Welcome to my special place!
Me in my garden
I started to garden around 2006 when a friend gave me some sunflower seeds and I was hooked. I have been growing them every year since.
The garden has been my savior in taking me away from the computer and giving my eyes much needed breaks. My special place has grown to include a fern and flower garden house, a vegetable house and a little cactus garden.
Gardening is believing in tomorrow 
Three Free Books on Greenhouses with Plans
Republishing some useful information from the garden share site myfolia.com There are three books on Greenhouses available under “fair use” download. Fair-use means that the books are free to download, read, and store on your computer, but must be purchased if you wish to print, sell, or distribute hard-copies. They are in PDF format. The links below will take you to the NRAES website (Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service) for each book. You will see – Download a low-resolution, fair-use copy of NRAES-## (#.# MB). It will...
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New camera & Pomegranites
Oh did I have sooooo much fun today playing with my new toy, a Nikon D7000! WOW – this is sure a step up from my D200. I have never been able to hand hold my camera and take pictures in such low window lighting like you see below. If you scroll to the bottom you will see my first video I shot as well with it. Not sure how much video I will do but it’s sure neat to have the capability to record in such low light. More images to come! A little impromptu video on how to cut a pomegranate and my dog Burt...
read moreSafe to cross?
I found these ladies hanging out by my garden. They didn’t really care for the camera pointed at them. Smart birds!
read moreBeing different is beautiful
Freak of nature or just a survivor? I have a stand of cattails growing beside my garden that I have blogged about in the past. They are just getting ready to blow their seeds and yesterday I noticed one really irregular looking cattail. As I came in for a closer look I realized it was one cattail that had split at the base and had somehow managed to join back together at the top. I can’t really figure out how this happened but in the process it now has three seed heads! To me it looks kinda like a cinnamon twist and was so beautiful I...
read moreGetting ready with the bulbs!
I shot this photo last year in my studio. I was so mesmerized with the delecate colors and the pretty ruffles of the petals that I felt the need to capture it with the softest light possible. Daffodils never help much interest for me until I found these. They are called Tahiti Double Daffodils. I replanted these bulbs today from another area as well as some fresh ones from the store. In addition to these I also planted some other varieties so we’ll later see which one performs the best! What I planted today were: Tahiti Double...
read moreGarden social networking!
A friend of mine told me about a new social networking site that I had to check out. It seems to be pretty new and still in beta mode but has an interesting concept behind it. Trading produce with neighbors is an ancient tradition but this site leverage new technology to make it easier in this advanced society. By creating a profile on growtheplanet.com it will connect you up with other people in your area. It even has growing tips and ways to plan your own garden with a growing journal where it tells you how many sedds to plant, when to water...
read moreKeeping fresh basil at hand
Alternative to cut flowers I recently learned a great way to keep fresh basil at your fingertips. I’ve tried growing it in the house with an aerogarden and found that to be too expensive and produced very little – not to mention the fact it’s just plain noisy. I tried the window sill but not enough light in our kitchen. In the garden it grows well but when cooking you don’t want to walk all the way out there just to get a few leaves to garnish a dish. In the refrigerator it tends to wilt and the store bought hydroponic...
read moreA fresh find at the farmers market – chayote leaves!
I had to go to Kaiser Thursday for a followup appointment and was happy to discover that that the local farmers market was taking place in the courtyard and very busy with packed tables of produce and customers. I thought it bit strange that the farmers market would be at the hospital but when I think about the Kaiser slogan of eat well, live well and thrive it started to make sense. They had the usual heirloom tomatoes and seedless grapes that are in season now but there was one grower that had a few things I’ve never had a chance to...
read moreHarvested my buttercup squash
I only got two buttercup squash off of my large plant but they were good. I waited to pick them until the stem was shriveled up which seemed to be the right thing to do. It came easily off the plant. The squash was firm. I cut the top off of it and scooped out the seeds. Then I chopped up a white onion, some mushrooms, a couple bay leaves, a couple springs of rosemary from the garden finely chopped and a couple of poblano peppers and fried them all in frying pan with butter, salt and some ground pepper corns. I filled the squash about half...
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