Neatly Organized Garden Shed by Urban Plantations

Now is a great time to get organized in the New Year.  Besides the usual closets, pantry, and garage, don’t forget about organizing your garden shed, too. A neat and organized garden shed will help ensure you have a healthy, productive, and thriving garden.

Take a look at this garden shed, from a client of Karen Contreras of Urban Plantations. Urban Plantations is a design and maintenance of edible landscape for an urban environment in the Greater San Diego area.

Check List for Your Garden Shed:
1) A garden shed should be clean, and well lit. The door opening is big enough to move bulky tools and bags around easily.
2) Keep a huge calendar to jot down, when seeds and seedlings were planted, harvest dates, and important days to remember.
3) A huge white board, keeps your “To Do” list visible and on track.
4) A cork board keeps important charts and papers in place, and easily accessible.
5) A place to hang a garden hat and coat is a must.

Garden Tools Hung Up and Organized

6) Garden tools are clean, organized, and hung up on a wall.
7) Sturdy shelving provides space and organization for garden products.

Take a cue from this garden shed, and start your gardening year on the right “hoe.” Please share if you have a garden shed for your tools, equipment, and products. Please comment how you organize your garden shed.

Elegant Roses Create an Elegant Holiday Table

For those of you with limited dining table space who need a floral arrangement which is not too overwhelming in stature and height, try this floral arrangement which compacts rose heads. I’ve seen this type of floral arrangement in flower shops in Europe, and sometimes in dazzling floral demonstrations. It can be done for any occasion, and in any color. It is a design concept, which can inspire you to create an arrangement of your own.

I have an antique dining table which is very long and narrow. I love our table, but it is always a little challenging to get candles, place settings, and sometimes flowers squeezed in. I did this arrangement for our Christmas dinner, and it worked out well.

This floral arrangement starts with a table oasis which you can readily find at floral supply stores. The oasis is soaked in water as usual, and then placed in a plastic form box which keeps your tablecloth and table dry. I choose white roses, but you can choose any color rose which compliments your particular theme.

Beginning of the Floral Arrangement

Start with fresh roses, and cut them at an angle to about 3-4″ in length. Line them up, shoulder to shoulder in your oasis. Remember that your roses will continue to open up, and expand in your floral arrangement. Creating this arrangement 2 days ahead allows the roses to open more, and fill in the arrangement with a mass look.

For greenery, I clipped foliage from my garden. I found green boxwood, feathery cypress, chartreuse euonymus tips, and blooming blue rosemary. You might have berries, pods, and other blooming shrubs to use from your garden. Green foliage is placed horizontally in the floral arrangement to hang over sides, cover your oasis, and complete the look.

This arrangement will last longer than usual because the water has less distance to travel to the rose head. Check every few days if your oasis is still moist.

Please share if you create a special floral arrangement for your holiday table. Please share if you are familiar with this type of floral arrangement.

Herb Garden a la Wine Barrels

This spring I created a small herb garden in a quiet, sunny, protected corner next to my barn using vintage wine barrels. I borrowed this concept, modifying it slightly, from Rosalind Creasy’s, Edible Landscaping book. This is a terrific book for incorporating more edibles in your landscaping. Rosalind has a whole chapter on “Designing With Herbs.”

An “herb garden a la wine barrels,” was multi-dimensional for me. My husband, John, and I make wine, and have access to used wine barrels. We have a functional barn, with a trio of wine barrels already planted with blueberry bushes and strawberries on the right side, why not do something on the left with wine barrels, such as herbs. This particular spot is also close to my kitchen, a must for any herb garden.

I used a trio of half barrels from standard wine barrels, cut in half. You can find these types of barrels for sale at home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Dixieline, nurseries, and garden centers. For my second top row, I used a smaller 15 gallon wine barrel, cut in half and sanded along the edges. All wine barrels need to have spaced holes drilled for adequate drainage. I also placed my bottom wine barrels on top of carefully placed river rocks to save the barrels from rotting in the soil, and allowing further drainage.

Since the barrels are big, it is best to use a sterile filler or upside down one gallon size plastic plant containers. It will save you on filling the entire barrel with soil, mulch, etc. I simply placed my second row, and smaller wine barrels securely on the sides of the base half-barrels, using their weight to stabilize them.

