Small Garden Inspirations

My Gracious Return

2010-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hello There Fellow Gardeners,

I've been gone for sometime, but I've decided to make a comeback! I was just sidetracked for my love of crafts. But I just couldn't step away from my love of gardening. I still only have a few plants that I am tending to and eventually I would like to aquire more, but I will be in the process of moving in a few months and I don't want to start some big planting projects. I would have to tote all my pots or plantings to somewhere new. My gardening blog currently is for a very small spaces and depending on which route housing takes me I won't know which way to go! I will be renter. Renting a small townhome is in the works, and it has a wonderful small space but only time will tell if that's the one for us.

My current plants are some hardy succelents and a pepper plant. The pepper plant was given to me by my neighbor who moved out and since then I have harvested one great little pepper!

I don't see any more yet, but I am crossing my fingers. Anyone know if peppers have to be pollenated like tomatoes? I don't know much about growing peppers.

Happy Gardening!

New Blog

2009-09-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Take a look at my newest blog. Aspiring Creations. I am taking on a whole new direction. Happy Gardening!

Inspiration perhaps

2009-07-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken outside the grounds at my apartment complex. It happened to be a nice wet morning with dew on the leaves.

Happy Gardening!

Okay, just call me artsy

2009-07-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

I decided to change my template again. I simply wasn't happy with the fact that I couldn't really do much with it from the page itself. I come from an art background and I am truly picky about such things. Right now I am practicing Calligraphy. I have been doing it now for a couple of years and I love it! I would love to develop it into a business if I could. Also photography but I haven't found my nitch yet. I do love taking pictures of fauna and flora.

Happy Gardening!

Houseplants

2009-07-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well the Summer is here and in Southern California the heat is on. This particular weekend has been a warm one and I really need to water ALL my plants. I take my kids to the apartment complex pool to cool off. I should do that with my plants. I feel like they will fry out there in heat and the sun to just sucks up the moisture. My patio is East facing and the hottest part of the day sit half of my container plants.

My houseplants on the other hand have a different set up. I don't have that many because of the lack of space but each are thriving the best they can. I have a Maidenhair Fern (my newest addition) that sits on the end of my dining table in front of a large north facing window. Perfect light there. Another new addition is a small polka-dot plant that has a home on a dresser in my boy's bedroom. It's in front of a south facing window. My youngest son Brendan, who is Autistic, absolutely fell in love with it at Home Depot so I brought it for him. My oldest surviving member of the family is my Umbrella Plant. It's doing awesome perched on my counter in the kitchen next to the sink, which is East facing. Believe me THAT kitchen gets really hot during the day. Probably why the plant is doing so well. I recently re potted with some mixed soil. Guess what? a few days later I had some unknown seedling pop up! I know now to use only fresh uncontaminated soil. We live and learn I guess. I have one hanging plant the easiest plant on earth to keep alive, a Golden Pothos. It hangs in the east facing corner in a really cool wire basket where it receives bright light. There again I have to be careful because if I left all my blinds wide open I would fry in here, not to mention a few nosy neighbors looking in. My last plant sits on top of my entrainment center. With that container I have placed a two plants, a Golden Pothos and a Heart Leaf Philodendron. It's doing fine, but I probably need to water a little more. It gets a little droopy. But so far I am pretty satisfied with the plants that I have. But since I am obsessed about plants in general I would love to accumulate more, but there is always that issue of space and I have to resist because of money and space. So it's the outside I plant more!

Happy Gardening!

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone is enjoying their day of independance, the outdoors, BBQ's, and everything else in between.

Oh Tomatoes!

2009-06-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

I consider myself now very familiar with growing tomatoes. I began last year from humble seeds and yes I have to admit from a plants as well. I had to try both. It's been quite the accomplishment because it's really the beginning of summer and I am still harvesting tomatoes. Mind you it is not a bountiful crop, but it's something to be proud of. One or two here and there from each container. I have learned much, from sowing seeds in my kitchen to replanting in containers, and trying to prop up the vines. It is not easy. I believe growing tomatoes is something that requires trial and error. But the outcome is great! I have pictures to prove it.

If any of you have advice or tomato stories please share them. I'd love to let others know how rewarding it is to grow tomatoes in containers!

Gotta thank the Neighbors

2009-06-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

I reside with my two children in a very small apartment complex and do plenty of laundry. Okay what's that got to do with gardening? Every time I made my short trip to the laundry room I would pass by the older couple in apartment number 2. They spent years tending the plants and called it their "little Italy." The patio was surrounded by plants, blooms and in my opinion a wonderful garden oasis. I used to chat frequently with the lady who used to live there about her passion of gardening. They have since moved and now the new residents don't even have a potted plant. But I have to thank the older couple because they decided to give me several of their plants before they left. I felt like I was a kid in a candy store with all these new plants I get to take care of! Now I'm the neighbor who has all the plants.

