The Perfect Herb Box

At long last, I finished my wine crate herb box project.  Introducing the perfect box of herbs:

 

This wine crate thing really ended up being a labor of love (more on that later), but I'm pretty happy with it!  Here's a top view:

Top row from left: flat leaf parsley and dill.  Middle: Spanish lavender. Bottom from left: Italian large leaf basil and trailing rosemary.  in the very back, I've got a plant nanny with a wine bottle (get it? in the wine crate? yay!).  If it wasn't so functional -- I tend to be a neglectful gardener when I get busy -- then it might be overkill, but I suspect it will help keep my parsley and dill alive since they will probably require more moisture.  

Right now, they're organized by current height, but ultimately, the basil will be quite tall, hopefully the rosemary will trail over the side, and in the long term, the lavender which is a perennial will grow bigger and bigger until hopefully taking over the whole box.  Then I will have a wine box of lavender -- also wonderful :)  For now, cheers to herbs!

The Heirloom'd Tomato

I love heirloom tomatoes.  I think they are delicious.  And they sound fancy.  Thus, despite the fact that my husband hates tomatoes and literally gags when he eats them, I am very excited about one of the newest additions to my garden:  an heirloom tomato plant of the "Great White" variety.  I hope it produces lots of heirloom tomatoes, all for me.

I am particularly excited because every description I have read about the Great White heirloom tomato calls it an "almost perfect" tomato (whatever that means) with a delicious "creamy texture" (also a weird description for a tomato plant).  I chose it because of its "near perfection" (that sounds pretty good) and because the tomatoes will be smaller than some of the other varieties available like "Brandywine."  Plants with smaller tomatoes do better in pots than the larger tomato'd varietals.  The Great Whites are still pretty big, up to a pound, so I don't know if that counts as small, but some of the other types have 2lb tomatoes (I hear Evan gagging in the background).  

Anyway, here is Great White in its prepubescent state:

I hope the pot that killed Jasmine doesn't kill you too...

A bigger and more interesting question than "are heirloom tomatoes awesome?" (A: yes) is "why go heirloom?"  What is the difference between heirloom tomatoes and "regular" tomatoes?  

Well, there was a fascinating recent article in the New York Times about the science behind it.  About 70 years ago, tomato breeders discovered a mutation that caused tomatoes to have a uniformly red color to them.  Because of the commercial appeal of this, they bred this mutation widely into tomatoes and now pretty much all tomatoes that you see in the store have this gene.  What they didn't know at the time was that this mutation disabled chloroplasts, creating a more uniform color, but these chloroplasts were responsible for sugar production.  Reducing the sugar production (by 20%) resulted in less flavorful tomatoes.  

So heirloom tomatoes produce a bit less fruit and may be more susceptible to disease than newer varieties which are bred to be advantageous in those regards... But heirloom tomatoes lack the aforementioned gene mutation, and as a result, are tastier...

Omg.  Isn't your mouth just watering?  (The above is a recipe with burrata from TheKitchn, which is a great blog).

So with any luck, in approximately 85 days with some sunshine and water and TLC, I will soon have delicious near perfect creamy tomatoes that look like this:

(photo from gardenharvestsupply.com)

Wish me luck, I cannot wait!

Welcome spring!

As of yesterday, it is now spring!

Over the weekend, I got started on my little garden...

And early this week, Fedex finally came through with my wine crate...

Cute, huh?  When I received it, I briefly had a pang of uncertainty about the somewhat ridiculous amount of money I spent to get what is essentially a shipping box for winos...  but then I quickly overcame that thought by rationalizing that my garden needs this box for my herbs.  Clearly.  And plus, everyone knows everything is better in French:  French accents, French onion soup, French bulldogs... 

...and my classy French wine crate.  Anyway, I anticipate this box being my project for the weekend.  Something to look forward to :)  

Arts + Crafts: Gilding terracotta pots

Well friends, this past weekend I had a one woman crafts extravaganza during which I gilded a couple terracotta pots with the ultimate plan to use them for my succulents.  It was as exciting as it is unusual for me to do crafts.  I love artsy stuff and like to think I'm alright at amateur art, but crafts I pretty much never do, both because I typically lack the patience required to get a project completed and because I hate Michael's (it is SO hard to find anything there).

