ago, but I’m included it as evidence of this charming visitor

Of course, not all “fluff” is intended for nature but tell that to the squirrels. The original cover of our swing is dismantled every year. The California Grey squirrels shred the cover to get to the batting inside. I repaired this corner a few years ago using an old tea towel and polyester batting. Apparently, the squirrels are not that discerning. They’ve torn through the tea towel to get to the synthetic batting inside. How do they know it’s there? Why do they want that scratchy stuff for their nest? Rhetorical questions, I know.

I treated myself to a pair of new gardening tools this weekend: a pair of clippers and a long-handled weeder. I’m counting myself lucky that I made it out of the store without serious injury. The edge of that tool is sharp. I’m ridiculously excited to use it, though, on a patch of unwanted grassy weeds.

Spring is around the corner, and the vaccine rollout is finally underway Things are looking up! I’m ready.

February 11, 2021 by Born To Organize

Hearts and Scraps: Valentine Kits for the Little Free Library

I’m joining bloggers from around the world in a monthly “ScrapHappy” endeavor. We’re challenged to make something entirely out of scraps.

The heart at the top of the sign is made from an old playing card

Here in the US, as in many other countries, February 14th is Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day customs – sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”), offering confectionary and presenting flowers – developed in early modern England and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the 19th century.
Wikipedia

In honor of this tradition, I’ve pulled together scraps from a variety of sources to create Valentine’s Day card-kits for our Little Free Library. Young library users have snapped them up. It’s so satisfying imagining them crafting at home.

For starters, the base card and envelope are from my friend and fellow blogger Heidi from Minnesota. Heidi makes gorgeous cards! She had leftover paper and envelopes and kindly shared them with me to use in future card kits.

Heidi also sent sample-sized selections of Washi tape, seen below in one of my miniature gardens.

The colorful paper is leftover from kits I made a year ago.

Colorful paper scraps staged on top of the anemone going to seed

The small paper doilies are part of my stash. As a young girl, I loved the way the layers stuck together. You could peel them apart like an onion. Doilies evoke a sense of nostalgia.

The red rickrack in the kits sat in a storeroom at Lifted Spirits for almost three years. Boxes of sewing supplies arrived as part of a donation. We turned yardage into tablecloths, farmed out suitable quilting fabric to quilters in the area, and used assorted ribbon to color-code baskets. Rickrack has fallen out of favor from a sewing perspective, but it will make excellent trim for someone’s Valentine.

Finally, the small tag board embellishments and hearts were leftover from a volunteer project. I found them in a cupboard when I cleaned out the former director’s office.

Recycled baggie (turning single-use into double use, but still too much plastic)

Please contact our host Kate, of Tall Tales from Chiconia for details. We create with scraps, then blog about our experience on the 15th of each month. Be sure to check out the creativity of my fellow bloggers linked below on February 15, 2021.

Kate, Gun,Eva, Sue,Lynn,Lynda,
Birthe,Turid,Susan,Cathy, Tracy,Jill,
Claire,Jan, Moira,Sandra, Chris,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon,Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2 and Noreen

November 1, 2020 by Born To Organize

A Hollow Halloween

I love Halloween!

I look forward to decorating with pumpkins, making costumes, attending parties, and finally passing out candy to the costumed children that flock to our door.

Halloween 2020 was none of that. It felt like the hollow of a carved pumpkin on November 3rd: sad and empty.

I found small ways to enjoy the season but left the traditions at the proverbial door.

I made Halloween-themed card making kits for neighborhood kids. Over the years, I’ve amassed an assortment of Halloween paper and stickers. I pulled it all out and spent hours making die-cuts and stickers using my Silhouette. I bought a package of craft paper cards and envelopes from a local craft store, and over a period of weeks, assembled card kits to share alongside our Little Free Library.

The card kits were a hit. I put out ten at a time for a total of 40 kits and enjoyed seeing them disappear in ones and twos each day.

I used narrow scraps of the same paper to make simple bookmarks and placed them in a tin marked “Boo-marks.”

Earlier in the month, I made Halloween cards for friends using a Jennifer McGuire Ink video technique. She used a Gel Press, a brayer, and Tim Holtz Oxide Ink to create interesting patterns. Like Jennifer McGuire, I made several backgrounds, let them dry, then used them on my cards.

Here are a few:

I made a second batch of cards last week, but I never got around to taking photos. It was more important to get them into the mail. Our post office produced Halloween stamps this year. It made me happy to do my small part buying stamps and mailing cards.

This may sound strange to those of you knee-deep in creativity, but I’ve struggled to focus on writing, crafting, and other creative endeavors. I’ve written a dozen blog posts in my head but lacked the focus to sit down and make them a reality. I’m trying to recommit to creative endeavors. Making cards and card kits has been a good start. It’s good for the soul.

I continue to volunteer several hours a week with Lifted Spirits. We’ve been providing our services outdoors over the summer from behind the safety of a clear shower curtain. With colder weather approaching, I reorganized the program to serve the women from behind the building in a garden setting, with volunteers standing behind glass screens.

I pulled together a rack full of clothing pieces that could be used as costumes. It was a hit with our women. Living on the street robs you of so many things. Making someone smile for a few moments and letting them choose a few pieces to put something together made it fun. I packaged candy and pretzels and passed them out the day before Halloween.

Our team of volunteers wore a simple costume that day. I pulled together a few pieces from my stash and called myself the gardening goddess. I wore my favorite broccoli earrings, a gift from a friend many years ago, and a garland of pink satin flowers, paired with a long, green dress.

We changed our clocks today back to standard time. This Tuesday is the last day to vote. My favorite meme this week is, “Don’t forget to change your clocks on Sunday and your president on Tuesday.” I have a knot in my stomach and a horrible sense of dread, but I remain hopeful that meaningful change is finally afoot.

