November 11, 2012 by Born To Organize

Garden Planting Pots Get a New Lease on Life

If you’re a gardener, you tend to amass garden pots. They’re a bit like coat hangers or stray socks: they have a way of multiplying when your not looking. Occasionally I’ve had luck returning the thin plastic cell packs to local nurseries, but lately, not so much. The good news is that more and more pots are recyclable.

If I can’t return or recycle, than I try to re-purpose.

Here are a few ideas.

When planting shallow-rooted annuals in a large planter, use a small, inverted pot in the center to reduce the amount of needed soil. If the roots aren’t deep, no need to waste your potting mix. Additionally, the inverted pot reduces water and soil runoff while lightening the weight of the pot (see below).

Ready to pot Cyclamen

Inverted Pot

Potted Cyclamen

Sometimes the spare pot is pretty, deserving a new lease on life. I received this shiny gem with a bulb one Christmas. After transplanting the bulb outside, I re-used the pot near our garden fountain. I keep a small scrub brush in the pot for a quick fountain clean-up. In the summer months I add a pair of shears so they are always on hand.

Shiny pot with brush

When I cover our patio set for the winter, I use a large, sturdy plastic pot to elevate the cover’s center. It keeps the rain from pooling and aids with run off.

Patio furniture cover

I grow cat grass for my sister’s kitty in a couple of small plastic pots. As soon as I give her a pot of grass, I start a new one. When her batch of grass dies off, she returns the pot and we start again. We’ve been passing the same few pots back and forth for months.

KT Eating Kitty Greens

Other Practical Uses

Small pots are great for starting plant cuttings or seedlings indoors. Larger pots are great for sharing divided plants. If you have broken clay or ceramic pots, break them carefully into small pieces and use them to cover the hole in a large pot.

Let your imagination be your guide.

What creative ways have you reused a garden pot?

October 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Hidden Cyclamen

Many years ago, my friend, Leslie, gave me a gorgeous cyclamen for Valentine’s Day. I was between relationships and probably feeling sorry for myself. It was a sweet gesture and a stunning specimen of a plant.

Brilliant Fuchsia

The cyclamen sat on my coffee table for many weeks, producing bloom after bloom. Then, with little warning, the leaves began to drop. I’m not one to give up easily on plants, so I tried the usual things: more water, then less water, different light. Nothing. Eventually I was out of ideas. I upended the contents of the pot into the small strip of dirt near my apartment door. Imagine my surprise a year later when the cyclamen “came back to life.” Turns out cyclamens are tubers, also known as corms. The plant had simply gone dormant.

Cyclamen corm with emerging heart-shaped leaves

Cyclamens remain one of my favorite winter plants. I planted three in colorful pots on the deck last winter so I could watch them bloom from my kitchen window. When spring rolled around, I transplanted them to larger pots and paired them with spring annuals.

As my potted darlings closed up shop in the late spring, I scooped them out of the soil and moved them to the lower garden. I found a small patch of dirt under some tall grass next to the Magnolia tree. They would be in good company and would stay cool all summer long.

It was a sweet surprise to see them back in bloom this week, refreshed from the recent rains and ready to flourish.

Shaded by the grass

What’s blooming in your garden?

Cyclamen Care. I especially like the beautiful drawing at the end of this link.

Halloween Countdown

Collector Pumpkin

October 19, 2012 by Born To Organize

Visiting Renee’s Garden

I was in Felton, California yesterday, a small, mountain community about 45 minutes from here. It’s also home to Renee’s Garden. I mapped their address from the packet of seeds and went in search of their gardens. It was quite a letdown when the address turned out to be a small, nondescript office instead. Not a garden in sight anywhere.

Although I didn’t bring home a camera full of photos, I learned a bit more about the company. Renee gathers seeds from around the world, then grows them in her test garden at home for two years, before releasing them to the public. The seeds are not treated or genetically modified.

I’ve been growing Renee’s Cat Treats Gourmet Mixed Greens for several months for my sister’s cat, KT. He’s an indoor kitty who loves his greens, and is especially fond of this mix. I grow a weeks’ worth of nibbles in my kitchen window, then she takes a pot home for KT.

KT Enjoying his Gourmet Mixed Greens

Renee’s garden is a participant in the Great Sunflower Project, the brain child of Gretchen LeBuhn. It’s a data collection project that will eventually produce the first real map of the state of the bees. You can learn more about Renee’s participation and the Great Sunflower Project on their respective sites.

I purchased a variety of bee-attracting seeds last week. They include Renee’s Native Orange California Poppies, Dusky Rose, also California Poppies and Double Click Bouquet Cosmos, a summer favorite. I’m going to sow a few seeds now, then save the rest for early spring. Won’t those bees be happy?

Special thanks the Heidi Harris.

