Sunset Western Garden book for iPad/iPhone!

I was so happy to discover that there's an iPad/iPhone version of the heavy, moisture-sensitive but invaluable resource for Western gardeners, the Sunset Western Garden Book. Sunset has teamed up with Inkling to create the digital version of the New Western Garden Book.
I first tried downloading it to my iPhone 4S, but apparently, I lack sufficient storage on my phone. It'll probably work and fit better when I upgrade to the iPhone 5 with more storage. It did download to my iPad and from what I can see so far, it's going to be a useful tool at my nursery job and at home. You can search, highlight, take notes, bookmark plants, and there are features that are included in the app that are not in the book.

The app is also compatible with PC and Mac, and includes bonus content such as regional gardening calendars and Inkling-only plant listings. Not to mention, you can share WGB plant entries by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and a simple hyperlink. This makes me positively giddy.

Enchilada casserole as blogging catalyst

I don't know if it's this sudden shift toward Spring-like weather, or the fact that I just bought the house I've been renting since my divorce in '09... and the fact that my fiance is about to shed his money-sucking house that screamed all that was instead of all that we were trying to become... but suddenly, I feel like blogging again!

I was pretty burnt-out on garden blogging and felt like I'd never go back to it because there are simply too many blogs out there on gardening, yoga, cats, cooking, politics, etc., and really, who cares, and what the hell do I have to say about anything anyway, in my now-tiny yard and rental house? When I had a kick ass garden and a lot more free time, blogging was an easy outlet for me. Around the time I fled the big house and garden, Facebook came along replaced the enjoyably distant connectedness that my blog had provided me.

Facebook is still fun, but I can't seem to quiet that nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "Hey, why are you making Mr. "I'm CEO, Bitch!" Zuckerberg even richer by giving him your words, your friends and family, and your photos?" After happening upon a superb food blog, Pinch of Yum, it got me thinking about going back to blogging. I'm a decent writer, a decent photographer with Photoshop skills, and I am passionate not just about gardening, but food and homemaking and entertaining and humor and integrity and love and run-on sentences, and, yes, goofy animals and... about every four years... I throw in a liberally biased post or two because I'm preoccupied with the election (Yay, Obama!). :-))

 

But I need to focus. I struggle with being a smidge ADD/OCD/LAZY and go through extended periods where I am obsessed with gardening, exercising, or finding the perfect refrigerator, or work, or kid drama (x3), or ex drama (x2), or granite countertops, or finding the perfect enchilada casserole recipe that is easy, tasty, and doesn't contain ingredients that Kim, my fiance, hates. The list of foods Kim hates begins with cream cheese, sour cream, onions, and goes on and on. But, I digress. Back to my mind, and blogging.

My mind is like a deluxe hamster cage complete with wheel, travel tubes and bars, which my mind rattles in an attempt to escape at night while struggling to fall asleep. It was the enchilada casserole recipe that brought my thoughts back to blogging, which brought me back here. Do you see the vicious cycle that is my thought process? The enchilada casserole was delicious, which I feel adds substance to everything I'm saying here.

 

So now I need to figure out how I can blog about all the things I love in a cohesive manner. There's got to be a way to tie it all together in a clever package. If something comes to me, I may explore how to create such a blog, and how to migrate my old posts, and my life, into something that makes sense. Onward!

A welcome lull

Thursday is my "nursery day", as in the only day I work at Talini's these days. During summer, the nursery is extremely busy, often sprouting a line of Radio Flyer wagon-toting customers out the back door. We are fully staffed during that time, so it's manageable. Ish.

Heading into midsummer, there's an expected lull and we pare down staff. It's not a fun transition for me because it takes awhile for staffing to match the lull. Meanwhile, I run around like a chicken with its head cut off, which for me is not a pleasant sensation. Especially when it's 106 degrees F.

Phones go unanswered... plants wilt (No, not at Talini's!) ... And I don't get to enjoy the more tranquil and creative aspects of nursery work. Just when it starts to get to me, the lull truly arrives and I can squeeze in more of what I feel like doing instead of what must be done.

Yesterday was the first of those days for me this season.


I admired our new chicken coop.


And our new shipment of Mexican metal art.


And this darling bamboo birdhouse.


And wondered about the new Irish employee.


And enjoyed the ongoing festive feeling I get from the (Balinese?) umbrellas.


But the truest sign of a mellower pace... I got to make a couple basket planters. Ahhhhh....


Life, which is so much about balance, is good again, even if just for a day. It's so much easier to achieve balance with your head firmly attached to the rest of your body.

In these moments, I can finally stand still long enough to appreciate the gentle push of a Delta breeze, hinting at milder weather and quieter moments ahead.

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Bloom whether you are planted or not.

As a person who learned early on that "putting down roots" can be a rather nebulous concept and inevitably leads to the painful task of yanking those roots, staying in a house long enough to plant things in the ground has taken on exaggerated importance for me. I thought I'd be afforded some degree of stability in my current house in East Sacramento, to which I moved three years ago. Three years isn't bad, but plans changed.

The divorce that brought me to this house as a middle aged woman was soon followed not by 10 cats, but the boyfriend. Who knew?!!! The boyfriend soon became the fiance. Still is! My one and his two kids are grown or nearly so, so we could make this little 2 br/1 ba 744 sq. ft. "dollhouse" work for the two of us. Except we are not dolls. And we've grown accustomed to things like cupboards... and dining rooms. By Manhattan apartment standards, I suppose this place is huge, but one of the benefits of living in Sacramento is affordability and spaciousness of housing. That game room and exercise room we've talked about is not just crazy talk to a Sacramentan.

I was initially very excited about the prospect of tending every square inch of this little urban property, but when my initial euphoria wore off and circumstances steered me toward remaining a renter instead of buying the place like I'd planned, I found myself not wanting to garden here. At all. Goodbye garden mojo.

