Category: gardening with children

Travelogue: Visiting Eden

From pit to paradise. Plants from all over the world have a home in Cornwall.

Somewhere around the year 2000, I read about a project in England that was a bit unusual. Was it a garden or was it a sci-fi movie set? This was not one of those classic English gardens of long historic reverence.  This was a dream of Tim Smit  who spearheaded the restoration of Heligan (upcoming post of a visit with the mud maiden, stay tuned). The Eden Project was a crazy concept to create a series of Biomes banked in the crevice of a giant china clay pit that scarred the beautiful Cornish countryside. His vision was to have massive greenhouses that allow people to see “…a living laboratory showing plants we depend on, seeing them as they grow in the wild together, a living demonstration…” I followed the stories of it’s building progress and read the controversy and challenges it has gone through. Satellite photos on the internet make it look like big pieces of bubble wrap tucked in the earth. It has always made me curious.
The second bucket list check mark. IMG_2943.jpgeden sign crop.jpg

This was a treat to walk out of the visitor’s center and down into the large pit and say, I can’t believe I am seeing this for real . Yep, I am pretty simple to please! Give me a garden to visit and you’d think you’d given me a million bucks.

IMG_2496The best part of the Eden Project beyond those amazing Biomes is the education and sustainability mission. All the water used to keep the huge rainforest dome bathing in humidity and to flush the toilets is collected rainwater. Energy is generated from the huge wind turbines around Cornwall. Kids and families, were everywhere, walking through this learning lab of plants both inside and out of the domes. I want an Eden here to take my grand-babies to and share in the magic of growing plants and learning about flora from all over the world.
There is much more to say about this unique project and this post could get long, but probably best to let you catch these links later and fill this post with my photos.

outside of the grounds
Gardens outside the Biomes–reclaiming this old china clay pit into a lush  garden

 

pollination garden
Learning about Pollinators
rain forest
Inside the Rainforest Biome

IMG_2596 pit to paradise

IMG_2513 veg
The veg garden surrounding the outdoor dining area
PicMonkey Collage
Inside the Mediterranean Biome

Next Travelogue: Should I know who Doc Martin is?

Un-Weedin’ the Garden

Image

Nana: “We weeded the garden today”

Alexis: “No Nana, we un-weeded the garden today.”

I stand corrected! That is exactly what we did…pulled weeds. Once again, the joy of gardening through my 5-year-old granddaughters point of view.

Now for some other thoughts on un-weeding your garden! Read “In  Defense of Weeds”,

After the click…Compost mulches and more…oh my!

Other weedy stuff:

Rocked by design, rainbow chip gravel as mulch
Natural weed and feed. Chickens love dandelions, weed your garden, feed your chickens

A little moo in your do! www.moo-doo.com/moodoo

Top dress planting beds 3 inches deep with this nourishing compost for happy soil and suppressed weeds. Sounds like good therapy to me!

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing fishy about this…just another great compost to try:

Oly Mountain fish compost 

Dig into spring!

Garden Resolutions

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I really tend to think about how I can better something… in manageable chunks. Not a one liner that sets me up for discouragement.  

For all gardeners, hope springs eternal and thinking about what we want to do in the garden feeds that hope that continually filters through the seasons to come. As we begin the new year, think more  new inspirations rather than resolutions. Inspire to learn, do and create something new in the garden. Odds are it will be much more rewarding than dieting!

 Take a Class:  In the garden, learning never stops. Take a class on a garden subject that you have always wanted to learn. Resources are bountiful in the pacific northwest. Join me for some upcoming seminars at the Tacoma Home and Garden Show the last week in January, (www.otshows.com)  January 26th, 2012 at noon: Landscaping with Herbs, Many herbs are overlooked for their texture and beauty that create fragrant hedges, mixed borders, container gardens and more. All sizes and styles of gardens come into play. Just imagine a French Provençal style garden with the purple haze of lavender or a Mediterranean garden with fragrant rosemary. Herb varieties can bring classic style and take the center stage in many designs.  January 27th, 2012 at noon: Garden Design DIY, A beginners guide and creative approach to designing a garden. Practical tips to get the process going successfully. Don’t just create a landscape; plant a garden with texture, dimension and longevity. Make it yours. Easy ideas to incorporate the practical aspects to create the garden you have always dreamed of. Shortcuts to designing by using photographs and many more insider tips. January 28th at 3 pm: Garden Borders from Dull to Drama, How-to tips and ideas for editing existing mixed garden borders; easy ways to re-invent without having to completely re-do. Learn tricks of the trade and create fabulous mixed borders. Peel back the layers of plantings; discover what is missing and where to add puddles and pockets of color and texture and drama! Photos inspirations and step-by-step instruction to become your own designer.

Go Organic: Learn to tolerate a few weeds and nibbled leaves. Be good to the environment and use organic means of controlling pests and problems. Start with natural lawn care. It can be the biggest water hog and chemical demanding part of the garden. Learn how and practice management of an environmentally friendly yard. The experts are at Seattle Tilth! (www.seattletilth.org)

Take a Garden Tour: Visit gardens like Lakewold (www.lakewoldgardens.org ) or the Chase Garden (www.chasegarden.org)  for inspiration of classic designs.  Join the Northwest Perennial Alliance (www.northwestperennialalliance.org) and receive their open gardens book. This is an opportunity when local gardeners open their private spaces. Take notes and pictures, it is one of the best learning opportunities to see what grows well in this area and enjoy the peak season of gardens.

