Willow Tree Angel: With Affection I adore the Willow Tree collection and own several, and this sweet angel holding a cat is on my wishlist this year.

This adorable Chester the Cat Teapot (with matching mug and salt and pepper shakers) makes me wish I drank tea!

I love calendars and for reasons I’m not even sure of, I tend to have several throughout the year. This 2010 calendar features “Bad Cats” in humorous situations.

Learn about the traditions and history of the Lucky Cat, a popular symbol of prosperity and good fortune across Asia and the world, in a hardcover book. Then check out the Lucky Cat figurines.

This Amazon seller has dozens of resin ornaments and figurines, perfect for any collector. Of course, I especially like the Chihuahua and rat terrier ornaments!

Show everyone who your best friend is with this adorable Dog Lover coffee mug.

I love these dog paw car stickers! The set of eight stickers costs less than $4 (including shipping!) and attaches cleanly to any smooth, hard surface.

Of course, we can’t forget the dogs when it comes time to look for a 2010 calendar. This one, like the cat calendar above, also features silly dogs in compromising situations!

[images: amazon.com; custom]

Post from: Blisstree

2009 Gift Guide for the Cat and Dog Lover

Technically a big ol’ concrete leaf, one you can make yourself with a full and great tutorial! How cool is this project!?

Find out how to make re-purposed pots more antique and cool looking by growing moss on them.

A very nice DIY garden projects you can do for under $10 – adorable little natural plant markers.

Amazing Buddha shaped pears! I was amazed anyhow.

If you’re feeling uninspired lately, this beautiful collage of garden photos should perk you right up.

I’m loving these write and erase plant tags. Hip and reusable.

With winter almost here you may want to consider some winter greenhouse gardening.

And in keeping with the season growing your own Thanksgiving dishes – some nice fresh recipes from the garden for Thanksgiving.

[concrete leaf image via concrete garden leaves]

Post from: Blisstree

Great Garden Links Galore

2010 Wildflowers Plantable Calendar – Coil bound 2010 plantable eco calendar made with 100% post consumer waste and embedded with wildflower seeds. Comes with an eco-friendly stand made from 100% recycled cardstock. Once a month passes by you can plant the handmade paper page and wait for wildflowers like Bird’s Eye, Clarkia, Coreopsis, Poppy, Catchfly and Snap Dragon to grow.

There is also a cool tin encased version of this calendar that includes 5 x 5 inch handmade plantable paper designer’s edition monthly desk 2010 calendar pages in a sweet little tin. Page designs of both calendars shown below…

Visit Olive Barn to learn more.

Post from: Blisstree

This year plant your 2010 calendar!

To help stop invasive plants in your area do the following:

• Contact your local extension or a local plant nursery for a booklet or list of common invasive plants in your area.You really need a list because some may surprise you – for example, here in parts of Oregon some lilac bushes are considered invasive, which I’d never have thought.
• Select non-invasive plants for your garden.
• Support local nurseries who sell local, non-invasive plants.
• Be careful when trading or accepting free plants from fellow gardeners. If you suspect they may be handing out invasive plants (as a mistake) let them know.
• Do not compost invasive plants as many can flourish in your compost. Instead bag them and put them in the trash – which sucks yeah, but you don’t want them coming back next year.
• Dead head invasive plants when you find them.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Stopping invasive plants in your area

My tomatoes were a bit of a disappointment this year. I had 18 different varieties, some did well, but most did not. I think it’s because our summer was cool, and it never did get very warm.

The peppers on the other hand were in overdrive!  I’ve given quite a few away, and frozen several bags of both hot and sweet peppers. I picked a couple eggplants that were left, but I left some in the garden since I know I won’t eat them. I like eggplant, but not that often. I might make some eggplant Parmesan and come back to share the recipe.

I planted a couple plants of watermelon this Spring. I’ve never had much luck growing watermelon, but these have grown great. Their a small variety, and they’re supposed to be super sweet.

There are still some root vegetables in the garden, and some cabbage, I don’t think the frost will hurt them, but I’ll probably need to pick them soon.

Post from: Blisstree

The Last Garden Harvest?

1. Save your old seeds (check to see if they still work).
2. Compost for homemade soil – even if your yard is small you can compost. In fact, you can compost indoors if you want.
3. Don’t buy new – garden tools, gardening books, pots, and so on. Most gardening supplies can be easily found at thrift stores. You can also borrow from or share garden tools with friends. It’s also super easy to check out books about gardening from the library.
4. Try some easy DIY landscaping instead of paying someone to do it for you.
5. Always use reusable items and recyclables such as egg cartons for starting seeds or reuse the plastic seed pots you used last year (clean well to avoid disease). You can also make your own growing pots with recycled materials.
6. Be water aware. Build a rain barrel, water at night, only give plants the actual water they need, and so on. Using less water can save you big time.
7. Make homemade weed killer -Mix one ounce orange oil and 1 teaspoon liquid soap with 1 gallon of 10% white vinegar. Shake it up and use it to spot treat weeds.
8. Use the least evasive pest control methods first, which are often much cheaper than advanced pest control supplies.
9. Buy seeds locally from the farmers market or a local farm store. You can often buy just what you need vs. a whole packet. at the local farm store.
10. Swap seeds and plants with neighbors.
11. Plant a garden that will naturally thrive where you live. Plants made for your climate will thrive better with less care than exotic plants.
12. Use what you’ve got such as leaves and newspaper as mulch.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

