Poison Oak in My Front Yard?

How did this get into my front yard?!?!!

SO glad I was paying close attention to the weeds I was pulling out of the ground before I just reached and grabbed this. AND that I remembered the little "leaves of three, let them be" mantra...

Happy Monday everyone!

Basil Pesto Pasta Salad

Has your summer extended into autumn, too? I was trimming my basil plants tonight, because they are still going gangbusters. A summer with an abundance of basil and only three tomatoes... Go figure. Anyhow, I need to use the basil while I still can, so I am planning to make a basil version of this pesto pasta that I so love.

I wonder if it is an option to freeze basil for future use?... Seems like it is not.... Do you know?

A Gardening Apron and Time to Use It

Friday was my last day of teaching at the school I've been at for four years with a wonderful teaching partner. Yesterday was the day I finished packing the last of my classroom into moving boxes. *sigh*

Not to worry. I have a new partner, a new school, and a new teaching gig in kindergarten waiting for me in August. I am venturing into Waldorf territory, which is an opportunity I am very excited about.

In the meantime, I shall garden... with my little one... in matching gardening aprons I made for us out of thrifted jeans and fabric scraps. Check us out.

Apparently, Butterfly Bush flowers don't smell too great.

The Easter basket is alive!

...well, it's innards are alive. See?

Anastasia very much enjoyed working alongside me to fill the pink basket for her Grandma and Papa. There is basil in there, which I hope will be happy in the baskets long enough to give some good culinary use.

Want to know how we did it? Head over to my sister's blog to read my guest post tutorial there. Get your basket made for a Spring decoration this year, or bookmark it for an Easter-into-Spring decoration next year.

Inexpensive. Easy. Cute.

Bloom Day, March 2010

What is blooming in my yard today?

A Garden for Anastasia: Rock Garden

We got quite a start on Anastasia's garden last weekend. The sun has been very welcome, but we do need some more rain to keep things growing!

A Garden for Anastasia: The Plan

J applied for and received a grant funded by the director of his department (how generous and wonderful is she?!!), so that we could spiff-up a corner of our yard and turn it into a "children's garden" for our daughter. When we told her we were going to all work together to make a garden just for her, she smiled. When Aunt Cathy gave her a set of garden tools for Christmas, she squealed. Here we go!

This is the "before" picture we submitted with the grant application, taken about two and a half years ago:

So, things are a bit different now:

Here's the plan:

This portion of our yard is mostly unused. It has a mini-orchard, including a lemon, plum, loquat (which you can hardly see behind the wagon in the first picture, but look at it now!), and pomegranate tree. Ideally, there would be more for our daughter to do in this area of the yard and it could really be "hers". She loves to collect and play with rocks, and would have fun helping to maintain a rock garden. A few butterfly bushes in a butterfly garden would host native butterflies, which she enjoys catching in the warmer months. A raised bed would allow her to have her own garden to plant seeds in the summer and just dig dirt year round. A permanent ground cover will help sustain this project, by helping to keep the weeds down when the summer rolls around (which is all we usually grow in this area of the yard at that time of year).

I welcome any ideas for how to tackle this project (I am more of a visionary when it comes to these sorts of things, and can only see the final result that is in my mind and not so much the steps it takes to get there!), as well as where to look for cheap/free materials. Stay tuned for our progress!

Pay It Forward: The procrastinator finishes early!

Not a lot early, mind you, but it still counts. They've actually been finished for a while, I was just having a hard time getting myself to the post office. Now that they are en route, I will go ahead and share what I made.

First, I must share the absolutely detail-oriented apron I received in the mail a couple of weeks ago from Angela Pea. It is gorgeous, yes? Perfect colors for an autumn-born girl. I absolutely love it. Thank you, Angela Pea!!!

Next, I started with a gift for the youngest person to join my Pay It Forward post. I remember loving to dress-up when I was a young girl, so I thought this knit choker would be fun for her. Anastasia insisted it have a yellow button, so... there ya go.


Finally, I made little drawer sachets for my other two giftees.
This pattern was from another that I found in my pattern binder and hadn't used yet. I filled them with fresh lavender from my garden, enhanced with essential oil.

I wanted to wrap the gifts in something pretty, so I utilized these silks that I dyed last month.

I did enjoy making these and hope to stumble across this challenge again next year. It sure was fun to be part of something with such heartfelt intent.

I used to have a lawn, but now I have (the start of) an herb garden.

