May 16, 2013 by Born To Organize

Rain, Glorious Rain!

We’ve had abysmal rain fall this year, one of the driest winters in two centuries. Spring arrived, but omitted the April showers. Last month ended with stifling heat waves. Though areas of the country and the world wish the rain would stop, it’s a welcome respite here from so many dry, dry months.

If you’re among those fed up with umbrellas, boots and long days indoors, my apologies. Too much of anything tries our patience and gets on our nerves.

Our skies are already clearing, with sun in the forecast tomorrow. So, just for a while, I’m enjoying our rainy day.

Salvia Refreshed (Is it just me, or do those tiny raindrops look like a pair of eyes?)

A tiny pool of rain gathers in the center of a sunflower

I think the hummingbirds are enjoying the rain too.

Lavender reflections on the rainy deck.

Rain= snails and weeds
It’s a gardener’s life

What is Nature up to in your corner of the world?

May 14, 2013 by Born To Organize

Craft it Foward: Flowers and Oscar Wilde

I’m really enjoying my Craft it Forward projects. You can read about my first project here. The second project took on a life of its own. You could even say its been a bit of a drama.

The effervescent Betsy receives the second Craft it Forward. Betsy lives life in two worlds: a life in the theater and as a wonderful homemaker for two active girls. I wanted this craft to reflect both worlds. Bets and I have a number of mutual friends from our years in the theater, but didn’t actually meet until a few years ago through our children.

The white picket fence pays homage to domestic life, a quiet home in the suburbs. Look a little closer, however and you’ll see theater come to life. Theatre folks…

paint scenery (white picket fence)
decorate props (gold leaf)
‘distress’ the new to look old (sanded gold leaf along the fence posts)
memorize lines (an Oscar Wilde quote lines the picket fence)
dress in costumes (those flowers are pretty darn theatrical. They also happen to be her favorite color); and
gather on stage (or in the garden) for opening night.

The quote on the fence, printed on vellum in purple ink, says:

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” – Oscar Wilde

Metal ‘gold’ leaf, adhesive, acrylic paint and Mod Podge

Unfinished planter box from Michael’s

White picket fence planter

Potted Campanula

B is for Betsy with a bit of bling

The oldest form of theater is the dinner table. It’s got five or six people, new show every night, same players. Good ensemble; the people have worked together a lot. Michael J. Fox

Craft it Forward:

craft it forward button Here’s how it works. The first five people to comment on the original post receive a handmade item with the gardening nirvana touch. In return, they agree to pay it forward, crafting their own unique item for the first five people on their list. Craft it Forward encourages community, creative spirit and camaraderie. It also encourages flexibility, so I expanded my list from five to seven based on interest in the project. Isn’t it fun making your own rules?

Further, in the era of the internet, who doesn’t like ‘real’ mail? If you haven’t started your own Craft it Forward, today is a good day to get one going.

May 1, 2013 by Born To Organize

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Gardening

Yoga in the garden

When naming this blog, the concept was simple. I love gardening and achieve a sense of absorption and harmony when my hands are in the dirt. The philosophy of nirvana is beautiful: the consciousness releases, and the mind becomes aware in a way that is totally unconstrained by anything in the conditioned world. The act of gardening is the closest I’ve come to that experience.

After a rough week, I could think of no better way to sooth my soul than a bit of exercise, followed by hard work in my garden. I spent the morning pruning the topiary dinosaur, dead-heading several azaleas, raking dried leaves and topping off the compost bin. I filled an old planter with the rocks I unearthed from the planting bed, then pulled weeds around the Chinese Pistache. After hand-watering the smaller pots, checking the tomato seeds and smiling at the volunteer potato, it was noon. I still had an hour to spare, so I high-tailed it to the nursery for some plants.

No-Go on the Flowering Seeds

My seed planting extravaganza was a complete failure this year. The packets suggested direct sowing of cosmos, poppies and sunflowers. How simple! Out back, my vegetable garden practically planted itself, but the flowers are another story. I finally removed camp ‘squirrels-stay-out‘ when weeks later nothing came up. Okay, nothing is a bit of an exaggeration, but when you plant dozens of seeds and only manage to germinate one, it sure feels like nothing. Perhaps I can blame it on the blackened fingernail I smashed in the door. No green thumb in sight.

