January 24, 2014 by Born To Organize

Seeds for Change

Growing from an avocado pit

It’s easy to take seeds for granted. When you bite into an apple or slice open an avocado, the seeds are visible and bountiful. Most of the time we throw them away, or at the very least, add them to our compost pile.

In developing countries, however, this is not the case. The following organizations are working to change that.

Heifer International

The Heifer Project is best known for donating livestock in developing countries. Did you know that you can donate a Gardener’s Basket as well? The goal is to help build sustainable farms and increase self-sufficiency.

The garden basket gift features tree seedlings, rabbits, chickens and a hive of bees as part of an integrated farming approach. Training consists of animal care, fertilization and growing techniques. Benefits:

Boosts production by providing compost and fertilizer

Provides organic pest control as chickens get rid of bugs and worms

Pollinates crops for a more abundant harvest

Malnutrition is a very real problem for families suffering from poverty, one that claims the lives of many children each year. When you donate a garden, you enable families to support themselves with a healthy, balanced diet.

Garden baskets make ideal gifts for gardeners. (My friend Antonina donated on my behalf last Christmas!)

Yes to Seed Fund

Yes To Inc. is a local hair and skin care company, manufacturing sustainable, food-based products and packaging. In 2013 they committed 1% of profits to the Yes to Seed Fund. Additionally, 100% of the profits for Yes to Cucumbers towelettes goes to the seed fund while supplies last. I’ve snapped up a few at our local shop this afternoon. Their mission is to plant gardens around the globe.

Seeds for Change

Seeds for change is a seed donation program. Their goal is to promote self-sufficiency and at the same time bring healthy foods to impoverished rural families in the US. They’ve started a seed donation program to encourage families to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

It’s exciting to see local, national and international organizations sowing seeds around the globe.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

― Robert Louis Stevenson

January 23, 2014 by Born To Organize

The Sensual Garden

Daphne

Our singular Daphne is in bloom this time of year producing a sensuous, heady musk. Daphne is my garden’s Sacred Feminine, the goddess of sensuality. Her blooms intoxicate, drawing me to my knees to inhale her rich scent.

There are a number of pheromone-rich plants in my garden, and lucky for me, they all flower at different times. After the Daphne fades, the Jasmine comes to life. You’ll find me in the side yard making up things to do for the weeks it remains in bloom. The lavender revives in late spring, attracting bees all summer long. It lines our front deck, and grows a few feet from our seating area.

According to Skin Biology, perfumes arose from plant oils with smells similar to animal pheromones. Plant oils with the strongest similarity to human sexual pheromones come from jasmine, ylang ylang and patchouli.

The sensual garden is a gentle lover. Leaves stir smoothly on an afternoon breeze as buds unfold languidly when ready. Bees swoop in, spreading garden goodness from plant to plant.

Without a quenching rain, my earthly companions must reach for ground water. So far they’re holding their own. The garden wouldn’t be the same without them.

January 21, 2014 by Born To Organize

Garden Pop-ups

Sure *I* was late planting this year’s bulbs, but nature is always on time. Bulbs from last season (and the season before!) are popping up all over the garden.

Life on deck

Sometimes I’ll forget that a bulb is resting at the bottom of a pot, and I’ll dump the dirt into a planter. This explains the random placement of one of the bulbs I see peeking out from the center of the vegetable beds. I love nature’s optimism.

Mystery bulbs in the Veggie garden

There are signs of tulips along the rock wall, but there are also signs of the squirrels eating the greens. I hope they lose interest soon, or that will be the end of them.

Tulips, ever optimistic

The hyacinths are up and looking pretty. It looks like the onion-scented Allium are coming back from last year, along with (I think) a single freesia.

Emerging hyacinth

Freesia?

Can you smell it?

New Life for your Old Calendar

Several of you commented that you save your wall calendars from year to year. Here are a few more ideas for turning your beautiful calendar pages into something new. For more info, visit Garden Calendar Lives Another Day.

Re-purposed Calendar: postcard, covered box, gift tags and stickers, envelopes, gift card holder, fairy garden bunting, drawer liner, box dividers, napkin rings

January 13, 2014 by Born To Organize

Narcissus and Freesia

Bulb Packets

Hopefully I’m not too late. The cliché “nothing ventured, nothing gained” is at work in my garden.

