gardenpunks

Fall is here

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:16:00 +0000

The Sacramento area's typical first frost date is November 14. Last year it was December 1. This year it was November 13.

It was a light frost which really didn't do any harm to the garden as far as I can see. I can tell it's getting colder because in the last 3 days all of the strawberry foliage has started looking like this:

My tomatoes and basil are still going strong, but the raised beds garden is protected by a tree and receives the reflected light off of the stucco on the house. It takes a really hard freeze to end the season on that side of the house.

One of the chores this winter will likely be to remove this large bed pictured on the left. It receives far too much shade to be productive, and I've noticed the tree roots are beginning to get into it. At least we'll have lots of soil to augment other beds now.

The Tupelo tree is always a sight in the fall. It just seems to glow.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - November 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:48:00 +0000

Although I believe we had our first light frost a few days ago, the garden is still blooming strong. We're in what's considered "Second Spring" here in NorCal - plants often will bloom spring and fall, but take a break during the long hot summer.

Captions above pictures

While poking around for pictures today, I almost missed this Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) bloom. I brushed the dark Amaranth foliage and it popped up! Serendipitous shot and color combo.

This blue Felicia is a stellar performer and is at its finest come December and January when everything else is resting. It's quite overgrown because I missed the window to shear it back last time it bloomed. I should do that sometime in late winter/early spring. I'm liking how the Alyssum is growing in also.

I planted Exotic Love Vine/Spanish Flag to grow against the fence, but it never did much of anything. It's just now starting to put out small flowers. It never did really fill in.

The 2 Salvias I purchased at the plant sale at Rosalind Creasy's presentation last month are still blooming strong, and covered in dog hair like the rest of my yard and house.

The Black Eyed Susan Vine is blooming like gangbusters right now. It really enjoys the cooler weather and didn't do much until late September.

I planted these cosmos near the Lantana that grows like crazy, thinking they would compliment it. It turns out these were lavender and totally clash with the red/orange/yellow Lantana below. The butterflies love both plants though.

The volunteer 'Thai Dragon' pepper is finally starting to bloom, which is too bad because it won't have enough time to set fruit before the cold nips it. But it does give the last few bees something to snack on.

And although technically not a flower, one of the most colorful things in the yard right now is the Habanero pepper plant, which I grew from seeds given to me by Botanical Interests (link on sidebar also). This plant is a lot later that Chris' cousins' crop which they had at least 6 weeks ago. But what it lacked in early production, it has more than made up for lately. I think a place in our raised beds would have this pepper plant going crazy and producing earlier than November... (And yes, Chris eats the habaneros. Crazy man.)

Also blooming:

Zinnias
Society Garlic
Salvia 'Hot Lips'
Nasturtiums
Basil

What's blooming in your garden today? Join Carol of May Dreams Gardens in for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day by posting about what's blooming in your garden on the 15th of each month.

Sprinkler Archaeology

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Today I set to dig out one of the many Agapanthuses in my yard, and as I was digging ALL of the roots out, I hit PVC pipe.

Because we're not the first owners of this house, we don't know where everything in the yard is, so this was a pleasant (although not surprising) find.

1. I believe this to be the pipe in which the sprinkler timer wiring is, because it is not sealed.
2. I believe this to be one of the pipes installed under the walkway when the house was built. Doesn't go to anything, but I wonder if this is also for wires?
3. I believe this to be the sprinkler's water supply since the pipe is sealed.

I was going to plant something in place of the Agapanthus, but was wondering: (for now) should I simply leave this hole filled in, just in case we need to access it again during landscaping? Our sprinklers in their current state actually work well and are well-positioned for the landscape plan we have. (Although we will be adding one more station in the back, I hope it's already wired for it)...

Would love to hear your thoughts.

It begins

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:47:00 +0000

I've been dying to share the news that we're working with my twitter friend Laura Livengood Schaub on our landscape design. We visited Laura's house during our summer trip to San Luis Obispo, and really liked her style and front yard. Laura tells the story of how we got together and posted the plan on her Facebook page. Check it out. (Spend some time on Schaubdesign's fan page - so amazing!)

We're still digesting the plan and will get back to Laura soon, but I wanted to share what I did today.

Today I felt ambitious. I'm not sure where this feeling came from, especially since we helped some friends move yesterday and I was still pretty beat from that. I'm definitely not complaining; very happy to feel "normal" again!

I decided to tear out the concrete mow strip in the back. I got about 95% of it out (ran into some not-so-happy ants in one part - I will let them regroup and go back after those 3 chunks later). I was surprised how easy it was really.

Captions above pictures

This portion will be replaced with a stepping stone walk to back under the maple tree where we'll have a nice sitting area. The days of that Agapanthus under the maple tree are numbered.

