The Ultimate Garden Bag
Prized Possessions
I had a little car trouble a couple weeks ago and had to rent a car.
What to do with all that Butternut Squash
Butternut squash is a winter squash, which means that unlike zucchini and yellow
crookneck squash, it will last in your cellar or pantry all winter long. Other
winter squashes include pumpkin, acorn, Hubbard (the squash that get so large,
it is supposed to cure world hunger), spaghetti and the
heirloom Delicata.
Harvesting butternut squash in the
fall is one of most satisfying experiences in the garden. You've waited
all summer long for the skin's color to change from pale green to creamy
beige. You've watched as the leaves start to turn brown and whither ...
Enjoying a West Coast Fall
Right about this time of year, I start to chuckle as I walk through my garden. As I look down at the happy, perky, green leaves of my lettuce, arugula,…
Raised Beds – Part 3 continued – If you build it…
Do you ever have one of those moments when you realize that you probably should have done something in a different order than you've done it? Well, such is the
case with our raised bed project this weekend. Our neighbor, a retired contractor, stopped by to see what all the sawing and hammering was about. He took one look at our beautiful
grouping of raised beds and said, "you're gonna need a border to level all that dirt." As much as I wanted to ignore his words, I knew he was right. The area where the old raised
beds ...
Raised Beds – Part 3 – If you build it…
Moving right along in our series on raised beds, we have now come to the part where sweat and elbow grease come in handy.
After a trip to the hardware store to pick up a non-rusted blade for our dusty Skilsaw (keeping in mind that Trex Decking can dull blades faster than wood), a box of 3 inch galvanized deck screws, a roll of 4 foot x 25 foot galvanized poultry fencing, tin snips, and two carloads of Trex Decking (19 12 foot boards were needed for our job), we were ready to build our raised beds.
On Day 1 - we opted to cut and assemble the beds before clearing the space of the old raised beds.
Raised Beds – Part 2 – Design
You may have caught the last edition of Raised Beds Part 1, where we talked about materials for building raised beds. Now we move on to Part 2 -
Design.
There are an infinite assortment of ideas in the world for raised beds. I happen to be, much to my husband's chagrin, severely influenced by formal English gardens with closely trimmed boxwood hedges and topiaries and espaliered fig trees on the wall. We have a ranch house, so that kind of formality doesn't fly in our back yard. However, I really really wanted something that made my heart ...
There are an infinite assortment of ideas in the world for raised beds. I happen to be, much to my husband's chagrin, severely influenced by formal English gardens with closely trimmed boxwood hedges and topiaries and espaliered fig trees on the wall. We have a ranch house, so that kind of formality doesn't fly in our back yard. However, I really really wanted something that made my heart ...
Doing the Hula Hoe
About this time of year, an amazing thing happens at ground level. It only took two days of rain, each about a week apart, to be the catalyst for this
phenomenon. I'm talking about weeds. Hundreds of thousands of little tiny seeds of God-knows-what have found their way into my back yard to create a blanket of fuzzy green
babies. The pathways are covered with them, the "lawn" - which is actually a dead patch of dirt right now - is cropping up with them, and my old raised beds are beginning to look like I planted
something on ...
Raised Beds – Part 1- Materials
The backyard renovation is about to begin. This is very exciting considering how long it is taking to cull our ideas together. The one thing we've been
able to decide on is what to do with the raised beds in the vegetable garden. They're falling apart and need to be rebuilt. We took to opportunity to mentally imagine a
clean slate and fantasize about what we'd like to have if money were no object. Of course, money is an object, and we also want to be as environmentally
resourseful and responsible as possible. With that in mind, I began researching recycled materials, including plastic lumber and composite lumber, as well ...
Caution: Fall Garden in Progress
After a previous year of not planting too much due to a home remodel, I was heart set on getting seeds in the ground for this, my favorite planting season.
It's a process, but one I'm enjoying immensely. In warmer climates or in cold frames in colder ones, you can enjoy some of the best vegetables of the year starting now, and watching them
grow from seed to harvest is one of the most rewarding experiences I know. Here's what I have planted so far in my fall garden:
Raised bed #1
Sugar Snap Peas (they share a space with a ...
Raised bed #1
Sugar Snap Peas (they share a space with a ...
The Gardens of France – Part 2 – Valensole
Okay, this isn't so much a garden as it is a farm, but the idea is the same - broad spectrum appreciation for what the earth can give us through growing plants.
I leafed through the guidebook to find the page highlighting a tour of lavender fields. We only had half a day, after having spent the morning in Tarascon at the farmer's market, where we bought some
cheese, bread and tomatoes for lunch later on. We headed onward to Aix-en-Provence. We stopped in Aix for lunch; a peasant's lunch on a stone bench. ...