Archive for the ‘Grow’ Category

« Older Entries

Late Summer Planting Sale: 25% OFF All Botanical Interests Seeds!

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

Did you know that late summer, from mid to late August, is a terrific time to sow seeds in your garden?  It’s true!  Come fall, when most of your friends are turning to their stock of pickled and canned veggies in their basement, you can still be plucking fresh produce from your backyard. You can check out our Cool Season Starting from Seed selection for a whole variety of vegetables that can stand up to cooler fall temps.

Not just any vegetable will survive and thrive when planted in August. Planting during the late summer requires some strategic planning, since you must make sure to plant only crops that can handle the extreme heat of August afternoons, as well as the chillier temps of cool autumn evenings.

Save 25% OFF all Botanical Interests Seeds. Click to view all seed varieties.

Hardy Vegetables for Late Summer Planting

Carrots- Carrots may be sown from August through September in 10 day intervals for a steady supply.

Chard- You can plant chard in your garden up until mid-August. In milder areas, you can even overwinter your chard by covering it with a protective coat, such as fleece. Tender baby leaves are ready to be picked and consumed after just 4 weeks.

Peas- Peas can be sown up until mid-August. They are extremely tolerant plants, and are super versatile, since they are perfect for eating raw, canning, freezing, steaming, mashing, and more.

Coriander- You can sow coriander seeds up to the end of August, and if you repeat plantings every 2 weeks or so, you’ll have plenty of cilantro leaves to use in your cooking and cocktails.

Broccoli- Broccoli is one of the best and easiest crops to grow in the late summer. You can even plant broccoli seeds in your garden through early September.

Salad greens- Oriental greens, kale, arugula, spinach, mesclun, and a variety of lettuces all thrive in the late summer.

Radishes- Radishes, as well as other root crops such as potatoes and turnips, all thrive when planted in the late summer.

Snap beans- Late summer planted snap beans often thrive better than those planted in the spring. This is because snap beans benefit from cooler temps once the plants begin to produce. Plant them in August of late September to take advantage of this.

Tips for planting in the late summer:

  • Make sure to plant cool season crops, and plant them early enough that they can get a good head start on growing before there is any chance of frost in your area.
  • Plan not only what you plant, but where you plant. Your spring-planted garden may still be flourishing in August. Make sure you do not plant your late summer crops in a spot where the seedlings will be choked out by other plants.
  • Your veggies may take a couple weeks longer to mature than you would expect. This is simply a result of cooling temperatures.
  • Appropriately prepare your garden spot for new seedlings by clearing away any old, finished vegetable plants and weeds. Turn over your soil to a depth of at least 8 inches, and add a good layer of compost. This helps to re-nourish the soil where you have previously planted.
  • Whiteflies, stink bugs, aphids, and caterpillars are all commonly seen in late summer, so monitor your garden closely for pests.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, Shopping | No Comments »

Using Fresh Garden Herbs in Cool Summer Cocktails

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Image courtesy of Country Living

It’s definitely true that nothing spruces up a homemade meal and adds delicious flavor quite like your own home-grown garnishes. Herbs such as basil, cilantro, and thyme can add wonderful color and fragrance to your dishes- not to mention the best part of chowing down on them. Here is another idea that we love for fresh herbs- mixing them into some chilly and refreshing summer cocktails. Yes, it’s true. Not only can you cook and garnish with fresh herbs, but you can also mix them up with booze and drink them. The fresh herbs create an aromatic cocktail, which when drunk, creates a particularly complex and lovely sensation on the palate and nose.

At your next outdoor party, try making one of these your signature drink. Mix it up ahead of time in some pitchers, then keep plenty of ice on hand. Or, just shake up a couple of cooling drinks for you and your honey on a balmy summer night. Sip, savor, repeat.

