Sand and Starfish » small garden spaces http://sandandstarfish.com SandandStarfish.com Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:06 +0000 en hourly 1 How Does Your Garden Grow? http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/how-does-your-garden-grow/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-does-your-garden-grow http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/how-does-your-garden-grow/#comments Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:00:00 +0000 stephanie http://sandandstarfish.com/?p=2381 (Read More)]]> These pictures are all from yesterday morning. I am very happy to announce that things have grown quite a bit since then! Very very excited about my almost heavily producing garden :)

I don’t know a lot about gardening so I don’t know when you officially pull plants. I tend to pull the plug on a lot of stuff too soon so I was  so very glad that I didn’t pull up my pepper plants and decided to have patience with them. They’re all going crazy! Lots of blooms and little itty bitty baby peppers growing on all of them! and to think I was complaining about not getting any peppers from any of them. Gotta hold my tongue from now on. Or maybe they heard my cries and decided to show off their goodies. Either way, I’m really looking forward to eating some peppers!


I have a wonderful little Sugar Baby watermelon growing. Actually,  have a couple. But so far this is the only one that has survived the heat and humidity down here. It has a little friend growing close to it and lots of blooms all around it so I’m really hoping that I get several juicy watermelons from it.


My starter seeds are already starting to impress. I’ll have to take new pictures of them because from yesterday morning to today, some of them have sprouted inches. Yes, inches! Oh I can’t wait to get them out of their cans and into the garden!

My longneck squash has the most beautiful blooms on it right now. I can’t wait to see what it produces. And the neighboring green n’ gold green beans are egging it on by showing off all the pods it has on it right now. They’re called pods right? Or does that only apply to peas?


I’m thinking about moving the lavender from the hanging garden either to the garden or to our front porch planters. That would be a nice welcome for anyone who enters. They just aren’t doing so well in the hanging planters. I believe they’re getting just a tad too much direct sun. Leonidas seems awfully curious as to what goes on in a garden… a little too curious if you ask me!


My tomatoes are hanging in there, literally. The romas’ in the topsy turvys are growing… not really producing though. And the husky cherry tomato plant in the garden is starting to grow tall. I’m really excited about that guy. I forgot to plant a “normal” tomato plant as B calls them. Any suggestions? And did you know you can plant a pineapple from the one you buy at the store? You just gently twist off the top and plant it in the ground! Bummer though… they may take 2-4 years to produce anything. I’m crossing my fingers with this guy!


How are your gardens? Show them off! Send me pictures! I’m dying to know!

]]> http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/how-does-your-garden-grow/feed/ 2 Hanging Herb Garden Tutorial http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/hanging-herb-garden-tutorial/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hanging-herb-garden-tutorial http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/hanging-herb-garden-tutorial/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:00:36 +0000 stephanie http://sandandstarfish.com/?p=2213 (Read More)]]> My garden is lacking in size. It’s 90+ degrees out every day. Do I start diggin’ the new garden plot? Do I make a container garden for the patio? I’m not sure when or how it quite dawned on me to do this next part, but it did, and I’m so glad!
I decided that I would build a “Hanging Herb Garden” to help expand my garden without having to lose 50 pounds from sweating and digging a whole new plot. It was really easy and it was a good way to recycle some of those yogurt containers that I set aside for such a time as this. Just like my topsy turvy, I decided to do a tutorial for you. Hopefully one of you will have a fence that needs some friends to hang out with it ;)

Let’s get started!

Supply List:
Rope or twine (I used Sisal thanks to Cheri at The Garden Elves)
4 plastic containers (more or less depending on how many herbs you plant, mine were 32 oz. yogurt containers)
4 plants (more or less depending on how many you plant)
dirt/soil
a drill (if you don’t have a drill, you can use a nail and hammer)
2 eye hooks (just slightly larger than the diameter of your rod)
1 rod (mine was 48x )
scissors
electrical tape
spray paint (optional)


Step 1: Cut 2 pieces of twine/rope/sisal for each container you will be hanging. I cut mine each about 5 feet in length. If you’ll be hanging them rather low, you’ll want more. I don’t recommend going any shorter though because you want room for your plants to grow without hitting the rod. (don’t know where my original photo went but you get the idea!)