Laura's plan calls for a much smaller "low-mow" lawn. Hopefully we can train Jake to do his business on this small area. (Although during my clean up today I discovered that he always pees in the same spot. Nevermind that it takes him like 5 minutes to decided where to go...in that same spot.) While his pee spot is not in the circle, this bodes well for the Buffalo grass (or similar) that will go there since it won't have to try and live in such a harsh environment.

We let the lawn die this year, and today I trimmed it with my Troy-Bilt trimmer (which I cannot speak highly enough about!!), and raked the clippings into the center of the lawn. I rearranged the concrete strips and will continue to do so to imagine where the lawn will be.

Speaking of Jake, he cracks me up. I was ripping out the mow strip when I turned around and saw him doing this, and had to take a picture. He desires nothing more that to be around us and whatever we're doing. Pack mentality rules. Silly dog.

More work/reveal soon.

My Darling Clementine

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:40:00 +0000

I recently counted how many fruit trees are on our property and was sort of astonished when the number totaled 16. Three of the fruit trees are Mandarins - 2 Clementines and 1 Seedless Kishu. I look forward to the period in which those little Cuties are available at the store. We buy boxes and boxes of them and practically live off of them for weeks, fruit bat style.

Because it makes sense to grow that which you eat the most of, we decided on the Mandarin trees for the most impact. Ours are still babies and have yet to produce, but they did put forth a few flowers this past summer. Then we had watering issues, and the flowers dried up and dropped off.

I took some pictures of this beautiful Salvia 'Hot Lips' [Salvia x microphylla (grahamii)]* which has finally filled out and started blooming like mad in the past few weeks. It's far too close to the Seedless Kishu Mandarin on the left, and I plan on moving the salvia a couple feet to the right in the picture so it can cascade over the "v" of the wall. It's very happy in this little area.

Side note: this was the very first plant I propagated from a cutting! Fun times.

BUT imagine my surprise when I spotted this little guy in the salvia's overgrowth:

My very first homegrown Mandarin! Exciting!

*Thank goodness for Google, because in order to look like I have any idea abut what I'm talking about, I will start posting Latin in addition to common names of plants. Even though once here I said I would never do that. I'm purposely not linking to that post!

Inspiration Personified: Rosalind Creasy

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:40:00 +0000

Alternate title: My brush with the greatness that is Rosalind Creasy

Two years ago I was in a local used bookstore when I came across a book I'd always wanted but was no longer in print:

The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy (Sierra Club Books, 1982)

This book has had a profound influence on me and shaped me as a gardener because until I flipped through those pages, I never imagined landscaping with edible plants. I've read that book over and over and can look at my landscape in current form and credit Ros with specific things like our backyard orchard, which had previously been turf grass until we let it die and sheet mulched 18 months ago.

When I found out Rosalind Creasy was going to be speaking in Sacramento, I jumped at the chance to see her in person. A group of us went - myself, Carri (@betweenthelimes), and Kristi (@notsocraftycom) and we met up with Maureen (@plantanista) who is Ros' protege and we've been lucky enough to chat with via Twitter for some time now! (Aside: To me, 2009 will go down as the year of meeting people via Twitter who have changed my life in profound ways! Long live Twitter!)

We showed up at 10am and browsed the plant sale before the auditorium opened. Morningsun Herb Farm and Peaceful Valley were there, and I spent every little bit of cash I had on a few plants:

Captions above pictures

Sages (Salvia) 'Waverly' (white flowers), 'Indigo Blue' (bluish-purple flowers), and Globemallow (Sphaeralcea) 'New Haze Coral' (coral pink flowers)

'Sochi' Tea Camellia (Camellia sinensis)
I know this plant is persnickety to be polite about it. I know it might be sort of difficult to grow. But I forge head first into the challenge. Even Ros herself picked one up and spoke about her difficulty with them also! I feel in good company now. I remember first reading about this plant in her book, and it was sort of an aha! moment for me.

Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)
I picked up two of these because of pollination purposes. That was before I realized that these are all over our subdivision as landscape plants! BUT those are often sheared before they flower, which is a shame.

I packed up the car with my haul and cracked the windows, and we ventured inside to get good seats for Ros' presentation and slide show. Maureen introduced Rosalind Creasy by telling the story of how ~~Maureen stalked Ros~~ they met and Maureen came to manage a garden that Ros had designed and created in the Bay Area. Maureen is still working in that same garden today, and loves every minute of it, crediting Ros for changing her life.

Rosalind Creasy captivated the entire room. Her slides chronicled her garden over time, and the different plants she recommends.

