DIY Garden Projects, Yummy Recipes, & Crafty Goodness
To be able to grow citrus in my climate is a dream. A dear friend passed on a tiny yuzu sprout that he started from seed that I have tucked away in my herb bed hoping for some of this deliciously sour and fragrant Japanese fruit, albeit many, many years from now. This month on the pages of Martha Stewart Living there is an article about stylish California citrus grower, Alta Tingle, discussing her passion for all things lime.
[Read more...]
How wonderful that gardening supplies have entered the hip world of West Elm Market, Willams-Sonoma and Anthropologie (via their sister garden & home shop, Terrain). The range of tools and accessories surely inspires new gardeners to set up a little green in their outdoor spaces and gives more seasoned green-thumbs some new ideas.
When the sun starts shining those seedlings will soon be reaching up to meet it. Some plants have nice strong stalks to hold them up but others need our help. Peas, beans, and other vining vegetables need some sort of trellis to support their growth towards the sky. This project shows you how to easily build a bamboo trellis with only one material. Yep, you guessed it…bamboo!
Are you deep in to planning your vegetable garden? Small space gardeners tend to get good yield and lot of variety with a square foot garden. Not only that, but also they tend to have less weeds and conserve water by being planted densely. Year after year you can rotate crops around the beds to ensure that there is no nutrient depletion nor diseases introduced.
Before you plan your garden, this handy infographic created by Atlantis Hydroponics helps to provide you with information on how much space you will need per vegetable, or how many of a kind of vegetable will fit in a square foot. Click on the image to make it larger so you can print it out or bookmark it.
To learn more about square foot gardening it is best to go to the source, author Mel Bartholomew and his book, All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space.
Lucky me! I got to spend the day with local bloggers and fabulous ladies at the Hometalk Meetup at Milner Village Garden Centre for a Garden Party. I was introduced to the event from Funky Junk Donna from the popular blog, Funk Junk Interiors. Donna is a Hometalk Ambassador who took her cool junkin’ style to the event to show us how to make some pallet wood garden trugs.
Please welcome guest blogger for the day and author of the new book, The Mini Farming Guide to Composting: Self-Sufficiency from Your Kitchen to Your Backyard, Brett L. Markham. Brett is the author of the popular Mini Farming books, including Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on ¼ Acre, Maximizing Your Mini Farm, and the handbooks The Mini Farming Guide to Vegetable Gardening and The Mini Farming Guide to Fermenting.
Before writing The Mini Farming Guide to Composting, Brett asked his readers which topic he should focus on next, and composting topped their wish list. Using the same straightforward, easy-to-follow instructions and the photos of his own plot that gained the following for his earlier books, he now turns his green thumbs to this important, yet overlooked aspect of growing plants. Today he shares with us instructions on how to make a compost tea brewer at home!
~
Looking for a fun family project for Easter to get in a little Garden Therapy? You are in luck! Today we have a guest post from Beverly Turner one of the co-authors of Fairy Gardening: Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden. The book covers just about anything you wanted to know about fairy gardening, a type of miniature gardening in containers or right in the ground. Little worlds created with tiny plants, furniture, and little creatures makes them whimsical and, without a doubt, a lot of fun. Today Beverly has shared the perfect fairy garden for the season as it’s contained in an Easter basket!
~
Spring is now so close that we can almost touch it, taste it, see it, smell it, hear it. Part of what makes spring so sensory is the fresh little green things that begin to grow in the vegetable garden. Whether you have garlic and broad beans popping up, or some overwintering Brussels sprouts from last year’s planting, there is a whole world of food awaiting those of us in the cooler climates. Spring is when it all starts.
All this thinking about spring has me flipping through what’s brand new in vegetable gardening on books shelves. There are a few new books out this year that I think are going to spice up my season just a little bit more.
by Barbara Ellis
Here is a good place to start: the seeds! This basic booklet is a pretty thorough guide on how to start your own plants from seed. Now I don’t agree with everything I read in this book as all seed starters have their tried-and-true methods. I have written about many of mine in The Ultimate Seed Starting Guide but there is really so much more that can be said and Starting Seeds says it well. You will find detailed information on starting seeds indoors and outside, including planning, germinating, and even seed-saving.
by Joseph Tychonievich
Now that you are an expert seed starter, I’m going to blow your mind! Imagine creating your very own vegetable varieties! Plant Breeding is just about the coolest sounding book that I have come across recently. Since it was just published 7 days ago I haven’t had a chance to get a copy but I did ask Joseph to share a little about the book for us and here is what he had to say, [Read more...]
Let’s be fair, I had absolutely no interest in the “home” part of the show. I came for “garden” and it was a bit of a tough sell considering I was just at the greatest garden show on earth! That being said, there were a few things that I loved at the BC Home and Garden Show that I didn’t get to see at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
Western Independent Greenhouses
If you haven’t been to W.I.G., GO! Well, you will have to wait for them to open for the year, but when they do…GO! They have the most amazing succulents and their container displays are second to none.
I was elated to be able to make the short trip from Vancouver to Seattle to attend the Northwest Flower and Garden Show this year. I was excited for the opportunity to meet some of my favourite garden authors, buy some fabulous goodies, and just get inspired.
