January 3, 2013 by Born To Organize

Planting the Strip: Pros and Cons

Like most gardeners with small, suburban lots, I’m always on the look out for ways to maximize my annual planting. This year I have my eye on the sidewalk strip, the space between our city sidewalk and the street.

There are several pluses (and a few minuses) to planting there. I’m going to toss out both, and you can let me know what you think.

Pros:

Full sun! (Need I say more.) We have limited full sun in the backyard. I have a pair of raised beds tucked up against the back of the house and last year added a two moveable City Pickers. Beyond that, the yard is either landscaped or shaded by large trees, or both. The sidewalk strip is prime, vegetable and flower real estate.
A long, narrow strip. It’s perfect for vegetable gardening due to the already narrow space. It would be easy to manage the box or boxes planted there.
Water. The existing sprinkler system would be easy to tap into. My handy husband could run drip irrigation directly into the boxes.
The view. I can see the strip from my kitchen window, and from the front deck. A flower and vegetable bed is infinitely more interesting than grass.
Additional yields. More dirt, equals more fruits and vegetables. I can taste those sweet tomatoes now.

Cons:

Cost. I no longer have the back to dig out heavy sod, nor the means of easily getting rid of it. I would need to hire someone to dig out the existing lawn. Additional costs include the raised bed (built or purchased), soil and seeds or plants.
Public access. We have great neighbors who’ve openly expressed enjoyment when we’ve grown pumpkins and tomatoes in the front yard. Not everyone that walks by, however, will respect the garden’s sanctity.
Street parking. The space in front of our house accommodates two cars. Maintaining my good-neighbor creed means maintaining continued access to those spots.
Late-season doldrums. Not everyone appreciates the messiness of a vegetable garden going to seed.

Sidewalk Strip (to the right of the Chinese Pistache

Lots to think about in the next few months. I hope you’ll weigh in on the poll below.

January 2, 2013 by Born To Organize

San Jose Frost: The Garden Goes Under Cover

Galileo Thermometer, Out in the Cold

The temps were mighty chilly last night, the coldest we’ve seen this season. Yesterday’s low was 37 degrees F (2.7 C), though still ten degrees warmer than our city’s record low . Though we have overnight lows hovering around freezing, it generally warms up with the rising sun. Today, we still had frost on the grass at 10 am. Parts of our deck had a thin layer of ice. Good thing I noticed the ice before slipping across the deck and landing on my keister. It made for a better day.

My husband took his Galileo Thermometer outside so he could enjoy the novelty of the visual changes, though it doesn’t measure lower than 62 F (16 C).

Icy paw prints

It’s interesting to note the micro-climates in one’s garden. Though both the front and back gardens receive morning sun, the front garden took much longer to thaw.

Crisp, frosty leaves

I’m still holding out hope that the coleus survive the season, but the more reading I do, the more it seems unlikely. Never one to give up hope, they’re bundled against the chill in a blanket of frost cloth.

There are differing opinions on the benefits of frost cloth. Some of my reading suggests heavy watering to reduce a freeze. Others recommend strings of holiday lights to increase the temps by a degree or two. Since I have the frost cloth, I figured it couldn’t hurt. I’ve been watering as well when the rain stops for a day or two. I’ll have the definitive answer come spring.

Frost cloth protects Coleus

Lindy checks the temps

In the meantime, I’m enjoying the novelty of the colder temps and the pretty pictures it affords. My boys are still hoping it will snow here one day. The last time it snowed in San Jose (and remained on the ground) was 1976. I think we’re long overdue!

Frozen bird bath

Frosty tips

Kissed by Frost

San Jose, California: A little history and some weather statistics
Therapist’s Hour of Snow: Christine Schoenwald remembers the snow of 1976

December 31, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sailing into the New Year: Party in the Fairy Garden

I’ve been sprucing up the fairy garden today. Word has it there will be a party going on. I cleared away the furniture to make room on the dance floor. It’s freshly swept and covered with fairy dust. You haven’t really danced till you’ve danced atop some fairy dust.

Aerial View

I was fresh out of fairy-sized disco balls, so I improvised using a glass bauble from an old flower arrangement. I squeezed out the last drops of Stickles™ glitter, brushed it on all the surfaces, then rolled it in sparkles for that extra-special glow. What do you think? Won’t those fairies have fun!