A few anecdotes from her presentation that I'd love to share with you:

On how she got into edible gardening
Her husband worked for IBM and whenever he traveled internationally, she tagged along and explored. She came to see how other countries included edibles in their gardens and had varieties of fruits and vegetables other than the 70-100 or so you typically see in the supermarkets in the United States.

It was a trip through the desert in Israel in which her guide lamented that the sand dunes that stretched as far as the eye could see used to be the most fertile land in the world. Through overgrazing and overfarming, the top soil became less and less and eventually blew away, leaving sand dunes behind. She likened this to what was occurring in the Santa Rosa (now Silicon) Valley which enjoyed 25 feet of alluvial top soil, where agriculture was giving way to row after row of tract homes. She along with a group of others were devoted to trying to save as much of the land as possible.

Upon her return to California, she had an epiphany that she shared with her Horticulture professor at Foothill College - the highest use of the land is to grow that which we eat, creating beautiful edible gardens. When he learned of her enthusiasm he replied, "That's called salad bowl gardening, and it's tacky." Insert laughs from audience! Little did he know that he planted the seed in Rosalind's mind for what became her work over the next 30 years.

On her amazing slide show
Our group was curious if she took her own pictures and the answer is yes. She's a gifted photographer - if you want a peek at what we saw, head over to her website www.rosalindcreasy.com.

On her amazing garden
Ros completely swaps out her garden twice a year - in September/October and April/May. I was tickled when she shared that all of the pictures in her slideshow were of her garden over the years - she was really the only person doing edible landscaping for a long time, and she needed it to seem as if she had visited many gardens that were doing it, so she was always redesigning and replanting! That cracked the audience up. Her commitment to the edible movement and her garden was inspiring.

On controlling "pests" in her garden
She volunteered that because her garden is an established ecosystem, nothing gets out of control. She hasn't had whiteflies, scale, or ants in years. Alternately, she hasn't seen a butterfly in years either.

On watering her garden
When she replants her garden twice a year, she also completely renovates her drip system. She became animated at this notion because she hates drip irrigation, calling it a necessary evil. Dave Roberts was in the audience and the discussion turned to Netafim - 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch drip tubing with in-line emitters. Ros is a 100% organic gardener and when Netafim was first developed 15-20 years ago, a strong herbicide was included in the plastic to be slow-released as to not clog up the emitters. This in-line tubing is now made by multiple companies and also comes without the herbicide. I heard Dave Roberts wax philosophical about this product in my Green Gardener class recently, and I'm sold. It's available at local irrigation shops, but typically not the big boxes.

After the presentation, our small group helped Ros pack up her items (squeeeee!) and we followed her to her book signing. When I presented her with my pristine original 1982 edition and explained how it came into my possession via used bookstore, she was floored.

Ros: "Have you seen how much these go for on Amazon?"

Me: "Not recently."

Ros: "Original hardback print editions of this book were going for $600 a couple years back. You should sell it!"

Me: "No way! I love this book. I bought it for $9!" as she signed it

Ros: "I don't even have an original copy of my book...You know my new edible landscaping book is coming out in the Spring..."

Me: "Yep, I've already preordered it on Amazon! Really looking forward to it."

I didn't really know what to say and was sort of stammering in the presence of greatness. She was kind, down-to-Earth, and drinking a beer. My kind of lady!

Left to Right: Kristi, Me, Ros, and Carri

A day I'll never forget. And now ... a determination to reconcile our amazing landscape plan with edible landscaping!

Dats how I roll

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:08:00 +0000

Yep, originally uploaded by gardenpunk.

My new haircut.

Description I put on Flickr:

Self-portraiture is not my thing. After spending 20 minutes trying to take a good shot of my new haircut, I put on my sunglasses, and said eff it. And then I took this one. While I was sucking my teeth. That's how I roll. It's all about the sunglasses.

Also on display, my totally rockin' "My Dad bicycled across Alaska and all he got me was this kids t-shirt". Only it doesn't say that and kind of reminds me of Three Wolf Moon.

Untitled

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:14:00 +0000

fun tidbits: Book titles in the picture you can see if you click to view larger

Catch-22
Work Less Live More
Hobbes' Leviathan
Revoltingly Young, CD Payne
Young and Revolting, CD Payne
Robert Jordan books (Chris')

I have much to share. Fun things! And I suck at keeping secrets or not telling people all about me and my life.

I'll give you this: we got our preliminary landscape plan back from our landscape designer (to be announced soon, if you haven't already caught it on Twitter!) and I am jazzed! Great ideas for our front yard. And maybe there's room for a small spa in the backyard? Is there such a thing as a "green" spa? Probably not but I will always dream about one.