Fill your barrels with clean potting soil, almost to the rim of each barrel. You can add an irrigation system if you like. I chose not to. Select your favorite herbs, and plant. I planted chives, winter savory, curly parsley, Italian parsley, tarragon, sorrel, Italian oregano, sage, cinnamon basil, and Italian basil. Choose herbs that you use frequently in your cooking, and a mixture of annual and perennial herbs. Choose some herbs that have a trailing habit, so as they grow and establish themselves, they will spill over the barrels. As time goes on, you can always switch out herbs for new ones when needed.

Add a layer of mulch on top of your soil, and around your herbs.  Newly planted herbs like to be kept moist initially, and water moderately once established.

Please share if you grow herbs to cook with. Please share how your herb garden is set up and designed.

Fresh Cherry Tomatoes and Basil from the Garden

It seems like the simplest recipes are the best, especially when it comes to tantalizing summer flavors. I recently found in my “recipe archives” a recipe I had saved from The New York Times, July 2008, by Martha Rose Shulman, Recipes for Health, Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Arugula. This recipe is easy, simply delicious, and healthy for you.

If you have an abundance of cherry tomatoes in your garden and fresh basil, you must try this recipe. The secret to this recipe, is combining all of these fresh ingredients– arugula, cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic, sea salt,and olive oil in a bowl, and let them meld and infuse for 15 minutes. Make your pasta, and then toss with your tomato-arugula mixture. Add your cheese. Heaven!

Cherry tomatoes grow well in my kitchen garden, and often times as volunteers out of the compost. One of my favorites is Sun Gold Cherry Tomato, so sweet, it is like candy.

Please share your favorite cherry tomatoes you like to grow. Please comment on how you like to use your fresh tomatoes in your summer cooking.

Beauty and the Bee

One of my favorite trees is the evergreen Magnolia grandiflora Little Gem. I love it’s shiny green and brown foliage as much as it’s magnificent white 5-6″ blossoms. It is perfection. This bee was so happy, I could of sworn it was dancing.

The Magnolia Little Gem is a dwarf Southern Magnolia with dark green foliage and a compact upright form suitable for smaller gardens and planting areas. It can reach 20 to 25′ high and 10-15′ wide. These magnolia’s can be espaliered and coaxed into shapes. I have two Magnolia Little Gems fan-espaliered in my front flower beds against white stucco walls, and one stand-alone growing upright with the beginnings of an arch welcoming those entering my driveway.

Magnolia Little Gem, likes full sun, moderate water, and are optimally grown in zones 7-9. Not all magnolias are evergreen, but this variety is. It is a heavy bloomer, blooming from early spring through late summer with it’s magnificent billowy pure white flowers. Once the flower is spent, each flower pod continues to dry intact, adding further interest and character. These trees are relatively disease and pest resistant. A Magnolia Little Gem can be grown successfully in a container, and placed on a sunny patio or deck.

I like to decorate around the holidays with boughs of magnolia branches on front doors, holiday tables, across fireplace mantles, and along railings. It’s deep green glossy leaves, paired with a rust-brown under side, bordering on copper is is a natural and eye-catching style for the holidays.

Please share if you have a Magnolia Little Gem in your garden.

Flashy Ground Cover, Rock Purslane

Strolling through this year’s San Diego County Fair garden exhibits, I happened upon this ground cover perfection, Calandrinia spectabilis, or Rock Purslane. Aptly deserved, it was awarded “Noteworthy Plant” recognition.

Calandrinia spectabilis is a stunning evergreen shrub with succulent gray-green foliage. It is jaw-dropping spectacular in mass. Not only does it have a wonderful foliage and a soft look to it, it’s fuschia-pink flowers on tall upright wispy stalks add even more drama. These precious vibrant flowers bloom almost year-round in Southern California gardens.

Calandrinia spectabilis can reach 2-3′ tall, and up to 5′ wide. It is a drought tolerant shrub, and will tolerate poor soil. It likes to be watered deeply twice a month, spring through fall, and once a month November through March. Deadheading spent flowers will encourage more blooms.

