Posts Tagged garden

Date: February 24th, 2010
Cate: Great Grey Beast of February, House-of-Chaos, Ohio, Tiny House Projects, china, family, personal, spirit
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FairyGate: The Back-40 at the House-of-Chaos gets transformed into a fae-gate.

fairy gate1

Faery Gate

I know I’m not supposed to do it, but I can’t stand it anymore.  I completely understand that “no gates, bridges or other thoroughfares are to be built, opened or unblocked to allow the free transfer of beings from fae-to-terrin.”

Bollocks.

I’m building one.  In the back-40 of the House-of-Chaos I’m building a fairy gate.  It will open on the Summer Solstice of 2010.  Just try and stop me.

In preparation, here is a list of plants to make the fae more welcome in the garden.  Since this is the last week of February, and I’m convinced that Spring, in all her glory, is right around the corner…I better get crackin’ on the yard plans.

Try planting some of these faery favorites in your garden!

[ from: http://www.afaeryhunt.com/fairyfun.htm ]

  • BLUEBELLS: Faeries are summoned to their midnight revels and dances by the ringing of these tiny flowers.
  • FERNS: Pixie faeries are especially fond of ferns. One story tells of a young woman who accidentally sat on a fern, and instantly a faery man appeared and forced her to promise to watch over his faery son and remain in Faeryland for a year and a day. Ferns make nice soft beds for the little guys.
  • FOXGLOVE: The name “foxglove” came from the words “folk’s glove.” Folks referred to little people, or faeries. One legend says that faeries gave the blossoms to foxes to wear as gloves so they would not get caught raiding the chicken coop. According to another legend, if you picked foxglove, you would offend the faeries. And if the faeries stole your baby, the juice of the foxglove would help to get it back. In some stories, foxglove appears as a faery’s hat. Foxglove can sometimes heal and sometimes hurt. It is a poisonous plant, but it is also used as medicine to treat heart disease.
  • HEATHER: lights the flame of fairy passions and may open the gates between the fairy world and our own.
  • MUSHROOMS: Used by faeries as tables and stools. The species Amanita is the red and white mushrooms very poisonous….
  • PANSIES: These may be used in fairy love potions.
  • POPPIES: These will bring faeries into your dreams.
  • PRIMROSES: Primroses are one key into faeryland. There is a German legend about a little girl who found a doorway covered in flowers, and when she touched it with a primrose, the door opened up, leading into an enchanted faery castle.
  • RAGWORT, CABBAGE STALKS, GRASS and STRAW: All of these were used by faeries for transportation in the same manner as a witch uses a broom.
  • ROSES: The sweet smell and soft petals of roses attract faeries to your garden. A popular love spell uses roses. Sprinkle rose petals under your feet and dance on them softly while asking the Faery for a blessing on your magic
  • SAFFRON CROCUS: The stamens from this fall flowering crocus constitute the herb saffron. Any food prepared with saffron is a favorite faery food. Saffron used as a dye will turn cloth a royal gold. Such cloth is very valuable to faeries.
  • THYME: Wear a sprig of thyme to increase your ability to see the wee ones. Thyme may also be planted by the doors and windows of your house to invite the fairies to come inside.
  • TULIPS: The faeries like to use the tulip bloom to put their babies to bed.

Some other faery favorites are rosemary, heartsease, and forgetmenots.

Date: February 13th, 2010
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects

My Valentine’s Day present!

No…it’s not slinky or chocolate (sort of chocolate coloured!). But it’s awesome. I got an EZ Composter/Rainbarrel for Valentines Day this year! How cool is that. The Tiny House-of-Chaos has been using a 20 gallon trashcan for composting since last year when we moved in, and that has been working fine, but turning the bin manually is slightly problematic. This solves that dilemma.