Step 2: Gather your containers. Make sure they are nice and clean! Using your drill, drill 6-8 small holes in the bottom of your containers.





Step 3: Drill 4 hole in the sides of your containers about 1/2 from the top. Drill one in each direction, North, South, East and West. This makes for no lopsided hanging pots!





Step 4: *optional* Flip your containers upside down and spray paint in the colors of your choice. The aqua that I used, by far the best spray paint ever! It coated the container I used in 1 coat!! The yellow and the “watermelon”… about 5 coats. No lie. Primer would have been great to use on those first! Once they are coated how you like and dried, turn them over and give them a quick spray to cover the upper lip of the container. Now is also a good time to spray paint your rod if you choose to do so. I chose black but I’m starting to wish I would have sprayed it green! *optional*



Step 5: Drill your holes in your fence for where you will place your eye hooks and put the eye hooks in the holes. You only need 2 hooks if your containers are about the same size as mine. If you go larger, you will want a thicker rod and 3 hooks. If you don’t have a drill, you can use a nail to make a small hole and then turn your eye hook where you placed the hole. Keep in mind, this is not an easy task without a drill. Maybe you have a hubby with big muscles to help you out!



Step 6: Using the twine/rope/sisal that you cut earlier, thread your containers. You’ll want to pair your North and West together and your South and East together. Use my picture as a guide. Make sure you then pull the twine/rope/sisal so that they are equal in length.





Step 7: Fill your containers half full with dirt/soil. If your plants are dry, water the soil in the container before you add them. It makes a world of difference!





Step 8: Add your plants to your containers. I always add a little bit more dirt/soil to the top of the plants to make them look a little nicer and it also helps keep them a little more moist.





Step 9: Put your rod through your eye hooks.






Step 10: Kinda eyeball how far down you would like your plants to hang. Remember, if you’re planting something that will grow tall, you need to give it room to grow! Once you have figured out where you would like your plants to hang, tie your twine/rope/sisal in a knot above and or around your rod. Snip the leftovers just above the knot. Continue hanging the rest of the plants. I chose to stagger mine in height to add a little spunk to the garden but you don’t need to if you don’t want to!



Step 11: Using your electrical tape, wrap the tape around your knots. I did several figure 8′s and wrapped like crazy to make sure there were no holes or cracks for water to get in. This helps keep the knot in tact through the weathering that it will receive. There’s no such thing as too much tape!




Step 12: Using your electrical tape again, we’ll want to make sure that the rod itself doesn’t slide out of the hooks. To do this you simply wrap the tape around the rod many many times until the tape is a little fatter than the hook hole. You only need to do this on the outsides of each hook. Example, the left hook needs to be taped on the left of the hook. The right, taped on the right. If you’re using 3 hooks, the middle hook does not need to have any tape on either side.



 

You’re done! Water your plants and admire your work! Soon you’ll have delicious herbs to use at your own free will!

*just a lil note… the top herb garden was done previously so do not use that as a guide… there have been minor issues with it!*

This isn’t just for herbs. You could really do anything in them. I was even thinking about using them for starter plants for this coming falls garden. Another idea would be to stagger them all along our back fence and fill them with beautiful flowers. Oh how gorgeous and colorful that would be!

If you decide that you’d like to try this in your yard and you have any questions about any of the steps. Just leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I’d love to help walk you through it!

Happy Gardening everyone!!

]]> http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/hanging-herb-garden-tutorial/feed/ 3 Your Garden Showcase Helene http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-helene/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-garden-showcase-helene http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-helene/#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:45:49 +0000 stephanie http://sandandstarfish.com/?p=2034 (Read More)]]> I am very happy to share with you the start a fabulous new weekly segment that I would like to call, “Your Garden Showcase.”

For those of you who are knew to this site, this past year, I took a giant step and planted my own garden. Since then, I have been drawn to learning the tricks of the trade through others and not through google searches. Don’t get me wrong, I love google, but I’m pretty sure that google has never built it’s own garden. Am I right?! So I’ve become fascinated with real people’s gardens. How are they planted? Are they having the same problems as me? Have they figured out how to solve them? Are they as excited as I am to see everything bloom? What are they planting?