Nevertheless, after seeing really cute Pinterest'd gilded pots and blogs like this and this explaining how easy it is, I had to give it a shot.  And it's not that hard!

First, you need your materials.

I bought a gilding set for $11 which included everything as except for the sponge paintbrushes which were $0.50 each, but you can just as easily buy all your supplies separately.  

Specifically, you need:

-The soon to be golden terracotta pots

-Gold Leaf

-The special adhesive called "Size" (some sources suggest Elmer's spray adhesive works too)

-Sealer (Spray sealer works too)

The kit also came with a red basecoat and "Antiquing glaze" which I ignored.

First, liberally apply adhesive to the pot.  I used two wet coats, and try to minimize bubbles.  As soon as the adhesive is applied, quickly lay a gold leaf on top.  It will cling to the pot (and everything else) like super-thin gold clingwrap.  Before I started, I wondered how I would get it to look so imperfectly perfect... turns out that was not a problem.

Adhesive

Gold leaf'd

Next, push any gold leaf still flapping in the wind down with a little brush or sponge.  This is harder than it sounds because the second your fingers or little sponge get adhesive on it, the gold leaf will stick to your fingers/sponge instead of the pot, with the result that each tappy tap rips pieces of gold leaf off your pot.  Proceed with caution.

Once you've covered your goal area (usually, top of the pot or just one side), brush off any loose pieces of gold leaf with a paper towel, and then apply sealer liberally to the gold leafed area.  While you want to cover the edges as well for a good seal, painting on the actual pot will change the color somewhat.  Two coats seems to be enough.

Once your pots have dried, celebrate with a glass of wine or a fist pump or something, because your pots are ready for planting and you, ladies and gents, have graduated to crafty lady status!

I am a crafty lady

Highlights

I love lists because even more than I like making them, I love checking things off.  Last week, I made a short list of goals, and I'm happy to say that I am making progress on the gardening front.  Here's a few highlights:

Sniffing my jasmine one last time... and then hacking it down with all the rest of my dead plants:

*sniff*

I'm sorry, plant

The biggest moth I have ever seen in my life:

Fully 3 inches long, ie, monster-sized

If only I could understand Japanese...

Going to Armstrong's Garden Center to research plants for my garden:

Another happy new pot:

Say hello to my one-eyed sunshine...

Gilding terracotta pots (whaaaat??  I did whaaaat??  Yes, I am proud of myself, more on this later):

Not perfect, but I feel like a Martha Stewart genius

Also, after calling a few more wine stores without success, I bought a wine crate online from Wine Pine which I am eagerly awaiting (picture to follow... can't wait!).  Next up, actual plants! 

Oh my orchids!

Let's talk about how much I love orchids:  I love them lots.  

Right now, I have two.  Here they are in instagram'd glory:

My double orchid in vintage-y toolbox planter

My kitchen sill orchid with pink and white flowers

Wanting them to live forever and ever because I love them so much, I will be taking very good care of them.  "How do you do that?" you ask.  WELL, let me tell you...  (The following information was gleaned primarily from here and here).

Water:  

-Once heavily per 5-12 days and never on the leaves.  

-More in summer if super dry, less in winter.  Spritzing your plant once in the morning during summer months is okay too.

-Note that different orchids prefer different moisture levels, but the Phalaenopsis genus, which is what I have, are on the drier end of the spectrum.

Fertilizer:  Once every 2-4wks, and use special orchid food

Blooming:  

-Once the flowers have pooped out... 

^if the leaves look healthy, cut one node below where the flowers are, and hopefully they'll bloom again soon

^if not, cut at the bottom of the stem so you can nurse your plant back to life.  

Light:

-A common reason for not getting enough blooms is that the plants are not getting enough light.

-Bright indirect light is best.

Repotting:  

-Use special orchid mix, not soil.

-Orchids need repotting every 6 months to 2 years.

-This is better to do when your orchids are no longer blooming, so more on this later...

For all you LA folk, I bought my orchids wholesale from Lee's Orchids in the flower district downtown.  The flowers are cheap and healthy, they sell pots, and for $10 they'll even pot them for you with moss and pebbles.

For those of you not in LA, here's another gratuitous photo of my extended family's greenhouses, this time... Orchids!

