fuquay varina garden tour

In case you didn't already know, Fuquay Varina (the town with the funny name), holds a special place in my heart. Both of my parents are from there and I have lots of loved ones still in the town! Fuquay is holding is garden tour next month. Here's the scoop:

12th Annual Fuquay-Varina Garden Tour 
Sat, Sept 10th from 10 am – 5 pm
Sun, Sept 11th from 1 pm – 5 pm

Experience seven traditional southern gardens with contemporary accents; such as brick pizza oven, hot tub, and water features. Be inspired by these innovative garden designs!  

Tickets are now available for purchase at The Garden Hut, Ashley's Art Gallery, and the Mineral Springs Inn. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of the tour. There will also be an after tour reception featuring garden writer, Pam Beck.

Visit facebook for more information.

What to do with all those...eggs

The chickens are a blessing, don't get me wrong, but you have to stay on top of your egg eating or they start to accumulate in no time. Right now, we are easily getting 4 eggs a day which quickly adds up to 28 eggs a week. Of course, I could give away some eggs, but I've accepted the challenge to try to use them all. So, here are a few of my favorite and tastiest ways to use eggs:

Chocolate Pavlova - I've posted about this one before, but at 6 egg whites a piece, it's by far the tastiest way to consume a half dozen eggs! If you are concerned about wasting the egg yolks, there are several recipes for Key Lime pie (this one is great) that call for egg yolks only - so you can plan your desserts right and avoid throwing away either part of the egg!

Quiche - This is a great recipe for basic quiche - You can jazz things up from there. We love to add ham, caramelized onion and goat cheese .I make mine in a regular (not deep dish) pie crust and pour the left over mixture into Dutch Ann's mini pie shell tarts (avail at Harris Teeter) which make for great breakfast treats when you are in a hurry!

Egg Drop Soup - Not sure why I always assumed this was too complicated for making at home, but it truly isn't.
Ingredients:
chicken stock (4c) - (I use bullion cubes, only because they are cheaper and keep better and I don't have to add extra salt when I use them)
corn starch (3T)
water (1/4c)
vinegar (1/2t)
soy sauce (2t)
eggs, beaten (2)
pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Broil 4 cups of chicken broth. While broth is boiling, whisk together corn starch and water until its smooth. Then whisk the corn starch mixture into the broth. Cook 1- 2 minutes until broth starts to thicken. Slowly pour and stir the eggs into the broth mixture. Let simmer 2 - 3 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar and salt (if needed) and pepper.

Enjoy!

Baguette making

My first loaves baking in the oven!

One of my New Year's Resolution was to learn to make a baguette. I realize that my New Year's resolution should have been to decrease the amount of carbs consumed, but that was not so. I love french bread, but it pains me to pay upwards of $3 dollars for a baguette and I hate that they don't keep well. Furthermore, going to the store every time I need (or want) one isn't really realistic. Hence, my desire to learn to make them myself!

Andy received a bread machine for Christmas last year so I set out to find a French Bread recipe that would allow me to let the bread machine to do some of the work. My first attempt was a success, however I must admit this isn't for the faint at heart: I spent an entire afternoon checking, flouring and kneading. Here's the recipe I followed from All Recipes. Unfortunately, the bread machine only did the initial mixing and rising, and the recipe only netted two modest-sized loaves. However, they did have the unbeatable combination of a crusty exterior with a soft spongy interior. Yum!

Summer Recipes

I love seasonal summer foods! There is something about them that makes me want to gobble up as much of the goodness as I can while it last! Andy doesn't like to follow recipes, he's more of a real chef, but I'm happy to admit that I'm more of a recipe follower. Occasionally, when I'm sure of flavorful combinations, I'll venture out on my own, but for the most part I do as told!

One of our all time favorite recipe books is, Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson. I must admit that not every recipe in this book appeals to me, but at the same time everyone that I've tried has been an off the chart hit with us as well as who ever else has been served it!

