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 
Garden 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...
read moreSharing a garden special
Below is a nice little video from Burpee seeds on growing lettuce. They have a special of no shipping this weekend if you mention weeknfree on checkout of an order of $40 or more. They mention in this video that lettuce is a cool season crop so they would like you get started on your Fall planting. However I have been quite successful in growing it right during the hot part of august thanks to using something called salad tables and shade cloth. More about that below the video. Below is a photo of my salad table growing a nice crop of loose...
read morePut on a smiley face!
Ok… So my tomatoes weren’t perfect this year but at least they have some...
read moreColorful mulch alternative
About 5 years ago I got a chance to visit Glass Beach and try my hand at hunting for different colored glass. Glass Beach is one of the most unique beaches in the world, not because nature created it that way, but because time and the pounding surf have corrected one of man’s mistakes. Beginning in 1949, the area around Glass Beach became a public dump. It is hard to believe these days, but back then people dumped all kinds of refuse straight into the ocean, including old cars, and their household garbage, which of course included lots...
read moreHaving fun foraging and learning about cattails
I’ve grumbled and grumbled about this invasive stand of cattails that has invaded a muddy spot in my garden. I didn’t mind it when it was only a few but they quickly grew. Since they spread by rhizomes it was hard to pull up so they continued to grow. I thought it was time they went but before I started ripping them up I did a little research on this plant. After spending a whole day this weekend enjoying myself with this plant I came to the conclusion my thinking was all wrong. Every part of the plant at some time of...
read moreMy pretty sunflower
Ok anyone who knows me knows I like sunflowers. It’s hard to capture what’s magical about them. Maybe it’s just this giant glowing face staring back at me that is almost the same size as my head. The glowing color seems to fill my eyes with sunshine yet it doesn’t hurt to look at. Anyway, whatever it is I love this time of year when my sunflowers open and I get to watch the pollen circle it’s way around the center in concentric rings. This photo is actually two shots. I lit if from behind and then I lit it from...
read moreGoogle docs form for garden data collection – way too simple!
This is for everyone who has had to create forms on a website to collect information. Unless there is some sort of automatic widget built in to your content management system this can be a complicated or time-consuming task. Google has made this ridiculously simple though so in case you aren’t aware I thought I would share with you how easy it is to make a slick little data collection form in just a few steps. Create a Google account (https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount) or if you already have a Gmail account just login and click...
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