Garden Wish List continued - Vegetables

2009-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

I am getting very excited about starting my garden this season. It so warm out and it's making me itch to get started!

I have decided that I am going to plant Peppers this year. This will be a new adventure, since I don't make many dishes with peppers, but it sounds fun and exciting to try something new.

Park Seed has a good article on starting Peppers and has many available to choose from. These would be great for containers and very colorful to boot. This handy chart is great for choosing which peppers to plant.

My Garden Wish List Continued

2009-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

I think my wish list will be a work in progress, I was thinking that most of would us like to attract either hummingbirds, wild birds or butterflies to our garden.

I found a great website that has very unique hand blown glass hummingbird feeders.
Wild Birds Forever. Most of them are very colorful and would add beauty to any garden space.

Take a look a this feeder, Hot Fudge Sundae, how fun is that?!! Yum.

I love this feeder as well.

I did find a wonderful container plant that has a fragrance.
Lemon Grass or called Cymbopogon citratus, This would be great ornamental grass and it can tolerate full sun. Prefect for a garden in my growing zone of 10. A tomato plant that would do wonderfully in a container is this:
Tumbling Tom Tomato. The neat thing about this plant is that it doesn't need to be staked. It just hangs over the side of the container! How low maintenance is that?! Start seedlings indoors about 5-6 weeks before. That seems simple enough and we are going for simplicity here.

Watch for more of my wish list to appear.

Everythings comin' up Green

2009-01-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

I never in intended to look at my life as "green." But my joy and passion for gardening has led me to look at everything at a "green" perspective. It's rather become an obsession.

I survive on a very limited budget and in that case I can only wish for the ultimate dreams of my very own tropical oasis. So what I do is trek on over the San Diego Wild Animal Park and drool over the flora and fauna around the park. I have a very "old school" SLR camera that collects dust and went out years ago. I do love photography and I wish I could share what I see on this blog.

Last Spring I began my own little container vegetable garden. I do happen to have pictures that I will share. I still have actual tomatoes still growing, amazingly enough and it's the middle of January!

I live in a very small apartment complex, quaint with a half-brick wall that surrounds my small space.

It may be nothing now, but the possibilities are endless!

Garden Wish List continued - Water Features

2009-01-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

This list will be a work in progress and what I have should of done is save every file in a folder and I would not have to spend all my time searching, even though it is kind of fun. I rather be doing this than washing the dishes anyday.

12" 3-Arm Bamboo Water Fountain Spout and Pump Set, photo

I absolutely love this. Simple yet wonderful water feature for a small space. Inexpensive as well. Just purchase the spout and pump, find a unique container for the water, river stones and wallah! This would be perfect for a Feng Shui Garden. Make sure you have a power outlet outside your patio or balcony, unfortunately I don't and most pumps are not solar powered. But that's next on my list.

Solar powered fountain
This is nice and under $100. Not sure about eaze of set up, but will do more research. Make sure your patio or balcony receives plenty of sun if you buy solared powered. My patio is not covered and I get full sun most of the day.

Minature Water Garden.
This is little more involved, as far as set up goes, because it involved prepping the container, find the right size container, and then you have to decide whether you want to add live animals such as fish, they don't stay small forever. You may want to stick with just adding live plants adapted for water. Also the idea of fish might not go over well with your manager or landlord. Especially if you aren't allowed to have pets in your apartment, condo, flat or townhome. My best advice is to stick with plants. That's what this blog is about anyway!

My Garden Wish List

2009-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

My small space will always a work in progress and since the new year has started, it is time to think about what I want in my patio garden this year. I will post pictures of plant hopefuls and other garden decor. I would like it to project a feeling of an garden oasis, perhaps a little zen in nature! Hopefully I can incorporate some water features as well. Just think of the possibilities!

Garden Wish List:

Cypress Vine
(Ipomoea quamoclit)

About Me

2009-01-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

I happen to live in a apartment with a small outside patio and I also happen to enjoy gardening. My only choice to enjoy my hobby is to container garden and to help other apartment dwellers with a limited amount of space and a limited budget.

My love of gardening came from my Grandmother. When I was growing up, I used to spend the weekends with my Grandmother out in her yard in Northern California. Now I have this passion of anything that grows in a pot or in the ground. It's actually an obsession, but if I call it that I would have to tell you that Garden centers are places I shouldn't go.