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Here are some regulars in our house:

• Chocolate Raspberry Pavola - This is a super-easy, super-impressive meringue-like summer dessert. Depending on what's in season, we make it with raspberries, blackberries or even blue berries and there are NEVER any leftovers...enough said!
• Happiness (or "sunshine") Soup - The book calls this "happiness" soup, but i can't help but calling it sunshine soup due to its radiant color.  Its a great use for summer squash. I follow the recipe to a "t", but I do dial back the lemon juice so that its not too sour on the pallette. Its a very different, but very yummy soup!
• Thai Beef in Lettuce Wraps - These make for a great light summer supper.
• Rice Paper Rolls - These are another wonderful light summer treat packed with the refreshing flavors of mint and cucumber! (In Raleigh, I've found rice sheets at Total Oriental Foods near the Walmart on New Hope Church Road)

Bon Appetit!

Scrumptous London Broil

Lately Lowes Foods has been having some super deals on London Broil and while its not grass fed and local, I've caved in due to the $2.97/lb price tag.

I found a super delish recipe for a marinade that I've made several times and it has been a hit with all to whom it was served. Here's the recipe from Our State Magazine:

• ½ cup oil
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon coarse fresh pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 to 3 pounds London broil
• Meat tenderizer

Combine all ingredients (except meat and tenderizer), and stir. Put ¼ to ½ of the mixture in a plastic bag with meat to marinate 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Reserve remaining mixture for sauce. Remove meat from marinade; discard used marinade. Sprinkle meat with tenderizer. Grill immediately. Heat reserved sauce to a boil before serving.

I've served this sliced over mixed greens salads with blue cheese and berries, but more recently I made it with dill green beans and baked acorn squash with maple syrup and butter. YUM! The left overs made for some great sandwiches too!

What do to with all that....Zucchini

A friend had a bountiful crop of zucchini, and was recently seeking out ideas for what to do with it all. I shared a few recipes and ideas with her that I've been collecting and thought I'd share them here, as well. 'Tis the season for zucchini, afterall.

• Zapallitos Revueltos (Scrambled Zucchini) - This is still one of our favorite summer stables.
• Zucchini Cakes (from Relish Magazine) - Quite possibly the perfect vegetarian crab cake. Declared "delish" by veggie eaters and carnivores alike!
• "Good as Crack" Zucchini Bread (from All Recipes) - I made up two loaves of this this weekend it took it to a friend who declared it "good as crack". I substituted 1/2 of the walnuts for chocolate chips - can't go wrong there! Seriously delicious!
• Brown Butter Squash with Garlic - We've also recently been cooking down zucchini and summer squash with minced garlic and butter over low heat. Very yummy!

Here are a few more that I've "clipped" for safekeeping, but haven't yet tried:

• Bean-free hummus - Swap the usual can of chickpeas for one large zucchini that's been peeled, trimmed, and chopped. Toss in the food processor with lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper; process until smooth for a light, creamy dip. (This is from Kiwi Magazine: Growing Families the Great, Natural and Organic Way - a freebie from the Stoneyfield's reward program.)
  
• Zucchini fries - Slice zucchini into sticks (about the size of your finger), and then dredge in a beaten egg and seasoned bread crumbs. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes (Another one from Kiwi Magazine)
• Zucchini Cookies - from my current read, "Animal Vegetable Miracle"

Roasting a whole chicken

Last week I decided to attempt being a grown up and roast a whole chicken. This was a big deal for me as I'm pretty scared of raw chicken. I purchased my free range chicken from Homestead Harvest Farm at the North Raleigh Farmer's Market. After perusing several recipes, I settled on one that called for lots of garlic and rosemary from Dean and Deluca- can't go wrong there!

As you can see in the photo my ratio of vegetables to bird was a little off, but the veggies were super tasty. I found that my 3.25 roast cooked considerably faster than the recipe said, but all in all it was a pretty tasty first attempt. Not sure it will be a regular at our house, but its a nice (and pretty) option.