And for the record, these exciting things don't involve being pregnant. And never will.

Comments closed!

Interesting Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:41:00 +0000

I get lots of solicitous emails because I have a blog. I ignore the vast majority of them. I was going through my email when one caught my eye. The person wasn't trying to sell me anything, and it wasn't a poorly written press release. I kept reading.

It passed my very discerning litmus test of something I'd share with my readers.

It's a site called The Farmer's Garden and it's like a Craigslist for extra produce for backyard "farmers" and those seeking specific excess food.

It's easy to use, but you'll have to register to list your own excess produce.

I think it's a neat idea and while I'm all in favor of sending extra produce to the local food banks, this is another alternative that can create community and share food.

Food for thought.

Stream of Consciousness

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:59:00 +0000

I feel so lucky to have so many people rooting for me. Like I have a tiny bit o' karma in my corner as of late. You all rock, and you know who you are. So thank you from the bottom of this feisty girl's heart.

I had a guest post on Crazy Sexy Life this week which was a total kick and surprise that they'd even like lil ol' me enough to want me to do that for them. I banged out the post in record time too. Guess that's what happens when you feel comfortable with and passionate about your topic!

We had a MAJOR storm roll through here on Tuesday and thankfully our property didn't sustain any damage other than knocked over tomato and amaranth plants and a garbage can teetering on a plastic Adirondack chair. Lots of ornamental pear trees and liquid ambar trees in the area were down or shed a ton of branches. We got 2" of rain here, Sacramento got 3" putting it in the top 10 wettest days EVER on record for the area. Wild.

Tomatoes got knocked over

The bean tepee was moved by the wind. The stake was originally where my foot was! Beans held it up. Glad it didn't fall on the baby pomegranate!

Speaking of kicks. I love my hiking boots. I feel powerful when I wear them.
Rawr. EDIT: I feel tough when I wear them.

My cute little amaranth patch was completely uprooted. I also need to dig the dahlia up. Lazy gardener asks: Do I really need to dig the dahlia if I live in Northern California?

Three weeks into my Green Gardener class and so far so good. Although I'll admit that many of the people in the class don't seem to be very friendly. And last night the speaker was a highly credentialed entomologist who I was looking forward to hearing from, but she kind of lost me when she started advocating for using Bayer Advanced systemic Imidacloprid - a super toxic horrible chemical I wouldn't dare get near, no matter how bad an issue with "pests"... I will say I have learned a whole lot in the past 3 weeks, which isn't all that surprising since I don't know much of anything anyway!

Chris got this totally awesome American Apparel shirt with New Belgium Brewery stuff printed on it, but it's the wrong color and not the right size. Boo.

Chris made me take this picture. It's of two eggs in a bowl from different cartons. One is obviously fresher and more nutritious than the other.

Another close friend is pregnant, due in May. Yay for her and her hubster!

I got a new laptop a couple weeks ago and am completely smitten. BUT my spell-check plugin for Firefox doesn't work anymore, and I can't make Flickr Uploader work with Picasa. Le sigh.

Our Habaneros are finally starting to produce.

And...that about does it for the randomness today.

Field Trip to Annie's Annuals

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:37:00 +0000

Last Sunday my real life and online life collided in a beautiful mash-up that was a trip to Annie's Annuals in Richmond. This nursery is so much fun and was totally worth the trip, even though I was sort of hungover. Guess that means I'm perpetuating the stereotype! Haha.

@name = user on twitter

Tweeps! (L-R)
@gardenpunk (Me!), @betweenthelimes (Carri), @back40feet (Chuck), @anniesannuals (THE Annie herself), @bayareatendrils (Alice), and @TMTenterprises (Matt)

Because Annie's Annuals tweets, has a Facebook page, and is on Flickr, they knew we were coming and had some goodies ready for us, thanks to @patfitzgerald and Pacific Plug & Liner.

The coolest thing is that we got a behind the scenes tour of their propagation and new planting areas and got to meet Anni Jensen and Claire Woods. It was like being in the presence of royalty.

I'll be honest. I only bought one plant while we were there. A Ceanothus 'Tuxedo' - a black variety of Ceanothus! I planted it in the back corner of my lot that I have stuggled with for a couple years because it's barren. It's supposed to get 8' x 8' and is evergreen, so hopefully it blocks out the unwanted view of the neighbor's dining room window.

When we first moved in here 3 years ago, I had received a bunch of plants from a not-so-great mail order nursery which I proceeded to stick in the clay (you can't even call it soil) and every last plant died. That sort of shell-shocked me and I haven't really bought that many plants since then. Couple this with the outrageous sticker price of what I thought was the nearest nursery, I just didn't really buy any plants, just mainly started vegetables from seed.