Renee’s Garden Flower Seeds

Halloween Countdown

Snail Hotel Pumpkin

A. Checking in
B. New VIP entrance
C. Underground parking
D. No Vacancies
E. Putting on weight
F. How it all began

October 9, 2012 by Born To Organize

Spring Bulbs: My Flowery Future Awaits

Photo Credit: White Flower Farm

I lovingly perused the Fall Netherlands Bulb Company catalog, then cast it aside. The pages, filled with promise and spring blooms, made my heart ache. Wouldn’t it be glorious having a spring garden filled with exotic blooms? Nothing shouts spring, like a garden filled with crocus, daffodils and tulips. I wrote about my bulb-planting failures in August: Spring Bulbs: To Plant or not to Plant, and received the following encouragement:

Bob J. wrote:

Bulbs are so forgiving, even upside down you will get SOME to twist around and come up. I don’t even bother to refrigerate, and most of mine come up anyway. Maybe you are planting too deep, but you would have to drop them in a well for all of them to fail. My feeling is that something has dug yours up. Probably you are going to have to protect them from critters. I stick with Costco and Ace hardware cheapies and plant a few new ones each year.

So, I’m giving them a second try. Following Bob’s advice, I stopped at our local hardware store, and picked up a few bags. Since early frost is uncommon here, I’m popping the tulip bulbs in the fridge for good measure. Bob’s climate is a bit cooler than ours, and he occasionally sees snow.

Tulip Bulb Assortment
Van Zyverden

Then Boomdeeada wrote:

I’ve had mixed success with fall bulbs. My favorite was a tulip called Angelique. Shorter, blush pink, frilly. It worked well in my spring garden (Our house was Burgundy in color). I also planted a mass of yellow & pink, late bloomers on the lake front, they’d bloom along with the mauve lilac. But I was always adding more every fall. I don’t know why they fail, but sometimes there wasn’t anything to dig up. Like you, I do love the scent of Hyacinth, but even though you link indicates Zone 2, they never came back the next year. Don’t give up!

So…guess what made it into my cart? 15 Tulip Angélique. I’m so excited!

Recommended planting months for our zone are October through December. The tulips have a few weeks to chill before heading outdoors. I also bought Tulip Attila and Tulip Passionale as well as Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis. Next up: where to plant my assorted bulbs and how to keep them under wraps till spring. Suggestions welcome!

Resources:

Dig, Drop, Done: Ready to learn, ready to plant.
Keukenhauf flower bulb weekend, October 18 – 21. Spectacular!
Canada hardiness zones
American Horticultural Society

Halloween Countdown

Rock, paper, scissors Pumpkin

October 5, 2012 by Born To Organize

Freaky Friday: The Garden’s Dark Underbelly

It’s not all Sweet Alyssum and roses. Every garden has a dark side. I’m sure it’s no accident that the spooky celebrations of Halloween coincide with the decay of fall.

Use your imagination and come with me as we travel the more sinister side of the garden.

“Bat Wings”…or decaying leaf?

Spider in the gravel…look closely.

Rats Gone Bad

Hallowed orange or hollow orange? You decide.

Tree Rat or Field Mouse? Helping himself to an orange.

Not What They Seem

The Choking Vine? Snaking and staking the trellis.

Urban Decay

Shrunken Head?

I’m a Stink bug. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Cavernous Lair

Something Wicked This Way Comes: Black Widow Haven

Halloween Countdown

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Lindy-Lu!

September 27, 2012 by Born To Organize

Blooming Thursday: Seeds for the Holidays

Cosmos going to seed

The idea came to me in late July. I started collecting Cosmo seeds to give as gifts for the holidays. This prolific annual grew in abundance throughout the summer. It was such a pleasure watching the plant bloom and bloom. I want to share that with others.

Cosmos are easy to grow and spectacular to behold.They grow in planters or directly in the ground, and thrive with little fuss. It’s a cheerful gift for the middle of winter: the promise of spring blooms.

I’ve been mulling over design ideas, and finally hit on the perfect one. I created a five-panel accordion card using Creative Memories software. Starting with a basic design, I added photos to the front panels, leaving a placeholder on the last panel for the packet of seeds. I included planting instructions and additional photos on the reverse side of the panels.

Cosmos Seed Card – Front Panel

Cosmos Seed Card – Back Panel

I bought a packet of 50, 3.5 inch square glassine envelopes for the seeds. The back panel is 4 inches square. They are the perfect.size.

I can’t wait to order the sample card to be sure all the details came together. In the meantime I’m making envelopes for the cards using last year’s garden calendar. I’m having so much fun.

Are you giving gifts from the garden this year?

Resources:

Creative Memories StoryBook Creator 4.0 digital software
Paper Source 3.5 x 3.5 Glassine envelopes (for seeds)

My Beloved Cosmos:

September 15, 2012 by Born To Organize

Tumbling Composter: Some Assembly Required

As I excitedly ordered my tumbling composter, I failed to read the inevitable fine print. You know…some assembly required. I kept a watchful eye for the UPS driver, ready to pounce on that box. My kitchen scraps were taking on an odoriferous scent and still the composter didn’t come.

I eventually dumped the scraps in a bucket in the garage, and covered them with potting soil. It’s funny but two weeks ago I would have tossed those scraps or ground them up in the garbage disposal. Now the scraps had a real purpose. My garden was counting on me.