When you don't know how long you'll be in a home but want to garden, the notion of growing everything in pots becomes the next logical coping mechanism. Having done the pot thing before in this hot-summer climate where containers often require water twice a day from July-September... I ended up on a gardening strike instead.

The strike felt right for this home & garden limbo state I'd found myself floating around in. The problem is, I'd get swept up in a momentary urge to plant, but it often came at the wrong time. Like last spring, when I wasn't going to plant a summer veggie garden. Then did. Too late. I got nada for my efforts.

Thinking I'd be in my "real home" by now, I almost didn't plant a summer garden this year. But the seasonal urge struck at the right time, and I was realizing that I might be in this house longer than I'd anticipated since my man and I had several logistical hurdles to jump before we'd be able to start house hunting. I'm happy to report I got my tomatoes in. Tomatoes were followed by 'Gold Rush' zucchini,  a few peppers, and most recently, cucumbers and Chinese long beans. I know! Root city, right?! I'm done planting veggies, as far as I know today.

My 2012 tomato line-up

My first little 'Indigo Apple' is already coloring up!

Being a renter also means I can't prune or... God forbid... cut down the giant sycamore raining twigs and pollen on my morning-light-robbed backyard. So I garden where I can. Even if it's also where I park my car.

Nor can I get rid of the ankle-breaking chunky bark surrounding the backyard tree. And there will be no tearing up the patch of driveway preventing me from screening my backyard from the neighbor whose windows peer into my yard.

Szechuan Green Bean Recipe
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/r/greenbean.htm

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Chinese longbeans (also called yardlong beans or just longbeans)
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
• 2 scallions (spring onions, green onions), white parts only
• 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Pepper to taste, optional
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or peanut oil for stir-frying, or as needed

Preparation:

Wash the longbeans, drain thoroughly, and trim the tops and bottoms.
Cut the longbeans on the diagonal into slices approximately 2 inches long.
Chop the garlic, ginger and white part of the scallions.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add the longbeans and stir-fry until they start to shrivel or "pucker" and turn brown (5 - 7 minutes). Remove the long beans and drain in a colander or on paper towels.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in the wok on high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions. Stir-fry for a few seconds, then add the chili paste and stir-fry for a few more seconds until aromatic. Add the longbeans and the remaining ingredients. Mix together and serve.

So, damn it, if I'm going to be in this house a bit longer, I might as well be a bit more securely tethered to the earth here.

City Chickens

Coop of the Rising Sun

The City of Sacramento unanimously approved the right for City residents to keep up to three backyard chickens. Hens, to be exact. No cockadoodledoos. And at my workplace, Talini's Nursery, we just started carrying these wonderful, embellished chicken coops made by Greg and Brian at Two Flew the Coop.

Coop of the Rising Sun entrance

Karma Coop

Karma Coop (left) and Coop of the Rising Sun (right)

Karma Coop Entrance

Sweet little passion vine

I have more "partial sun" at my house than I care to discuss, but it's a situation made more tolerable when I find beauties like this dainty, diminutive passion vine. It'll be planted out front, at the base of my small front porch arbor. I've already planted a pretty, peachy pink abutilon on the other side.


(Passiflora sanguinolenta)

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PVFS seedstarting video

Makes me miss my greenhouse...

Coming soon... Seeds of Change Gift Basket Giveaway!

[But wait... there's more. Chocolate. :-)]

The concept is "From Seed to Table". Entering is easy (a photo with short description) and I'll post full details soon. Looking forward to seeing your entries and picking the winner!

Arboretum All-Stars

Just a reminder that Fall is a great time to plant in Sacramento.

Plant Sales at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery

Several times each year, our support group, Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum, holds plant sales at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, offering hundreds of different kinds of uncommon garden plants that have been locally grown, including the Arboretum All-Stars, our top recommended plants for Central Valley gardens. Members enjoy a special preview sale and receive a 10% discount.

2010 Fall Plant Sales

Download plant list

September 18 Preview Tour

September 25 : Focus on California Native Plants

9–11 a.m. Members only; 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Public sale

Spotlight on outstanding California native plants that require less frequent watering, support native pollinators, and make great additions to any Valley-wise garden. Join at the door for a 10% discount and a free plant!

October 9 Preview Tour

October 16: Fall is for Planting

9 a.m.–1 p.m. Public sale

Let the winter rains help your new garden plants get established before they have to face the hot Valley summer. Choose from a wide variety of great plants for Central Valley gardens, including the Arboretum All-Stars. Join at the door for a 10% discount and a free plant!

Map
Directions

Porch planter progress

My Laurentia and Linaria from Annie's are starting to bloom!


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Front porch pot

I potted up a few plants


from my Annie's excursion and want to see how they'll do on my front porch. Could have done without the black widow inhabiting my green glazed pot. Me... no gloves, as usual.

Heuchera 'Marmalade'
Laurentia axillaris 'Blue Stars'
Corydalis sempervirens
Linaria triornithophora 'Three Birds Flying'


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Mother's Day, 2010. Trip to Annie's Annuals & Perennials

Annie's Annuals & Perennials 2010 Mother's Day plant sale and celebration. Mom's got a free 4" plant! Lovely weather, lovely refreshments, and lovely company.


Just beyond this flowerbed is the "Bored spouses and boyfriends" table. ;-)


Magical.


Hypertufa containers. Hypertufa workshop/party is on my to-do list.




Kim and me.


Poppies and penstemon. Fabulous combo.


Wowsa.


After Annie's, we stopped at Annie's propagator's nearby open garden.










Clever use of an old pallet!












Heading home. Lunch consisted of delicious El Pollo Loco eaten in the car in front of the open garden. Great day.