Where Margaritas Meet Container Gardening
I am not much of a cook - but I make a mean margarita. A few weeks ago, when friends came over for dinner, we did some serious kitchen alchemy and invented this variation. We took the last of the lemon verbena from my herb container gardens, which were seriously limping along in the cold, and made a lemon verbena margarita.
The lemon verbena adds just a little something special to an already fabulous drink. Be cautious though, these drinks really pack a punch.
Not a Container Gardening Picture
Wordless Wednesday Container Garden Pictures
Fall in Maine
Photo © Kerry Michaels
Hopes for Indoor Container Garden Triumph
As some of you may already know, I am a houseplant disaster. My family has named my front hall the death zone, and all plants that enter there are in serious peril. This fall, I brought several large container gardens inside with mixed plantings. To be honest, already there have been a few casualties. I didn't think my astilbe would survive the winter, but it's only been a few weeks and it is already looking decidedly un-well.
However, I want to share with you a little glimmer of hope that my houseplant serial killing days may be over (ok, I see my children rolling their eyes and saying, "in your dreams, Mom").
But anyhow, I would like to report that the fuchsia that I re-potted and brought inside is about to flower! I am filled with excitement (and gratitude to this intrepid plant) and hope that I don't do the poor thing in before the blossoms unfurl.
I guess I had better check in with my friend and Guide to Houseplants, Jon VanZile for some advice. Fortunately, he is wise and extremely patient, and doesn't hold the fact that I seem to be houseplant challenged against me.
Container Gardening Couture
I have an Imelda Marcos sized love of shoes and I have seen a lot of them planted up with all manner of greenery. But none are as cool as shoes made by Italian artist, Carmel Walsh, who has really taken the planting of shoes and made it into an art form. No throwing some succulents in a pair of old galoshes for her - Carmel's are strictly couture.
For more views of Carmel Walsh's fabulous container garden footwear.
Pumpkin Container Garden
Wordless Wednesday Container Garden Pictures
Golden Sage Haired Pumpkin
Photo © Kerry Michaels
There is still time to make a pumpkin planter for Halloween. They make great table decorations, or they look great if you group a family of them together using different plants for hair.
Spooky Container Gardens
Pumpkin Graveyard Container Garden
Photo © Kailey Yu
This weekend I went to a pumpkin party. It was amazing what people did with simple tools to create some fun and funky pumpkin masterpieces.
Kailay Yu, a California artist, specializes in lovely miniature gardens and is owner of smallweeds. For Halloween she has made this cool pumpkin graveyard. For step by step instructions on how to make a pumpkin graveyard garden, check out her website.
Container Gardening Head Scratcher
Ok, so I'm sitting here scratching my head after reading an article in Science Daily on a study that says that plants recognize their siblings. The thing that has my mind in a knot, is that apparently, plants also behave differently when they are planted next to their kin than when they are planted next to strangers....
According to the article, "Strangers planted next to each other are often shorter, ...because so much of their energy is directed at root growth."
Because siblings aren't competing against each other, their roots are often much shallower.
In this article, the researchers also "noticed that as sibling plants grow next to each other, their leaves often will touch and intertwine compared to strangers that grow rigidly upright and avoid touching."
I'm not quite sure what the implications of this study, led by Harsh Bais of the University of Delaware, but perhaps it time to brush up on my plant propagation skills, because it certainly seems like siblings sharing a pot would grow happily together. I guess this is one area in which plants' behavior differs from my childrens'.
Elephant Ear - Great Container Plant
Wordless Wednesday Container Garden Pictures
Elephant Ears
Photo © Kerry Michaels
Garlic in Container Gardens
Yeehhhaaawww! A giant cloud of guilt has lifted. I finally planted the garlic that has been sitting around, seemingly humming in a kind of bored way, waiting to be planted. My mother and kids had bought two bags of organic cloves for me as a gift. For several weeks they sat in their paper sacks, surrounded by a force field of guilt. Would I actually plant them - or get lazy and turn them into garlic bread?
Anyhow, I finally found time and energy to plant them. I planted the garlic in the large Smart Pots, that had held my potatoes, just weeks before. I took full cloves and I broke them up, choosing the fattest segments and planting them, pointed end skyward, approximately two inches beneath a mixture of soil and compost.
I have to tell you that I'm even more excited by the garlic scapes (the beautiful, twirly-whirly green shoots that emerge in the spring) than the actual potential garlic. Pesto made from garlic scapes is one of the best things I have ever eaten.
Container Gardening and Blog Action Day
Million Bells in Old Wash Tub
Photo © Kerry Michaels
October 15 is the annual "Blog Action Day," where bloggers around the world unite and post about the same issue. This year the topic is climate change.
It has gotten me thinking about small things container gardeners can do to lower their environmental impact.
- Garden organically
- Reuse or recycle your plastic nursery pots - even better, try to buy plants in biodegradable pots
- Make containers out of things you would otherwise throw out
- Buy drink-safe hoses (I don't know if this has anything to do with climate change but it just makes environmental sense)
- Don't use water crystals
- Use a rain barrel
- Don't send spent plants to the dump, compost them (and anything else you possibly can)
- Rehabilitate and re-use or compost your old potting soil
Please add to this list. It's just a start and I would love to get other ideas in the comments below.