The Calandrinia spectabilis complements succulents, cacti, grasses, olive trees, and California native plants in many types of garden settings. I have a pea gravel courtyard with a centered water fountain. I planted a few Calandrinia spectabilis around my courtyard fountain to add a little color and surprise.

What a great plant find. I recommend planting this shrub ground cover in your garden or your favorite container. Look for it at your favorite local nursery, especially one that specializes in succulents or California natives. Please share if you have this shrub in your garden. Please comment on how you have used it in your garden.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme….

A fabulous facial is just as important to a “gardener gal” as her gloves, and favorite hoe. For those that live in the San Diego area, treat yourself to Orgin Day Spa. First time clients, mentioning VintageGardenGal, are entitled to 20% off a facial. I love their “Signature Facial.” Treat yourself, and start your summer right!

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Fresh Rhubarb Out of the Garden

Not everyone loves rhubarb. It seems like there are two types of people in this world. Those who love rhubarb, and those who don’t. I fall into the category of loving rhubarb. I look forward to baking with it in the spring, picked fresh from my garden. I keep it in a tucked away place and basically just let it be. When I initially planted my rhubarb plant two seasons ago, I put a bottomless vintage pail over it to force it’s desired stalks to grow straight and long. It worked.

For those who love rhubarb, you probably know quite a bit about it. It is often found cleaned and bundled at our local stores in the produce section, and farmers markets spring time into summer. For those who love rhubarb, it is always a treat to find it fresh, as it does have a short harvest season.

If you are planning on planting a perennial rhubarb plant in your garden, keep in mind, it takes about two years for your plant to be harvest-ready. A rhubarb plant likes full sun, acidic soil, and moderate water. Mulch it well in the spring and fall. Three to four rhubarb plants will suffice for a family’s needs.

In spring, choose long, crisp-looking stalks from your plant. Gently pull at the bottom of each stalk to harvest, rather then cutting it from the plant crown. Harvest stalks carefully, leaving at least 1/3 of your original plant. Rhubarb plant crowns can be carefully divided with a shovel when they become too large.

Rhubarb stalks can be kept fresh in a refrigerator, preferably unwashed for about a week, and also can be cleaned, diced, and kept frozen in your freezer. Do not eat rhubarb leaves, as they are poisonous.

I thought maybe I could “dig up” some new facts about rhubarb you might not know.

Rhubarb is a vegetable, and not a fruit.

Rhubarb is related to Sorrel.

Rhubarb is usually cooked first before adding to recipes, due to its intense tartness, and fibrous stalk structure.

Rhubarb plants are long lived, and can be productive for a life time.

Rhubarb pairs well with citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit.

Rhubarb as a savory, pairs well with meat stews, and legumes like lentils.

Rhubarb has a highly acidic property which reacts to baking soda in a magical way, creating amazing baked goods.

Rhubarb varieties come in green, pink, and red colors.

Rhubarb comes in purely ornamental varieties, too, so look to see if your rhubarb plant is edible or ornamental.

Rhubarb is an incredible plant. Tuck it way in a quiet sunny spot, or boldly plant it as a foundation plant in your garden. It is a low maintenance plant, pest and disease-resistant.

It’s tart taste easily transforms into sweets, savories, baked goods, syrups, sauces, drinks, and jams. In fact each spring, I anxiously anticipate from “cooking circles” what is this year’s newly creative way to use rhubarb. Please share if you have rhubarb plants in your garden. Please comment on how you like to cook or bake with rhubarb.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme….

A fabulous facial is just as important to a “gardener gal” as her gloves, and favorite hoe. For those that live in the San Diego area, treat yourself to Orgin Day Spa. First time clients, mentioning VintageGardenGal, are entitled to 20% off a facial. I love their “Signature Facial.” Treat yourself, and start your summer right!

Sally Holmes Adorns Split Rail Fence

I’ve got “Sally Holmes” rose envy. One of my favorite roses, Sally Holmes is a great country rose charmer and it’s flowers remind me of multiple bridal bouquets bursting with happiness. I have a climbing Sally Holmes rose which I adore, but I have never seen a Sally Holmes rose as happy as the one my girl friend has planted auspiciously in her front yard on a low split rail fence.

