I feel like a Mini Martha...

Pre-conviction, that is.

Favorite Martha quote of late: "If events unfold as I have been led to believe, I will have this ordeal behind me and be back to work before spring planting season." Sounds like she's finally getting her priorities straight. Martha, Martha, Martha. I know gardening is an expensive hobby, but sheesh, you're a gazillionaire with absolutely no reason to do anything crooked. I still love you.

It's a... GREENHOUSE! Well, ok, it's still under construction, but what isn't in my life? I want to add that I had nothing to do with its existence other than ordering it, selecting its location and stepping all over its pieces while it sat in my garage for, well, for a long time.

I did, however, plant the lettuce, chard, parsley and peas in the foreground. I'll be adding the scallions I picked up yesterday evening in a few minutes. The Sugarsnap pea seeds were from Johnny's Selected Seeds, a great mail order company. Also ordered Easter Egg radish seeds and Royal Mix flowering sweet peas.

My 2nd dwarf avocado arrived from Wayside Gardens the other day. I'm keeping it in my kitchen window until the greenhouse is operational. The 1st dwarf avo didn't survive the winter. I ordered it thinking the greenhouse would be ready but you know what? They don't build themselves. Neither do I.

Whatcha gotta do is find a few dudes who paid attention in shop class. I actually took shop class on a lark in middle school. Got yelled at for walking away from the disk sander while it was still spinning. So, anyway, I find the use of power tools NOT to be my calling. The fact that my shop teacher was missing part of his thumb may have something to do with that feeling.

Btw, the uuuuuugly pool filter and a/c unit will be screened with redwood lattice panels. Soon, I hope.

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Nursery Cans Flying Everywhere!

Another bed is coming together... I love my Smith & Hawken cobalt blue birdbath. I've surrounded it with yellow lantana, pink sedum, Mexican bush sage and lavender. In the background are 3 princess flower shrubs. You can't see them because they're still tiny! Got 'em at Whole Foods in 4" containers. I think they'll do well up against the fence since they tend to be sorta viney, as shrubs go. Adding interest in the foreground is a rusted metal quail family. Rusted metal yard art is included in my lengthy list of garden addictions. ;-)
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It's amazing how quickly the birds and butterflies come when you start making a garden. Well, ok, it helped that I put up two hummingbird feeders and a gourmet selection of shelled sunflower seed and niger thistle. The hummers found the nectar feeders right away, but the seed eaters haven't come around yet. I've been told it's a somewhat quiet time in my area, birdwise. By the way, am I crazy or do hummingbirds seem smart? Maybe both.

I might as well say it now... "Oh, my achin' back!"
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Wanna know how to make it rain?

Have Hastie's dump 4 giant piles (19 cubic yards) of bark, compost, planting mix and crushed rock in the street (blocking the gutter, of course) in front of your house. ;-)

and this...
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Let's not forget this...
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How am I supposed to get anything done when this is my inspiration?
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White echinacea in the foreground, next to a Home Depot decorative glass ball stake. The Cheryl Chair is in the background.
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I thought the colors in these 'Dynamite Wine Flash' Pansies went well with my stainless steel gazing ball.
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Dwarf English lavender, a really pretty pink sedum and a cute little yellow... uh... I'll get back to you on that... waiting for a properly prepped bed. (in Martha Stewart's voice) Again, notice how the cobalt blue birdbath is echoed by the lovely cobalt blue wheelbarrow.
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I moved my "Home Depot planter" onto the new patio. Notice how its verticality is echoed by the lovely nursery cans and Kangaroo yard waste container in the background. ;-)
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A Closer Look

A closer View of the "Cheryl Chair" area. The Cheryl chair is so named because my friend Cheryl gave it to me one day when we were junk hunting for things like seatless chairs. I was describing the kind of chair I'd love to find and she said she had just the chair at home! Now that she sees how pretty it looks planted, I think she wants it back.
;-)
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The Fun Part of Landscaping... Plant Placement!!!

My first big batch of plants was delivered yesterday from POW Nursery. I was glad to have met their minimum for free delivery. As is my way, I selected plants not according to a predetermined list, but by what caught my eye, looked healthy, and by what seemed like a good price.

As long as I stick to the rule of using even numbers of plants for formal, symmetrical arrangements and odd numbers (3+ plants is my usual minimum)for informal plantings, I can have a little fun with what I'm buying.