Off to the Nursery

I said a quick hello to my friend Doug at Almaden Nursery, then loaded my cart with sunflower, Alyssum and Cosmo starters. April came and went, so no time to dillydally with new seeds. A few impulse purchases made it into the cart, including a gorgeous orange-flowered geranium and some Vinca to fill in some bare spots.

Back home, I planted, planted and planted some more. I apologized profusely whenever I unearthed a worm, quick to return them to the cool, moist soil below. They deserve their own sense of nirvana like every one else.

What do you do when the going gets tough? How do you regain your center?

gardening [ˈgɑːdənɪŋ]
noun: the planning and cultivation of a garden

nir·va·na (nîr-vän, nr-)
noun: An ideal condition of rest, harmony, stability, or joy.

Kitty Update

We’ve made a couple of visits to the Cat Hospital this week. Our kitty is looking good, eating well, and ready to come home.

Beijing sports a Tony-the-Tiger bandage

April 28, 2013 by Born To Organize

Craft it Forward: Living Journal

Craft it Forward Button: Grab it for your own blog

In early February, I launched my first Craft it Forward. Here’s how it works. The first five people to comment on the original post receive something handmade with the gardening nirvana touch. In return, they agree to pay it forward, crafting their own unique item for the first five people on their list. Craft it Forward encourages community, creative spirit and camaraderie. It also encourages flexibility, so I expanded my list from five to seven based on interest in the project. Isn’t it fun making your own rules?

Further, in the era of the internet, who doesn’t like ‘real’ mail? If you haven’t started your own Craft it Forward, today is a good day to get one going.

First up: A Living Journal

This manilla-covered journal has heavy-duty art paper, appropriate for ink, paint and pencil. You can see the original, unadorned journal here. Recipient #1 is a talented artist in her own right. She paints, sketches, sculpts fabric ‘dolls,’ along with myriad other projects. I’ve been on the receiving end of her own talents, including a set of tie-dye tea towels and a hand-felted, one-of-a kind, purse.

I crafted the cover, using as assortment of ribbon in rainbow order, with some peace signs thrown in (her favorite) for additional interest.

Peace and a rainbow of ribbons

Closeup

An attached, expandable envelope lines the inside cover, great for collecting bits of inspiration. For now, I’ve tucked in a few seeds she can plant in her garden.

A Peak Inside…

The journal came wrapped in a sleeve of silky-strong paper too nice to toss, so I fashioned it into a simple bookmark, using other scraps on the face of the envelope.

Creative Journal by Dyan Reaveien of dylusions

I trimmed the wrapper and used it as a bookmark

Personalization, gardeningnirvana style

Finishing touches include her first initial made from a balsa wood letter, then covered in paper and inked along the edges. It’s embellished with flowers (of course)!

I hope she enjoys filling it as much as I enjoyed crafting it. Perhaps a year from now she’ll let us take a peak into a few pages and I can feature her work on gardeningnirvana.

Life is art, live yours in colour!

What’s inside?

Are you Crafting it Forward?

For additional Craft it Forward inspiration:

Boomdeeadda: Boom Box Number Three
Geometry: Where it all started
Just Something I Made: Celebrating Random Acts of Kindness

April 18, 2013 by Born To Organize

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The birds aren’t the only ones laying eggs this time of year. I happened upon a newly hatched ‘family’ of spiders today. I put family in quotes, because honestly there were hundreds of them. They look big in the pictures, but they are as small as a pin head.

I was clearing dried leaves around the orange tree, tossing them into the compost bin. As I reached for a dried branch, I saw what looked like tiny flowers caught in a web. The ‘flowers’ however, were moving in different directions. Good thing I withdrew my gloved hand when I did. Our neighbors would have heard me scream like a B movie actress in a horror film.

Ferns under the orange tree

Ferns…at little closer

Ferns…closer still

I grabbed the camera and took several shots. Video would have been better, but I’m still not well versed with this camera. baby spiders on fern 4-18-2013 12-47-11 PM

Spiders up close: look, Ma, no hands!

Lindy came over to investigate. It’s not every day she finds me sitting in the ferns. Once I turned the camera in her direction, she went all feline on me and gave me the cold shoulder.

Lindy near the ferns 4-18-2013 12-47-58 PM

Lindy Lu

I have an interesting relationship with spiders. Indoors, they creep me out. I humanely remove them with my spider-catcher, and set them loose in the garden. Outside, unless they’re bigger than a quarter, I’m usually okay with them. When startled, however, I freak out. It’s the strangest thing.