Please have a seat

I tucked the table inside the garden yurt, decorated with pink candles (their favorite). The party theme is “Sailing into the New Year.” Will you look at that fancy ice sculpture? It almost looks like…glass.

Candles and Sculpture

I draped some glittery blue ribbon flown in all the way from Canada to create a small, flowing walkway. Fairies have wings, but they enjoy slippery ramps as well. The invitations read: B.Y.O.B. or bring your own bauble, so I’ll be anxious to see what they bring.

Entrance to the Fairy Garden. Won’t you please come in?

Blue Ribbon Ramp

As for you, my dear reader, wishing you all things wonderful in the coming year. Thanks for your love and support, your likes, votes and comments. I’ve learned so much this year and I’ve had a great time along the way.

Happy New Year!!!

Looking for more blogging fun, inspiration, and joy? Here are a few of my favorites (in alphabetical order):

December 30, 2012 by Born To Organize

Dusting and Polishing the House Plants

The days have been cold and dry most of this week. With our central heating running more than usual, the house plants needed some extra TLC.

Dusting and polishing are never high on my to-do list, but I made an exception for the plants. Just like nick-knacks, the broader the leaf, the greater the dust. I use a damp, micro-fiber cloth for the taller plants, wiping the leaves when possible. The Ficus don’t seem to collect much dust, so a gentle tap to the branches loosens what’s there.

The small plants in the kitchen window are the easiest to revive. I set them in the sink for a thorough soak, giving the leaves a quick, warm-water rinse while I’m at it. Even the saucers got a nice cleaning.

Kitchen windows are such a great place for houseplants. They enjoy the natural humidity of an active kitchen, and they rarely dry out with a water faucet just inches away. I generally have a small planter with kitty grass for KT and if we’re motivated, we try growing from an avocado pit.

It’s amazing how well some houseplants do living in cramped pots, with dry air and sometimes dryer soil. This coffee plant, below thrived in the kitchen for many years, sitting on top of the fridge. After remodeling, we had to relocate the plant to another room. It’s still quite healthy, producing these lovely shiny leaves.

Here’s what we have growing indoors:

Freshly “polished” leaves

Fiddle-leaf Fig

Dracaena

Kitchen Counter Collection

The current windowsill collection includes three “Christmas Cactus,” a small yellow rose and an as yet unidentified bulb. I must have picked it up from the garden and had it stored in a kitchen drawer with my seed keeper. It started sprouting, so I popped into a plastic martini glass, leftover from my Halloween costume. Crazy, eh?

Martini with a twist?

‘Sunrise Cactus’ gorgeous, even when not in bloom

Christmas Cactus Bloom

Do you have anything growing on your window sill?

December 29, 2012 by Born To Organize

Cranberry Hydrangea: A Lovely Bloom to See in the New Year

Cranberry Colored Hydrangea

My ever-changing Hydrangeas are now a brilliant shade of cranberry. I love their ruddy complexion. They’ve set buds for spring, but the pom-pom like blooms linger.

It’s a challenge pulling together a flower arrangement from the garden this time of year. That said, I wanted to come up with a creative way to use what I had, including these lovely flowers.

Here’s what I did:

I removed the bloom above the last set of buds, leaving a short but sturdy stem to work with.

I filled one small jar with leftover florist’s foam. I filled a second, slightly wider jar with a handful of crystal beads. Together they create the illusion of a tall vase, even though the stem itself is less than three inches long.

Hydrangea blossom with short stem, supported with florist foam

Florist foam…or volcanic rock?

Glass jars, stacked and slightly nested

Do they make a crayon this color? I would name it “Spectacular”

Bacopa Cordata

Winter Flower Arrangement

And there you have it. Simple and festive and ready to see in the new year.

How will you celebrate the start of a new year?

December 28, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sunset Gardens: A Self-Guided Tour

As luck would have it, I worked in Menlo Park today. Menlo Park, California is home to Sunset Gardens, a test garden for Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine. After work, I headed straight there and took the (frigid) self-guided tour.

Southern Pacific Railroad Company founded Sunset Magazine in 1898 . It evolved over the years to reflect the changing times. It went from promotional tool, to literary magazine, before settling into what it is today: a lifestyle magazine for the west. For over 40 years, they’ve produced the Western Garden Book, the most comprehensive book of its kind. I’m on my second copy, and though it’s now available on the web, I still enjoy the weight of the book in my hand and the ease of use.