My vision of this garden is much grander than what I have accomplished thus far. Little by little, I am experimenting with herbs and filling the dry dirt spaces.


I plan to add a walkway, using a quickrete mold, down the middle that will venture off to both the left and the right, leading to different garden features. I will likely fill the spaces between the walkway stones with some kind of thyme. Do you think the dog will use the walkway and stop running through my plants?... Probably just wishful thinking, but we'll see. Speaking of the dog, here's a little "Where's Waldo"-type fun for you. Can you find her in the picture below...?


I love the type of "weeping" lavender that I planted here a few years ago (wish I could remember what it's called). Found it at the farmer's market from a grower in Lincoln. I may try to track him down again and get another plant or two--can't have too much lavender, I don't think. I will likely add another bee balm and yarrow as well. Perhaps find a spot for a pineapple sage...


Feverfew got entirely out of control and I pulled so much out this year. I'm not sure if I'll keep it in or pull it out. There's an herb plant guy at the farmer's market, from Placerville, who is very knowledgable about what to grow where. I think I need to head over and talk to him again. Last time, we were discussing the beauty of comfrey and the hugeness of comfrey... I am still undecided on that one. Sounds like a really fun plant though.


~~~

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Do You Have an Elderberry Recipe?

My elderberry tree has never flowered in the four years it has been in the ground, let alone produced masses of beautiful berries! What's a girl to make with these? I have no recipies in any of my cookbooks. I didn't find anything on my favorite food blogs. I am thinking pie, for lack of any more creative ideas, though I did see something about making a tincture... I would love to can some jelly, but don't think I have enough berries (only one bunch right now, though two more will be ready shortly). Hmm... Any ideas?

Also, there are still two spaces available in my Pay It Forward giveaway. Don't have a blog to post it on? You can always put it on Facebook or Twitter or whatever else might work. Leave a comment on the original post if you'd like to participate. I would love to have a couple more people involved.

Guerrilla Gardening: Seed Bombs

Last week, while driving in to school for a day of organizing with my teaching partner, I commented on about a mile section of the highway that had sunflowers growing in the ditch right next to the shoulder. We were wondering how they got there and figured some kind, green-thumbed soul threw them out their car window at 65 mph. I wish there were more sunflowers along the side of the road at this time of year when everything is so brown and dry. Maybe I can help make that a reality next summer by making some seed bombs next spring...

"New" Compost Bin

This weekend, J constructed the compost bin I've had in my mind since we moved four years ago. Now, this may not look like the most beautiful compost bin I could've imagined, but we didn't have to buy any materials for it! This is also why the sides are not as tall as they will eventually be (when we run into more wood scraps) and there is no front yet. The front will be "stackable", in that I will be able to add and remove planks as the height of the compost itself warrants the need for another plank to be added (or removed). This will be a more beneficial feature when the second bin is added to the right side. Second bin...?...

I have plans for a second bin that will be attached to the right of this bin, for turning compost. Maybe in another four years... ;-)

You may have noticed the lovely new cyclone fence to the left of the bin. Yeah... Well, the old one was falling down and our neighbor said he would pay for this... So, now we have a cyclone fence on one side of our house. The good news is that in the winter I won't even know it is there, until I take out a bag of compost. For now, I see it outside my bathroom window, which means I am looking into my neighbors backyard through my bathroom window. So, I am thinking of plants to put there to mostly shield his yard (lovely as it is) and bring back a small sense of privacy. I noticed the other day that Windmill Nursery has a pretty decent selection of native plants. While there, I investigated Chaparral Bush Mallow, a California native, as an option for hiding the new fence. It is an evergreen that is supposed to get to nine feet high and six feet wide... Sounds good to me! Do you have any ideas?

Gopher?... Vole?

I had planned to dedicate this weekend to finishing the project we have started in the front yard. It rained... and rained... and now they say it might end on Tuesday. Boo.

The universe knew what it was doing, because J hurt his back somehow and is trying to be a superhero and continue to do everything. This means, he would have tried to lift 80 pound bags of concrete for me if we were working in the yard. So, the rain was a good thing (doubly, since we are in a drought).

Today, it broke for a couple hours in the afternoon. I went outside to see what I could do by myself and ended up staying out for an hour. I wasn't working on the project, as I was out back. But, I made a couple nice discoveries.

