May 27, 2013 by Born To Organize

Mr. Mischievous: Mighty Mouse Mayhem

Secret Garden: Under Construction

Though gardening can be a solitary activity it’s rare that I’m alone in the dirt. Mr. Mischievous, aka the neighbor’s cat is always along on the journey.

Mouse finds it irresistible when I’m down on all fours in the garden. Apparently it’s equally irresistible causing trouble.

Kitty rolls at my feet, nibbles on the swaying grass and chases clods of dirt at the end of a weed. Unfortunately, he’s also a bit of a ‘bull in a china shop.’ Last week, while I had my back turned, he made himself comfortable on top of the City Picker. I’ve done plenty of reading on mulching tomatoes and cat mulch wasn’t on the list.

Mouse keeping the tomato seedlings warm

My fairy garden is under (re) construction after he sent the entire pot, heal over castors on to the deck. It gave us both quite the start, and sadly snapped off the tiny leg of my treasured Boomdeeadda deer. My husband worked his magic with a few drops of super glue, but that deer now looks askance when he sees Mouse headed his way.

Fairy Garden Kerfuffle

This week I started a second miniature garden, tucked between a few plants at the base of our Magnolia tree. The garden is at ground level so nothing can fall and break. That’s not to say that a curious cat can’t wedge himself into the same tiny space, confident that the new little clearing is just for him.

Mighty Mouse in the Secret Garden

Help me!!!

Once he tires of making mischief, he’ll demand I pick him up. On several occasions, he simply climbs on my stooped back and curls himself in to a ball. It’s hard not to admire that level of confidence.

It’s all about me!

If you’re in the neighborhood and you see me down on all fours with a white kitty napping on my back, be sure to wave hello. More likely than not, Mr. Mischievous will trot out to the curb to say hello.

I’m trying to get some shut-eye here.

Be sure to check back for the Secret Garden debut later this week.

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 15, 2013 by Born To Organize

What’s That Buzz?

The clichés are true. Bees are busy and they do buzz when they move from flower to flower. My gardening confidence bumps up several notches when they come to town, knowing my pumpkin plants are in good ‘hands.’

I’m terrible at sitting or standing still for long, but find the garden helps slow me down. While standing still, I notice so much more. This morning I saw three different birds in the orange tree, a snail meandering on an orange peel and a group of industrious, shiny black bees.

The standing still part didn’t last long as I followed the bee from flower to flower, snapping as many pictures as I could before the pollinator moved on. Within a few minutes another bee arrived and as I darted from flower to flower, so too did the bees. They make a frantic bzzz sound before landing, then silence as they dip head first into the flower, rolling their shiny bodies in golden pollen. No time to lollygag, they quickly emerge, darting to their next destination.

A nice dip in the pool

Pumpkin plants produce several male flowers at the start of their growth. Within a few weeks the female flowers appear. Without those bees, all the flowers would eventually shrivel and die, leaving a healthy but fruitless vine.

A pair of male pumpkin flowers

What’s that buzz? It’s music to my gardening ears!

Spreading glassy wings

Ready for lift-off

A bee and its shadow

You can learn more about the critical role of pollinators at Pollinator Partnership. The site has a fun, downloadable poster as well.

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 27, 2013 by Born To Organize

You Say ‘Tomato,’ I Say ‘They’re Planted!’

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Life is busy lately, putting a crimp in my gardening vibe. I’ve been fitting things in here and there, but long for an uninterrupted day to catch up on a few projects. I started to worry that I’d never get the tomatoes into the earth.

Timing is everything when it comes to planting. April is prime seed-starting season in our neck of the woods so I needed to get to it. This week I did!

Once again, I started my crop in a pair of City Pickers. Much like the Earth Box, but double the size, the City Picker is an all-in-one planting system. Further, the boxes are portable, so they can roll from place to place for maximum sun.