Country Thyme and Berry Cocktail

Recipe from H. Joseph Hermann and Square One Vodka.Supplies:
1 muddler
1 10-ounce highball glass
1 cocktail shaker or mixing cup
1 cocktail strainer

Ingredients:
1 and ½ ounces vodka
A handful (approximately 10-15) fresh blueberries, huckleberries, or blackberries
1/2 ounce of fresh organic lemon cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 ounce organic agave nectar (natural sweetener)
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Preparation:
1. In the bottom of a mixing cup or cocktail shaker, add the berries and lemon. Muddle to juice both.
2. Add the vodka, agave nectar, and ice.
3. Shake vigorously for 20-30 seconds.
4. Take 3 sprigs of thyme and slap them between your palms to release the natural aromatic oils.
5. Place 2 sprigs in the bottom of the highball glass, then fill it with ice.
6. Strain the cocktail over ice and stick the last thyme sprig in the cocktail as a garnish. It should stick out a bit like a small straw.

County Line Strawberry Basil Spritzer

Recipe from Allison Evanow and the 2008 Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco.

Supplies:
1 muddler
1 tall Tom Collins glass
1 cocktail shaker or mixing cup
1 cocktail strainer

Ingredients:
2 ounces vodka
3 strawberries
2 whole basil leaves
½ ounce of lemon juice
½ ounce of agave nectar
Club soda

Preparation:
1. Muddle the strawberries and 2 basil leaves in a cocktail shaker or mixing cup.
2. Add all of the other ingredients except for the club soda.
3. Add ice and shake for 10 seconds.
4. Strain into a Tom Collins glass filled with ice.
5. Top with club soda.
6. Thinly slice (chiffonade) an extra basil leaf. Serve the cocktail garnished with the basil chiffonade and a couple strawberry slices.

Fresh Basil Martini

Recipe courtesy of Square One Vodka.Supplies:
1 muddler
1 chilled martini glass
1 cocktail shaker or mixing cup
1 cocktail strainer

Ingredients:
4-5 basil leaves, lemon basil leaves, or Thai basil leaves, torn
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce fresh lime juice
½ ounce of organic agave nectar

Preparation:
1. In the mixing cup or cocktail shaker, briefly muddle the basil leaves to release their oils.
2. Add crushed ice and all of the other ingredients.
3. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds.
4. Strain into the chilled martini glass.

Oh Rosie! Rosemary Lemon Martini

Recipe from Cheri Loughlin and The Intoxicologist.

Supplies:
1 cocktail shaker or mixing cup
1 chilled martini glass
1 cocktail strainer

 

Ingredients:
1 and ½ ounces gin
½ ounce orange juice
¼ ounce rosemary syrup*
½ ounce of fresh lemon juice
Sprig of fresh rosemary for garnish

Preparation:
1. Slap the rosemary sprig between your palms and rub gently to release the fragrant oils. Brush the inside of the martini glass with the sprig, then set it aside.
2. Combine all of the liquid ingredients in the cocktail shaker with ice. Shake for 20 seconds.
3. Strain into the martini glass, add the rosemary sprig for garnish.

*Recipe for rosemary syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 4-inch fresh rosemary sprig

Directions:
Combine the water and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil, stirring the mixture frequently until the sugar dissolves completely. This will take approximately 5 minutes. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the syrup from the heat source. Place the rosemary sprig in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the syrup over the rosemary. Allow this too cool completely before transferring it to an airtight container and storing it in the fridge. This will keep for up to 2 weeks.

Kiwi and Cilantro Mojito

Recipe from Melissa Parks and Suite 101.

Supplies:
1 muddler
1 mojito glass (or other tall, slender glasses like the Large Botanical Inspired Glasses by aHa!)