Goodwiiillll

After a long break from gardening, combined with a recent stretch on night shifts, combined with self-induced stress about job interviews and questions like "what is my future?", I can't wait! to go outside into the sunshine and garden.

FINALLY, today, I had a semi-normal day off to do just that.  But before I can actually garden, I need to plan out my garden, choose what flowers to buy from one of my fat garden books, buy some new pots, pick up some wine crates from a kind soul at a wine store (because I am obsessed with the idea of planting an heirloom tomato plant surrounded by herbs in a wooden wine crate -- tell me that would not be the cutest), cut down my depressing dying jasmine plant and pull out all my other dead plants, buy new potting soil, and then, I can buy some plants and plant my garden.

*sigh*

All I managed to do today, before I got tired, was buy this pot from Goodwill:

It's alright.  It was $4.99.  It matches my other pots, and it will look cute with some basil in it.

Not quite the list of accomplishments I was hoping for from my day.  But I guess it's a start.  Upon coming home, I decided to make a more realistic set of gardening goals for the next week or so:

1. Either buy or find some wine crates.  I went to Lincoln Fine Wines two days ago, and discovered that they are happy to give out their leftover wine crates, but there are lots of other people trolling around for said crates (so there were none left).  Realistically, I will probably buy something online-- I am not a patient troller.  Here is the inspiration (taken from apartment therapy):

2. Pull out the dead plants.  Every time I eat breakfast, I am forced to look at all the plants I killed... it's time.  Out with the old, in with the new!  

3. Go slowly, and relax!  Instead of trying to plan out a whole Martha Stewart pinterest-worthy garden at once, which is kinda what I was trying to do (hey, dream big), it probably makes more sense to replenish the planters I have, instead of going nuts...  our collective bank account thanks me.

Anyway, hopefully next week, I will have more to report back.  Happy March!  Happy gardening!

Optimism!

…does not run in my family.  Not really.  I am a “realist,” and let’s be real:  I tend to kill my plants.  There is a good gardener in there somewhere, but I am not there yet.  But as I mentioned in my first post, I am feeling quite good about this year and I feel with certainty that I will have an awesome garden.  Why?

#1.  I live in Southern California, land of sunshine.  Everything grows here.

#2.  I am half-Dutch and my grandpa (Opa!) and uncles had greenhouses and made their living growing flowers.  It’s literally in my blood and my one true destiny.  Here’s a gratuitous picture of my extended family’s baller greenhouse in Holland:

And most importantly,

#3.  This year, I bought books, really fat ones.  Boom.

Specifically, Pat Welsh’s Southern California OrganicGardening, The New Sunset Western Garden Book, and Sunset Western Garden Edibles (the last was a gift from my husband who knows me so well).  Pat Welsh’s book tells you month by month what to do, the Western Garden book is pretty much the encyclopedia of plants and a great reference tool, and the Garden Edibles book is similar but specific to edibles (obviously).  More thorough reviews will probably follow once they have aided me in growing the perfect garden this year, but so far, I am rating them very useful on the worth-having scale.

…I am pretty sure I am the next mini-Pat Welsh, Dutch ancestors be proud.

Faces of root rot

Oh, how sad it is to watch your plant-child grow as you've nurtured it with sunshine, water, food and caressing of its leaves, only to one day succumb to... ROOT ROT!

Here is Jasmine as a baby:

And here is Jasmine, post root rot attack:

 

Notice the large chunks of plant that are dying.  Horrible!  And so characteristic of root rot.  Naturally, once I figured out what was going on, I indignantly asked the gardening universe, "What causes root rot??" and discovered (with the help of the internet) that in fact, I am to blame for my damaged plant-baby.  

A few things contribute:

-Overwatering

-Poorly draining pots

-Overly heavy soil

And for the science geeks (ie, myself), it's specifically frequently caused by a mold genus called  Phytophthora.  But mostly it's caused by the overwaterers who are happily, unknowingly drowning their plants.  Sadly, there is no cure-- "lethal," says Wikipedia-- and my Jasmine will probably die.  

As a side note, Jasmine has a lifetime warranty on it from Armstrong's Garden Center who will replace it in case of death (all trees and shrubs!  whaaaatt?).  I am far too proud, however, to bring in a plant that I managed to murder after only one year in my care, and instead, will probably wait for it to die-- but hopefully bloom first-- and then replace it with something awesome.