Today I planted nearly 75 bulbs, 50 Yellow Trumpet Narcissus and 24 Single Mix Freesia. The preferred planting time is November through December. We’re mid-way through January so I’m a teeny bit behind schedule. No matter. They’re in the ground now, a nice six inches below soil level. All these years of gardening and I’m still amazed that you can bury a bulb that deep. Their internal programming tells them when to pop up and where. If you plant one upside down, they’ll simple make a u-turn and grow up towards the sun anyway.

The narcissus will put on a show early to mid spring. They’re planted broadcast style in the curb garden. All that new, rich soil made quick work of the planting. It was nice to see earth worms in the mix too, always a plus. As a bonus, I unearthed my afternoon snack: half a dozen carrots that I missed harvesting last week.

The Freesia are early summer bloomers. I planted them in a curved row in the small triangle garden I created last year. The mix includes white, yellow, red, pink and purple flowers.

Rain

San Jose received a ‘trace’ of rain last week. It was enough to clear the awful air we’ve had, but nothing more. We’ve had 27 spare the air days this season days thanks to fires, illegal wood burning and lack of rain. Our five-day forecast calls for sunny skies and high temps. By Thursday, temps will be up to 72 degrees F (22 degrees C). January is typically our coolest month with an average of 58 degrees. I enjoy beautiful days as much as the next person, but it feels so strange to have winter skies, spring temps and summer ‘rain’.

Little Free Library

The Little Free Library is up and running a week now. Check back tomorrow for an update. I hope life is good in your corner of the world.

January 8, 2014 by Born To Organize

Roasted Vegetables: Savory and Sweet

Beta-Carotene.

It’s what’s for dinner.

The last of the carrots

More specifically, carrots, the last of them from the winter garden.

Next year I’ll plant quite a bit more, remembering to divide them, of course. It’s been so much fun.

Mike whipped up a vegetable roast, using the carrots along with new potatoes, parsnips, onions, green peppers and tofu from the market. It’s a nice, vegan/vegetarian dish for cold days. It’s warm and filling and easy to make.

Vegetable Roast

I’m spoiled rotten living with a man who likes to cook. Mom was a great cook, too, but this apple fell far from the tree, rolled down the sidewalk and into the woods. I can produce a meal under duress (and I cook for my boys when he travels) but most of the time I would rather be doing something else.

That said, I love to eat! Do you like to cook?

[Your caption here]

January 1, 2014 by Born To Organize

Garden Retrospective

When you’re a gardener, the start of the year feels more like the beginning of a countdown. Sure, the calendar year starts anew, but the planting calendar is still a ways off. It’s spring I’m pining for.

In case there was any doubt, two seed catalogs arrived in the mail this week; little teasers to get my heart pumping again.

I had fun putting together some of my favorite garden photos of 2013, set to a little rag time music by Terry Waldo called Maple Leaf Rag. It’s nearly impossible not to tap your foot to the beat.

Did you make any resolutions for the year? I’ve never had any success with mine so I don’t bother anymore. I *like* the idea of eating healthier, sleeping more, and remembering to floss. It’s just that promising myself (or the universe) that I’m really going to do it *this year* really doesn’t work.

Here’s what I will do in 2014: more gardening, more blogging, more reading and more laughing.

Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them?

December 17, 2013 by Born To Organize

Frosty Fingers Tickle the Fronds

Amazing things happen when you look through the lens of a camera. It’s an interesting metaphor for life.

We can view a glass as half empty or half full or we can focus on the small etches in the glass, marvel at the glass’ ability to hold water and consider its resilience. That glass stands up to multiple washings and use, and perhaps a tumble or two.

Seven days of hard frost laid waste the less-hardy plants in our garden. This kind of cold snap is unheard of in San Jose, a semi-arid climate known for moderate temps. It was disheartening seeing all that damage, but a reminder too, that loss is part of life. So too, is resilience.

