Go to Seed

I collected seeds from my Canna Lily plants:

All you have to do is wait until the pods dry out and just collect them before they fall to the ground. Next I'll have to wait until spring to plant, but will I remember? Will I lose them? Will I remember to not lose them?

Accidental Gardening

Apparently it's not just grass that requires water to grow, it's other plants as well. Here's a surprise I discovered recently:

They are tiny but I didn't even plant these. They probably came from seeds in the compost. I love accidental gardening!

On Borrowed Grass

Since it's been raining a bit, we actually have a lawn now! Who knew that grass required water? Even after nearly depriving it of the wet stuff for 2 years!

Here's a picture of what our lawn looked like before we moved in (and ripped out the evil Creeping Fig):

Here is what our lawn has looked like the last 2 years:

Now add this:

(photo credit: Scott's)

And here is what our lawn looks like now:

The only drawback is that the dogs cannot be near the fertilizer for 24 hours. And I covered every inch of grass on our property.

Whoops.

Looks like we'll be using the neighbor's lawn for the dogs to potty on...

It's Hydrangea time

Look what happens when you actually water your hydrangea bush? You get blooms.

Purdy.

Anyone else notice how much water these suckers require? Not drought tolerant that's for sure...

Baby Bash - part 2

I know what you're thinking from yesterday's post, "that was it for decorations?" and the answer is no. Tough crowd!

I created some banners using construction paper. I have no idea why I had a stack of pink construction paper but this was a good use for it! And after the party, they will go into the recycle bin.



I used curling ribbon to string through the banner and decided to put some curls on the chandelier over the food table. These can be used again for holiday gifts next month. Or maybe they'll go back up on the chandelier again.




Flowers were a must and of course I like to ravage my garden for this very purpose. I also asked my co-host and guest of honor, to bring samples from their gardens as well. That's the beauty of having outdoor plants! And I cleaned out various glass jars and stuck the snippets in them.



This looks like an expensive bouquet but it's all homegrown (not all by me of course). It is Mexican Sage, Oleander and some red berries growing on a tree outside. Anyone know what it is? Birds like to pick at it, does that help with the identification?



And of course, I'm an equal opportunity garden snipper so I used some greens as well. This is from my Japanese Aralia, also known as Rylie's bush (because she likes to sleep under it). Don't they look exotic?

That's pretty much wraps up my easy and green decor. Simple. Practical. Do you have ideas to share?

House Decency - part 10

In addition to the front and back patios, I wanted to spruce up some of the plants around the property.

I hacked away at the New Zealand Flax. I took out my anger from my eye-gouging-incident.


I also hacked away at the Creeping Fig because it can't happen enough or often enough. When in doubt, cut the fig. And then keep cutting some more.

Does anyone know if an electric hedger would work on creeping fig or is this plant too floppy for it?

Mater Tots

Here are the fruits of my non-labor:



I bought this Lemon Boy tomato seedling back in May and have been neglecting it ever since.


This is the third batch that I've plucked. I continue to ignore this plant while it produces sweet tomatoes. My kind of gardening!

Garden Grounds

A few weeks ago, I came across this at Starbucks:


I hadn't seen this in over 4 years, so I thought they had stopped doing it. And of course 4 years ago I did not have a garden. Or plants, really. But now, I have a use maybe even a need for this!

This is a bag of old coffee grounds that can be used in your garden. It's supposed to be beneficial to your garden. And best of all, it's being kept out of a landfill.


The bag states that it can be used directly to your garden or plants or your compost. Since we are regular coffee drinkers at home, I already have a regular supply of grounds going into the compost, so I decided to use this for my Azalea shrub.

So I guess we'll see what happens in the spring...

Veg Out

I've never had much success with vegetable gardening (or any gardening for that matter). So imagine my surprise when my real-life-friend slash blogger-friend brought her home grown zucchini (green bell pepper shown for scale):

Who could resist having fun with vegetables before eating them?



Anyone else grow some freakishly enormous vegetables? If so, what's your secret?

Garden Variety

Last weekend a guest brought a small bouquet of flowers:



It was a nice change from the usual snip-from-the-garden-cause-it's-free variety:

(Left to right: Rose, Golden Eunonymous, Azalea)

Do you ever take snippets of your garden to enjoy? What kinds? Or do you buy bouquets? Or buy artificial flowers and plants? Or go without altogether?

Black Gold

I always grew up composting to lessen waste going into landfills (this is what we did in Maine), but I've never actually used it. My family just had an open compost heap in the yard that slowly grew over the years (compost shrinks a lot while it's decomposing) and we just tossed our food scraps on there willy nilly. They never bothered to reap the fertilizing benefits, or even to turn it over regularly. Or ever. But I bet if they did, they would find some nutrient-rich treasure!

Remember the compost bin that I started back in May? Since then, I've filled that bin up and started a second one. But when I recently went to turn over the contents of that first one with a pitchfork (which hadn't been done in quite a while), I discovered that I had hit the fertilizer jackpot:


But now I just have to decide where to use this stuff. Do I use it as fertilizer for my container plants? For the lawn? As mulch? Any other ideas? Will the dogs get into it?

Call the Shot?

My lime tree has a surprise growth that sprang up alongside it:


I reuse my soil year after year (thanks to many failed attempts), which include tomato, basil, pepper, avocado, cilantro, lavender, and green onion. Could it be one of those? Or is it an evil weed that I've been allowing to grow all this time?

All I know is that it is not the 1 plant I can identify in my sleep. Any ideas what this mystery sprout could be?

Low-hanging Fruit

My dirty little secret is that as much as I hate creeping fig, I actually did retain some of it. On an area which seems manageable, contained to a wall. But a little part of me still wishes I had it removed with the rest of the evil stuff.


Recently I noticed something different:


Do you see it? Here's a close up:


It's fruit. A fig to be exact. Creeping figs bear fruit? I thought they were just planted for their climbing vine ability. Or to make future owners of the property angry.

Does anyone know if this is edible?

Decan

Last year we were excited to win this decanter at a raffle, because we never win anything. But there were 2 problems we've encountered with it over time: it's hard to wash, and it never dries inside.

So here's my solution:

It's now a make shift vase. Just go outside, snip a stem of Agapanthus and you have yourself a casual floral centerpiece. If you want to get fancy, add river rocks, pebbles or glass marbles.

Watering Holes

I have a strawberry pot but do not grow strawberries in them (or anywhere else), so instead I planted succulents in the pot. The biggest problem with this pot is that the water spills out the side openings, creating a mess and not doing a good job of watering.

I took a leftover piece of PVC pipe that is about the same height as the pot and drilled holes down the entire length:

Then I stuck it straight down the center of the planted pot:

If I were going for style points I would trim the top portion off so it would not be visible. But I simply do not care, I'm just glad to be able to use this pot and get my plants watered. And the water spillage is not the pot or tube's fault, I was just sloppy.

Do you have any gardening tricks to share? Do tell.