"The Easy Lay" - Chickens!

Eggs from four of "the girls"

We've wanted to get chickens for several years... long before they were trendy, I promise! I first heard about urban chickens about five years ago from a friend in Raleigh's Historic Oakwood neighborhood. She was setting up her coops. When we moved downtown, we considered them, but we weren't quite ready for them in the yard when we had to uproot and head to the suburbs. When we settled on our 1/2 acre in N. Raleigh, Andy assured me we could have chickens, in time, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out one of our cul-de-sac neighbors already has them!!!

For the last 18 months, I was too busy feeding the "three hungry hippos" to consider having anything else that needed daily feeding and watering - in fact, I even ruled out having a Christmas tree last year saying "I don't need anything else that needs to be fed." But, when my Oakwood friend announced she was moving and needed to rehome her chickens, I couldn't resist.

And so, we've added five new girls to our family and established the "The Easy Lay" Chicken Yard:

Omelet, the Australorp and "boss"

Nugget, the buff orpington (photo by Jody Sorofman)

Silver, the silver-laced wyandotte (photo by Jody Sorofman)

My "funky chicken", Foggy Bottom, the silkie bantam (photo by Jody Sorofman)

We also have, Lovie, the Ameraucana, but I'm lacking a picture of her.

The timing was perfect since as a family we're eating close to 2 dozen eggs a week and buying free range eggs adds up! Besides, since Mason passed away, I've really missed having pets. We actually moved their coops from my friend's and have gotten them all setup in the back yard by the shed. Here's a picture of their digs. Next up is scraping together a "The Easy Lay - Chicken Yard" sign and putting up a 20" high white picket fence to frame their yard.

As usual, I did some chicken reading before we got our girls. Here's what I picked up and would recommend.

• The Joy of Keeping Chickens by Jennifer Megyesi
• Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow

Branching out

So life has changed a lot for me in the last 2 years. In fact, just saying that is kind of an understatement. These days I find myself home a lot. My focus has turned from a once busy corporate and agency career to taking care of my home and my kiddos all the time. And while I never really saw myself a full-time stay-at-home mom, here I am. I am trying my best to "bloom where planted".

In the old days, Andy did most of the cooking, but now I cook most of our meals and am experiencing a renaissance of culinary passion. Its nice to be home during the day to cook things the right way as compared to the past when we got home from work late and just wanted warm food to fill our hungry bellies as fast as possible. Delights like roasting whole chicken and making and baking baguettes and tarlets are new options for me that I'm delving into and loving. I'm shopping our local farmer's market every week and have actually established a relationship with the farmer's that grow our produce!

I've also been able to take on some fun crafty projects for the house and the kids. I've always loved crafting, but in the past I had no time for it (and frankly I could afford to buy a lot of what I wanted).  Lately, I've enjoyed sewing some clothes for my girls and doing some fun household projects.

At the same time, I haven't had as much time to work in the yard as I'd prefer as I'm indoors with the kiddos most of my days. My gardening budget was also more than exhausted last year with our landscaping projects. I am, however, taking on a few outdoors projects, like the chickens, an outdoor shower and vegetable garden beds for the Spring.

I share all of this to say that I'm branching out on the blog to cover some of my other interests - I'm a multi faceted girl afterall....some might say I'm a little too faceted - fractured even! I'd like to share some fun other house and garden projects and recipes going on around here. Hope you don't mind!

Next year this time....

The past few Spring planting seasons have passed me by and this year I've decided to not let next year get ahead of me. My timing is perfect as the three amigos are eating us out of house and home AND I finally have enough sun to produce a decent harvest. Andy's also encouraged me to read Animal Vegetable Miracle and watch Food Inc and so I've decided its about time this NC girl gets going in a vegetable garden! We are excited to see how and what we can produce off of our modest half acre lot - I guess suburbia does have some benefits!

