Category Archives: gardening

We planted strawberries in the hanging planter

15 Wednesday May 2013

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Honestly though, I’m not optimistic. My husband brought home a box of 20 “Strawberry Plants” from a discount store. Inside were two plastic bags of dirt and not a green leaf in sight. It took me a while to figure out the mass of mulch-looking matter actually contained some roots. I had no idea how the tangled mass was 20 plants so I just played in the dirt a bit until 20 little “pony tails” fell out.

The strawberry plant roots were all tangled together in a mass

The strawberry plant roots were all tangled together in a mass


I figured the plant end must be the part that was not the root end. I’m really a beginner at most gardening so this mass of root was new to me. ha
Strawberry plant... which end is which?

Strawberry plant… which end is which?


We’ve had the Hanging Strawberry Planter “As Seen on TV!” for several years but have never used it. I’ve never seen it on TV but bought it when it was steeply discounted in a toy catalog. Not exactly a move a seasoned gardener would make, eh?
We put dirt into the planter up to the middle of the first holes and lightly pressed it down. The directions said to press the roots of strawberry plants in through the hole, being careful not to damage the fragile leaves. But all we had was a lumpy stump so I did it opposite – I pushed the hard little stump out of the planter and spread the pony tail roots inside.
Good planting soil is shoveled into the hanging strawberry planter.

Good planting soil is shoveled into the hanging strawberry planter.


We slowly filled the planter with dirt and kept adding plants. Some plants had to share a hole.
Here you can see the roots spread out over the soil and the "not root" end sticking out the hole.

Here you can see the roots spread out over the soil and the “not root” end sticking out the hole.


Strawberry Planter 5
Strawberry Planter 6
Strawberry Planter 7
We continued laying plants and soil until the planter was full. After the last plants were added, we filled the planter up with soil.
A last layer of soil is added to the planter.

A last layer of soil is added to the planter.


One of my strong sons lifted the planter up to the sturdy hook in the roof. It’s the sunniest spot on the deck and the strawberries should fare ok there.
The planter is lifted up to the sturdy hook.

The planter is lifted up to the sturdy hook.


Strawberry Planter 10
We measured a gallon of water and poured it in.
Strawberry Planter 11
When the soil settled, we added a bit more and then added more water. We must water once a day.
Strawberry Planter 12
And now we wait.
It's not the prettiest addition to our deck, but it is promising.

It’s not the prettiest addition to our deck, but it is promising.


I’m going to watch for leaves. I’ll give these plants a week or so before making a judgement. If they don’t make it, now that we know how to use the hanging planter, I’ll go to a garden center and get “real” strawberry plants. Since I’m still a beginning gardener, I need a back-up gardening plan like that. We suspect that more knowledgeable gardeners must spend way less money on gardening than beginners like us with multi-layered back-up plans.

The roses have bloomed

15 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in flowers, gardening, Inspirational, Scripture

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‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:11-13

The bright pink roses are Zepherine, the pale pink is Sceptre'd Isle and the barely pink is Blush Noisette. The purple flowers are Columbine. The scent has completely filled my dining room.

The bright pink roses are Zephirine Drouhin, the pale pink is Sceptre’d Isle and the barely pink is Blush Noisette. The purple flowers are Columbine. The scent from this little bouquet has completely filled my dining room.

My rose bushes were seriously neglected for over five years. For all this neglect, they still burst into bloom. I am honored and humbled that roses grace my table. The Lord’s plans are good.

Figs

29 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in gardening, Inspirational, nature, sunlight

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Sometimes there’s a really brutal winter. The rains are torrential, the winds searing, the snow deep. But then comes the spring.

This will be the biggest fig harvest yet.

This will be the biggest fig harvest yet.

The leaves are gorgeous when the sun streams through them.

The leaves are gorgeous when the sun streams through them.

After winter, always new growth.
Fig Tree 2013-1-2
And the harvest.
Fig Tree 2013-1-5

I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalm 27: 13-14

Always the harvest.

The Dewing of the Hanging Plant Easter Egg Tree

19 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in All Sparkled Up, beading, crafts, Easter, flowers, gardening, home decor, miniature, sparkling, tutorial

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Last year I posted about the Hanging Plant Easter Egg Tree I made. It’s time to get it out again. Adding the drops of dew was my favorite part.
After I finished each miniature plant, with it’s tiny leaves and petals, I hung it on the tree. Though pretty, the plant didn’t seem fully alive it was all sparkled up with spring rain or drops of dew.
For each drop, I used tweezers to dab a single crystal seed bead in tacky glue and attach it where it should go, hanging from the tip of a leaf or puddled in the folds of a petal.

The tree was from Pottery Barn a couple years ago. The hanging egg baskets are cut from small plastic eggs and filled with tiny plants

The tree was from Pottery Barn a couple years ago. The hanging egg baskets were cut from small plastic eggs. The miniature plants were made by cutting up full-size artificial flowers and leaves. Some of the hanging vines were made by gluing hand-cut leaves to artificial plant stems. Click on photos to see the full size images if you wish.

2 Miniature Daisies

Miniature Daisies.

3 Miniature Daisies 2

Miniature daisies.

4 Miniature Lily of the Valley

Miniature Lily of the Valley.

