Sand and Starfish » the garden

Only 1 Week

stephanie — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:31:22 +0000

One week ago I decided to get out my seeds, make some newspaper pots and start getting things ready for the fall garden… including pulling some plants to let the ones that are really doing good breathe. More on that tomorrow!

Let’s start with the newspaper pots. If you don’t have any plastic pots from previous plantings, these are the perfect solution!

Start with one piece of newspaper… (not two like the picture shows. you want to rip in it half the long way, then fold it in half the short way. next picture shows a little better!)

put your glass or jar so about 1/4 of it is not on the paper…

and roll.

Then to close the bottom, I always fold over the end of the newspaper roll first. It tends to hold much better this way. Then you fold over 3 more sides. You can tape them in place if you’d like but I don’t because the tape won’t break down in the dirt.

Then you just line then all up in a cardboard box or something similar.

Then you fill them about 3/4-4/5 of the way up with dirt or potting mix and follow the instructions on the seed packet.

I used skewers and wrote the name of the plants near the top with a sharpie to make my markers. Last year I used toothpicks and labels and the labels got so wet from watering that I couldn’t read the names of the plants anymore! I used the skewers on a couple last year too but the dogs thought they were chew sticks.

And this is after just one week of being out on the back patio!

The ones that don’t have markers are flowers… the ones with are veggies. Look at that summer squash already growing like crazy!

I’m super excited to watch these grow and continue to grow in both the back and side gardens!

Isn’t it amazing what a seed can turn into?! Tomorrow I’ll show you what’s growing in my gardens as of today!

Vertical Veggie Garden

stephanie — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:00:02 +0000

I saw this and thought that it’s kinda brilliant. You can hop on over here to see the whole shabang. It gives you step by step instructions on how to make it. If you don’t have the time to head over there, you can always wait and head back here… I’ll be giving it a go soon! :)

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Although I don’t think I’d do veggies in it. I see some tomatoes and I would be scared that they’d grow too big and block out the sun and they’d grow too big and rip through their holder.

But I do think this is an absolutely fantastic idea for an herb garden! Seeing as how the first one I made didn’t hold up as well as I was hoping, I’m up for trying something new. I’m excited!

Gardening Ideas

stephanie — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:00:20 +0000

I am getting more and more excited as March creeps up.

I planted all my seedlings a couple weekends ago. Kinda bummed that they’re not showing their faces yet but s’ok… If there’s one thing I’ve learned from gardening, it’s to be patient.

While I’m waiting for them to show face, I’ve been trying to think of a nice way to decorate the border of the new garden. That’s right… expanding again! I swear, gardening… it’s addictive!

the DIY Garden

Isn’t this awesome! I’d really have to start drinking lots of wine though. Wish I had seen this last year! I wonder if putting an ad on craigslist for empty wine bottles would get flagged? Hmmm… ;)

Google wasn’t much help when it came to researching a creative border. I guess the wine bottles are the best thing people can think of! I did read though one thing that is slightly deterring me from doing this… would you take a weed whacker around this to edge it?

Back to the drawing board I go!

Turning Green

stephanie — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:16:01 +0000

I know a lot of you can’t even start to think about planting seeds for your garden, what with you being under 6+ inches of snow but it’s definitely time to start thinking about it here! Last year was my first year ever of gardening and I didn’t know a thing about it. I had to start all my plants from actual plants and not from seeds because I started my garden in March. The majority of what I want to plant this year needs to be started indoors about 6-8 weeks before the last fall of frost.

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So not only am I think about what I want to plant and what I want to companion plant, but I’ve now I’m starting to think about how exactly to start my seedlings indoors. Do I use my terra cotta pots? Or what some of those giant yogurt containers I spray painted? Soup cans? Newspaper pots? How about those leftover containers from 6-pack plants I bought… ?

How do you start your garden indoors? Have you ever tried the newspaper pots? If so… become my gardening teacher ;) Teach me how. I have so many questions!

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When do you get to start thinking about your garden? Are you as excited as I am?!

Here are some fun newspaper pot tips/tutorials that I found that you might enjoy:

Are These Edible?

stephanie — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:00:04 +0000

Because they’re growing over the fence… and I think they want to eat my hibiscus so if they are edible, I’d like to eat them before they eat her. Either way, they weren’t planted by me. Obviously. Who would plant such beauties on the other side of the fence and not in their garden!? Bottom line, will I die if I eat these?