Garden Guest Blogging I am...

In the Internet:
So I have been guest blogging over at www.tipjunkie.com and I thought I would come out and share that with you all. TipJunkie is a creative place full of tips and ideas for everyone. Laura, the owner, shared with the public that she was looking for some gardening advice columns to be written for her blog and I threw myself at the opportunity! Here are the links that will get you to the three done thus far:
http://www.tipjunkie.com/container-gardening-101/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/how-to-flowers/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/top-5-easiest-vegetables-to-grow-from-seed/
And.... there is one more coming! I will keep it a surprise until it airs!
Thank you from the bottom of my gardening soul for all of you who read my stuff and, as always, comments and questions are required appreciated. Ha!

purple heliotrope

My "Skinny" Vegetable Garden

My "skinny" vegetable garden
In the Garden: The reason for calling this "My Skinny Vegetable Garden", is because so far I just don't have enough of any one vegetable. My Sweet Peas for example, (I planted three) gave me one "snack size" zip-loc bag full! Hardly enough to feed my Family of four. The title of this should have been "Garden Rant" instead because that is what it is turning out to be! I do hope this "rant" will help you fellow gardeners in some way. Maybe now you will know the importance in planting enough. As I now know! Commencing rant, the Fractal Broccoli I babied from seed have yet to "head", and now it is just too hot for them to probably do so! (Future fix for this might be mulching to keep the soil cooler and installing a shade clothe over them to also cool them down.) So we will see if actual Broccoli will be eaten. If not, I swear I am going to eat the leaves! Then there is the sole Cabbage plant. He has a pretty good head forming, BUT in each layer is cabbage worm POOP! Really not looking forward to slicing into that and eating it! (Lesson, use an organic cabbage worm getter rid of-er from the get go! Me hand picking them off every day is just not enough.)

Cabbage

What else? Oh the Carrots. I planted these Heirloom 'Dragon' Carrots seeds directly in the garden early Spring and, although they are doing very well, there is only like eight plants that really set! Eight carrots will not go past ONE meal! The same goes for the Beats I sowed in the Spring. The number is only three though! Ugh! Now, all the above is talking about the "cool weather" crops and there lack-of success in my garden. The lack-of success though is ALL my fault and I have learned from it and it has not deterred me from growing all the same things once again. Now I know I want to plant a larger quantity, in nice long rows, in the Fall and in the Spring, that I will need to seed and re-seed more and not just except what decides to sprout the first time as it. The hot weather crops I have planted will probably be beefed up real soon, I do not want to repeat the same mistake again! Happy Gardening people!

Dragon Carrot

Cabbage

Beats

Fractal Broccoli

Dragon Carrots

Vegetable Container Gardening

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Container-Vegetable-Garden.jpg

In the Garden:
Hello everyone! As you may know, I love container gardening! I believe I learned from the best of the best in Atlanta Georgia, many years ago. I learned outdoor container garden design, install and maintenance from what I think is the most elite landscape design and maintenance firm in this city, Planters @ http://www.plantersgarden.com/ . I learned interior container garden design, install and maintenance from the most posh plant retailer in the city, Boxwoods Gardens and Gifts in Buckhead. In all my years in the biz, no company ever came close to comparing in beauty and overall outcome to these two different companies.

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=
766882157361&id=f62bf10355af46d9f0e7e16b1fbf17e5

But back to container gardening, the one thing that was just about to get hugely popular right before I became a "Stay-at-Home Mom" was Vegetable Container Gardening! So, granted, I didn't learn from a reputable source, I could only imagine that gardeners could apply the same techniques used for regular container gardening to accomplish such a task. I guess you would have to be armed with some veggie plant knowledge, like which tomato plant is going to be small enough for my container and which veggies just won't hack it at all in a pot, because there are some. ie Corn or large Watermelon are not suitable for container gardening.

Lettuce Garden in a re-usable bag
photo by Kerry Michaels

Gardeners are getting very creative in there container choice too, like seen here in the ever popular, re-usable bag. It's quick and easy and a great conversation piece.

My Patio Tomato

 You can mix blooms with your vegetables in containers like above, which has a Patio Tomato in the middle surrounded by Yellow Lantana and Purple Million Bells.

Southeastern Flower Show picture of large Tomato container

In a tasteful and fun way, you can try planting them up in bright pots with accent colors in the form of a trellis. New Potatoes are awesome in containers! Start out by planting your seed potato in the bottom of the container of your choice. As the foliage grows, bury it until the plant reaches the top! Then simple harvesting in the Fall by dumping the pot out and finding your goods! Involve the kids in this one!

Some things to help you along:

• Choose a top quality, organic potting soil. This will ensure good drainage in your container.
• To the potting soil, add some organic granular fertilizer, and water every two weeks with a fish emulsion or seaweed mix. As with any plants, be sure the soil is moistened and not dry before you fertilize.
• Provide proper staking of Tomatoes, heavy Peppers and vining veggies.
• Water, water, water! Get to know your pots, they will tell you how often they need water with the notorious "wilt", and start timing your watering to catch it before they do so!

Garden Party

In the Garden:

Bouncy Time

Using my Birthday as an excuse, my fairytale garden party finally happened and here is how I did it! I thought it would be fun to celebrate with my children, my neighbors, my family and my friends. For the children in my life, a jumpy and plenty of water to drink. For all the rest of us, good food, some shade and a garden full of blooms!
To fluff the perennial garden I only had two holes which needed something, so I ran up to our neighborhood independent nursery and bought a 1 gallon Yarrow in full bloom and a 1 gallon variegated Thyme. After those were planted, the whole garden needed fresh mulch. My favorite is Natures Helper, with it's rich black color and super fine texture, it really makes the plants pop, perfect for party time. There were various bare spots in our lawn so I spread a bit of cedar mulch which had a great fresh fragrance and protected peoples feet from the dirt. Tissue paper pom-poms hanging from the Pear tree were fun and added movement to the air. And then there are the pots. I planted small pots with colorful annuals for the tables and large pots at the entrance of the buffet and groupings in the walkway to add splashes of color. Everyone had a great time together and it was nice to spend this time in the garden.

Cupcake time

Chalk Time

Pom-Pom

Cheese

Perfect Garden Party Cake

Birthday girl gets 10 questions to answer

Small tabletop pot

Garden art with Foxglove and Fairy Roses

Annual pot with Tomato, Lantana and Callibrachoa

Light mauve Nicotiana in a pot

Fabulous Foxglove

Annual Pot

Yarrow in the Garden

Best of times

Garden Party