Mother's Day- Flower Pot Tower.

How about this Mothers Day gift? I have lots of unused clay pots, so I went to the hardware store to get a PVC pipe small enough to pass through the holes in the pots. When I got there I realized that the PVC was too bendy and wouldn’t hold the pots. So I decided to buy a piece of rebar. I bought the longest piece that they had which was 4 feet.
I chose a spot for my project and placed the rebar 1 foot deep into the soil. Now I loaded my largest pot with a red Geranium and purple Petunia making sure to use good potting soil, Espoma Plant Tone, and Soil Moist. Then I lowered the pot carefully onto the rebar through the drainage hole on the bottom of the pot and leaning the pot to one side. I rearranged the plants slightly to account for the rebar joining the group.

Next I took a smaller pot and put a red Petunia in the pot and planted it like before, only I tilted the pot in the opposite direction. I took the same size pot and filled it with a purple African Daisy tilting this one in the opposite direction of the last. Lastly I topped it all off with the smallest pot filled with white Impatiens and tilting the pot toward the opposite from the last.
It makes for an unusual and decorative potting alternative for Mothers Day or any day.

Here's another great idea for Mothers Day. How about a Mortar and Pestle set? Complete with basil plant, pine nuts and a recipe card for Pesto.

Here is a basic Pesto recipe.

3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
squeeze of lemon

Smash the garlic and salt using the pestle and mortar set. Chop the basil and parsley and add to the bowl. Start smashing again until smooth. Add the oil a little at a time grinding the oil into your basil paste until well incorporated. Then comes the cheese and lastly the nuts and lemon.

You can use walnuts instead of pine nuts but make sure they are coarsely chopped before you add them. You don’t have to add lemon if you don’t want to.

Use the pesto within two days or freeze it for later use. You can put it on crusty bread, chicken, pasta, potatoes, corn or as a dressing for a tomato and avocado salad. Some people like it on steak or fish.

So Happy Mothers Day to all who work so hard to make your children good honest citizens. The memories of you and all those little things that made their lives happier and healthier will always be remembered. God Bless Moms!

Gardening from the Heart- A Little Family History

I grew up in a family of nine. We were raised in the house my Dad built from a book that was handed to him after WWII. It was titled “Build your dream home for $10,000 or less.” So he did. It had three bedrooms and one bathroom. There wasn’t much money so Mom and Dad grew a garden. I remember we had corn and green beans, carrots and brussels sprouts, egg plant, squash and zucchini. I’m sure we had more than that but that’s all I remember. We had grape vines, strawberries and rhubarb. They planted apple trees, pear, plum, peach and mulberries. Dad even had an orange tree that he would drag in and out of the basement door depending on the weather. We raised chickens, turkeys and rabbits. There were wild blueberries, raspberries and muscadines off our rural street. Dad even made wine out of the dandelions that grew in the field across the drive from our house. So here is where my love for gardening grew. It gives me comfort in a way. It’s quite and peaceful. Almost like a type of meditation.

Gardening a great avenue for you if you are troubled and worried, or just plan exhausted. It can give you relief from all of that -- if only for a moment, or an hour, or a day.

Smith Gilbert Gardens

I went to Smith Gilbert Gardens today with a Garden Club. This property has a Conifer Garden (which I thought was really beautiful) a Japanese Maple Grove, Camellia Garden, Rock Garden, Vegetable Garden, Bonsai Garden and a Rose Garden. I took a couple of photos to show you around.

An old Mulberry Tree

This Viburnum 'Chesapeake was planted 27 years ago.

Solomon's Seal is a wonderful shade plant and produces flowers and berries.

Here is a Vertical Garden

Rose Garden

This garden is just 8 miles from my house and I never knew it was there. It's from places like this where you can get inspiration for your own home projects.

What is that Goo on my Peaches!

My peaches are coming out and I noticed a clear goo and brown spots on the fruit. I had to find out what was going on. The goo is pectin and the cause of the problem is the oriental fruit moth. They lay their eggs at night and the insects burrow their way into the fruit killing it from the inside out.

I’ll have to start spraying with Imidan or Permethrin immediately. The brown spots are only on the fruit and not the leaves so that is probably scab. The fungus overwinters in the tree and will come back year after year. I’ll need to spray with Kocide to get rid of that. Now I have been spraying the trees with a compound that contains Pyrethrins and Canola Oil and another that uses Pyrethrins and Sulfur but that obviously didn’t do the trick. I bagged all the fruit that I saw with ooze and brown spots and will hope for the best with the rest. I didn’t prune this year which would have helped because it got so warm so fast I didn’t get a chance to - so the branches are dense and the air flow is limited. I had no idea that fruit trees took so much care. My Dad had beautiful fruit trees and we had tons of fruit each year. I guess I should have paid closer attention to what he sprayed on the trees. I’m learning.

I do have some good news. The lettuce I planted is doing great and is just enough for the two of us. You don’t have to plant rows and rows of anything! Just plant what you need or want to give away. It’s fun and it’s okay to start small.

This Old Tree

This Old Tree is leaning to the right and has the potential to get blown over by a strong wind and take not only our garage out but the fence that sits behind that. So our arboriculturist has suggested that we take the tree down. It’s an old tree and so the decision was difficult but we thought it was best. Here are some pictures from the day so you can see just how much work it takes to disassemble a tree this size.

Lastly -grinding the tree stump. You really need to do this after you take a tree down because the stumps attract bees, ants, and termites. Once it’s ground up you put it into a bin and add some 10-10-10- and some lime and give it a year. You will get the best soil you’ve ever put into your garden. One tree is gone but the benefits will carry on.