7 Cubic Foot Good Ideas Recycled Plastic
EZ Composter and Rain Barrel Hybrid – Oak

* Unique composter and rain barrel combination!
* Tumbler seeps compost juice into barrel for compost tea
* Made of 100% recycled plastic
* Easy turning with recessed handles
* Wheels for easy movement
* 12-inch twist lid and breather holes
* Turn just once per week
* Create fresh compost in as little as 4 weeks
* Brass spigot on rain barrel for easy hose hookup
* Anti-bug and debris screen
* 7 cubic ft./47-gallon capacity
* 29L x 35W x 39H inches

Date: December 3rd, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, life the universe and everything

Stainless Steel Compost Bin


Stainless Steel Compost Bin

Originally uploaded by chinagrrrl

This is my new beautiful stainless steel composting bin for the kitchen. She is sleek and sturdy (like many of the Darrington women).

This stainless steel compost pail is perfect for collecting food scraps for my compost pile . I won’t be embarrassed to have it sitting next to your sink while telling visitors to the House-of-Chaos about the benefits of composting.

The stainless steel compost pail has a carbon filter to keep any smells contained when the lid is closed, and a handle to easily carry it outside to the compost bin.

The fluted, polished body is made of durable 18/8 stainless steel, and holds 1 gallon of kitchen scraps and other organic materials. It measures 11 inches tall, with a 7 inch diameter.

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/pail.html

Date: November 24th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, spirit

HOC: Garden – Hibiscus

I purchased two red hibiscus plants at the end of the summer for the front patio of the Tiny House-of-Chaos.  They were about $10 bucks a plant and I wasn’t sure if I would get much in the way of foliage from them, but they have produced literally hundreds of flowers that I’ve enjoyed. more))

Date: November 24th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, spirit

HOC: Garden – Gardenia

I love gardenia’s!  I love the smell.  I love that they are “finickey” plants that need a lot of specific needs.  I think that’s awesome.  I’ve killed previous gardenias (Harry gardenia, may you rest-in-peace) but I was able to tend to some of my family’s flowers while they wintered in Florida and received one for Mother’s day this year.

I learned they like to:

  1. drink coffee
  2. receive regular misting with distilled water
  3. and have an evening or two a week by a humidifier.

In return they gave me a steady stream of these:

Gardenia

Gardenia

Wasn’t that sweet?

Date: October 5th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, life the universe and everything, spirit

Tiny House Project: Night-Blooming Jasmine

Night-blooming Jasmine

Night-blooming Jasmine

Two nights ago my night-blooming Jasmine bloomed.  The scent was heavenly.  Succulent.  Blissful.  I know why they call it “Queen-of-the-Night.” more))

Date: October 2nd, 2009
Cate: Tiny House Projects, life the universe and everything

Lotus Planter by Design Night

Materialicious served up this beautiful natural planter today:

Nature Planter by Design Night

Nature Planter by Design Night

more))

Date: September 16th, 2009
Cate: life the universe and everything

Tiny House Project: Freecycle 777 Plants

Back 40 & Bags of Plants A while ago I listed the networking group Freecycle and how the Akron-area group of Freecycle ROCKS! I cant’ tell you how much I love freecycle.

Over the weekend there was a posting about some perennials being offered. I contacted the poster and arranged to bring some plastic bags for pickup on Monday.

I used my lunch-hour at work to drive over to the house and walked away with four honking’ big bags of plants. Whee! I am so excited!

The ‘Back 40″ at the Tiny House-of-Chaos was nekkid, nekkid, nekkid when we moved in. In May 2009 the only thing in the backyard was one spindly lilac bush and a wild-mulberry bush. The lilacs were beautiful back around Mother’s Day and the mulberries were interesting because of the drunk-birds always flopping around my backyard in June, but we needed some more greenery.

Now, I’m sure it is different for you, gentle reader, but I am not a woman of unlimited financial resources and every time I take a trip to a garden center I cringe as I approach the check-out registers. I know that it’ll be ramen and beans for weeks in order to pay for that stuff. So, in my effort to be both sustainable and fiscally sound, I’ve put the word out to friends with excellent gardens and freecyclers that my lil’ nekkid backyard is in need of some greenery that I can get without the green.

I’m willing to “hoe” for plants, so I’m not afraid to bring a spade, gardening gloves and one of them little knee-protector, foam-blockies to help you cull your garden and get me some cuttings. I’ve got root hormone and I’m not afraid to use it!