Now we have a landscape plan being drawn up so I didn't want to go crazy and buy stuff that might not work. (At least, that's what I told myself). Annie's is a great resource for getting a lot of healthy plants for not a lot of money. Cheaper in person than mail order, or so I hear! The plants are very robust, albeit in mostly 4" pots. For those of you who can't make it to Richmond, or don't want to get off the freeway given Richmond's reputation (it's not THAT bad during the day) - I hear folks rave about the quality of their packaging when shipping items.

We made off with some pre-release Kniphofia (look, a Latin word on Gardenpunks!), which I potted up tonight as they were rootbound in their individual 6/9-packs.

(Don't be jealous.)

A huge thanks to Annie's for treating us like VIPs and making for a wonderful experience!

Fermented Tomatillo Salsa

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Tomatillos have personally been the most frustrating plant for me to grow. We've gotten huge plants, only to have none of the flowers fruit. We've had spindly little plants which never make it to the point of flowering. And this year we've had tiny little fruits that have been practically useless.

So imagine my surprise when I actually had enough tomatillos to make something!

One of the areas I've always seemed to have problems with is pollination. I've heard that multiple plants are necessary, otherwise pollination will not occur. To that end, we had three plants this year, in the hopes that we would definitely get some pollination. Well, two of those were pulled out over a month ago, and we're now getting more tomatillos than ever. I don't pretend to know why, but I'm not complaining about it one bit.

On to the recipe!

The original idea with this salsa was to use all green and yellow ingredients, which promptly fell apart when I realized I was chopping up a red onion. the contrasting colors ended up looking nice, and it is still up in the air how I would make this again.

Ingredients -

1-lb Tomatillos (roasted)
0.5lbs Tomatoes (roasted) You can use your choice of unripened red, ripe green or ripe yellow. I used a mixture of these.
6-7 Jalapenos (roasted)
1 fermented jalapeno with fermenting juice
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 Habanero
salt/pepper

I halved the fruit for roasting, and roasted in a 500F oven for ~10 minutes.

Everything was processed in a food processor, and then moved to a 1-qt jar for storage. Much like my previous salsa, I will allow this to ferment for a few days, and then refrigerate.

Fermented Salsa

noreply@blogger.com (Chris) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:05:00 +0000

Now that October has arrived we are finally getting our first decent crop of tomatoes. Trust me, it makes no sense to me either, but I'm finally getting to make tomato-based recipes with our own produce.

I originally planned on making a fermented ketchup today, but my lack of a food mill made me go for this easier fermented salsa. Thankfully I also have plenty of jalapenos and habaneros.

Ingredients -

Whatever tomatoes you have that are ripe (I used a combination of Abraham Lincoln, San Marzano and Gardener's Delight)
Jalapenos (combination of red and green)
2 fermented jalapenos and their juice
1 Habanero
1-2 small onions (I prefer using at least one small red onion)
2-3 cloves Garlic
Salt/Pepper
2-3 Mexican limes

Everything was combined in batches using a food processor, then transferred to jars for fermenting/storage. Amounts in the recipe are fairly vague, partially because it shoudl be made to taste, but mostly because I didn't pay attention. :(

The already fermented jalapenos should help the lacto get a quick hold and add that wonderful tang that comes with it. I'm going to allow this to sit for 2-3 days at room temp, and then test to see if it is ready. Once it is ready it will go to the fridge for longer storage.

Fall Garden Chores Puttering

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Last night I was moving around our oscillating sprinkler in the front yard watering what little grass we have left when it struck me.

I walked out onto the grass into the moonlight, leaves crunching underfoot, the smell of smoke in the air. Woodsmoke? Grass fire? I dunno. But whatever it was, I knew it. Fall is here. She visited recently, but has now made her presence known.

In true Fall style, today we took out the popcorn stalks.

You may recall, they looked like this (only more dead now):

Haul

Chris shucking the popcorn ears

After shucking

Because this raised bed has been home to tomatoes, garlic, and then corn in the last 12 months, I think it needs needs a season off. So we busted out the cover crops: fava beans and clover.

After sprinkling a little powdered kelp on the soil to feed the critters (aside: does anyone else love the smell of kelp? ahhhh), I spread clover seed and pushed a zillion fava beans into the soil. Hopefully the raccoons don't steal all the fava beans like they did last year. There seems to be nothing more attractive to a raccoon than freshly planted beds. Thankfully, my ghetto raccoon proofing has helped this summer.

I've been looking forward to taking out the corn stalks to use as Fall decorations.

Related: I will never have a garden without growing 'Hopi Red Dye' Amaranth ever again.