I have become so intrigued with just how your gardens are growing, that I will be sharing a garden a week right here with the rest of you. Because if any of you are like me and want to soak up as much gardening knowledge as you can, you’ll be just as curious to see how gardens across the globe are doing.

Let’s get into the swing of things shall we?

I love to see the progress of a garden from the starts until it’s given up all it’s fruits and veggies. I love to see how it has progressed and what has thrived. Such is the case with Helene’s garden. Helene, from I’m Living Proof that God has a Sense of Humor, has shared pictures of her garden throughout it’s growing process and I am always so excited to see her lovelies.

She’s only been gardening since last summer but I am just so impressed with how well everything is growing. And I love the neatness of her rows. That’s definitely something I admire and take note of! But please don’t judge me on my hideous rows ;) Anyway, she has a friend who has a fabulous veggie garden and she would often share pictures of it and recipes to go along with what she picked. Helene not only grew curious, but grew enough courage to plant her own!

She has four absolutely adorable children who helped her plant everything this year. They also take turns watering the veggies as needed. Oh how wonderful it must be to have that many helping hands! And those hands are the main reason she decided to grow a garden. Not just to have something to be able to spend time together and be proud of as a family, but to teach them how great vegetables and fruits really taste. Like all kids, it’s not easy to get them to eat their greens, but once they see the fruits of their labor and get to taste how truly wonderful the foods really are, they eat more of them! And she loves to hear them talking about the garden with one another. Oh how fun it would be to hear just what those minds think!

Did you see her “future wine supply”? I mean her grapes? :) I remember as a kid going down to my neighbors and picking some of his grapes. They were so tart but we couldn’t stop eating them! I hope his “wine supply” didn’t diminish too much because of us! But Helene’s grapes! I’m so jealous! So many grapes on so many bunches! I’m sure her little ones love seeing them grow. I’d ask her to move next to me and be my neighbor but then she’ll know why her grapes would go missing! ;) These grapes are what she’s most excited about. It’s her first time growing them and she’s actually pretty surprised that she hasn’t killed them yet! I’m sure you have nothing to worry about Helene because they look fantastic!

I think I was so drawn to her garden when I first saw it because of the huge variety that she has growing. So far she has tomatoes (early girls, cherry and roma), green beans, lettuce, zucchini, yellow squash, strawberries, watermelon, tangerines and grapes.  She also has a peach, orange and lemon tree that are doing well but haven’t flowered yet and probably won’t until next year. I can’t wait to see what they look like next year! I’ve been contemplating planting a peach tree but now that I see that she has, I might just have to be a copy cat! Her strawberries only get about 5-6 ripe berries a week but that’s perfect for the little ones to come by, pick one, and pop it in their mouth! And her watermelons didn’t survive last year so she is so incredibly happy that they’re growing and growing beautifully this year! I am happy for her as well! Watermelons are my fav!

And how stinkin’ lucky is she that she hasn’t had too many real pests! They have cats that keep the mice and birds away and tons of earthworms in the garden to help keep it nice and balanced and healthy. So far, she said the only problem is weeds. Weeds can definitely be overwhelming but she just tries to go out once a day and pull them. I seriously think that it’s such a good idea to do it like that instead of waiting to only do it once a week. You really get to know your garden well and it I think it takes less time to pull them every day then it does to wait and do it all at once.

She’s still learning how to garden… aren’t we all?! And she’s like me, we have a “thing” for checking out other peoples gardens and see how well the plants are doing all along their journey. It’s all just so amazing!

One tip that she provided me with to pass along is this: If you don’t have a sprinkler system (we are lucky and we do!), set up some kind of drip system. Last year she had to hand water everything and that got really tiring. I hear ya! So this year she alternates between hand watering and using a drip system.

And another key tip: Have fun with it! There’s no better feeling than walking out to your garden and picking some fruits and veggies to serve to your family! I completely agree Helene, completely agree!