As my foray into anything typically begins, I started doing lots of reading earlier this summer. Here are a couple of my top organic gardening picks that are laying scattered throughout my house marked up and highlighted like someone getting major major plastic surgery. No kindle or ipad here, still doing it the old fashioned way with dog eared corners and highlighter in hand!

• Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan. Great resource on info for doing almost anything in your backyard from gardening to keeping chickens, fruit and nut trees, and even bees and lifestock. 
• Organic Gardening for the 21st Century, by John Fedor. This is an awesome resource for organic vegetable gardening. Everything from soil testing and fixing to, gardening planning, planting and harvesting to preserving and canning your foods. 
• Organic Gardening Magazine - Got this one free from Stoneyfield.

I've plotted out my beds. So far, I've been able to negotiate  two 4' x 16' beds and one 4' x 8' bed from my "yard boy"! So, currently I'm figuring what I can plant in my ~150 sq. feet of garden. More on that later when I've plotted out better plans for the various planting seasons, succession plantings and crop rotation. Its a lot to figure out and I have a whole new respect for our farmers.

So for this year I'm eating local produce from Cane Creek Farms, but next year I hope to be eating real local: backyard local. And so it begins.....

Making Over the Front Yard

"Makeover" may be not even been the right word for what we took on in our yard last Fall. A "makeover" implies that something was once made, and I'm not sure our yard ever was!

A photo of our front yard from when we purchased the house in the Fall of 2009.

A concrete right angular path sloped down from the side walk to the front stoop which was a trek at 7 steps!

The yard was complete with a circle of Azaelas..... not kidding!

While we had azaelas on the left side of the house, the right side had mismatched boxwoods and hollies, and scattered variegated liropie and day lilies. The metal lamppost was another landscaping misfit.

Our house wasn't exactly marketed as having a "crawl space swimming hole", however shortly after moving in we realized that was exactly what we had. The only good news is that remedying our little real estate nightmare, meant that we had to put in a foundation drain and regrade the front yard, thus mandating the removal of the existing landscape and its 8' tall overgrown azaleas. So, whereas my typical landscape design process looks something like me sitting around the dining room table with stacks of gardening books, a trusty "s" curve, tracing paper and some vino for inspiration; instead, we hired out the design this time since it was more of an engineering solution that we needed.

Dutifully working on a landscape design.

We worked with several companies on the project: Raleigh Sod and Landscapes and their partners did the engineering work, tear out, and foundation drain; and Southern Landscape Professionals did our design, walk, grading and plant installation. I worked with Barry at Southern Landscape closely on the design. We talked through our requirements for the space and ideas I had. I knew I wanted a curved brick pathway to the front door, a nice wooden lamp post, and a focal point with a bench in the corner of the yard that could be viewed when guests were walking up the path. I also knew I wanted few blooms in the front and most of the color to come from foliage and small annual beds. Since time for yard work is scarce these days with the kiddos, a low maintenance and neat design were a must!  I provided Barry a list of plants that I liked and photos of homes that appealed to me. With Barry's expertise, we talked through solving the need to screen the view of my neighbor's front door, how to hide our trash cans and removing shrubs along along the driveway so that passengers could easily get out of their car when coming to see us. He also talked me out of some of my bad ideas,  like the desire for a specimen tree out front - no room! We haggled over plants (mostly his need for my yard to have Nandinas) and after much back and forth and a trip to the nursery and arboretum, we settled on a plan.

The final design for our front yard.

Our plan included regrading the yard and the harsh discovery that "cheap as dirt" is a lie - dirt is not cheap! We planned to remove two steps from our stoop making the walk from the driveway level and not downhill. The concrete L-shaped sidewalk would be removed and a runner bond brick path would be installed in its place. The plans would include the purple hues of Purple Diamond Loropetalum, the dark green glossy foliage of Otto Luykens, Oakleaf hollies to frame the ends, Suffruticosa Box to denote the entryway, dwarf compact hollies (Vomitoria Nana) and Yuletide Cameila Sasanquas.