Ingredients:
3-4 sprigs of fresh cilantro
3-4 fresh spearmint leaves
2 slices fresh lime
1 kiwi, peeled and halved
1 tbsp. sugar (or simple syrup)
1 and ½ ounces light rum
Club soda

Preparation:
1. Lightly muddle the cilantro leaves, spearmint leaves, fruit, and sugar together in the bottom of the glass.
2. Add ice, rum, and enough club soda to fill glass.
3. Stir lightly to mix, and garnish with an extra slice of lime.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Entertaining, Grow | 6 Comments »

Successive Veggie Plantings for Prolific Harvest

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Planting SeedsFourth of July has come and gone, but it’s not too late to plant certain seeds directly into your garden. Additionally, there are some vegetables and herbs that need to be re-planted several times during the season in order to provide a continual harvest. Here’s the skinny on when to plant and when to re-plant certain vegetables for your garden.

Successive Plantings

These plants do well with plantings either throughout the growing season or in spring, and again in the fall.

Mid-Summer Plantings

Some seeds will give you more bang for your buck if you plant them later in June, rather than in early May. The ground is warmer, certain pests that like to munch are gone, and a later planting will give you more harvest after your neighbors plants have produced themselves into exhaustion. Here’s what to plant now:

  • Squash (summer and winter-if you have a long growing season)
  • Corn (if you have a long growing season)
  • Pumpkins

Check out all of our Botanical Interests Seed varieties, many heirloom and organic edible seed varieties. Enjoy a 20% discount on our bush bean and pole beans.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, Shopping | 1 Comment »

Companion Planting for Pest Control & Fruit Production

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

There’s been some discussion among gardeners lately regarding the benefit of companion planting. That’s the idea of planting vegetables and flowers together, or radishes with cabbage, or carrots and tomatoes, for mutual benefit. Is there solid research to prove this? Not really. Is it a bad idea? Not really.

Why Good Radishes make Good Neighbors

Radishes, in particular, are frequently cited as good companion plants. Something about their scent deters pests. Their flowers—tiny, delicate, and open-faced—attract small insect pollinators. That’s something that every vegetable (or, botanically speaking), fruit, can benefit from. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, blueberries, apples, peaches—all require pollinators for maximum quantity of production. If you let your radishes bolt (go to seed), you have a built-in pollinator beacon.

Other Plant Combos that Work:

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow | No Comments »

Grow Your Own Garnishes

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
Herb Garnish

From Left: parsley, basil, cilantro

One of the easiest and most fun ways to dress up your party platters is with edible garnishes. Flowers like nasturtium, marigold and chamomile make good garnishes.  Herbs are great, too. You can buy the garnishes at your local farmer’s market or grocery store, but many of them are so easy to grow, and expensive to buy, that it makes sense to grow your own.  It isn’t too late in the growing season to start growing your own garnishes. aHa! Modern Living has seeds for many of these, and we’re having a seed sale!  Save 15% OFF all Botanical Interests Seeds – many organic and heirloom varieties.

Here are some of our favorite edible garnishes, and their suggested food pairings:

Photo Credits from left: Earth Spirit Organics, LeeAnn Smith, Smithsonian Blog

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Entertaining, Garden, Grow, Shopping | 1 Comment »

Is it Time To Plant an Eco-friendly, No-Mow Lawn?

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There is nothing quite like kicking off your sandals during the summertime to stroll barefoot across your soft, verdant lawn. But unfortunately, maintaining a finely manicured lawn is an activity that can be extremely straining on both your wallet and the environment.

Buy now for $34.95

Maintaining a Turf Lawn = Not Eco-Friendly

Running a lawn mower for just one hour emits the same amount of pollutive gases in the air as running 40 new cars for the same amount of time! Not to mention, every year, over 13 million gallons of gas are spilled by homeowners as they fill up their lawnmowers, trimmers, edgers, and other landscaping power tools.

This year, we are encouraging all of our family and friends to try a wonderful product called Eco-Lawn, which allows you to mow your lawn only about once a month. Let’s face it, mowing is not only bad for the environment, but can’t you imagine about 100 other ways you would rather spend your time when your outside in your yard? Pushing along a noisy, sputtering machine that burps out stinky fumes is not our idea of ideal.