Sally Holmes rose was originally bred in England, and brought to this country in 1976. It has many attributes besides its good looks. It is prized for it’s vigor, long bloom season, fragrance, and stout disease resistance. Its pale white-creamy flowers are tightly packed in clusters with deep green foliage, creating a romantic look. It is a shrub rose, but can be trained as a climber.

Sally Holmes roses do well in Zones 5-9. They like full sun. The average size of this rose is 6-8′ high by 4-6′ wide.

Sally Holmes Rose Adorns Top of Outdoor Fireplace

This delightful rose works well in the garden with planted companions such as hydrangea, viburnums, junipers, ornamental grasses, and generally most perennials. Wherever you plant a Sally Holmes rose, I’m sure you will be delighted.

Please share if you have a Sally Holmes rose in your garden. Please comment on how you have planted your Sally Holmes rose in your garden.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme…

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal’s Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this month to bonnie@vintagegardengal.com

Perennial Sweet Pea Blushing in Pink

Just when the heat of late spring is too much for my annual sweet peas and they start to fade, my perennial sweet pea, Lathyrus latifolus, seems to kick in and surprise me with it’s “oh so delicate” orchid-shaped blooms. Looks are deceiving, however, there is nothing delicate about this sweet pea perennial plant. It is a workhorse as beautiful screen for you in your garden, natural banks, roadside fences, and hard to plant areas.

Hardy to Zone 3, it is more drought tolerant than annual sweet peas. It likes sun, and will bloom more profusely with plenty of sun. Perennial Sweet Pea comes back year after year, easily self-sowing and can reach 9 to 12 feet high. It blooms late spring to summer.

Perennial sweet pea flowers are quite different from it’s annual sweet pea cousins, too. They have no fragrance. Their flower palette is very feminine, blooming in shell pink, white, and mauve colors only. The perennial sweet pea flower is a diminutive 1″ size, smaller and less wavy ruffle, from the sweet pea flowers you are most likely familiar with.

Each flower is a perfect tiny orchid shape, aligned in a straight row of spray on its vine. Perennial sweet peas are great as cut flowers in arrangements as a small bouquet, or using the entire dramatic vine with its spray of  sweet pea blooms.

It has history, too. It is an heirloom vine, which Thomas Jefferson grew, enjoyed, and called “everlasting pea”  in his day. Modern day, Sweet Pea Queen, Renee Shepard, of Renee’s Garden has the Perennial Sweet Pea seeds available to purchase on her website.

In celebration of  all moms on their special day,  Happy Mother’s Day!

Home-Grown Blueberries

Blueberries are one of the easiest and rewarding fruits to grow in your garden. Blueberry bushes look great in your landscape. Blueberries are so good for you, and tasty. In a previous post, Feed Your Blueberry Bushes Coffee Grinds I write about my blueberry bushes.

A recap on blueberry basics. Blueberries like sun, water, and good drainage. They do best with two different varieties planted near each other. Grow blueberries that are best for your climate. Some of the varieties that do well in Southern California are O’Neal, Misty, and Sunshine. They are acid-loving plants that thrive with added cottonseed meal, or like I do, coffee grinds to their soil at regular intervals. It is easier in Southern California to grow blueberry bushes in wine half barrels. Grow varieties with different harvests times for a longer blueberry season. Harvest your blueberries when they turn blue, and are sweet to your taste. Blueberries are so good for you, full of antioxidants. Blueberries can be used in sweets and savories.

I have the biggest thrill harvesting my blueberries from “bush to table.” My blueberries are such a treat. I use them in many ways, but one of my favorites is to make weekend Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes. I found Martha Stewart’s recipe years ago, and it is hard to beat, Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes. Enjoy!

Please share if you grow blueberries. Please share your favorite recipe using your home-grown blueberries.

VintageGardenGal Tidbit Thyme…

Attention Chicken Lovers! Spruce up your chicken coop for VintageGardenGal’s Annual Chicken Coop Photo Contest. Send in your photos this coming May!

Encinitas Garden Festival is Saturday, April 30, 2011. For more detailed information and tickets, please visit Encinitas Garden Festival.