The work started in late July and the sod finally went in in September. Here are some "after" photos of the work - what a difference a year makes! Oh and the best part is that crawl space is bone dry!

Our corner focal point.

The new front stoop in the snow!

While I realize this doesn't look like much, its come a long way. When we moved in, it was green with mold and the post was buried in weeds. We painted it, got new crisp house numbers, added some stones and annual color and while its not much - it makes me happy!

Next up for the front is a fresh coat of paint on the house and I'm thinking "green"!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Garden Walk

Just found this event happening tomorrow in Wake Forest - Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Garden Walk!

Have tea with the Mad Hatters of the Wake Forest Garden Club. Wear your own "mad hat" and get a free raffle ticket. Visit The Rabbit Hole Gift Shop. Stroll the historic gardens of N. Main Street and be inspired by garden vignettes created by area artists and designers. Enjoy flower arranging demonstrations by talented floral designers. Talk with Master Gardeners and Landscape Designers. Sponsored by the Wake Forest Garden Club.

http://www.wfgardenclub.org/

Blooming Alliums Make Me Happy!

Alliums are blooming! The rest of my pot is a total mess, but I'll settle for the alliums looking great for a few days! Time to start think thinking about what summer annuals will follow those ailing pansies.

Fearrington Gardens

Last May, my husband and I made an overnight dash to the Fearrington House Inn. It was our first night away with out the kiddos. Our accommodations were as comfortable as they were beautiful and the dinner, breakfast and afternoon tea were delightful. However, what we enjoyed the most was the grounds and gardens. I loved the pathways, fences and open spaces. Here are some of my favorite garden scenes and pictures from our stay at Fearrington - and its a good thing I captured them on camera as it will likely be awhile before we are free to go back!

Love these purple alliums against the horizontal siding on their rustic old barn. My gladiator alliums at home are about to explode and I can hardly wait!

A white peony bloom about to burst.

Coreopsis?? Not sure, but we loved that our camera captured the hair-like center of this flowering perennial.

Their white garden. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do love a theme! Their geometric formal white garden is gorgeous and inspirational.

No opportunity is missed. This could have been a mere sidewalk between a restaurant and the driveway, instead its gorgeous with its horizontal brick path boarded by perennial beds and a picket fence. The birdhouse in the distance also makes for a pleasant visual resting place.

Up close and personal with a Cone Flower - one of my favorites!

The main courtyard in the Inn portion of the property. I love the formal hedge, the rusty hues of the Maple tree and the spikey foliage of the iris' reaching up towards the water pump style fountain.

If you are ever near Chapel Hill, its worth a drive out there to see the gardens even if you don't or can't spend a dime! Its a wonderful day trip from Raleigh.

Missing My Mason

This weekend I lost my best gardening buddy, my beagle, Mason. He was with me in the yard, following me where ever I went, for more than 10 years. I miss him!

Next to a pitiful looking pot of pansies (in retrospect) as a puppy.

This is from a few years ago when I was working on drainage for a pot. I'm sure he was quite perplexed why I was putting all of the balls he'd like to be fetching in a pot!

Gardening with me in Charlotte. And yes, in those days, I did garden in a tube top (don't ask)!