Another trick for successful "spontaneous landscaping" is to bring flowers from your garden to the nursery so you can see what looks good with what you've already got.

Sure, I make fantasy lists of plants I'd like to own, but on my nursery jaunts the thrill comes from discovering something I hadn't anticipated buying.

This batch of plants included 20 green hopseeds for a possibly temporary eyesore screen (the fence) and privacy screen (neighbors' 2nd story windows) while slower-growing sasanqua camellias (which I haven't found yet) fill in... and out... and up. My other acquisitions were mainly fun perennials (lavender, coreopsis, sedum, penstemon, daylily, echinacea, etc.) and a jasmine vine.

Right now, the plants have been placed but not planted. Placing plants is another fun, somewhat intuitive part of how I garden.

Almost forgot... I also got a saucer magnolia! I looooooooovvvvvve deciduous magnolias and am so happy to finally have one. It's M. x soulangiana, which is a classic. I'm also gonna try squeezing in one more smaller-growing cultivar with darker petals (an M. liliflora cultivar, probably).


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Plant a Chair

Pansies, osteospermum, purple sweet potato vine and heliotrope are the new inhabitants of my chair planter.
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Mail-order Citrus

By the way, part of the reason I ordered directly from Four Winds by mail-order was to evaluate the quality of their mail-order service.
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Four Winds gets an A+. The trees came quickly by UPS, were well packaged and are very, very healthy! One even had (until I... oops...knocked it off) a huge orange on it! These folks know what they're doing. And get this... the trees came bare-root! They were packed in sawdust! How often do we see bare-root citrus, right? Also, all six trees were ingeniously packaged in 2 boxes no bigger than about 6" x a foot x 4 ft. total (boxes were taped together).

I probably could have saved a few bucks by buying from a local retail nursery selling dwarf citrus, but I had a feeling I'd have to hunt around for some of my 6 varieties.

Ideally, you want to plant citrus in spring so they'll have longer to establish before a potentially frosty winter... but I don't mind keeping an eye on them this winter. I want to pick fruit!!! Grow, trees, grow!

The two limes are on a west-facing wall. I'm hoping the reflected heat from the stucco house will help warm them in winter. Limes need more protection than most types of citrus.
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Got O.J.?

With today's delivery from Four Winds Citrus Growers, my citrus collection now includes: Improved Meyer Lemon, Eureka Lemon, Trovita Orange, Valencia Orange, Washington Navel Orange, Bearss Seedless Lime, Mexican Lime, Satsuma Mandarin and an Indiomandarinquat.<
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The orange trees were selected for flavor and a very extended harvest. Washington navel ripens in winter, Trovita ripens in spring, and Valencia ripens in summer. How delicious is that?!!!

Smith & Hawken Umbrella Base

So much for saving money... The only umbrella base I could find that fits under my teak table costs as much as the umbrella! Oh well... at least it'll keep the thing from spinning (I hope... there is a little screw thingy on the side) or impaling one of my neighbors during a freak wind storm. ;-)

Smith & Hawken Disk Base for 1 1/2"-Dia. pole Item # 758474

Costco Love

Teak patio set (Costco) with newly arrived patio umbrella (Costco). In foreground is Smith & Hawken portable firepit.
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I researched umbrellas for awhile before purchasing. I found a lot of nice umbrellas locally and online, but didn't see any prices I liked until I checked Costco. My taste runs on the teak & Sunbrella side, but my budget can't always support my impeccable taste...

Along with this rectangular off-white umbrella for the back (Olefin fabric), I got a round 9 footer with black Sunbrella fabric for the front yard sitting area. Both umbrellas have a metal pole with faux wood-grain pattern (ew!) and a beige plastic ball on top (ew!). The overall effect is still pretty and quite umbrellariffic. The total cost for both umbrellas was around the same as one umbrella at most other stores I checked. Did I mention how much I love Costco? How else would I have been able to afford teak dining sets?

BTW, the crank mechanism on both and the tilt mechanism on the round umbrella work great! Super easy and impressive technology.

One minor disappointment: The rectangular umbrella got to spinnin' a bit in today's breeze. Wouldn't be such a big deal on a round umbrella, but it is on this rectangular one. Will have to find some way to stabilize it.

Birth of a Greenhouse

Greenhouse footing (forms still attached).
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Check out all the empty concrete bags in the background!