Plant Vegetables: Imagine tomatoes fresh off the vine and leaf lettuces from the garden. This season, find a sunny spot and plant some vegetables to enjoy what the garden can give back to you.  Hit the seed racks this spring for lots of variety. Here is a short list of some of my favorite “go-to” suppliers  Ed Hume Seeds (www.humeseeds.com) , Renee’s Garden (www.reneesgarden.com) and Territorial Seeds (www.territorialseed.com)

Plant Natives: In garden designing, I see more and more homeowners looking to eliminate native areas…such a shame. Many natives are desirable plants that are beautiful in landscape design, either as a backdrop to more “cultured” plantings,  mingled in mixed beds and borders or creating a “finished edge” to the beginning of natural woodlands.  Take time to learn more about natives and plant them. Local nursery with lots of info: Woodbrook Nursery (www.woodbrooknativeplantnursery.com)

Keep a garden calendar or journal: It can be as simple as an ordinary calendar. Write down something every day about the garden, it can be regarding the weather, a new bird sighting, the day something bloomed and any tasks done. It will be a valuable tool for seasons to come. Indulge in a new journal with the beautiful artistry of Jill Bliss (www.jillbliss.com)

Compost: Compost, Compost…every garden should have a compost bin! Basic compost info from Creative Gardener FYI makeyourowncompost

Mulch more, Weed less: Put your garden on a good organic mulch diet,  the reward will be healthy garden soil. Mulch at least 3 to 4 inches to control weeds too. More from Creative Gardener FYI in defense of weeds2

Teach a child the Wonders of Gardening: whether your own, a grandchild, or volunteering at school, there is real joy in working with children in the garden. Seeing the simple act of planting through a child’s eyes will renew your viewpoint as well.

Visit the garden show: The perfect way to spend a February day is the Northwest Flower and Garden show in Seattle.(www.gardenshow.com).  Nurseries have tickets on sale now…steal ideas from the gardens, shop the amazing booths and make your garden beautiful. Plan your weekend at the show and come and visit me Saturday February 11th on the DIY stage for one of my favorite subjects:  Herbs!! The top multi-purpose herbs to grow in your garden this year.

Think Design: “The plain hard work that goes into an unplanned and non-descript garden might just as well go into a planned one.” (Summer 1953, George Avery Jr. the Brooklyn Botanic Garden). The garden design studio is moving to Tacoma!  Join me for design sessions in my new space starting in February. Bring your photos and ideas and we will create! The new space will also include vintage garden books for sale from my amassed collection, herbs and favorite perennials,  plus garden findings. It’s “All About the Garden”. Stay tuned for more information.

Future sustainable gardener

Can’t resist another  kid story, somehow being a grandma gives inalienable rights. My granddaughter Alexis was visiting over the weekend and as always,  loves to be outside chasing the dogs, riding her bike and gardening. Since she was tiny,  she puttered around with me, even when she was just an infant, she would sit outside on a blanket while I gardened. I often wonder if that is how she spouts plant names so readily, by hearing me mutter them under my breath as I worked away.  She is an awesome weeder, greenhouse sweeper,tag sorter, container garden waterer and even helped plant my whole veggie garden this year. (Probably another post on our latest harvest of potatoes, stay tuned.)

Last Saturday,  we were working outside, I was raking leaves and trying to win a battle against blackberries along the property line.  I hear Alexis, excited and yelling, “Nana, look what the rain left for me.” She had gone down to the potager and found her watering can had filled with rain water. She said, “the rain left me water for your plants”. She proceeded to water my container gardens with her little green watering can. Hours later, as we were cleaning up the tools for the day, her watering can was perched on a stone wall near the garden, I asked her to put it away. She told me no…that she needed to leave it out so the rain could give her more water. I really can’t argue with that logic.

It also gave me a moment to ponder about what I do and the business-side of gardening; sometimes it can feel a bit over-processed and uptight.  Once in a while,  it is nice to think like a 4-year-old… “Look what the rain left for me…”

 

Teeny, sweet bouquets!

 There are captured flowers in vases as the lavender dries upright beside the Moonshine yarrow and the hop vines. Memories of the summer garden on the buffet in the dining room.

But there is more  about this that makes me smile.  Tucked in front of the large vases of dried flowers are teeny, tiny glass bottles with sweet bouquets of  fresh flowers in them. A gift from my granddaughter last week. One of her favorite things to do is to pick flowers from the garden and leave them for me. She likes to help arrange fresh flowers in the big vases , but it isn’t always easy for her to do her own thing. As is typical for a 4-year-old, she wants to do them herself.

One day, I decided to let her use some small glass bottles as flower vases. I have a collection of old bottles that in the past, just sat on the shelf collecting dust , now they are perfect for my budding garden helper. Every time she visits I get fresh, teeny bouquets in my dining room.