The Benefits of Using Eco-Lawn:

  • Once you have planted your Eco-Lawn, you only need to mow it about once a month. This will help you minimize the time you spend behind a gas guzzling lawn mower.
  • There is very little watering necessary with an Eco-Lawn. Therefore, you’ll save both money on your water bill and the Earth’s valuable resources. Plus, with a less swampy yard, you are less likely to attract grubs.
  • Eco-Lawn requires no application of dangerous chemical pesticides or fertilizers, so it is safe to use around your children and your pets. There is no chemical runnoff that will end up in your groundwater or in nearby streams.
  • Eco-Lawn contains a type of grass that has very deep-reaching roots. These roots make the lawn particularly drought resistant. They are able to reach deep into the soil in order to naturally reach the nutrients that they need.

Eco-Lawn

From left: unmowed, mowed

How to Use Eco-Lawn

Depending on the region in which you live, the time at which you should plant your Eco-Lawn will vary. If you live in a warm, southern state such as Georgia, you can plant it as early as March or April. In you live in a cooler state, such as Idaho, you’ll probably want to wait til May.  Planting in the spring means watering during the summer to get your new Eco-Lawn established.  If you can wait, why not take advantage of the rainy season, and plant your new Eco-Lawn in the fall.  If you are going to be planting your Eco-Lawn over your existing lawn, there are just a few easy steps for you to follow.

  1. Mow your existing lawn as short as possible. If you are able, mow it to less than one inch in height. If you have a dull lawnmower blade, this is actually good in this instance. It will help to damage the existing grass that you want to plant over.
  2. Rake the surface of the yard to get it all nice and even. If you’re planting in the spring, be careful not to raise any weed roots to the surface. Rake thoroughly to remove sticks, grass clippings, rocks, and other debris.
  3. Spread 1/4 inch of organic compost in order to create a nice, fertile base for your seeds.
  4. Sow your Eco-Lawn seeds using 15 seeds per square inch. A 5 pound bag of Eco-Lawn covers 1,000 square feet.
  5. Rake the area gently so that the seeds are just barely covered with soil.
  6. Roll the area with a lawn roller in order to help prevent soil erosion.
  7. Water every day for 3 weeks after planting. It is best to water early in the morning when the water will not evaporate in the mid-day heat.

This 7-step method is the most natural way to replace your current lawn with an Eco-Lawn. Now, until your Eco-Lawn fully takes root, your “traditional” lawn will continue to grow. You’ll have a full grown Eco-Lawn within about 4 years. If you wish to replace your traditional lawn more quickly, you do have the option of getting rid of your current lawn with an organic herbicide before planting your Eco-Lawn. You will, however, then have a lot of dirt til your new lawn grows in. The above method is gradual, but it allows you to make a smooth transition without ever being without grass in your yard.

Watch Patty Moreno of Garden Girl TV install Eco-Lawn

Other Alternatives to a Traditional Turf Lawn

Yarrow- Yarrow, or Achillea millefolium, doesn’t make much of a play surface, but it can handle a bit of foot traffic. You can also find it in a variety of colors such as white as pictured here, gold, and red.
Clustered Field Sedge, or Carex praegracilus, grows to resemble a traditional turf lawn. However, the good thing is that it tends to be thicker, fuller, and greener. You can occasionally mow it if you’d like, or just let it go to create a lush meadow-like lawn.
Hard materials such as flagstone, oyster shells, recycled concrete, and decomposed granite make great turf substitutes. Here we have pictured flagstone with moss. Pretty cool, isn’t it? And hard substances such as this can stand up to wear and tear, and take plenty of foot traffic.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, How-to Videos | 2 Comments »

Get Creative When Gardening in Small Spaces

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Photo source: chron.com

For a moment, close your eyes and use your imagination. What do you see when we ask you to picture your ideal vegetable garden? Perhaps you see a vast, open space buzzing with bees and teaming with veggies, fruits, and blooms in countless varieties and colors. Or, maybe you are envisioning a beautiful wooden pergola, crawling with sweet peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Now when you open your eyes and see that your reality is actually a small 15′ by 15′ square of turf, or perhaps even just a tiny cement balcony, it’s easy to be disheartened. We’d like to remind you to make the most of what you have! For millions of people, urban dwelling makes a sprawling country garden an impossibility. It can be discouraging when this is all you see in gardening magazines and manuals. This doesn’t mean that you can’t plant a garden that you will love. And it definitely doesn’t mean that you can’t grow your own food!