UPS At Last

The day my husband, and resident handyman left for a business trip, the box arrived. I came home that afternoon to a damaged box on the porch, with one of the parts sticking out of the side. Oh-oh. I was afraid to open it. The good news: no harm done. The bad news: so many parts. I was facing eight panels, two end pieces, six leg pieces and a bag with 56 washers and screws. I unpacked all the pieces, then left the room.

Lindy didn’t think she could help, either.

My son, in his sweet and gentle way, asked me if I would be moving it as it was blocking his path to the living room. Okay. I can do this. I fumbled around with my husbands various tools, found what I hoped would work and got down to the business of building a composter. It went together beautifully, and was over half done when I called it a day. I finished assembling it with my son’s help on Thursday. At last the fun could begin.

Some assembly required

Ta-da!

I had a bucket of “brown” from the pumpkin patch ready to go and a decent sized bucket of “green” to go with it. Into the bin they went. I closed the door, gave it a spin, and smiled. Who knew rotted apples and dead leaves could bring about such happiness?

Do you compost too?

The Compost Recipe

I’ve seen several variations on the mix, but here are the suggestions from tumblingcomposters.com:

The composting process works best by mixing moist greens (nitrogen rich) with dry browns (carbon rich) in a ratio of approximately 2 parts greens to 1 part browns.

Greens are:

kitchen scraps
grass clippings
garden and house plants

Browns are:

leaves
straw or hay
saw dust
twigs

Do not compost:

meats/fats/bones
dairy products
trash/plastic
wood ashes
invasive plants or weeds

Serves several plants.

September 9, 2012 by Born To Organize

Harvesting Pumpkins: Three to Get Ready

Slinky is ready for Halloween

What a joyous day! Fall is in the air and pumpkins are in my house. We harvested three orange lovelies this morning, then brought them indoors for safe keeping. Two have been ready for a while but I left them on the vine for up to the minute ripening. The third pumpkin was a surprise, in more ways than one.

We still have four extra-large pumpkins on the vine, hoping they’ll turn a bit darker. Currently they have a peach complexion. I lifted one of these large pumpkins away from the beds to give it more sun, and discovered a smaller pumpkin had been growing just below. It has multiple cracks in an interesting geometric pattern, but each of the cracks healed over. I can’t wait to take a picture and share it with you. We’ve never seen anything like it. I’m wondering if the extraordinary weight of the pumpkin above caused it to slowly crack, giving it time to heal as it split. My husband and resident carver is looking forward to hollowing it out. He thinks it will look like a star burst. We’ll restrain ourselves until Halloween.

Do you think she’s waiting for The Great Pumpkin?

The plan is to give each of the larger pumpkins a name on our Wii Fit, so we can weigh them one by one. Won’t that be fun?

Meanwhile, I’m practicing sitting on my hands. Every time I go out there I want to harvest the fruit and make way for the winter garden.

Ò Ó Ò

September 8, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sunflowers: Setting Sun on the Season

I knew this day would arrive, but oh how I’ll miss them. The row of sunflowers lining the deck are starting to go to seed.

Impatient birds knocked over one of the lightweight planter boxes last week, smashing the largest flower head clean off the stalk and into a heap on the deck. My son helped me move the planters from the deck to the narrow space behind the lavender to stabilize the planters. Now wedged in place, they won’t fall over, but they look like they shrunk two feet. Hopefully the rest of the flowers will go to seed on the stalk. It’s a beautiful thing to behold.

Last year I placed the seed heads along our stone wall, just outside my office window. There I could watch the squirrels pick them clean. I don’t know why I find those cute little hands at work so appealing. I’m annoyed when they chew off the pumpkin leaves, but delighted when they snack on the seeds.

For my readers living in different parts of the world:

Sunflower (Helianthus annus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head). The sunflower is named after its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. It has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on a receptacle base. From the Americas, sunflower seeds were brought to Europe in the 16th century, where, along with sunflower oil, they became a widespread cooking ingredient. Leaves of the sunflower can be used as cattle feed, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production. – Wikipedia

Today I’m wearing my worn out but much-loved sunflower t-shirt with the saying “Love this Life” across the front. It’s my own little sendoff to Helianthus annus, flower of the sun.

Here are the last of them, photographed at dusk.

I bought my sunflower t-shirt in Hawaii from a company called Love This Life.
I blogged about the squirrel eating sunflowers here.
A little sunflower trivia. My favorite:

Floating rafts of sunflowers are being used to clean up water contaminated as a result of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the former Soviet Union. The roots of the sunflower plants remove 95% of the radioactivity in the water by pulling contaminants out of the water.”

September 7, 2012 by Born To Organize

Birdhouse Gourd: Racing the Biological Clock

Our birdhouse gourd vines are sporting several small fruits, each one about two inches long. They’re the color of limes and about as large as an over-sized peanut. Aren’t they cute?

The question of the hour is will they grow up?

We found the seed packets on one of our nursery rounds, but not until after planting the rest of the garden. The idea of growing a birdhouse was irresistible so of course the packet made its way into my cart. I envisioned a garden full of birdhouses, just waiting for a feathered mama to claim them.

We have at least another month of warm weather, but will it be enough? Please send your happy-garden energy vibe. I’ll be sure to report back.