I donned my warm coat, slung the camera over my shoulder and took pictures of nature’s etching. While the ferns took a hit, the plants survived. Frosty fingers tickled the fronds, but the roots stayed warm and strong.

Frost damaged ferns

All three geraniums seemed to collapse from the frost, but beneath the wilt, I see life. I’ve gardened long enough to know that nature serves up some amazing things. I’ll wait for spring before a true assessment is in order.

Geranium droop

Geranium leaves

Meanwhile, since frost is as much a part of nature as wind, rain, snow and sun, I’m choosing to embrace the beauty in all of it.

Frozen beauty

Organized at Heart

I’m posting a series of articles featuring organizing around the holidays this month on my blog Organized at Heart. If the subject interests you, please go take a peak. Today’s blog offers tips for Organizing Christmas Morning.

December 11, 2013 by Born To Organize

Cyclamen: Pretty in Pink

Like dominoes, much of the garden continues to succumb to days of frost. The cyclamen, however, look terrific. The plant pictured above remained dormant all summer. As spring and summer annuals died, my trusty cyclamen bloomed again. I’ve always loved the way the flowers soft petals seem to fold in like little clam shells.

The nurseries are full of them this time of year, usually in red and white. I assumed they were all the same plant, but apparently the nursery variety are grown for indoors. Though sold as ‘house plants’, they prefer cool temps. In fact, if you keep one indoors, they suggest putting it outside for a few hours, or even overnight, to prolong the health of the plant. It seems counter-intuitive. The rest of the garden needs salvaging from the carnage of this unusual frost, but the Cyclamen crave it.

According to Garden Web:

Cyclamen [in its native habitat] is an endangered plant. Centuries of collecting from the wild have decimated populations and the Cyclamen is now protected by CITES. CITES is the Congress on International Trade in Endangered Species. It is a worldwide body set up to protect not only plants, but animals that are in danger of extinction. It is illegal to import or export Cyclamen to or from any cooperating country without a CITES permit.

I had no idea! I saw hundreds of them on display at a nursery earlier this week, so hope this bodes well for their survival. Meanwhile, this little gem is looking pretty in pink and happy in the garden. I’m inspired to plant many more.

Garden Update: Frosty and Dry

Days of unseasonal frost have left my garden looking desolate. I raced past the dying tomato plant on my way to dump kitchen scraps. I upended them into the compost bin, then raced back inside for warmth.

Tomatoes last stand

Still no rain in sight, other than one brief storm last month. The days are cold and dry.

The leaves have been off the Pistache since mid-November, but the maple is just now turning color. It’s nice that they set color at different times. It gives us a chance to enjoy each one.

View from my living room window

Japanese Maple

Somewhat comically, I won’t need to refrigerate my bulbs this year. Generally speaking, California isn’t cold enough so we have to tease the bulbs with a six-week chill. They’re getting plenty of cold in the garage and should be ready to go soon. I’m not ready, but they are.

The hyacinth bulbs are popping up, happy with the autumn chill. When they finally bloom, the smell is potent and intoxicating. I can’t wait. It evokes a happy childhood memory, so I look forward to breathing that in each year.

hyacinth

I’m off to the craft store to buy some ribbon for the finishing touches on a gift. One last seasonal trip to the post office tomorrow.

What’s happening in your corner of the world? I’m behind on my reading, but look forward to catching up with all your lovely comments, and blogs, soon.

December 5, 2013 by Born To Organize

Frost Nipped Peas

Two days of a hard freeze were unkind to the garden peas.

Frost Damaged Peas

I gathered a handful this afternoon. There’s nothing to be gained at this point by leaving them on the vine. The vines are drooping as well.

The frost damaged the outer skin leaving it mottled. The inner ‘pearls’ look surprisingly good though.

Peas, unmasked

The in and out of garden peas

It’s supposed to ‘warm up’ to a low of 38º F (3ºC) by Friday, but will drop back ten degrees the following day. With over two weeks to go before the winter solstice is upon us, I wonder what this means for the season ahead?

Organized at Heart

I’m posting a series of articles featuring organizing around the holidays this week on my blog Organized at Heart. If the subject interests you, please go take a peak. Today’s blog offers some tips for creating new giving traditions for the holidays.