A very special thank you again to my wonderful garden friend, Helene from I’m Living Proof That God has a Sense of Humor, for allowing me to showcase her fantastic garden. I love how much your garden means to you and to your family and I love how much your children are involved with all of it as well. Thank you!

Do you have a garden that you’d like to show off? Do you know of someone who has a garden that you admire? Let me know… because I would absolutely love to show it off! Just leave me a comment or send me an email and we’ll chit chat away! Happy gardening everyone!


]]> http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-helene/feed/ 5 Your Garden Showcase Suz http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-suz/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-garden-showcase-suz http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-suz/#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:00:16 +0000 stephanie http://sandandstarfish.com/?p=1958 (Read More)]]> I am very happy to share with you the start a fabulous new weekly segment that I would like to call, “Your Garden Showcase.”

For those of you who are knew to this site, this past year, I took a giant step and planted my own garden. Since then, I have been drawn to learning the tricks of the trade through others and not through google searches. Don’t get me wrong, I love google, but I’m pretty sure that google has never built it’s own garden. Am I right?! So I’ve become fascinated with real people’s gardens. How are they planted? Are they having the same problems as me? Have they figured out how to solve them? Are they as excited as I am to see everything bloom? What are they planting?

I have become so intrigued with just how your gardens are growing, that I will be sharing a garden a week right here with the rest of you. Because if any of you are like me and want to soak up as much gardening knowledge as you can, you’ll be just as curious to see how gardens across the globe are doing.

Let’s get into the swing of things shall we?

Right around the same time I started my garden, another blogger friend, Suz from daybydaywithsuz, started hers. I seriously thought I was on the verge of becoming a garden stalker because like me, she lives in Florida and I wondered if we would have the same problems. Don’t worry, I’m definitely not a stalker!

When I first laid eyes on her garden, I absolutely fell in love with how long it was. There’s just enough room to walk through the “aisles” and it’s simply perfect! Well, at least in my eyes it is ;) I don’t know if you noticed this from the pictures, but she has steps that lead into her garden. Steps! How envious am I?! I would feel like such a queen walking down those steps into my garden. I hope she feels the same! But from my understanding, her adorable 2 boxers also love those steps as much as I do and have been helping themselves to her fresh tomatoes as much as they like. Lil buggers! That’s the one thing she’d do differently… have a fence on all four sides. I don’t blame her! I’d at least want whoever was eating my fruits and veggies to actually be able to tell me how good they were!

Suz is a fellow salsa lover and is looking forward to making her very own fresh salsa from all her goodies that she has growing. Right now she has tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, lettuce, red peppers, broccoli, potatoes, spices, weeds (I seriously laughed when I read that!) and zucchini all growing in her wonderful garden. I love to look at her lettuce. Mine died a long time ago so to see hers thriving is a special treat! I’m also so interested in seeing how well her potatoes do and how big they get.

This is her first season growing a garden. Unless I knew this, I wouldn’t have ever guessed. And why a garden? Why now? Fresh produce. Suz loooooves the taste of fresh produce. Well Suz, you’re doing a great job with it!

Other than her wonderful boxers, Ozzie and Cocoa, helping her in her garden, her husband, or “Coach” as she likes to call him, was nice enough to dig up the grass for her, till the dirt and even put up the fence! Talk about the world’s greatest helper!

Her best tip to give, start your seeds in pots rather than right in the garden. The ones that started in pots fared far better than the ones planted right in the garden. Good tip! I’ll definitely be doing that next time!

Other than the dogs munching away freely, the only real problem she’s seemed to have is ants, and even then, Suz says they’re not really a problem. I’ve heard that they’re actually good for a garden. They help keep other pests away. Maybe she could send some ants this way. Maybe then I wouldn’t have the little pest problem that I do!

I love her garden. It’s so vibrant and full of color! I’m incredibly jealous that she’ll be able to enjoy salad after salad after salad! Those greens and reds (red lettuce) look so crispy and delicious! Top those with some peppers, zucchini and broccoli and you’ve got yourself one amazing meal!

Thank you Suz for letting me showcase your wonderful garden. It was truly an honor and I wish you lived closer to me so I could see your garden in person! You’re doing such an amazing job, especially since this is your first year! Keep up the great work, enjoy those goodies, and thank you again!