Sunset’s headquarters surrounds the editorial test garden in addition to an array of Climate Zone gardens ranging from the Pacific Northwest to the Southern Desert. It’s a testament to the Bay Area temps that the Menlo Park location can support so many growing zones.

I’m going to make an extra effort this year to get back there in the spring, when the rose garden and many of the flowering shrubs are in bloom.

Here are the highlights from today:

Garden Bench

The one downside to self guided tours is all the unanswered questions. I was curious to know more about this bench,tucked in a corner near the chicken coop. It’s made from a variety of recycled material, including old fence planks, scraps of metal, and the insulator caps from old high-tension wires. The birdhouse posts on the end of the bench are fully functional, though probably impractical from a predator stand point. They’re awfully cute though.

Birdhouse bench detail

Healthy Chickens = garden manure

Wine Country Chicken Coop

That is one, high-end chicken coop, conveniently located near the composting bins.

Succulent Planter

This lovely planter was part of a seating area. It’s made from driftwood and scraps of lumber.

Stylish Seating Area

Test Garden Pavers

This unique patio meandered through the entrance to the Test Garden. What looks like crushed rock, is actually tumbled recycled glass (white and green). The small round objects are actually synthetic wine “corks” from a Bay Area winery. The dark squares, upper right corner, are scraps of fencing lumber. Clever use of cast off materials.

Recycled, Tumbled Green Glass

Cactus Garden: Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times :-)

The Old Man: Coast Live Oak

Garden Path and Plantings

To learn more about the history of Sunset, visit their website.

Self-guided tours are free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:00 pm. Call ahead for additional details at 1-650-321-3600. The gardens are universally accessible.

December 27, 2012 by Born To Organize

Garden Social: If Only Squirrels Had Facebook

My favorite part of the holiday season is all the visiting. Friends stop by or invite you out for lunch or drinks. Calendars fill with parties and Facebook is abuzz with everyone’s photos. It’s that wonderful social connection that makes us human.

Today, the sun came out and I noticed the socializing spilled over into the garden. I couldn’t make out all the conversations but the body language was pretty clear. We humans aren’t the only ones socializing. Wouldn’t it be great to have one of those Universal Translators from Star Trek so you could understand what the birds and four-legged critters had to say?

Three different squirrels raced around the pine tree, then disappeared into the neighbor’s yard for another peanut. It was hard to keep up. At times they appeared to be chasing each other, but it wasn’t always clear. There was very little squirrel chatter and trust me, when they have something to say, it spills forth loud and clear. It was near impossible to capture the activity, and I’m wondering now why I didn’t take a video clip. I ended up with lots of shots of empty tree trunks.

Squirrel hide…

…and seek

Hummingbirds don’t seem to mind the rain, so we’ve seen them visiting the feeders all week. It was more pleasant taking pictures, however, on a clear day. A pair of hummers seemed to dance midair, less a courtship than a race to the feeder.

Hummers dancing

Our neighbor Roger stopped by with his adorable pooch, Freckles. Will you look at that face? Freckles had a few choice “words” for Mouse the neighborhood cat who also came over for a snack. Mouse is awfully brave most of the time, but he cleared the deck for Freckles.

Freckles, why are you licking your lips?

Oh no! Not that dog again!

Garden snails were playing hide and seek under the strawberry plants and a tiny slug figured out the best hiding place ever: inside a peanut shell, dropped through the hole of a garden pot.

Hide and seek in a peanut shell

As kids we too loved to play hide-and-seek or chase for hours. We stayed out in the cold, teeth chattering. We didn’t want to risk going home for a coat, only to be called in for the night. They say play is the work of children. I would like to add that the garden is the playground for all creatures.

I’m off to see if one of those squirrels left a Facebook status update.

December 26, 2012 by Born To Organize

San Jose: Green in all the Right Places

Though San José is known globally as part of Silicon Valley, we have greener reasons to be proud. According to Bright Green San Jose, our city recycles 71 percent of the waste we generate. Wow! Further:

San Jose’s collective recycling helped the Recycle Plus program win the 2012 Green City Award from the national magazine Waste and Recycling News. The award honored San José for having the most effective residential program for a large city in the United States.

One of the programs San José offers is composting workshops and bin sales. I just started composting yard waste and kitchen scraps this year. Our yard is small, and packed with plants and flowers with limited space for growing veggies. I assumed composting required a lot of space and full sun. I purchased a Tumbling Composter earlier this year, which allowed me to compost kitchen scraps in a small space, diverting them from our landfill.

