How to pot plants- Birthday idea

I potted an herb garden for my friend's birthday. Once I chose the pot I wanted to use, the first thing I did was put an opened coffee filter into the bottom. This prevents soil from leaking out of the bottom of the pot but allows the water (much like the water in a coffee maker) to get through.



Next ~ I saved the packing peanuts from various boxes I received in the mail and filled the bottom of the pot with them. This creates excellent drainage and reuses something that most people throw away.



Now for some good quality soil and some Soil Moist which reduces the need to water by up to 50%. This is great for people who work out of town or like to go on short trips. This way she won’t have to worry about coming home to dried out plants.



I always, always use Espoma products whenever possible. I added some organic Garden Tone which will continually feed the plants. Did I mention that I love Espoma products?



So here we have it, a green pepper plant, Oregano, Dill, Chives and Basil. I’m saving the little plastic pots to use for indoor sowing later on.

Next I wrapped a ribbon around it, put it on a dolly and trucked it over to Tanya’s house. Happy Birthday Tanya!

Gazpacho Gift

After watching Carla Hall from "The Chew" present dips (Hummus, Blue Cheese and Goat Cheese dip) with crudités in clean clay pots (just like they were growing out of the containers) it gave me a great idea for the perfect gift.

I love gazpacho and I know many other people do too. What if I filled a pot with some of the major ingredients that you’ll need to make a fresh gazpacho and include the recipe! I found the most awesome pot to put all these yummy fresh plants into and I included my own gazpacho recipe. This will make the perfect birthday gift or housewarming or anniversary present!

Container gardening needs a great soil, (I like Espoma Organic Potting Mix) and moister pellets for when you can’t water. Containers get dryer faster so it’s important to make sure you have something like Soil Moist to insure that they don’t dry out and hurt the plant. Plus a good fertilizer- everyone knows how much I like Espoma Gro-tone™. It’s a fish based product that works like a charm. Just follow the label directions.

I’m planting a tomato, pepper, cucumber and parsley plant. I will include a recipe for my favorite gazpacho soup. Tie a ribbon around the whole thing and you’ve got the perfect summer time gift.

Gazpacho:
Two seeded tomatoes, cucumber and pepper chopped
Chopped celery, carrot, onion and bunch of parsley
2 chopped garlic cloves and a bunch of arugula chopped.
1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper
Splash of olive oil and worcestershire sauce.
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cups tomato juice
Combine the ingredients together - cover and refrigerate
*You can use any color pepper you’d like
*You don’t have to seed the tomato if you don’t want to
*Use scallions, red onion or sweet onions
*Use balsamic, red or white wine vinegar
*Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight
*If you don’t like an ingredient - don’t use it

Favorite Gardening Tools

Here are some of my favorite gardening tools. First is potting soil. Love the organic potting soil from Espoma. Not only is it great stuff but it has a zip lock bag so you can store it without fear of spilling and it keeps creepy crawlies out. Plus it is enhanced with Mycorrhizae which is a water saving formula. This is extremely important during the dry season.

photo credit: CK Worley

I also like their Gro-Tone. It’s Espoma’s organic liquid plant food. Really easy to use and the plants like it a lot. Espoma has some really cute and informative short videos on planting. You should check out their web site and take a quick look.

photo credit: CK Worley

My next favorite is the Soil Moist mats. I used these when I pot plants. Especially great for hanging baskets. As you know from my past blogs, Soil Moist acts as a water reservoir for your plants. This is especially important during a drought. It will store over 200 times its weight in water and releases it slowly to the plant when it needs it.

photo credit: CK Worley

Soil Moist spikes are great for potted plants. It has all the benefits of Soil Moist crystals and it continuously feeds the plant as well. These are good if you already have potted plants that just need an extra pick me up.

photo credit: CK Worley

Now, here is the thing. If you are one of the first three people to tell me where I first mentioned Holly Tone in my blog you will win a free sample of Holly Tone! You have to be one of the first three.

photo credit: CK Worley

So go out and plant and have some fun right now. You will be rewarded in the spring!

OH NO! Yellow spots on my Apple Tree leaves!

One of my apple trees has developed yellow spots on its leaves. It’s called Apple Scab, Black Spot or Cedar Rust.

photo credit: CK Worley

This will cause brown scabs on the fruit as well; and while it won’t kill the tree, it will weaken it. I did some research and found that a fungicide spray is needed to control the infection from spreading not only to other leaves but also to nearby fruit trees, as the fungus’ spores travel with the wind.

photo credit: CK Worley

I had insect spray but not fungicide, so I planned to go to the garden store. But then yesterday I was thrilled to receive a package in the mail: it was from a company called Espoma, which is the Mama company of Holly Tone. (I talk about Holly Tone all the time in my blogs and videos for use on all of my evergreen plants.)

photo credit: CK Worley

And what to my wondering eyes should appear? A product called Earth-Tone Garden Fungicide for organic gardening. And it will cure what ails my apple tree! First I went out and pulled all the yellow-spotted leaves off my tree (an easy task because I just planted it this year and it’s small).

photo credit: CK Worley

If your tree is too large for that, the leaves will fall off and you’ll need to rake as much as you can up. I raked up all the mulch around the tree and threw that away just to be safe. (Don’t compost this--get rid of it.)

photo credit: CK Worley

I put fresh mulch around the tree and, lastly, sprayed it with Earth-tone Garden Fungicide. I’ll spray every 7-10 days or after it rains, then I’ll start spraying this again next spring as soon as the green tips on the buds start to appear. Good save Espoma! Thanks :D

photo credit: CK Worley

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