Do you have a garden that you’d like to show off? Do you know of someone who has a garden that you admire? Let me know… because I would absolutely love to show it off! Just leave me a comment or send me an email and we’ll chit chat away! Happy gardening everyone!

]]> http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-suz/feed/ 7 Your Garden Showcase, Carmen http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-carmen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-garden-showcase-carmen http://sandandstarfish.com/gardening/your-garden-showcase-carmen/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:00:29 +0000 stephanie http://sandandstarfish.com/?p=1690 (Read More)]]> I am very happy to share with you the start a fabulous new weekly segment that I would like to call, “Your Garden Showcase.”

For those of you who are knew to this site, this past year, I took a giant step and planted my own garden. Since then, I have been drawn to learning the tricks of the trade through others and not through google searches. Don’t get me wrong, I love google, but I’m pretty sure that google has never built it’s own garden. Am I right?! So I’ve become fascinated with real people’s gardens. How are they planted? Are they having the same problems as me? Have they figured out how to solve them? Are they as excited as I am to see everything bloom? What are they planting?

I have become so intrigued with just how your gardens are growing, that I will be sharing a garden a week right here with the rest of you. Because if any of you are like me and want to soak up as much gardening knowledge as you can, you’ll be just as curious to see how gardens across the globe are doing.

Let’s get into the swing of things shall we?

My newly dear friend from the site It’s a Wonderful Life, Carmen, has decided to honor me with letting me showcase her garden with all of you.

Growing up, gardening was something that was very common to Carmen as her parents always had one. Her dad was especially into gardening and as she grew, he placed her in charge of helping grow the corn. At first it was whole rows and then it grew into sections, making sure there were no weeds and always watering. And he’s such a sweetheart that he even comes over sometime early in the morning to help her weed her own garden!

This is her first year trying out raised beds and she’s using Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening technique. It’s a very simple technique to follow and makes weeding incredibly easy. I wish I had known about it sooner!

Right now, things are a little on the quiet side in her garden. Her baby plants are still a little too small to transplant but she does have some beautiful plants! Her brother started a couple tomato and cabbage plants in Eastern Oregon that he has been so nice as to share them with her and so far, I’m happy to say that they are doing well! Her radishes are doing amazingly well, as you can tell from the picture and her bean sprouts look happy to be saying a warm hello to the world! I’m also incredibly jealous that she has sugar peas growing and growing wonderfully at that!

I just love how much her entire family is involved in the gardening that goes on at her house. She even gets her children involved by having them add scraps to the compost bin, by working the dirt, planting, weeding and of course, gathering. Carmen’s mom even gets in on the fun by helping can spaghetti sauce and salsa. What a wonderful helper she is! Seeing how much her family helps makes me so excited to be able to teach my own daughter the tricks of the trade!

Speaking of tricks of the trade, Carmen’s dad would plant nasturtiums at the end of the pole beans rows and she is following suit. I had to pull up my google friend and found that nasturtiums are great for keeping away some of the horrible pests that I’ve had hanging around. And they are beautiful! She also filled me in by teaching me that the blossoms are edible and that capers are nasturtium seeds! Who knew?!

The one thing that I never got to enjoy growing up because my mom had a dislike for, is the very thing that Carmen is most looking forward to… Dill! The smell of it reminds her of the heat of the summer and I can totally picture her walking by it, stopping, taking in a nice deep breath of it, smiling, and continuing on. It makes me smile just thinking about it! She uses the dill fresh to make pickles and dilly beans and then she dries the heads to add to bread, dips and sauces. It sounds delicious!

It’s people like Carmen and the wonderful garden that she keeps that makes me love gardening even more and makes me want to continue to learn absolutely everything I can about them.

Do you have a garden that you are in love with? Is there something you’re growing that has you excited? What are you planting? Do you have pictures? Would you like to share them and be showcased here? If so, leave me a comment or send me an email and I would love to chit chat more with you about it!

A very special thank you again to Carmen at It’s a Wonderful Life for letting me and all the rest of you enjoy her garden as much as she does.

Happy gardening everyone!

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