First, my pomegranate tree has leaf buds! Hooray! It has been a mass of dead-looking twigs since it came to me at Christmas (thanks again, Jeff!), and I was really worried that I hadn't gotten it into the ground in time. But, if you look really closely, you can see tiny leaf buds today.

Last weekend, my neighbor was telling me that she thought a gopher had made a mess of one of her garden beds. I told her it was probably a skunk; I've never seen a gopher in my life (famous last words, right?). The next day, I was outside with the kiddo and my dog started barking at the ground. Upon closer inspection, I saw that she was barking at a tiny pile of dirt, but just thought that maybe she's finally acting her age and getting a little senile.

This morning, I went out to get some firewood and walked through the yard to do a quick check of how everything was doing in the rain. Guess what I saw.... Mounds of pushed up dirt EVERYWHERE! Yes, I am yelling that now, because I was yelling in my mind at that moment, "We do have a gopher!"

So, when the rain took a brake for a couple hours this afternoon, I went out back again to observe the situation. Yes, indeed there are piles of pushed up dirt all over the place. What to do about that? I have no idea, really. I am an organic, animal-loving girl, but I am also a garden girl and just don't know what is the proper course of action for my dual personality in this situation.

Again, the universe provides as I continued to make my rounds and found this friend basking in the little sun that was peeking through the clouds.

Ah, a natural predator (I think). And such a pretty one, too. (S)he gave me a nice opportunity to teach Anastasia about letting mama and daddy know if she finds a snake, because some are nice but some bite people. She watched him from a distance and helped me to take this picture.

I hope that our snake friend didn't go too far, because she had left this spot when I checked before I went back inside (I think the dog would've made a ruckus if she'd found the snake before it slithered out of site; I hope...). I also hope that (s)he will stay long enough to rid me of my gopher/mole/vole before it becomes a bigger problem.

Wild Turkeys

If you have any ideas for this problem, I need to hear it soon.

I am in the process of clearing part of my front yard to plant an herbal lawn. Pulling many grasses and weeds by hand is proving to take longer than I had anticipated, but I still intend to finish this project before I my vacation is over and I am back to teaching on the 30th. So, here's the problem...Turkeys. I enjoy the little buggers being my neighbors. Really, I do. And, up until now, they have only been a minor irritation when scratching up my yard and unearthing bulbs while looking for food. But, now I plan to scatter seeds for this new "lawn" and we are in prime turkey season. There are several of them around, all day long.

How do I keep the turkeys off my newly planted seeds (when I get to that point)? I don't want them to scratch around or make dirt bath holes and ruin all of my work. Any ideas? The only thing I have contemplated is laying down chicken wire on top of the seeds, but that would be a lot of wire and I would need to take it off before the plants get so big that they would be destroyed when I removed the wire...

Seriously. Help me, please. Katie, at gardenpunks, was kind enough to post my question on her site as well. I am hoping to get a few more good ideas from her followers as well. She is also a NorCal girl; you should visit her lovely site.

What's blooming in my garden?

This is a post I came across and had fun participating in. Let me know if you participate, too!

I had to wait for a day that was not so windy to take these photos. I am not sure what some of the plant names are. If you do, please let me know! A lot of these were planted before we bought the house. I am still deciding what stays and what goes...

In the back yard:
Flannel Bush. I am so glad we decided to try these; they are just beautiful natives.
Wisteria
Tulips that smell like koolaid
Strawberries
Spanish Lavender
Daffodils

Camelia
Petunias?... I wasn't planning on taking a picture of these, but Anastasia really wanted me to.
I can't remember what this is!?! It is an herb that I planted last year and it has taken over a corner of my herb garden... Since I can't remember what it is, I am not sure if I need to take it out entirely or just prune it back quite a bit. What is it? I think it might be feverfew...?

And, in the front yard:
Western Redbud (I think)
Lilac
CA Poppies, Freesia, Forget-Me-Nots

I believe in fairies.

It's true. They really mess with me out in the garden sometimes. Earlier this month, Anastasia and I found radishes growing in the crevices of a rock path that is nowhere near where we planted the radishes last year. Hmm... Yeah, fairies.

I was exploring a cool gardening blog and discovered a place to find my fairy name:

Your fairy is called Buttercup Goblindancer

She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in clover fields where fairy rings grow.

She is only seen when the bees swarm and the crickets chirrup.

She wears bright clover green. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

Go ahead, you know you want to discover your fairy name, too. What is it?