(Cassie)

In my travels this week, I ran into two nature scenes that caught my attention.

This leaf, outside of a coffee shop was the perfect “nature stamp.” A bit of rain and a slight breeze (to peel it from it’s image). I happened upon it at just the right time.

Then, as my friend Mary and I pulled up to the labyrinth site where we took a “Mary Birthday Walk”,  we spied this spot of red-orange on the lawn near the gardens.

I thought it was one of those lawn ornaments that you buy at a garden store.

As I got closer, I realized that this was a HUGE mushroom (my picture doesn’t show you that it was about 7″x7″).

Here’s an aerial view. Wow. Looks like someone took a bite. Wasn’t me. Mary?

Mother nature, you sure do like to get our attention, don’t you?

(jessica)

OK, so when I saw this picture of the box of Meyer Lemons my sister is sending me, and everybody started talking about wonderful lemon recipes, I got a little crazy.

Maybe obsessed is a better word – with the idea that just maybe I could grow my own. You don’t see a lot of lemon groves here at 7000′ in the Rockies. So this has to be a garden room container type project.

I started doing research. I always knew my sister’s lemons were much sweeter than most lemons and a little orange-y. Knowing nothing about it, I thought maybe they cross pollinated with an orange tree.

And way back there somewhere, they did. Or a mandarin orange tree anyway. The Meyer Lemon is thought to have originated in China and to have been a combo of the lemon and the mandarin orange.

They proliferate in California (hmmm – should I move back?) and here is more than you even want to know about what they are and how to use them . . . from the LA Times

100 Things to Do with a Meyer Lemon

So, next to get the growing info . . . and of course I found a site called

MeyerLemonTree.com

Where I found out everything I wanted to know – container size, feeding, watering, pruning.

So I ordered a tree  from them – yes I did!

Then I started thinking about planting some from seed, but found out it would be 7 years or so before the seedling would become a fruit bearing tree. I learned so much more here . . .

Lemon Tree Very Pretty, etc

I am so excited I am just about hopping up and down. If my goofy tomatoes are doing as well as they are, Meyer Lemons should flourish. And the smell of the blossoms indoors – yum! And the leaves are so pretty!

I have never bought a tree online before, so I will share the experience when it arrives..

(Cassie)

Help!

My little Myer Lemon Tree is overloaded!  I need to come to her aid.

And this is AFTER I asked a few of my friends to help themselves to lemons after a luncheon I hosted a week or so ago.

I received my prolific citrus producer five years back for Christmas from my hubby. It’s a dwarf Myer and it sure does it’s thing when it comes to producing lemons – all year long!

I think this is the most overloaded I’ve ever seen her. We call her “Limoncella,” and maybe that’s just what I should do to come to her aid,  take some weight off her shoulders and put dollars in my pockets.

YES! I can produce Italian Liquor and sell it on the street corner, at my own little Limoncella Stand. Instead of 5 cents a glass, I can charge 5 dollars a shot.

Hmmm . . .

I’ve got several other ideas that I’m going to expand on in Kitchen Magician . . . stay tuned.

Just like many gardening enthusiasts, I have way too many gardening books. There is just something seductive about them. But, truthfully, I find myself actually using only a few of them.

This is a huge favorite . . .

Now, don’t get stopped by the reference to special self-watering containers. I usually get stopped by that kind of thing. I don’t want to go out and search for hard-to-find pots. But I powered through that and read this book anyway. It was wonderfully informative – the most I have ever learned from a single gardening book – and everything was applicable to a plain container as well.

The difference? More watering. I never realized that a full grown tomato plant needs a gallon of water per day!

My plants are located right outside the kitchen door – and so is the hose – so frequent watering was not a challenge for me.

But if you think self-watering containers would be better for you, there are sources given for finding them.

This 250 page book is full of illustrations and photographs and is beautifully designed for ease of reference.

This book turned me into a successful vegetable gardener, and I highly, highly recommend it.

If you go to Amazon, you can see more of the inside pages, table of contents, etc. – and you can actually read these two pages I have shown here.

Incredible Vegetables

Posted by Jessica

I don’t even believe this myself, but that is my hand, in my garden room, on December 27, holding a freshly picked tomato. It’s not a BIG tomato, but it is sun ripened and delicious. And yes, those are happy Geraniums and there is snow outside that window.

As part of our Christmas Eve snack tray, I wanted to have Bruschetta. I was able to make it from my own garden!

I think I mentioned earlier that I have never had luck with tomatoes in the ground here in New Mexico. So last year, I bought a couple plants at the nursery and put them in big pots . I read a wonderful book on container vegetable gardening (yes, I will dig it up and tell you the name and author because I don’t know where the book is and can’t remember whether I already posted it!).

I learned two important things I did not know before. The soil in the pot should always be at maximum moisture content, and the plants need to be fed every 1-2 weeks. A constant supply of food and the water to deliver it. Add some sun and you get great tomatoes.

I followed the directions and was shocked when I was already harvesting tomatoes in June – and that was the Big Boy, not even the Early Girl plant.