After messing with the corn stalks and Amaranth cuttings, this is now my front porch. I love it.

October is my favorite month. ♥

Follow up on the Nonsense

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:47:00 +0000

Thanks to all of you who commented on yesterday's post.

My friend Farmer Fred sent me a link about this ongoing issue today, a blogger at the Baltimore Sun wrote:

Gardening with Gen Y...or Not?

I was perturbed by the sweeping generalizations once again being made, this time by traditional media - what gets me is the "hype" blog author Susan Reimer refers to regarding Gen Y:

AND I QUOTE

They aren't interested in gardening and outdoor life.
They are too busy playing video games and hanging out together.
And they lack the work ethic you need to sustain a garden.

Get a life.

BUT what I adore is the comments left on the post. Brilliant!

We're here. We're paying attention. And we're more organized than we seem.

Let's go there. Yes. Again.

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:13:00 +0000

Deja vu.

I started this blog in 2006 because I felt like the only 20-something gardener on Earth. Since this blog's inception, I've met more people than I can shake a stick at all due to my online activities. They're a wide variety of diverse folks, in race, age, and geography. I've even found people *gasp* like myself. More than I ever realized were out there.

I realize that it's easy for people to generalize and put people in boxes. Black, white, old, young, man, woman, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative. But I wonder if people do it just because it makes them less uncomfortable about themselves if they can categorize other people. As if you know who you really are ONLY if you can clearly define what you are NOT.

I don't know about you, but people continually prove stereotypes wrong.
Maybe I AM an outlier.

I'm 28 years old.
I've owned two homes.
I own my current home.
I live in the suburbs.
I've been married 5 years (almost 6).
I'm on half of a DINK couple.
I love gardening.
I've gardened my whole life.

These are my favorite jeans.

I have heard more nonsense about "people my age" recently that I think is misguided. Really? Are all 20-something clubbing crazies? Why do you say only 30-somethings are new homeowners? I had just turned 22 when we bought our first house. Oh my god I could go on and on about the crap I've heard lately.

It's like I could say that all women gardeners over a certain age ONLY like roses. THERE. I SAID IT.

Peeps, let's stop with the categorization of age groups and the rampant AGEISM in gardening. Gen Y is not "lost" or "undiscovered" - there are those of us that have been there all along. Me. Fern at Life On the Balcony. Adriana of Anarchy in the Garden. Gayla at You Grow Girl. We know exactly where we're at. And we need your sage wisdom and gardening advice without being put into a box.

If it's that important to you, let's call me a punk.

EDIT by Chris -
I think this video is appropriate.

EDIT by Katie -
Yes, I do think it's ironic that Chris posted a video of a cartoon.

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I don’t usually stir the shit for the sake of stirring/driving traffic like certain other blogs. This is not about readership to me; I’m often surprised that anyone cares at all. I feel very strongly about this issue, and it definitely came through loud and clear. I appreciate everyone that chimed in and joined the conversation. ♥

Book Review, 2 for 1

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:23:00 +0000

After twittering back and forth a few months back, Timber Press (@timberpress) kindly sent me A Pattern Garden: The Essential Elements of Making a Garden by Valerie Easton to review. I specifically requested this book because I've been blogging about redoing our goshdarn landscape since 2006 and finally feel like we're getting closer to actually doing it. I figured a book about the 7 essential patterns (or elements) a garden should have would be perfect.

I enjoyed Easton's casual writing style because I didn't get the feeling that she was a pretentious gardener, even if the book sort of looked like it. The book was gorgeous and well-appointed. Really my only real complaint with it is that some of the pictures that were trying to illustrate the elements she wrote about were blurry, grainy, or even pixelated, which I thought detracted from the book as a whole.

The other thing A Pattern Garden showed me as a gardener is that doing the landscape myself would leave me wholly over my head. I had no idea how to expertly incporate elements like repetition, water, garden rooms, etc. into my landscape. I was lost.

So we hired a landscape designer who last weekend came and made a scale drawing of our lot (whoa, cool!) and in a few weeks will present a working plan to give us somewhere to begin. Because I thought Easton's book was great but just a little imtimidating and over my head, I passed it along to our landscape designer who might be able to use it and appreciate it more than I did.

I arrived home yesterday to find another book from Timber Press in the mail (thank you!): Valerie Easton's new book The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden, to be released in mid-October. I was a little nervous - another book over my head? I flipped through it quickly and saw one of my idols profiled: Rosalind Creasy. Now any book that profiles Ros gets my attention (I get the pleasure of getting to see her present next month in Sacramento). I began reading and was sucked in - instantly hooked. I stayed up late to read it, and finished it this morning.