My friend Doug, a nurseryman at a local garden center, gave me half a dozen Baker Creek heirloom tomato seeds a few months back. He received two sets of seeds from the Baker Creek rep and generously passed on one of the sets to me. I am one lucky gardener.

Of course I’m a stress case now, because the pressure is on. Will they sprout? Will they grow big and tall? Will the squirrels, birds, rats, mice, snails, etc., let them be? The seeds sat on my desk for several months, full of promise and potential. Now they’re out in the real world, no longer abstract. Grow babies, grow.

You say ‘tomato;’ I say ‘please grow.’ I’m thinking of changing the name of my blog to ‘The Worried Gardener.‘ What do you think?

Here are the steps for planting your City Picker:

1. Assemble as shown
2. Fill with potting mix (not potting soil) to about two inches below top
3. Add a thin layer of Dolomite (Agricultural Lime)
4. Create a two-inch trench down the center of the planter.
5. Add 3 cups of organic fertilizer.
6. Mound with dirt.
7. Plant
8. Cover with plastic mulch
9. Stake your tomatoes early. After a couple of hot days, you’ll turn your back and they’ll have grown like weeds.

April 22, 2013 by Born To Organize

Earth Day Rainbow

As I write this post, I hear a duck flying toward the park and smaller birds singing in the trees. I walked with a friend and her dog this morning through beautiful Willow Glen, a neighborhood known for it’s established trees, beautiful gardens and eclectic homes. Some days I pinch myself that I live in such a beautiful place. You live here too. It’s called Earth.

Origins of Earth Day

The idea came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. – Source: Earth Day Network

It’s hard to ignore climate change, the recent oil spills and the growing list of extinct animals and plants. Our local news informed today that San Jose just passed the second-driest winter on record since the 1800s Gold Rush.

That said, knowledge brings power, and in an age of broad social media, the masses will no longer be silenced. I strive to honor this place we call home, by using less, staying informed, educating others and raising my boys to be stewards of the earth.

Rainbow?

No rain means no rainbows, so I’ve created a garden rainbow instead.

Strawberries, California Poppies, Yellow Day Lilly, Cat Mint, Crocus, Lavender

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

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. ♥

March 16, 2013 by Born To Organize

Snails and Scale: A Winning Combination?

No!

Scale to the left, snail to the right,

No, I’m pretty sure it’s not a winning combination. For now, however, it’s what we’ve got. Ugh.

We had a major infestation last summer, with little to do for it while the tree was blooming. I pruned close to 30% of the branches, removing the worst of the infestation. Then, we waited.

Early this year, while the tree was dormant, I worked at removing all traces of the pest. Once I’d scraped away the hard scale, I took a bucket of warm soapy water, and wiped down every single branch, removing the black, sooty scale as well. I checked the tree the following day, removing what I’d missed.

They’re back! The infestation isn’t *as* bad, but it’s back nonetheless.

The interesting turn of events is the snails. I counted six or seven of them as I inspected the tree. I was momentarily hopeful. Could it be that this garden pest would actually snack on the scale?

That was a long climb to slime a flower

Scale encrusted branch

Snail making tracks

Y do you ask?

Nope! My research tells me they eat fruit, leaves, even paper, but not scale. Boo!

If you’re looking for pet snails, these are free for the asking. Time to move on to plan C.

March 6, 2013 by Born To Organize

Garden Bulbs: Putting on a Show

Today, I was ready! I’ve been enjoying these beautiful tulips putting on a show and wanted to share them with you. I kept missing the chance to grab a picture of their buttery centers. The tulips start to ‘disrobe’ around mid-day, usually when I’m gone. They’re wrapped up snugly first thing in the morning and again by dusk. Aren’t they something?

Tulip opens up

Trio of Beauties

Petite and purple crocus broke ground this week, blooming with sporty stripes and tailored leaves to match They’re small put powerful, and once established, appear year after year. I planted crocus in several pots and as a border under the Acer and around the steps. Next year I’ll be far more adventurous, planting in greater volume. They’re magnificent!