I had filled the pots with sterile potting mix, so I only met one tomato worm all Summer (they are a really pretty color but homely!!) He and the branch he was chewing on got transported way out by the road, and I don’t know what became of him when he finished eating that branch.

Our Summer was filled with tomatoes from my two plants. By Fall, the plants were looking rather beat, but they were still full of tomatoes, so I moved them inside the Garden room before the first frost. They take a lot of room and are not too pretty, so I thought they would give us a few more tomatoes and give up the ghost. Then, I could put them out and have some room. But they kept going . . . and going.

And I tried a store-bought tomato, and ran home and fed my plants some more! You just can’t go back.

So, it’s New Years and I am still having fresh tomato slices with my “Egg Burger” every morning. They are a bit smaller but still as tasty as they were in July!

Not trying to make you jealous – just letting you know what is possible if you have a big pot and a sunny indoor spot.

The weather in California is still beautiful.

We’re having mostly sunny days and it hasn’t rained too much or gotten too cold as yet. So, I’m still fussing around in my backyard trying to PREPARE for next years plan for a beautiful look.

Here’s my challenge. Our backyard has huge oak trees, making it impossible to grow grass, because of the shade from the mighty oaks.

My wonderful landscaper friend, Kim came over to take a look at the situation and suggested that what my backyard needed to become was a “WOODED FERN GROVE.”

Just the sound of it was pleasing to me. She said, “Your oak trees are kinda like a forest. And what do you see in the forest? FERNS. LUSCIOUS FERNS.”

So, I have begun my plan. I’m growing small ferns (because I can afford to buy them at this size!) into big ones, in preparation for the beautiful layout that Kim will assist me with next year.

I had already made a cobblestone circle around my Buddha statue, so I thought it would serve well as a “growing pen.”

I filled the circle with 5 bags of fresh soil, covered the soil with a black mesh that will help keep the acorns from taking root AND the squirrels from wreaking havoc on my ferns. Then, I cut small holes in the mesh and planted my variety of baby ferns.

Buddha likes it. I can tell.

I took a big expensive project and started it with baby steps. It won’t be complete until next year, but I’ve learned patience (in some areas, anyway).

In the meantime, I think it looks better already, just having some bright green leafy plants in the back to distract your eye from the hard clay ground.

This is the before picture. I’ll show you progress reports through spring and early summer as the ferns mature.

After that? Meandering paths and such will be added to make my wooded fern garden grove.

I’m excited.

Post by Cassie

Some places still have herbs available. If you can find them, a tiny kitchen herb garden is a great idea.

Since there will be living plants in The Art Garden decor, I thought it might be nice to have a few Herb Gardens for sale. I found these grungy terra cotta pots at our nursery – hand thrown and made to look grungy. They were the perfect size for a flowering Rosemary, some Thyme, and some Oregano.

Keep an herb garden in a sunny spot right near your sink, and have a source for fresh flavor year round.

jessica

It is no secret to anyone how I love my garden room/studio. In fact, I am being widely accused of creating the Art Garden just to have another, bigger, garden room. I reserve comment on that.

As I was double checking the watering situation yesterday before leaving Mark in charge (he has a reputation for accidentally frying plants), I saw how the filtered sunlight was affecting the Bougainvillea in the corner.

One of the best things about having a contained garden like this, besides that you have it year round, is that you are so up close and personal with the plant life, and able to notice the nuances in what Nature creates.

And that darn little Fuji camera helps me quickly grab the details for sharing with you!

Posted by jessica

This past weekend, I diagnosed myself with a seasonal case of “color deprivation.”

After months spent puttering around my garden, planting this and relocating that, I must admit that I’m missing the array of color that was available at a moment’s notice – right outside my kitchen window.

Saturday was a beautiful, fall day in northern CA, so I decided to take a drive to my favorite nursery on the coast called Half Moon Bay Nursery.

This was just what the doctor ordered . . .

Row, upon row, upon row of gorgeous plants and flowers.

There, now I’ve had my fix. I even picked up a few bright green ferns and a couple purple and blue hydrangea’s to spruce up my fall garden.

Next time you’re seeing the world as black and white, visit your local nursery and take in little dose of color therapy.

Post by Cassie

It was my friend Minet’s birthday the other day and I invited her to meet me for coffee.

I wanted to bring Minet a gift but didn’t know what to get her. Although I love living plants, I know that Minet will be leaving for the whole month of December to visit her home in Puerto Rico. Leaving her with yet another mouth to feed in her absence wouldn’t have been considerate.

I stopped by BLOSSOM’S flower shop at the mall on my way, to see if they had an arrangement that would brighten Minet’s day.

Did they ever! Take a look at this. Talk about perfect. For my sweet and spicy latin friend.

I just love the way they interspersed the red roses with the colorful chile peppers and red mini bells. And how about how they lined in inner edge of the glass vase with a green leaf?

The price on this arrangement was only $21 and I snatched it off the shelf of the refrigerated room faster than you can say “Andale!”

Happy Birthday, Minet!

Post by Cassie