It begins!

Ah, the power of goals and public opinion (in this case my New Yorker siblings'... they arrive tomorrow!).  It was just the kick in the booty I needed to get a move on with my garden.  I realized after I started that the main reason I had been delaying was that I hate cleaning, of any sort (dishes, house, unpacking... you name it).  And a big part of getting the garden back in shape was uprooting, trimming, sweeping, trashing dead things.  It was not pleasant, and I almost got attacked by two large shady-looking black spiders, but it set me up for the fun part -- planning this season's perfect garden, choosing flowers with promise, that fresh smell of new damp potting soil and little wet leaves, and that optimistic feeling you get when everything is planted and looking so great!

I literally spent the whole day gardening yesterday (thus the blog post delay to today!) and now in addition to a good sore feeling in my muscles, I have a garden again.  Here's where we're at:

Dug up the tulip bulbs which are now safely stowed away in my fridge for next year

And then began planting.

Of course, there's the tomato.  

This time, not heirloom.  Armstrong's had this handy sign up, so I chose accordingly:

I went with the Roma tomato, both for its alleged ease of growth in pots as well as its versatility in cooking.

A few of the tomato plants at the nursery already had tomatoes on them.  You never want to buy a plant that's too mature (like a tomato plant with tomatoes already on it), but mine has a few flowers already.  I am feeling good about my tomato prospects this year.

In the wine crate, I went with a flat of Alyssum.

If you pay attention, you'll see these everywhere, especially used as borders because they have a spreading tendency.  I have an inexplicable love for this little plant.  I think the tiny flowers are cute (you'll see right now, I have Alyssum flowers as my background) and they smell really nice.  My hope is that they will spread into a big box of white flowers.  I think perhaps last year, I chose plants that were too tall (like basil or lavender) with the result that the shallow box could not support the roots.  Little box, little flowers... perfect.

Next up, in place of the tulips, I've got Geraniums.

I was never a geranium fan until I went to Italy and they were literally everywhere... little window boxes, restaurant patios, fancy gardens in giant terracotta containers, rooftops, everywhere!  There, they seem to love red geraniums.  I've chosen dark burgundy because I liked the color, but I like to think it's my little Italian influenced corner.

They are supposed to be very hardy and I've chosen an ivy-type variety, so with any luck they will trail down a bit down the ledge I've got them on.

On our tabletop, we've got a new addition, the Euphoriba millii. 

Baby succulent farm at left, new Euphorbia milii at right

It is in fact in the same family as the poinsettia, you may remember, with little red bracts at the top.

I've cleaned up our kitchen window with a few new Succulent additions.

And last but not least, what I am most tentatively excited about, is the Vertical Succulent Garden.

All succulents except top left, Dipladenia aka superhero plant

I did not buy a single one of these succulents, but actually used what was formerly the kitchen window disaster area as well as propagated succulents to mix and match into pockets!  (More on this next week...)

Lots of gardening!  I realized yesterday at the end of the day that I hadn't looked at my phone once, I had gotten so into the flow.  That's happiness for me :)

This week will be a big test for my new plants with their first heat wave.  It will also be a big week for me as it is my birthday this week and as I mentioned before, both of my siblings will be in town which is GREAT -- I can't even remember the last time the three of us were in LA together.  Celebrate!

An aside, before there was Pharrell...  Destiny's Child "Happy Face"

Arts + Crafts: Wine crate herb box

Every time I go outside or look out the window and see my herb box, it makes me happy.  As mentioned before, it was a bit more of a laborious process than expected, with two visits to the hardware store, a long visit to Michael's <shudder>, and multiple days required to drill the holes because my drill kept dying.  But  the end result was worth it!  And if you learn from the few small hangups I had, this is actually another very easy project.

First, you need a wine box.  As mentioned before, you can either beg one of a specialty wine store, or you can just buy one from winepine.com like I did.

Next, grab your tools.  I made my holes 7/8" in diameter.  There are drill bits especially made to drill holes through wood, just make sure they fit your drill.  The first bit I bought did not fit my "lady drill" (as the hardware store clerk called it), but I found another one that did.

      

Space your holes out for even and adequate drainage.  I do not know what the perfect number of holes is, but I decided on eight.  My lady drill, which is awesome as you can see, was plenty adequate... once it was charged.  (Next time, I will think ahead and charge it overnight the preceding night).

To avoid having all your dirt fall through the holes onto your patio, I recommend placing some sort of mesh over the holes.  After scouring Michael's, I found this plastic craft mesh, shaped like hearts, no less.  It worked perfectly!  I glued it in place with regular craft glue.

Next comes the fun part... pick your plants and plant away!  Take notice when you choose your plants that many wine crates (mine included) are only 7" in height, with individually sold plants often already in pots around 5" tall.  That does not leave too much room for soil at the bottom.  I probably would have chosen smaller plants if they had been available.

      

Now for some accessories -- to avoid root rot and water damage to your patio, little plant stands are great.  Also, another lovely addition is a plant nanny to make sure your herbs stay hydrated.  To use, place a an old bottle of wine, filled with water, upside down into the cone.  The water will slowly seep out through the terracotta.  This is more important if you sometimes neglect your plant babies or you have less drought tolerant herbs in your box. 

      

And then you're done, with a beautiful and functional wine crate herb box you can be proud of!  

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!

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 :)  

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!