12 ways to garden on the cheap

If you want to make a wormery with your kids, I’ll share my expert knowledge and save you time from scouring the Internet yourself. Worms like dirt. The ones near the top of the soil tend to feed off of organic material like dead grass and leaves. That organic material has tiny organisms living on them that provide worms with luscious snacks like algae, fungi and bacteria. The worms that burrow deeper in the ground live primarily off of raw dirt, feeding off the fungi and algae there. Worm poop, more affectionately known as worm casts, add wonderful nutrients to the soil which makes plants happy.

If you make wormery – a little spot to keep worm pets – be sure to add plenty of dirt and dead leaves and grass to your container. You’ll also want to add water. Worms can’t live without plenty of moisture. If their skin dries out, they’ll die … and then you’ll have to enter into that whole died-and-gone-to-heaven bit.

If you want to go all out you can make a compost pile where you can add all your dead plants and fallen leaves and vegetable trimmings from dinner. Then add a batch of worms and let them eat and make their worm casts and use the rich compost left behind to fertilize indoor and outdoor plants. We probably won’t tackle that goal just yet, but for those who want to, visit the University of Missouri Extension Service’s site for tips on how to construct one.

Photos, JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

The Many Benefits of Making a Wormery

I got all my materials ready, made sure my camera was close by, then I noticed that the boxes they sent me were clearly marked with, “Not For Food, Ornamental Use Only.”  Uh oh. Dang.

Oh well, I decided to figure something else out.  I moved some plants around and now I’ve got some flowers started in the planter boxes and my vegetables seeds are planted in deep plastic pots.

This is one of those times when I feel lucky that I run into so many roadblocks in life – it helps me to think of creative solutions.

You have to be able to adapt with gardening and container gardening in particular. Not enough sun, move the pot to a different location. Too many snails, move the pot up onto a table, clear out all the darn snails. (My method?  I pluck those suckers off the plants then throw them as far across the lawn as I can. I used to squish them. Gross. Slimy. And it freaked the kids out).

I’m doing a little experiment. Did you ever sprout a sweet potato when you were a kid?  You know, put toothpicks in the sides, hang it in a glass of water and watch it go crazy?  Well, I had a sweet potato sitting with my fruit and it was sprouting all over. Mom told me to cut the sprouted pieces and to plant them. I did and I’ll let you know how that goes, too.

I can’t wait until the day comes when I walk out on the patio and grab some fresh tomatoesoff the vine for salad. Ahh. Now that’s my idea of luxury.

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Blisstree

GroGood Project Moving Along

He held it up by its tail, as proud as if he’d caught is first fish. I gave the creature a good look. “Great, honey,” I said. “But I think he’s dead.” Rigor had already set in. (Man, I felt like Patricia Cornwell writing that sentence!) That didn’t phase my son. He shot through the backdoor, shouting, “I’m going to put him in a jar and keep him in my room!” He pried the top off of the Williams-Sonoma Caramel Apple pancake tin that I had given him to use as part of his makeshift drum set and dropped the little guy in. Then he demanded we punch holes in the top of the lid, “So that my dead lizard could breathe.” And so I did.

The excitement didn’t end there. He then insisted we call his dad, who was in the middle of his four-hour newscast. Luckily, we caught him during a commercial break and Truman rambled on the phone to my husband’s whispered responses, “Daddy, Daddy, guess what Daddy! I caught my first lizard. And it’s dead. And I put it in a jar and we put holes in the top so he could breathe!”

A few minutes later I got an e-mail picture from my husband with the caption, “I caught my first Lizard, too!” As it turned out, the folks from Walking with Dinosaurs were on Rick’s show promoting their event and someone snapped this photo. (We’re going to see the show next week. Should be awesome!) Truman was fascinated with the picture for a moment until we rationalized that Truman’s find was far more exciting because Daddy’s lizard wasn’t real and Truaman’s was, even though it was dead.

As promised, Truman saved that smelly, dead lizard until Rick got home a few hours later. Truman said he wanted to find a live lizard, but none were to be found this early in the year. (In another month there will be dozens on our doorstep.) So Rick worked out a deal that satisfied us all – he and Truman would bury the dead lizard. And so they used the trowel to dug up a spot in the garden, topped it with a stone and spread some clipped azaleas over the top. Rest in peace, little dead lizard guy.

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Lizards and Dinosaurs and Boys! Oh My!

This shot of my fate house is lovely. Here you can see that I would have a lot of gardening to do. I’d probably need to quit writing and do nothing but garden. It might be worth it.

More Alaska beauty here.

Post from: Blisstree

Green Roof Home + Alaska + Me = Fate