The Benefits of Gardening in a Small Space

Yup, that’s right. You read that correctly. Gardening in a small space totally does have its benefits. And here are just a few of them:

  1. In a huge space, it takes an awful lot of plants to create a dramatic effect. In a small space, it is just the opposite. Your small garden can really pack a visual punch.
  2. In a mini garden, it is easier to detect and remove any plants that may be unhealthy or infested by bugs.
  3. Planting a small garden is friendly on both your budget and your time constraints.
  4. Designing a small garden is an easier task because you are able to take in “the big picture” and consider the whole space at once.
  5. A small garden is more likely to look lush and full, not spotty. Just make sure you leave about a 16 inch wide path to walk through and tend to your plants.

Container Gardening

Nearly any fruit or vegetable can be grown in a container. So if your garden space consists of a balcony or patio, this is an excellent option for you. The most important things to consider for your container garden are the plants’ water and sunlight needs. You’ll also want to select containers that drain well, and make sure you use a good quality organic potting soil to nourish your plants.

For everything you need to start your own container garden, check out the Modern Container Garden Kit. It’s totally perfect for starting your own fabulous garden on a porch or front door step. Once you receive your Modern Container Garden Kit, all you have left to do is choose your seeds. Some vegetables that are ideally suited for container growing are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, lettuce, squash, and parsley.

And don’t think you need to use ceramic flower pots for your container garden. You can garden in whatever you want! Try a plastic garbage can, a clay pot, a large bushel basket, or even an old boot! (Reused and recycled containers are awesome.) Just make sure you choose containers that will allow for a depth of one foot of soil for your plants. If you want to plant root crops, such as beets, carrots, or potatoes, you’ll need a soil depth of 2 feet.

Vertical Gardening

Photo source: Apartment Therapy

If you’ve ever been to the city of Tokyo, you’ve witnessed just exactly how humankind has mastered the art of utilizing vertical space. The city is so crowded that its architects all build upwards instead of outwards. If your garden space has a super small perimeter, you should definitely consider employing this tactic.

There are many vegetables that will climb, climb, climb if you let them. Here at aHa! we’ve given seeds for climbing veggies their own home in the Vertical Garden section. Check it out- you may be surprised by the variety!

Another good thing to keep in mind is that things that grow upwards vertically will also grow downwards. So, this means that your vertical garden may consist of hanging planters. Small varieties of tomatoes really flourish in hanging planters.

Succession Planting

Photo source: A Sonoma Garden

Succession planting is a great technique for any garden, large or small. But when it comes to mini gardens, this is an excellent way to maximize a small space because the space is really put to its most efficient use. With this method, there is never an unplanted area in the vegetable plot. As soon as one crop is harvested, the space is immediately replanted with a different crop.

One method of succession planting is to plant the same vegetable, but to space out the plantings to every 2 to 4 weeks. Bush beans, for example, can be planted every 2 weeks from mid-May to the beginning of August. So, rather than planting your entire row of beans all at once, you can plant part of the row at the beginning of the season, harvest, and then plant more in about 2-4 weeks. This is a great way to have a new crop of beans continually coming in.

Another method of succession planting is to plant different vegetables in succession. For example, some plants have a short growing season, and can be replaced with a different crop after they have been harvested.