Spring Plant Sales and Tours

Here's what happening for gardeners in and around Raleigh this Spring:

Plant Sales

• Ongoing - NC Botanical Garden Plant Sale (Chapel Hill) 
• April 7th - 11th - Wakefield High School Plant Sale (Raleigh)
• April 9th - 10th - Pi Alpha Xi Plant Sale (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh)
• April 15th - 17th - Raleigh Garden Club Plant Sale (NC State Fairgrounds, Raleigh)
• April 15th - 17th - Gardener's of Wake County Azalea Sale (NC State Fairgrounds, Raleigh)
• April 15th - 17th - Herb Society of Wake County Herb Sale
• April 15th - 17th and 22nd - 24th - Herb Fest (Wake Forest)
• April 30 - Duke Garden's Plant Sale (Durham)

Tours

• April 9th - Rita's Garden Open House (Apex)
• April 30 - May 1st - Historic Oakwood Garden Tour (Raleigh)
• April 30 - May 1st - Plants Delights Open House (Raleigh)
• May 1st - Gala in the Garden (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh) 
• May 14th - Conservation Garden Tour (Durham)
• June 11 - Larkspur Party (Raleigh) - The garden venue and tour is worth the trip to this pottery festival.

Looks like the Chapel Hill Garden tour is off until 2012 and the Fuquay Varina tour will be held in the Fall.

Hope to see you out and about!

Don't get bitten by "old man winter"!

Last night we had a frost advisory which left some home owners covering up their blooms. Several friends have asked me about when to buy and plant annuals this time of year, so I decided I'd just do a post on it. The date that's recommended around here is April 15th, the "average last day of frost". That means that if you don't want to loose your blooms (or worse) wait until mid April to put in summer annuals (e.g. impatients, petunias....): regardless of how good the sale or how bad your spring fever!

Pansies are one fall/winter annual that is thriving now, however (despite them still being sold this time of year) their days are numbered for the season. Once the warm weather gets here, they will start to wither and fade. Snapdragons are another cold season annual that do well this time of year and are currently available.

I've been buying and planting some perennials, mostly herbs. However, I did break down and buy basil yesterday, but I'm planning to keep it indoors for a few weeks (we'll see how that works). If you can bear to wait until mid April for your other annual summer color, try to! I think it will save you some headache!

The meandering ways of garden paths

I love the curious ways of a curvy garden path. They beckon one deeper into the space never knowing what treasures lie beyond the next curve. I admire how a curve encourages us to wander and peruse, where straighter walks are more direct, as if in a hurry. Over the past several years (and as a bit of a hobby), I've started capturing photos of paths and trails on trips to gardens here and abroad. Here are some of my favorites.

This one you've probably seen before. Its of a runner bond pattern brink walk we completed in our old side yard with gorgeous mossy salvaged bricks. This small garden is actually less than 12 feet wide, but it became on of my favorite spots nonetheless. The color variation in the old bricks is incomparable in my opinion to newer more "perfect" varieties available in retail outlets today.

  

We found this lonely path at Laguna Mojanda in Ecuador a few years ago. I love how it follows the landscape's natural elevations, literally carving up and making it accessible for travelers today. I also can't help but think about why the path was created and who and what have traveled its course.

This path is from the Hacienda Cusin near Otavalo, Ecuador. I love the use of the tall green spike-like foliage as a mask for what's beyond.

This path is at the renowned Fearrington Inn and Village in Pittsboro, NC. Their village community is both a gardener and gourmand's delight. I love the width of this path and how the maple tree helps provides a canopy over the walk while also peaking one's interest at what's around the next bend.

This simple path of crushed stone with a rock border was our carpet through a jungle in Belize. There's something about the contrast of the gray color against the green foliage in this setting that is pleasing to the eye.

I don't mean to knock straight paths, as they also have their merits and uses in the landscape: straight paths are often indicative of more formal spaces. Straight paths are wonderful in symmetrical gardens and create amazing lines when anchored with a focal point as done in the Reynolda Village garden.

This path can be found at the Reynolda Gardens in Winston Salem, NC. The use of grass for a path is unconventional, yet inviting. The gazebo placement at the of the walk demarcates the passing from one part of the garden to another.

This grass path through a grove of trees, from the Grayland Inn (also in Winston Salem), is gorgeously framed with trees. (I'm still unsure of how they are able to get grass to grow in that much shade, but I'm certainly glad they did!)