How do you feel about spiders? Are you indifferent? Did you pass out at the first photo? Or are you as fascinated with nature as I am? Maybe all three.

April 12, 2013 by Born To Organize

A Pumpkin We-Will-Grow

Pumpkin seedling staying warm in the straw

That was easy!

The pumpkins are in. They’re lush, plentiful and thriving. In case you’re wondering about my mad gardening skills, you can sum them up in one word: compost.

I didn’t add compost to make them grow; instead they grew in the compost. I’m new to composting, and like any convert, I can’t say enough about the process (fun) and the end results (see photos, below).

When my nifty, thrifty, spinning composter reached capacity, I searched for alternatives. I re-purposed an old Rubbermaid bin, once used for children’s toys. I tossed in the straw left over from our Halloween party, then dry leaves, grass clippings and kitchen waste. I popped on the lid, drilled holes in the bottom for air circulation and drainage, and called it a day. Turning the compost was the biggest challenge. It was hard to get leverage in a narrow, small bin but I managed. About a month ago, I removed the lid and saw this: tiny pumpkin sprouts. Awe-some!!!

Pumpkin Seedling

Figuring I would transplant the seedlings when the weather warmed up, I simply returned the lid. I left it open just a crack for more light.

Then this happened:

Rich compost = happy pumpkins!

Out of the compost and into the planting bed

Success! Pumpkins thrive in raised bed

Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with all those pumpkin seeds I saved from last year! Any takers?

Have you found any surprises in your garden this year?

April 7, 2013 by Born To Organize

Loving All Creatures, Great and Small

Do you know what dogs, birds and mice have in common? My unconditional love of all creatures, great and small.

This last week I encountered all three.

Dark Eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco Nest

In late March I wrote about my amazing discovery, a small dark-eyed junco nest. Mama junco built her little house in a Nandina shrub growing on my client’s patio. She lined the nest with fur from the resident Lab.

Mama junco ‘posed’ for pictures a week ago Friday from a nearby tree. I left with a bounce in my step, looking forward to seeing her again the following week. When I returned Tuesday there was no sign of her. She’s either abandoned the nest or met with a darker fate. It’s been a full week since any of us have seen her. Perhaps the recent commotion around the front door sent her packing.

I’ve wondered if she registered the potential for trouble and simply decided to start again elsewhere. My client generally enters the house from the garage, so the front door, near a sheltered patio and elevated from the street was probably a good spot. Now realtors, inspectors, potential buyers and garden bloggers are traipsing past her tiny home. My hope turned to sadness by weeks-end as I passed the lonely collection of tiny speckled eggs.

Field Mouse/Cat Mouse

Mouse Relocation Tools

Thanks to the milder weather, I opened the back door early as I went about the start of my day. Rounding the corner to our entry way, I heard a tiny squeak in front of the neighbor’s cat. The cat, named Mighty Mouse, brought in a tiny field mouse, alive but obviously stunned. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a small plastic tub. I shooed the cat, covered the mouse and called my son for help. He isolated all four cats in different rooms while I tried to figure out what to do next. I could see tiny feet poking out and hoped she wasn’t injured. I placed a weight on the tub and ran for my crafting mat. Slowly and gradually I slid the mat below the tub until the mouse was completely trapped between the layers. I released the mouse at the edge of the deck, hoping she wasn’t someone’s mother. She was wet from the grass and stunned, but seemed unharmed. I went inside for the camera, reasoning that if she was gone when I got back, all was well. Much as I wish I had her picture, I’m happy she moved on.

A Lab Named Rosie

Rosie the Magnificent

Lining Nests for 13 Year’s and counting

I finished my week in the company of Rosie, a gorgeous sweetheart of a dog. Her loving ways and sounds of contentment when you give her a scratch are endearing to all. Rosie is perhaps too old to chase mice, but several strands of her lovely fur line the now-abandoned nest of the dark-eyed junco. She’s still in the game.

How about you? Do creatures play a role in your life? Do you have a story to share?

April 6, 2013 by Born To Organize

It Was a Dark and Stormy Garden…

After Dark

I’ve gardened in the rain and cold until my fingers were numb. I’ve gardened at dusk till feasting mosquitoes drove me indoors. I’ve even gardened in the mid-day heat, keeping the tormenting sun at bay with hats and sunscreens and moveable umbrellas. But I’ve never gardened after dark.