IT IS THAT GOOD.

Basically it boils down to this: Easton had a large garden stuffed with every plant a gardener could imagine. Gardening was no longer a luxury or pleasurable past time - it became a chore and time vortex. When her family moved to another home with a smaller lot and blank landscape, she was inspired to create a low-maintenance and exquisitely wonderful yet entertaining garden.

She spends part of the book profiling her garden as well as the gardens of other enlightened individuals who have created low-maintenance gardens that suit them: some all green, some flowers, some fruit, some vegetables. The key thing I picked up from the book is the beauty of the edit: less plant varieites = more beauty and repetition that beings a garden together, but less maintenance. For some gardeners, this may be old news. For me, this book was an epiphany. I don't need to have a nursery in my own garden to enjoy some of the wonderful plants and flowers I see elsewhere. I can enjoy them vicariously, but edit my space to include those plants we really love.

This combined with all of the other interesting tidbits in the book leave me smitten with The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden. I don't think I could have received this book at a better time. As we go head-long into our upcoming landscaping projects, this book will be in my mind as we embrace the beauty that is the edit.

Book Review: The Perennial Care Manual

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:47:00 +0000

After I posted a rave review of Fallscaping by Nan Ondra, Storey Publishing kindly offered to send me a copy of Nan’s new book: The Perennial Care Manual: A Plant by Plant Guide, What to Do and When to Do It. I didn’t think a book could out-do Fallscaping in the richness of the pictures and the depth of the information, but Perennial Care Manual managed to do both.

I found myself sitting down with the book trying to read it end to end but ended up being seduced by the pictures. I flipped through the book just to look at them and drool! I am all about high quality pictures in a gardening book, and The Perennial Care Manual certainly didn’t disappoint. This book is huge also – I couldn’t believe the large package that arrived on my door after I had forgotten they were sending it to me! This is a book?? WOW.

It’s full of good information split into 2 sections:

Perennial Care Basics

The clear-cut detail on how to take cuttings or divisions is some of the best I’ve read. I’m beginning to suffer from the “I’ve read this a thousand times before” as I read more and more gardening books that have the same information… but Nan’s book was different. I felt like I learned a lot from the book and it even kept my attention through some of the tedium that can be, “What kind of soil do you have?” I was hooked and read every word.

Plant-by-Plant Perennial Guide

While many gardening books list plants and cultural information, Nan’s book wasn’t like other books and did a great job of giving good seasonal information about perennial maintenance for many of the most popular perennials. It wasn’t dry.

I really enjoy Nan’s writing style – it is conversational and without a hint of elitism or stuffiness that some garden books sometimes have. The book was personable - pictures of Nan humbly cutting back grasses, digging transplants, cutting sod. I think I also really enjoy her gardening style – big bright colors, contrasting colors and textures, and large swaths of plantings. When I showed some of them to Chris he responded, “Eh, not my style.” It never occurred to me that Nan had a particular style. I know there are those that hate orange or pink flowers, or can’t have a particular color in their garden – to each their own. I like the big in-your-face colors of Nan’s book (just look at the cover!) and the plants chronicled.

If you’re interested, I would encourage you to visit Amazon because you can flip through some of the pages of the book there and see for yourself what I’m raving about.

I love to read this book while lying in bed before I go to sleep. It gives me sweet dreams about the gardens I cannot wait to create! I think I officially have a new favorite author, and book!

Green Gardener Training Program presented by RWA

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Live in the Sacramento area?

The Regional Water Authority (RWA) is hosting a workshop series for those interested in river-friendly landscaping. These are the same people that brought us the FABULOUS River-friendly landscaping guide (5.4MB PDF), which I adore. (Don’t be put off by the “landscape professional” term. Anyone is invited to participate. They’re shooting for a class of 30-40, so space is limited!)

Per an email I received:

The Regional Water Authority (RWA) is pleased to announce the River-Friendly Landscaping, Green Gardener Training Program.

The Green Gardener Training Program is a 10-week series providing high quality training to professionals on how to “garden green.” Attendees will learn landscape principles that can assist in reducing urban runoff, conserving water, and reducing solid waste, including:

Conserving water, protecting the soil and reducing the use of pesticides. Many classes will include both indoor and outdoor hands-on components.
Creating a healthier garden for your client and a healthier work environment for yourself and your employees.
Offering a list of River-Friendly Landscaping Principles, helping you compete in the professional industry.

Landscape maintenance staff and landscape contractors are the program’s primary audience, but classes are open to any landscape professional interested in green gardening practices.

Class starts on September 30 at 6:30 pm at the McMillan Center, 8020 Temple Park Road, in Fair Oaks, CA 95628. The cost is $45 for 10 consecutive-week sessions.