5 Miniature Lily of the Valley 2

6 Miniature Fern

Miniature ferns and moss.

7 Miniature Forget me not 2

Miniature Forget-me-not.

8 Miniature Forget me not

9 Miniature Burros Tail

Miniature Burros Tail.

If you want to add realistic drops to an artificial plant, remember how real water acts. It flows down hill. So it will puddle at the bottom of a flower center, or hang from the lower tip of a petal or leaf.

10 Miniature Blue Flowers

Miniature Blue Flowers. The fluffy white balls were actually stamens cut from the center of a full-size artificial flower.

11 Miniature Ferns

Miniature ferns and moss.

12 Miniature Tuberous Begonia

Miniature Tuberous Begonia, reminiscent of the colors of my mom’s beautiful begonia hanging plant.

13 Miniature Peony

14 Miniature Peony 3

15 Miniature Marigolds

Miniature Marigold.

16 Miniature Rose

Miniature Roses. To make a rose, I took one petal from a 1″ artificial rose, folded it in half and glued and rolled it up into a cone shape. The pointed tip of the cone was cut off and stuck down inside the top part of the cone to make center of the rose. Some cone tips are also used as the buds.

17 Miniature Roses 2

18 Hanging Basket Egg Tree

Placing the tiny bead droplets on the plants was a very contemplative task, like yoga or painting, with each moment crystallized and beautiful. No it was not tedious, it was restorative and full of light. All sparkled up.

“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11

First Ripe Figs!

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in food, gardening

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Last month we checked our two fig trees and were dismayed that something was eating them. Judging from the strange markings, we figured that birds were pecking them. I bought two big fruit tree nets and we spread the netting over the trees. That worked!

Fig tree covered with netting.


We’ve had a really wet summer so some of the fig skins are bursting. And Some of the figs are getting eaten by bees, flies and ants. But those insects seem to focus on already eaten fruit and leave the rest alone. So we picked a nice bowl full.

Juicy figs with bursting skins.


They are sweet and juicy, with subtle watermelon and peach notes. For an afternoon treat, we spread cream cheese on homemade rolls, topped with fresh sliced figs and then drizzled with honey friends had given us from their neighborhood hive. Absolutely delicious!

Homemade rolls topped with cream cheese, fresh sliced figs and drizzled with honey. Delicious!

Violet Skirt Petunias

18 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in flowers, gardening

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This year I tried a new Cascadia Petunia on the deck – Violet Skirt petunias from newgardenplants.com.

Cascadia Petunia – Violet Skirt

This pot contains Violet Skirt grown from a cutting. As I removed one of the plants from the packaging in the spring, one of the stems broke off. I stripped the leaves from the lower section of stem and stuck it in a pot of dirt. It struggled for a couple months but never died. I’m thrilled that it is thriving now! If I was more diligent to deadhead it, there would be more blooms. It still looks lovely despite the neglect.

For good instructions on rooting petunias from cuttings, check this site.

Cascadias are my favorite petunias. They do well in hot weather but need water daily when the temp is in the upper 90′s. They quit flowering when it’s over 100 degrees but come back quickly when the temperatures drops.

I usually get Cascadias from Spring Hill Nurseries. Spring Hill no longer sells the Choice White Cascadias alone. In years past, I planted Choice White with pink and coral geraniums in the planters. The waterfall of white is splendid over a balcony. This year, I wanted a change and the purple is gorgeous.

Grow where you are planted.

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in gardening, Inspirational, nature

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Sometimes we are where nobody else has ever been.
Sometimes the view is unexpected and we don’t have anyone to tell us what to do or how to do it.
Sometimes we don’t know how to put down roots.
Sometimes we are making completely new paths that have never been trodden before.
Sometimes we make paths that no one will ever follow. And it’s just a path for us.
And sometimes we’re scared.
But growth doesn’t stop. For now, grow where you are planted.

Grow where you are planted.



 

Figs!

17 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in gardening, nature

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The first year there were no figs. Last year there was barely one spoonful of tiny figs. But this year, after a mild winter and plenty of cool, spring rain, there are figs!

We do not know what kind of fig tree this is. The figs are plump and healthy. And within the reach of any hungry deer… which I am praying does not happen!


We don’t know what species this fig tree is either but it’s much taller than the other one. We will need a ladder to pick the figs when they are ripe.



“A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’
“And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”
From Luke 13:6-9


The first year there were no figs. Last year one tree had no figs and the other had one taste. This year is promising.
We just had to wait.

The first English rose bouquet of the season

28 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by in flowers, gardening

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Miss Alice was planted three years ago and has never borne so many roses as this spring. Since the deck is semi-shaded almost all day, it always surprises me that there are blooms at all. The roses stretch so very high to get enough sun.

Miss Alice, a lovely pale pink English rose from David Austin Roses, grows in a barrel on the deck.


I cut half the Miss Alice roses and a couple white Fair Bianca roses from the other planter to make the first bouquet of the season. This is the one time of the year that I move all clutter aside to make a place of honor for THE Bouquet. No craft, no painting, no created thing from my hand could ever match this scented masterpiece from the Creator of the Universe.

The first English rose bouquet of the season - Miss Alice and Fair Bianca.