Vegetable Recommendations for Succession Planting

  • Spinach in the spring, bush beans in the summer, kale in the fall.
  • Mesclun greens in the spring, cucumbers in the summer, lettuce in the fall.
  • Peas in the spring, sweet corn in the summer, collard greens in the fall.
  • Radishes in the spring, eggplant in the summer, Chinese cabbage in the fall.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, Healthy Livng | 2 Comments »

Growing Food When You Don’t Have the Space for a Garden

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Photo from apartmenttherapy.com

It is easy to feel dismayed when you would like to plant a fruit, vegetable, or herb garden of your own, and you simply don’t have a yard in which to do it. Don’t feel like you’re alone here; there are literally millions of people who are urban dwellers and in the same situation as you!

All is not lost when it comes to growing your own food. In fact, far from it. You have several terrific options for planting food in a barely-there space, whatever that space may be!

Gutter Gardening

We just adore the idea of sowing, tending and harvesting a gutter garden. Gutters mounted on the side of your house maximize the heat from your home, help to keep your crops out of the reach of wildlife, and are inexpensive as well as practical. We think they look really cool, too! Check out the one that is pictured to the left. We found this photo at Apartment Therapy, and learned that this particular garden was planted by Suzanne Forsling of Juneau, Alaska. Another great gutter garden discovery can be found on Fern Richardson’s Life on the Balcony blog. Awesome!

Here are some tips to remember when planting your gutter garden:

  1. Mount the gutters on the side of your house that receives sunlight.
  2. Drill holes in the bottom of the gutters in order to allow water drainage.
  3. Each time you water, water with a discerning hand. You do not want excessive moisture to get trapped between gutter and your siding.
  4. If you can’t drill into your siding to mount the gutters, try hanging them from chains. In this photo, the gutters have been painted copper and hung at various heights to create a sort of privacy screen, such as this one this is pictured on the left below.
Gutter Gardening

Photos from left: MarthaStewart.com & LifeontheBalcony.com

Recycled Objects Garden

Photo: Real Simple

If you are all about going green, then a garden planted in objects from around your house is the perfect option for you. And using recycled objects isn’t just about being trendy. It’s about saving money, and showing that you care enough about the environment to re-use things instead of pitching them into a landfill.

To the right is one of our very favorite ideas, and we found it in Real Simple, where they used some old Crocs as hanging planters. We think this is the perfect idea- they already have holes for drainage and the sturdy plastic will hold up well when filled with soil.

Don’t have any old Crocs collecting dust in your closet? Try out some of these other planting ideas using objects from around your house:

  1. Try turning an old spaghetti colander and a wire hanger into a hanging basket. These create an especially cool impact when hung in groups of 3 or more. For a hanging colander, try planting strawberries, cherry tomatoes, peas, or beans. Any plant that usually grows vertically and needs to be staked up can also grow hanging down.
  2. An old shoe holder makes a terrific herb planter, with each herb in a different shoe pocket. You may also wish to try planting leaf lettuce in a shoe pocket. Before you plant, pour water into a pocket to check the drainage. You can find other helpful tips for a vertical garden in a shoe holder here at Instructables.
  3. Try using objects from your kitchen to create a container garden. Old Tupperware, mugs, mixing bowls, and coffee cans all make great planters. Just make sure to either drill holes in the bottom, or add a layer of gravel at the bottom of each planter to allow for water drainage. Check out this Do It Yourself article for 5 household objects you can re-use to create a container garden for your balcony, porch, or deck.

Window Boxes

windowbox garden

Flickr photo: stephadamo

There are many types of vegetables and herbs that lend themselves well to window box gardens. Consider crops that take up a relatively small amount of space, such as radishes and herbs such as cilantro, basil and dill. Browse through more Botanical Interests’ organic and heirloom seed varieties to find the herbs and veggies that make your mouth water.

You don’t have to go out and drop a pretty penny on window boxes, either. You can do it yourself! Take a look at this article from Marigold Lane on how to construct your own window boxes.