This straight and narrow way frames the "White Garden" also at the Fearrington Inn. A bench is the focal point awaiting travelers along this path.

In this South American path, stones and rocks of various sizes are inter-laid to create the effect of a continuous solid path.

We have plans to put in a flagstone path from our backyard garden gate to our brick patio this Spring/Summer. Posts on the project progress are sure to follow!

Camellia Japonicas are in full bloom

The Camellia Japonicas are in full bloom around Raleigh and I love it! This weekend we celebrated the triplet's first birthday and we have a tradition in our house of creating cut arrangement from only plants in the yard for birthday arrangements. This tradition was started by my aunt Mary, for whom I was named, years ago and my mom has kept it up. This is one of my favorite traditions as my fete anniversaire always falls comes when Peonies are in season, and somehow a fragrant bouquet of pink peonies softens the blow of another year rather nicely!

This weekend, mom delivered a straight-from-garden grouping of Pink Perfection Camellias. The pink perfection is one of my favorite blooms with her hot pink delicately carved petals. I've been trying to find one of these late winter/early spring bloomers at several local garden centers to no avail. I was, however, referred to a new find, Camtoo Camellias, a wholesale camellia nursery in Greensboro, NC! (As a hometown girl, I do love a NC plant business!) I've also found there are several equally as aesthetically pleasing camellia cousins. In talking with my mom about her shrub, she did share that she doesn't love how the flowers fade and fall: the entire bloom drops from the steam together leaving litter of brown clumps on the ground beneath the shrub. That isn't something necessarily that I would have considered when plant shopping, but it something definitely worth considering going forward along with bloom time, sun/shade preference and size!

In my own garden, we did plan several Yuletide Camellia Sasanqua's this past Fall. Unfortunately, they didn't bloom despite being loaded with blooms, but I am optimistic about next year's show!

Happy Gardening!

Read more about camellias

Basics of Organic Fertilizers

(This is the 2nd part of two posts on fertilizers. Read the first post here.) 

I love the idea of using organic fertilizers! Using them makes me feel good about "reusing" something and not damaging something downstream at the same time. Its like guilt free fertilizing! Organic fertilizers are naturally-occurring fertilizers such as compost, bone meal or manure. Organic fertilizers help amend the quality of your existing soil and as compared to inorganic fertlilizers they are adsorbed more slowly over time (resulting in fewer applications) and help improve the moisture retention of your soil. They also lead to less runoff of excess chemicals and are typically cheaper (especially when they are "home grown" with a chicken coop or worm or bin composting). Here are some types of organic fertilizers you may want to consider:

• Mushroom Compost - This is the organic material left over from the intentional growth of mushrooms that has been steam treated to remove critters, weed seeds and other pathogens. According to http://www.mushroomcompost.org/, the average mushroom compost has a mix of 1.12: .67:, 1.24. (If you aren't sure what these number mean, read about N:P:K values here.)
• Bone Meal - Bone meal is literally milled bones. It has a N:P:K ration of 4:15:0. This makes it great for stimulating root growth - which is why its often used for planting bulbs.
• Black Cow - Black cow is just what you are thinking: good ole "manure". I just checked my bag and it boasts a N:P:K ratio of 1.5:1.5:1.5. This sort of leaves me wondering what the rest of it is since only 4.5% of the composition is accounted for. Anyone know?
• Garden Compost - I have had a composting bin for a few years now and I often use it as part of a soil cocktail when planting new plants. I use it for general purposes in the garden, but I'm not sure its N:P:K makeup. I'd love to know if anyone else has knows if there are best applications for compost from kitchen scraps.
• Worm Compost - In the Fall of 2009, I started worm composting. I wasn't able to stick with it long enough to generate must compost or compost tea. For me, I didn't feel like the worms could accommodate the volume of kitchen scraps that we regularly generate and I found that I needed to keep both a worm bin and a normal compost bin going at the same time. I also found the worm composting bin to be a bit high maintenance. Nonetheless, many a gardener uses worm castings and tea in their garden and there are certainly plenty of "worm poop" enthusiasts out there!
• Chick coop poop - I have several friends with chickens and I am the grateful benefactor of their surplus eggs from time to time. After touring gardens on the Henside the Beltine: Tour De Coup, one friend, Jody, was an instant convert. She was struck by the gorgeous gardens, not chickens, on the tour. Chicken droppings are high in Nitrogen and are great at boosting new plant growth!  