Poster supplied by ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)

Here we go…

August 23, 2020 by Born To Organize

A Weary California Burns

We are all weary and exhausted, but we are doing okay.

California’s wildfires are making international news, so I wanted to let you know that we’re safe. Sadly, dozens of friends have been forced to evacuate their homes. Others are packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice. We’re all on edge waiting for the second wave of dry lightning storms later today.

Smoke and ash from the fires are creating unhealthy conditions throughout Santa Clara Valley.

Air Quality Index 195

Air Quality Index in San Jose 202

If you look at the map below, you’ll see that San Jose is sandwiched between thousands of acres of wildfires burning on both sides of the Valley.

According to the Los Angeles Times, The recent weather events are the result of three distinct meteorological phenomena combining in a way rarely seen in California:

1) The heatwave broiling the West — longer and harsher than is typical for August — was the first to arrive. It is a high-pressure system rotating clockwise over California, Nevada, and Arizona that steered hot, dry desert air over the Golden State, breaking heat records across the Central Valley.

2) Then Tropical Storm Elida off the coast of Mexico began feeding the heatwave moisture, which created instability in the atmosphere. This moisture is why so many of the wildfires burning in California recently have created towering pyrocumulus clouds, said UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.

3) A thunderstorm some 1,100 miles south of the Bay Area in Sonora, Mexico, sent an invisible rippling wave of uplifting pressure north through the atmosphere, where it mixed with the heat and moisture to produce hundreds of lightning strikes across hundreds of miles of the Bay Area on Saturday and Sunday. That created dozens of fires, while farther inland a tornado formed.

This is what the beautiful skies looked like over my neighborhood the morning after the storm.

Three days later, the skies were an eerie brown, casting a yellow tinge in the garden below.

My garden looks like it’s been cast in a yellow haze

Smoky skies over our home

Neighborhood skies filled with smoke

View from our front deck

A sliver of blue as the winds change

In January, I thought that recovery from brutal foot surgery would be the hardest part of my year. I took my first painful steps in March, and within a week, Santa Clara County was the first in this country to issue a three-week order to shelter in place. We were afraid to leave the house. A once-mundane trip to the grocery store had us firmly in fear’s grip. Would a trip down the aisle for milk mean exposing ourselves to COVID-19? To paraphrase Stephen Colbert, “April was the longest ten years of my life.”

Things gradually eased, but many of us feared we were opening up too early.

In late May, a long-simmering fury over police brutality, and racial injustice, spurred by the killing of George Flloyd, lead to widespread protests and continued civil unrest.

Civil unrest: Black Lives Matter protest police brutality in San Jose

We hope to vote the current “criminal-in-chief” out of office come November, but even that is fraught with tension and fear.

Today, California burns. Ash falls in my garden, as heavy smoke permeates the air. We’re trying to stay indoors as air quality spikes to unhealthy levels.

We are all weary and exhausted, wishing this nightmare would end.

I am grateful for our relatively good health and for the safety of our home. At the same time, I’m carrying the weight of the world.

I hope you are safe and warm and loved.

June 15, 2020 by Born To Organize

Scrap Happy in Miniature

What’s a ScrapHappy post?

It’s an opportunity, or an excuse, to make something entirely out of scraps. Our host Kate, of Tall Tales from Chiconia, encourages the use of scraps to make something useful or beautiful or both.

If you would like to join us, please see the details at the end of this post.

Several years ago, I bought a beautiful felted wool birdhouse, hung it in a tree, and patiently waited for a nesting bird to make it home. How could they resist something so appealing?

The wooly nest has a small opening, soft, felted wool for warmth, and it’s even perchless to avoid predators.

I hung the cozy nest in different trees and at different heights. Year after year, nothing, and eventually, I gave up. I forgot about it, mostly. Earlier this year, I removed it from the tree, inspected it for insects, and brought it inside.

The wool was dirty and crusty from years outdoors. Even the paper wasps were indifferent. I rinsed the nest in warm water and watched years of dirt and grime fall away. My wooly nest came clean almost immediately.

In honor of ScrapHappy June, I turned the wooly nest into a fairy house.

Felted wool birdhouse converted into a home for visiting fairies.

Once washed and dried, I removed the bottom stitching and inserted a glass sauce jar.

Glass jar viewed through nesting hole.

Now it can stand up on its own.

Jar inserted inside the birdhouse.

I tucked the wool leaves into the opening and added a piece of broken jewelry to make a window that a woodland faerie might enjoy.

An old piece of glass jewelry makes a superb window

The faerie house sits nestled under our Little Free Library.

Woolen faerie house sitting at the base of the faux tree.

My second scrappy project this month involved revitalizing a miniature version of a Little Free Library. The little, LFL is made from a cardboard box, with matchbook covers and toothpicks inside to form books. Twice, the heavy winds sent the miniature library tumbling through the yard. I knew sturdier measures were in order.

I employed a pair of joined wooden chopsticks that could be plunged deep into the soil, but they looked too new and shiny. I rubbed the sticks with the contents of my morning Roobios, and that did the trick.

I used chopsticks to make legs for the miniature LFL.

My morning tea leaves made a lovely stain.

The wee Little Free Library is in the shadow of the larger one, staked firmly into the ground. If your line of vision is in sync with your imagination, you can spot it from the sidewalk.

Refurbished miniature LFL.

Faerie’s can grab a book from the miniature LFL nearby.

As seen from the walkway.

I love repurposing items into something fun and whimsical. Creating from scraps is both challenging and rewarding, not to mention relaxing. I highly recommend it.

Check out the links below on June 15, 2020, to see the other scrap-happy posts.

Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline,
Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, and Vera