Here are a few tips for maintaining a successful window box garden:

  1. Plant vegetables together that have the same sun requirements. For example, tomato, cucumber, and chives will all grow well together since they all are warm season crops and have similar sun requirements. Chives grow exceptionally well on a sunny windowsill!
  2. Before you paint your windowboxes, consider that dark colors tend to attract and absorb more heat. You may therefore wish to stick with light colored paint.
  3. Again, you’ll need to make sure that the planter has adequate water drainage. Consider this before deciding where to place your windowboxes. You probably do not want to let your plants drain out onto the balcony of the person who lives on the floor below you!

 

 

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, Shopping | 4 Comments »

Anyone Can Arrange Flowers in a Bud Vase

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

From left: Jax Vase, Bird Vases, Cube Tube Vases

Creating your own floral arrangements can be quite overwhelming at first. So why not start small?  Bud vases let you bring nature into your home in little, easy-to-manage pieces. They fit smaller spaces that a larger vase would overwhelm, or can be used in a grouping to create a centerpiece.

Look to local farmer’s markets for fresh, cut flowers to create your own budding arrangements throughout your home.  Gardeners, of course, have access to their own plants for flower arrangements.  Restrain yourself from wanting to overfill bud vases with too many flower stems.  In our opinion, a single bold flower, like a Gerbera daisy, makes more of a statement than a stuffy vase full of red roses.

How to Select a Fresh Cut Flower

Trust your senses when it comes to selecting flowers at the market.  If the buds or blooms are browning, and the leaves are turning yellow, then keep looking.  You’ll want to avoid flowers sold in stinky water, chance are they are old.

Buy flowers when they are closed or just partially open. Many flower varieties, such as lilies, have multiple blooms on one stem.  Try to select a single stem with one bloom open and the others closed. That way, you will be able to watch the additional blossoms open and enjoy the flower longer.

Keep Cut Flowers Alive Longer:

  1. Fill the container with water containing floral food.
  2. Cut the flower stem to about twice the height of the vase. Strip the flower’s stem so that none of the leaves will be covered by water. Place the flower in the bud vase.
  3. To give added support and beauty, add stems of linear bear grass or other linear foliage. Cut the foliage so that they are just slightly taller than the flower.
  4. To give the bud vase an elegant, balanced look, insert greenery at the rim of the bud vase.

Tabletop Bud Vases

While large single-vase arrangements are the usual way to go at the dining table, Don Vanderbrook, a floral designer in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, likes to do a grouping of bud vases. “It’s an airier arrangement, and easier for guests to see and talk over,” he said.

Single Stems that Stand Out:

  • Gerbera daisies
  • Calla lilies
  • Gladioluses
  • Sweet peas
  • Daffodils
  • Tulips
  • Irises
  • Chrysanthemum
  • Roses
  • Spring blooming branches like forsythia

Keep Scale in Mind

Make sure the stem of the flower is at least as tall as the vase. Vanderbrook said the rule of thumb is that the flower should be 1½ times the height of the vase. So if the vase is 6 inches tall, the flower should be 9 inches high. Don’t go much taller than that scale, Vanderbrook said, because bud vases tip over more easily than conventional vases.

Also consider the scale of the space. A single bud vase won’t work on a 60-inch dining room table, Vanderbrook said. A grouping would work, though (see photo above).

Sources: www.nj.com & www.flowerpossibilities.com

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Garden, Grow, Home Decor | 2 Comments »

Garden Starter Kits Make Great Mother’s Day Gifts

Monday, April 12th, 2010

Basil Container Garden

For first time gardeners, getting started can be quite intimidating. Many people would love to experience America’s #1 most popular outdoor hobby, but simply don’t know where to begin. A trip to the local Big Box gardening store is less than helpful. There are so many mass-produced products from which to choose, how could one possibly sort through them all?

Well, we at aHa! Modern Living have a terrific solution for the aspiring or novice gardener. We have assembled a wonderful little collection of Garden Starter Kits to take the guesswork out of beginning a home garden. With three different kits from which to choose, we’ve designed one to fit any green thumb’s needs.