Tumbling Composter

The tumbler filled quickly, so I started a second bin using an old Rubbermaid storage box. Now that’s full, too. You can’t rush compost, so while I wait for nature to rot its course, I’m pondering my next move.

You know what’s funny? I used to toss kitchen scraps or put them down the garbage disposal. Now that I’m composting, throwing out the food waste feels wrong.

I’ve decided to attend one of San José’s free Backyard Composting Workshops to pick up some additional tips. The first workshop is March 27th, 2013. They also sell Wriggly Ranch worm bins and Soil Saver compost bins at a steep discount.

In the meantime, any tips on composting in small spaces are welcome. My counter top bin is filling rapidly, and those coffee grounds and pepper cores need a place to call home.

December 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Fairy Mystique: The Young and the Young-Hearted

If you’ve been following Gardening Nirvana for a while, you’ll know that I’ve fallen in love with fairy gardens. You can read a bit about them here. I created several over the past year, and shared them on my blog. They’re whimsical and fun.

Imagine my delight to learn that the two little girls across the street decided to create a fairy garden of their own. They caught the fairy garden bug!

When the holiday season rolled around this year, I thought it would be fun to don my “fairy cap” and create a little magic of my own.

On my first visit to their families outdoor Christmas tree, I left a tiny note and some “decorating material” including sequins, silk thread and a roll of red laundry lint, perfect for making fairy pillows and blankets. I tucked it deep in the branches so they could enjoy the search.

Fairy Garden Package #1

Next up, another note along with some ribbon, a few wooden stars and a family of matchstick-sized dolls tucked inside a baby food jar and wrapped in mesh.

Fairy Garden Package #2

On my last visit to the tree, I left a parcel of miniature bristle trees, a few shiny mirrors (great for lakes and ponds) and a bag of fairy snow.

Fairy Snow

It has been so much fun sorting through my sewing box, scrap-booking materials, and left over art supplies to pull together little treasures for the fairy aficionados.

On Christmas Eve, just before heading out with my family to look at neighborhood Christmas lights I made one last visit. My son helped me fill the top half of a paper Christmas cracker, with a few gold coins. While my husband backed out the car, I tiptoed to their door, deposited the gifts, rang the bell, and ran like crazy. Getting caught in the act would spoil all the fun.

As I raced across their lawn and out of view, the neighborhood kitty gave chase. My parting thought as I ran around the corner was how funny it must have looked to see a woman in her fifties running across her neighbor’s lawn, with a small white cat in hot pursuit.

There’s Magic in that Tree

Fairy Garden Snow Recipe

one small handful of craft snow
a pinch of sparkles
a dash of blue bakers sugar

December 24, 2012 by Born To Organize

Dove Bomb Surprise: A Recipe for World Peace

Please Note: This recipe is not for pessimists or doomsayers.

As with all good recipes, the ingredients are critical. Do not settle for substitutes unless otherwise noted.

Gather together the following organic ingredients:

1 ounce of prevention

1/2 pound of genuine hugs

A sprinkle of laughter

Sunshine (to taste)

Optional: season with soothing music or a winter’s nap

You will also need:

1 missile launching kit (available on the Internet)

Assorted bomb casings

A positive attitude

Energy saving tip: No need to preheat your oven. Global warming is sufficient.

Prepare your missile launching kit following the manufacturer’s instructions. Set aside.

Mix one ounce of prevention with a half pound of genuine hugs until smooth. Fold in a sprinkle of laughter, blending well. Add sunshine to taste.

Remove chilled bomb casings from the freezer and carefully fill to the three-quarter mark with the above mixture. Add optional ingredients at this time.

Pop the dove bomb surprise into the missile-launcher and fire away. Upon impact Dove Bomb Surprise will coat the earth’s population. Those lucky enough to be at the center of impact will experience an incredible sense of euphoria. Others, at a more distant radius, will experience an overall feeling of joy and content. Pregnant women will give birth to children addicted to world peace. Warring factions everywhere will lay down their weapons and cast off their anger, wondering why they harbored them in the first place. Hatred will be rendered obsolete. Some nations will decide to share their oil; others will share food and water. Technology will be applied for the good of all humankind. The environment will return to its intended state and freedom will reign for all.

No mess to clean up. Serves several billion.