Information, class details and registration forms can be found attached and on the Regional Water Authority Web site at www.rwah2o.org.

I already sent in my $45 check and will be attending. The link to the PDF document is right on the main page of www.rwah2o.org. I spoke with someone who attended this series last year and they very much enjoyed it and heard it was similar to the Master Gardener training (which has been ~~cancelled~~ postponed in 2010 in Sacramento County).

I hope you’ll join me!

Ohai fizzy

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Ohai fizzy, originally uploaded by gardenpunk.

Lately Chris has been hooked on this blog, FoodRenegade.com. Like eating weird things and not being much help when all I want to eat is pancakes.

I've been feeling really crappy the last few months, as evidenced by this picture in Chris' tweet yesterday. And previous posts.

He's been preaching to me about the way I eat, and I haven't really listened much.

He's had this bottle of Kombucha in the fridge for a few days, and because I was "in ur frige stealin ur kombooka", I decided to try it.

Fizzy dancing flavors in my mouth! It's not so bad!

Maybe there is something to this eating better stuff.

(And I broke my own rule about camera phone pictures to show it to you. Click on the picture to see the notes I've put to explain my crazy kitchen shot).

Fall's Secret

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

The other day I was watering my raised garden beds in the 100 degree heat when something orange caught my eye. And it wasn't a flower.

Fall had been here and left me a small token to let me know she'd be back.

And water fell from the sky

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Saturday 9/12/09

6:55am

Me: Sleeping really deeply. But something wakes me up.

Mother Nature: Kabooom! Crackle! Snap!

Me: Rubs my eyes sleepily thinking a neighbor was rolling up their garbage can. Sit up, see that the patio is wet. "No way."

Hop out of bed just in time to see a flash of lightning. "Squuuuueeeeeeeee!"

This morning has been a nice treat for a NorCal'er like myself. We don't really get any rain from May - October, so when it falls from the sky during these months I tend to get beside myself with squuuuueeeee.

7 things

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:34:00 +0000

7 random things about me. Thanks to Laura for the tag:

My dirty little secret is that I love gardening vegetables, but am not really a fan of eating them. But I like brussel sprouts. Go figure.

Related: I'm a picky eater. I only had carrot cake for the first time 3 years ago. And I hated cinnamon FOREVER. I'm getting over being picky. Or trying. Marrying a dude that is a great cook bordering on chef definitely helps. But I still dislike curry.

But I'm an equal opportunity drinker!

I don't wear makeup except for special occasions. Haven't since high school. I went to an all-girls high school and never understood why people wore makeup. Um, hello? That hot 23 year old math teacher is gay and has no interest in you. Anyways. I always like to get cleaned up now and again to remind myself that I've still got it. Black eyeliner looks hot when you don't wear it everyday.

Got married in a black dress. And we eloped. (And I wore makeup). I got married when I was 22 and have known my husband for 10 years. I'm only 28.

My favorite quote is from my dad. He once said that everyone has problems - and if we all put our problems in a little paper sack, and put our sacks in the middle of a room where everyone could go through other people's problems, we'd be looking for our own sack pretty quickly. I remind myself of this whenever I feel down or like things suck - someone always has it worse than I do.

My day job is doing data analysis for an energy firm in California.

My dog weighs more than I do. He was 80 pounds when we adopted him and was told he was a German Shepherd/Husky mix. Um, let's try that again. He gained weight, grew bigger, and now we think he's German Sheperd/Great Dane mix. We love him just the same. Best dog ever.

Tag 7 people? I'm so terrible at that.

Cucumbers Out

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I tore out the cucumbers today. Mark that 9/02/09 in the garden journal.

I "found" some coneflowers under where the cuc's were propped up. Huge clump too!

'Hopi Red Dye' Amaranth is so beautiful. Thanks to Nan Ondra for introducing me to this beautiful plant! Fiery orange tithonia in the background.

I disturbed a hummingbird feeding on the tithonia. Sorry dude!

My Proven Winners Supertunia from Chicago Spring Fling is still blooming like mad. It's right outside my back door and I smile whenever I go out back - In an instant I remember what fun we had meeting all of our online friends ::warm fuzzy::

Missing You

noreply@blogger.com (Katie) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:38:00 +0000

Soundtrack for this post:
This Ain't A Love Song, Bon Jovi

You and I had something strong, there's no denying it.
I was instantly attracted:

Your curves

your strong lines

your chiseled features.

I know how to push your buttons

and you know how to push mine.

(Ladybug shot taken by Chris)

Oh alpha, how I've missed you.

Let's never take a break ever again.