“Dark” is subjective of course. It’s that time of day when I reluctantly turn my garden over to the other side. If I’m outside too late, Dark reveals opossums, meandering along the fence. Frankly, they give me the creeps. I once encountered one on my pathway late at night, walking straight for me. I froze in place, but it ignored me and meandered on.

Raccoons also visit the yard. They like to play in the fountain and on one occasion, tapped on the cat door. The rats don’t always wait for Dark. They rustle around in the orange tree reminding me to pack up my tools and head on in. Dark is just around the corner.

Spiders, a gardeners friend, have cousins that prefer to wait for Dark. They live under the BBQ and below the eaves. They don’t make a sound, adding to the creepiness factor, but I know they’re there.

I’ve found myself racing the setting sun, trying to pull one more weed before night fall, trying to prune one last vine. I become a little obsessed with the work at hand and I’m reluctant to stop. In the summer months it’s usually too hot to garden by day. My fair skin prefers the damp mists of Avalon to the sunny climate of San Jose. Since I live in the suburbs and not a mystical novel I’m forced to make do. So I race that setting sun while acknowledging the inevitable. My garden is harmless by day, but, like the closet of my youth, with the flip of the light switch, all bets are off.

April 3, 2013 by Born To Organize

Tulips: Waving Farewell

Our tulips put on a lovely show for weeks. Thanks to all of you for encouraging me to give them a second chance. Years ago I planted a big batch of tulips from Costco and not a single one came up. My friend, Bob, thinks the squirrels made off with them instead.

One of the cool things about keeping a gardening blog is the log. With over a year of blogging, I can refer back to planting schedules, what worked, what didn’t and all the wonderful comments you post. It takes a village to plant an awesome garden. I love that. ♥

Here’s what I’ll be referring to this fall when I buy and chill garden bulbs:

Tulip Angelique

Angéliqué

Planted: 15
Survived: 4
Thrived: 2

I might try again, but in a different location. They’re stunning, but just didn’t take off.

Tulip ‘Attila’

Attila

Planted 15
Survived: 12
Thrived: 12

These will definitely be back next year.

Tulip ‘Passionale’

Passionale

Planted 5
Survived: 5
Thrived: 5

Also a winner, the Passionale tulips were the first up and the longest-lasting.

The not so dirty dozen

I thought I would feel wistful as the tulips faded, but signs of spring are in abundance everywhere. Farewell, garden beauties. Till next year.

Are you seeing signs of spring, too?

March 24, 2013 by Born To Organize

Working Days in the Garden

English Lavender

Gorgeous weather meant work and play in the garden today. My back is sure to rebel by morning, but for now it feels good to have put in a day’s work.

Lights and Ladders

One of the lights in the towering pine tree stopped working last summer. As we suspected, a small critter chewed through the wire and its housing. It’s hard to fathom the appeal of a few small, low-voltage wires, but there you have it. My husband rented a twenty-foot ladder and did the repairs. I worried and paced the entire time. I held the ladder on his way up, then flipped the switch when instructed. Ten minutes crawl by when you’re busy worrying. I was happy to help him take the ladder back to the van. I’m glad that job is behind us.

Sod: Now you see it, now you don’t

I dug up a pie-shaped corner of sod along the sidewalk, creating a 3 x 4 foot area for flowers. After much deliberation and input from several readers, I decided to plant on the property side of the sidewalk, instead of using the sidewalk strip. I’m still plotting alternatives to the grassy strip, but for now I’ll stick to my ‘flower pie’ project.

It was heartening to see so many plump earthworms as I dug out the layer of grass. Worms are a welcome addition in any garden. I can’t wait to start planting.

Lavender: Shave and a Haircut

English Lavender growing along the deck was in desperate need of a haircut. I pruned away dead wood and undergrowth, then shaped the top along the deck. It looks unkempt for now, but in a few weeks, new growth fill help fill it out. The lavender attracts bees all summer , something I always look forward to. I’m going to participate in the Great Sunflower Project this year, so I’m counting on lots of buzzing visitors.

There is suddenly so much to do as the weather improves and time seems to accelerate. I wish I could slow things down and take time to savor it all. Ah, Spring! I love you so. ♥