Right now, I'm still working on getting my compost bin running and generating soil again. I've been at it since the end of January, so hopefully, we'll have some "black gold" again soon! In the meantime, I try to keep both mushroom compost and black cow on hand when putting in new shrubs and plants.

March 2011 Garden Event Roundup

Here's what's happening for the rest of this month in and around the gardens of Raleigh!

• March 6th - "Native Azaleas" Workshop  (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill)
• March 8th - Japanese Plants and Collectors (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh)
• March 11th - Spring Walk in the Garden (Duke Gardens, Durham)
• March 12th -  "Soils, Water, and Site Conditions for Home Landscapes" Workshop  (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill)
• March 12th - 3rd Annual Camellia Show (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh) 
• March 13th -  "Container Gardening" Workshop  (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill)
• March 17th - "Plant Exploration in Crete" Lecture (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh)
• March 26th -  "Get Growing Vegetables" Workshop  (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill)
• March 26th - "Weeds 101" Workshop  (NC Botanical Gardens, Chapel Hill) 
• March 31st - Backyard Birdhouses Lecture (JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh)

Hope to see you out and about! Happy gardening!

Floral Design with The Art of Flowers

In the not to0 distant past, I took a few floral design classes with Art of Flowers in Raleigh (hosted by Watered Garden Florist). I had a great time and loved having access to so many professional cut flowers. The classes also included a number of tips and tricks.

Two of my favorite tips relate to ways to help keep flowers "full" looking and upright in a vase.

1. Create a ball out of a piece of chicken wire about the same diameter as the top of your vase. Then stick your trimmed leaves through the wire ball at various angles to help disperse stems while keeping them upright.
2. Create a criss-cross grid out of thin floral (or trimmed scotch) tape strips across the top of your vase. Insert your flowers into the grid to help keep them upright. (For me, this one sounds better in theory in practice as I've found changing water to be a challenge with this approach. Its also a pain when a leaf falls into the water under the grid.)
   

During one of the classes, I ventured out to do a monochromatic design in a low shallow bowl. (As an aside, the owners of Art of Flowers had picked up the bowls on a trip to Africa - which is pretty neat!) I never would have tried this before as oasis was the only true support for the flowers. I clothed my oasis in a blanket of moss. Below is the outcome: it made a pretty cheery centerpiece in the dining room.

The fee for the classes is extremely reasonable when you consider that its both educational and entertaining to participate and you get to take home an arrangement to boot!

The Flower Shuttle

A few years ago, I volunteered to do floral table decorations for a local non-profit's annual fund-raising dinner. After our event was over, we had a plethora of Gladiolus that were just hitting their stride: they actually looked better after the event than during it.

We decided to donate them to The Flower Shuttle, another local non profit who receives used or unsold and near "expiring" florals and remixes them to brighten the days of people in hospitals and retirement homes.

Since then, I've volunteered twice at their Tuesday morning sessions. The ladies (and gentlemen) of the Flower Shutter are great. Each Tuesday, they meet to assemble arrangements and it is one smooth running operation! Everyone has a job; from putting out flowers, filling vases and running the refreshment stand (yes, they have refreshments) to welcoming and getting newbies oriented.

I highly recommend it as something to do in the "off season". Its a great place to contribute to our community while exercising your creative juices - you may even pick up a floral design trick or two!