Don’t forget that Mother’s Day will be here before you know it! Mom is sure to love a gift that will allow her to spend time outside in the lovely, warm May weather. Check out all of the Garden Starter Kits for the one that will best suit Mom:

The Urban Seed Starting Kit – $46.43

If you want to take the guesswork out of gardening for your mom, then the Urban Seed Starting Kit is the perfect Mother’s Day gift. We’ve designed it to accommodate the first-time gardener who’s just starting to get her handy dirty, but also for the more experienced gardener who just loves convenience and efficiency.

Each Urban Seed Starting Kit includes:

  • One 8 quart bag of Black Gold Seedling Mix- a mix of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, perlite and Dolomite lime, and yucca extract, which creates the perfect medium for starting seeds.
  • One 12 pack of 3-inch Cow Pots- made of biodegradable, re-purposed cow manure, these pots are perfect for starting seeds because you can stick them right in the ground.
  • Three bags of Annie Haven’s Cow Manure Tea- each bag makes 5 gallons of all natural soil conditioning tea.
  • One pair of Eco Bamboo Garden Gloves- super soft and stretchy gloves made of bamboo.
  • One 16-ounce Garden Spray Bottle- serves a wide variety of uses, from mixing up fertilizer concentrates, to blasting off insects, to watering seedlings.
  • One Grow Your Own Food Made Easy Handbook- packed with tips and information on how to grow more veggies in less space.

The Stylish Girl Gift Set – $54.50

The Stylish Girl Gift Set is perfect for gardening within a small space, such as an apartment or retirement home. All of the items are compact, easy to store, and designed to bring a little bit of colorful life into a city dwelling.

The Stylish Girl Gift Set includes:

  • One Chrysanthemum Eggling- just crack open the white ceramic shell and water the peat and seed mixture to easily grow your own little chrysanthemum garden.
  • One Daub & Bauble Hand Wash & Lotion Set- both the hand wash and lotion are luxuriously formulated with moisturizing ingredients such as Aloe Vera and Vitamin E. Read more about why to use Daub and Bauble’s natural ingredients.
  • One Elephant Watering Can- Adorable! Need we say more?
  • One Matchstick Wildflower Garden- all you need to do is tear off a little matchstick, which is already packed with seeds, and pop it in a pot. Storing and planting seeds couldn’t be simpler.

Modern Container Garden Kit – $65.99

If mom loves to garden, but doesn’t have a backyard in which to do it, no problem! The Modern Container Garden Kit has everything she needs to turn a small space, such as a window ledge, front step, or back patio into a lovely container garden:

The Modern Container Garden Kit includes:

  • One 8 quart bag of Black Gold’s Organic Potting Soil- the ideal mix of Canadian sphagnum peat moss, perlite, worm castings, which is perfect for indoor and outdoor potted plants.
  • One Aqua Genie Watering Can- this this sleek watering can’s mini size helps prevent over watering and makes it easy to store.
  • One Write + Erase Plant Stakes (Herb or Botanical)- these pretty tags can be used again and again. All you have to do is wipe off the name and re-write!
  • One All-Purpose Fertilizer Concentrate- contains all the nutrients needed to grow healthy vegetables, herbs, flowers, trees, and container gardens.
  • One Roost Wood Dibber Hand Tool- No, it’s not a stake for vampire hunting. A wood dibber allows you to plant bulbs and seeds at the correct depth. It makes planting a snap.
  • One 4-pack Pot Pads (green, brown, blue or red)- an essential little addition for any successful container garden. Pot pads lift the pot in order to provide water drainage and air circulation, and also prevent ugly pot stains on your patio or deck.
  • One set of Herb & Floral Clippers- these non-rust clippers make trimming and pruning a breeze.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Garden, Garden tools, Gifts, Grow, Shopping | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries