Personal

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Craft if Forward: Garden Journal

This month’s craft it forward goes to Emma at Greenhousing.   Emma is a fellow gardener, helping things grow in her own special garden in the UK.

She started Greenhousing: Big Plans for a Small Garden with her husband to:

plan and keep a record of our hard and not-so-hard work.

Luckily we have been hoarding lots of plant pots of various sizes, seed and drip trays, pot trays, seeds, weed suppressant fabric, vegetable and tomato fertiliser, etc. so we can make big plans without having to spend a lot of money.

The garden is an odd shape at the back of the house, with fencing on three sides and a corner of a neighbour’s garage jutting into it.  The big plan is to work around any obstacles and grow some tasty food and lovely flowers and plants.

She hasn’t posted for a while, so I’m hoping life simply got busy and that all is okay.

Garden Memories

I started by gathering garden-inspired paper and embellishments.  Oh how I tax myself [wink-wink]). I assembled an 8 x 8 book/album, small enough to carry into the garden to record notes on garden progress.  It can also be used to save photos of her garden successes or remembrances of her first year with a lovely greenhouse.

Here are a few sample pages:

garden journal page 1 garden journal page 2 garden journal page 3 garden journal page 4 garden journal page 5 garden journal page 6 garden journal back cover

What is Craft it Forward?

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 going.

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It Takes a Village: Wee Little Carrots Under Wraps

baby carrot

Baby Carrot

If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know of my recent garden misstep: failing to thin carrots.  I’ve always thinned the plants I grow from seed, but incorrectly assumed that the starter plants were pre-thinned. (They weren’t).

I’ve been getting wonderful advice (from The Contented Crafter)…

Oh dear Alys! Carrots need thinning, Boomdee was right. If you are concerned about the size of them [and you can always check with another dead of night forage] I wonder if you might suggest to the tiny gardeners that the garden fairy has whispered in your ear that the carrots need a little longer to grow a bit bigger …. … Whatever the outcome I’m confident that provided the tiny gardeners get to eat a carrot, no matter what size, it will have been a successful introduction. Can’t wait to hear how it goes 🙂

moral support (from LB)…

I look forward to hearing about the tiny gardeners and their excitement over the harvest! (good thing it was Boomdee there and not me; I had no idea that carrots needed to be thinned)

and a fit of giggles from Boomdeeadda:

As for the carrots…..I only know that ONE thing about vegetable gardens because I grew a whole row of mutants and misfits myself, LOL.

Attention Gardening Nirvana readers: Boomdee knows basically nada about vegetable gardens!!! LOL.

I planted abundantly to ensure wee gardener success, so it was safe to unearth one of the plants when the coast was clear. Sure enough I uncovered half a dozen tiny carrots, clustered snugly together. They looked cozy, like a litter of tiny kittens intertwined.  Carrots and kittens eventually grow up, though, and need their own space.

I quickly divided the plants, replanting within minutes hoping they wouldn’t mind the brief interruption. I patted the earth and walked away.  Nothing to see folks, nothing to see.

By day two, carrot greens rested on the soil.  I refused to give up hope.  Day three, still on the droopy side.  It’s now been a week and no real sign of recovery.  So…

Today I decided to leave the rest of the carrots undisturbed.  I’ll let them grow for one more week (it’s a 50 – 70 day crop).  Then the wee gardeners can harvest and take home tiny carrots to share with their family.

One of the best parts of documenting your garden in a blog: lessons learned for next year.  Thanks for supporting me on the journey.

Halloween Countdown:

purple monkey on pumpkin

Purple monkey on a pumpkin (This sweet little monkey was a birthday gift from my talented friend, Laura.  She dyed him this color, then added all the beautiful details.  Isn’t he cute). Dharma Trading Co.

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Gardening vs Blogging

Newly replanted sidewalk strip

Newly replanted sidewalk strip

Today was one of those days: I could garden or I could blog about gardening, but I couldn’t do both.

Gardening won!  With great joy, I replanted the sidewalk strip with a bounty of perennials.  I’ve reserved a spot along the sidewalk and away from the street for carrots.  I have several cell packs in reserve for next week, when my neighbor’s day care kids will get to ‘plant a row.’ The children love playing on my ramp and deck, and last year helped me plant a few bulbs.  I know they’ll have fun planting the carrots and watching them grow. I also bought a packet of sweet peas, and *bonus* a sweet little climbing trellis.  It creates a nice focal point in the center of the garden.

Darkness fell by the time I finished planting, watering and putting away my tools.  I promise a better set of pictures by daylight soon.

And with that, this happy gardener is taking her aching back to bed.  Sweet peas…I mean dreams.

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Two Letters

Alys the Gardener

Alys

Dear Reader,

We create a ‘contract’ of sorts when we publish a regular blog. My unwritten contract with you says that when you log on, you can expect to find a post about gardening, crafting, crafty gardening and cats, delivered with a mostly light heart. So, the following letter, written to my dad who died when I was 9 has a more somber tone and I wanted to let you know that upfront. If this is not your thing, please read no further. Stop by next week for the usual garden antics.

With love and gratitude for your readership and support.

Alys

Dear Daddy,

This is one of those letters you never actually send, though I would if I could. You left an unimaginable void in our hearts when you died on a day just like today. It was hot, strangely still and ultimately surreal. How could you have been here one minute, then gone the next?  I walked in on mom the day you died and I knew. She was kneeling on the floor tearing up your letters though I never fully understood why. She had her reasons and in the end it doesn’t really matter.

You would be amazed what can happen to a letter these days. When I hit a button on an electronic box called a computer, this letter will travel through something called the internet.  Once sent, you can’t tear it up, burn it, or control it in any way. Lovers and politicians learned this the hard way. It’s what they called a double-edged sword in your day.

I love you so much, and was really, really, really sad when you died.  As you know, I was only 9 so I didn’t have the resources to understand what was going on. Mom did her best, but she struggled too. We all missed you terribly. I’m crying now as I write this, all these years later, as at times I remain stuck in the painful past.

Please know, that you would be proud of your legacy. Your girls grew up and got college degrees, something that was really important to you.  It was your reason for moving the family to California in the first place.  We all love and nurture animals as you did,  and yours-truly is a gardener!  Can you believe it?

I have special memories of our beautiful London garden.  You hauled rocks in a wheelbarrow to build a small ‘creek’ down the middle of the yard. It gathered run-off from rain and melting snow and filled my imagination with happy moments. Your grew snapdragons near the back door, and tomatoes during the hot days of summer. Sometimes people would meet you at the nursery where you worked and ask to come by to see your garden. I was so proud of you.

When we left Canada for what you hoped would be a better life for your girls, the new homeowners weren’t interested in keeping up your garden. You were hugely disappointed.  I certainly would be.  Of course the plan was a new home and a new garden in sunny California.  We arrived in November of 1966 to less than favorable circumstances. The man who hired you to run his nursery had since filed bankruptcy. You supported our family with your savings, then sold your beloved coin collection to make ends meet. It was a difficult time for all of us. I can’t imagine as a parent how hard that must have been for you.

By the end of 1967 things were finally turning around. Our family moved to Millbrae where you landed a job at a local garden nursery.  We lived in a rental, but at last could put down roots. The following Christmas, what we thought was the flu turned out to be lung cancer.  The holidays were never the same.

I turn 54 this October, the same age you were when a cruel and ravishing cancer stripped you of your life. Your physical suffering was finally at an end on that hot, August day, but my struggles had just begun. Life doesn’t come with guarantees.

I want to thank you for your gifts of life and affection.  Each of your daughters carries you in her own way.  I think you would be proud of us, as we are of you.

My wish today as I hit the ‘send button’ would be for you to know that we all grew up, lived productive lives and that we carry you in our hearts, always.  When I reach toward the earth, to tumble a seed or pull out a weed, I think of you.

Your loving daughter,

Alys Ann

Mom and Dad on their wedding day

Mom and Dad on their wedding day

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Only Eight Weeks Left!

Can you believe it?   The first day of spring is just eight weeks from today.¹  Are you ready?

Of course spring arrives whether we’re ready or not, but if you’re planning a garden it’s nice to be prepared. If you’ve been gardening for a while, you’ll have learned plenty of lessons from past seasons. I sure have. In my experience, no two years are alike.  Once you’ve sorted out soil, amendments and irrigation, you can start planning the fun stuff.

cosmos looking up_opt

Cosmos

A garden can encompass an acre plot or a few pots in a sunny corner of a patio or deck.  I’ve figured out ways to garden most of my life, regardless of circumstance. I once planted corn in a skinny strip of dirt next to an otherwise barren lot in a rented house.  I’ve grown herbs in a sheltered porch.  Many years ago, single and renting a small space, my mom gave me a hundred dollars for my birthday.  I used it to buy several bags of soil and some seeds and created a flower garden outside my front door. My neighbors enjoyed it too. The best gardens are shared.

sunflower

Sunflower

A sunny kitchen window or a humid bathroom counter are great indoor garden spots. You needn’t have a lot of money to start your own. Ask friends for seeds and cuttings.  Many plants need dividing every few years.  Ask your friends if you can help them divide plants, then take home some of the splits. It’s another opportunity to bring plants into your domain.  Check out Freecyle in your community, and post wanted ads for old tools, pots, and the like.  My neighbor planted tomatoes in an old cat litter container. Let your imagination be your guide.

Are you planning a garden this year?  What will you grow?

Tomato and Basil

Tomato and Basil

¹I’m writing from the Northern Hemisphere.  If you live south of the equator, of course, fall days are just around the corner.

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Mercury News Garden Calendar: An Annual Tradition

DSC_0047Our local paper publishes a garden calendar every January. The 2013 version arrived with Saturday’s paper. The calendar is a single page, always beautifully illustrated, with general gardening guidelines arranged by month.

I hang the calendar on the back of the garage door and refer to it throughout the year. It doesn’t hold any special advice or information that I couldn’t easily find online, but I hang it up anyway and check in to be sure I’m on track.

I used to be a haphazard gardener. My intentions were good, but also easily derailed when my boys were young. Months would pass before I checked in with the calendar again, but I hung it up just the same.

In this era of declining print, I wonder how long ‘the papers’ will stay in business?  Though I enjoy the immediacy of the internet and the incredible access to information, I still enjoy the feel of a newspaper.  It’s fun looking forward to the yearly calendar.  We check the local section for “spare the air” days and my boys check the weather.  Yesterday’s news is great for catching debris when you re-pot a plant.  You can even add it to your compost pile.

Of course newsprint comes from lumbar, so less paper means more trees.  I can certainly get behind that.  Change is both good and inevitable, but as annual rituals go, I’ll be sorry if and when this one is gone.

For a closer look at the San Jose Mercury news Garden Calendar (available, of course, online) follow this link.  Illustrations by Dave Johnson.

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Gifts for the Joyful Gardener

Gardeners are practical souls.  We don’t mind dirt under our nails, or bruises on tired knees.  We’ll get up early or stay out late, weeding, pruning, planting and generally enjoying our time in the garden.  We love sharing seeds and flowers fresh from the earth and enjoy swapping tips for keeping the garden pests at bay.

If you have a joyful gardener in your life, here are a few gift ideas to tuck under the tree.

Practical

Your gardener will never lose their gloves in the garden again.  Floral Gardening Gloves allow you to pull weeds in style.

Floral Garden Gloves

Floral Garden Gloves

Seed Keeper or Seed Keeper Deluxe. I’ve been using mine for several months. It’s an easy and efficient way to store and retrieve the seeds you save or buy. They come packed with all sorts of garden goodies as well.

Seed Keeper Deluxe

Seed Keeper Deluxe

Fanciful

Slipcovers: They’re not just for sofas!  Dress up your pots with a Patio Art Planter Slipcovers. You can change with the seasons, or simply cover up an ugly pot. It’s a nice way to wrap up a potted plant to gift as well.

plant slipcover

Slipcover Your Plants

Fair trade birdhouses attract birds to the garden. Keep those baby birds toasty warm till it’s time to leave the nest.

Felted birdhouse

Fair Trade Birdhouses

What a clever idea! It’s a card and a desktop garden all in one. It’s edible too. It’s a postcarden!  Click on the photo below and check out the time-lapse video on their site.

Postcarden

Astronomical

For the gardener with the travel bug: “Botanically themed cruises and garden tours of Europe are designed for gardening and gourmet enthusiasts who enjoy taking in ancient castles, magnificent châteaux and stunning landscaped gardens with iconic sites.”

Let’s all go! Who’s with me?

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Blooming Thursday: Global Gardeners

pansies

Pansies

As many of my readers put their gardens to bed for the winter, I stopped by a local garden center for some annuals.  It’s easy taking our moderate California weather for granted having lived here so long. I do remember the frigid winter days in Ontario, Canada, but as a child, not an adult.

I enjoy reading gardening adventures from around the globe. It’s enriching. My friends in the Southern Hemisphere are busy planning spring gardens. To the far north, snow is already falling, and seasonal clean-up is under way.  In the warmer climates, things are fuzzier around the edges, but the four seasons prevail.

In gardens everywhere, nature and nurture duke it out.  Tiny little seeds arrive with imbedded DNA.  Tuck one under some healthy soil, add water and sun and the seed will take it from there.

Sometimes, it is that simple. Often, it’s not. Birds vie for those seeds while small critters eat the seedlings. Insects take a bite out of leaves or host on tender stems.  This can kill a young plant before it gets a foothold on life. Mold, fungus or unwanted pesticides from a neighbor’s yard can wreak havoc on a garden life.

Yet year after year, we gardeners garden. Like the tiny seed, we too have our own gardening DNA. I know gardening is in my genes.  How about you?

Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums

Halloween Countdown

The letter B pumpkin

Today’s pumpkin is brought to you by the letter “B”

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Pssst! Over Here! In the trunk…

OSH Garden Center

I jumped out of my van in the Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) parking lot and made a beeline for the garden center.  A friend recommended an EarthBox® for growing tomatoes and I was hoping to find one there (no luck).  Our local OSH relocated to the former Mervyn’s site where, coincidentally, I had my first “real” job working in gift wrap.  The new garden center has a recording of birds chirping in the background.  Corny as it sounds, it’s actually very nice.

As I headed for the double doors I heard my name.  I met Barbara through my son’s school, but didn’t know she was a gardener until I took my son to her home for a party in their back yard.  I was green with envy!  She has a beautiful garden on a double-sized lot and she has chickens.  They make the best fertilizer around.  Barbara also shares my fantasy of buying the neighbor’s house for the sole purpose of expanding her garden.

We chatted about our boys, but first she popped the trunk so I could ogle her flats of flowers and vegetables.  It makes me giggle when I think about two women with their heads bent over a trunk, admiring all those plants. Ah, the joys of bonding over eggplant and tomato starter plants. I’m still smiling.

Garden Center Greeting