So I ended up at the “777 Lady”’s house and came away with some good conversation, information, a wonderful bit of loamy soil and plants, plants plants. Later that day I brought them home and separated them out:

  • Irish Ivy
  • Variegated Ivy
  • Mint
  • and about five others that I’ve forgotten their names right now. (777 Lady or anyone else who would like to comment on my “mystery plants” please do!)
Evening Mum and Gardenia Four Bags of Free Plants from FREECYCLE Back 40 & Bags of Plants Purple Humbugs Chamomile English Ivy and Mint IVY to root Freecycle Plant - ??? Irish Ivy FREE Plants

Being the end of season I put some into the ground and some right into root hormone and water to get some good rootage. Then I’ll over-winter them inside and they can make their debut in the Spring with those hyacinth, daffodils and lilies I planted as bulbs.

So use the resources and people in your community to freecycle and keep stuff out of dumpsites and into the hands of people who can use it!

Date: September 14th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, life the universe and everything
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Freecycle ROCKS!!!

The Freecycle Network is a site which allows individuals who HAVE stuff connect with individuals who NEED stuff. It rocks. Seriously. I’ve been a long time supporter of thrift-stores, consignment stores and garage sales, but this is AWESOME! I had to find my local group by typing “Akron, OH” in the little search window:

Find a group near you

e.g. Tucson, Arizona


then it took me to this fine page letting me know that Akron, OH has a Yahoo!Group for it’s Freecycle movement:

Welcome to the Akron Freecycle group!

The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,771 groups with 6,840,988 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns and thus keeping good stuff out of landfills.

Membership is free, and everything posted must be FREE, legal and appropriate for all ages. To view the items being given away or sought in Akron, you must be a member of the local group. To view the local group posts, visit the local Yahoo Group where they are located by clicking on the link below.

If you are already a member, you may use the “Post” tab on the top right of this page to make your post to the local group. Otherwise, go to the Yahoo Group linked to below and click on “Join” first in order to view the posts. Thanks so much and have fun!

Visit the Akron Yahoo!Group page

more))

Date: September 14th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects

Tiny House Project: Compost

This isn’t a House-of-Chaos project, but it’s another in the Tiny House Movement. Hillary (and Michael) from This Tiny House are a couple dedicated to the use of small spaces.  Hillary has blogged about her composting experiment in one of those plastic storage bins: more))

Date: September 8th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects

Love Rock, prickley pear, cactus in frog pot

Here’s a quick photo from the “Back 40″ garden. The rock is engraved with the kanji for love and it’s between a prickly pear cactus and my kids cactus in a frog pot.

Just a friendly reminder that “the rock of live may be smooth but its often located between two prickles.”

Date: August 27th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects

HOC: Prickly Pears

I was given a few prickly pear cacti from my friend Barb.  Last week she came by the House-of-Chaos and brought a box of the spiny fellas that she and her late husband Larry had gotten in New Mexico, a place they had spent many close, magickal times together.  Larry and Barb have both been deer friends to me and I greatly appreciated the gesture of her sharing these wonderful plants with me and my new garden.

She told me, very clearly, to use tongs to drop them into the dirt.  She was in no way unclear about this.  Still, I used my everyday gardening gloves.  Within minutes I realized why I was to use tongs.

The hundreds, nay THOUSANDS of spiny slivers slipped right through the gloves and into my hands.  When I pulled the gloves off, the spines broke of in my hands

Whee!!!

So…over the weekend all those prickers were working themselves out of my hands.

Ouch!

Prickly Pears

Prickly Pears

HOC_Wells_081609_03 HOC - Prickly Pear Cacti HOC_Wells_081609_02 HOC_Wells_081609_01 HOC_BackHouse_081609_04.jpg

Date: August 19th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos

Tiny House Project: Gardens –

Ok, I’m officially out of money right now, so no more buying things for the House-of-Chaos garden right now, but I have a list and these are on them. Shade-dwelling, perennial, ever-green. Who could ask for more? Hellebore…

Hellebore Winter Jewels™ 'Golden Sunrise':
Expect the blooms to continue for 3 months or more!

Hellebore Winter Jewels™ ‘Golden Sunrise’
Helleborus Winter Jewels ‘Golden Sunrise’

Very Free-flowering from Winter into Spring

Item #46287 – Plants

1  for $17.95 each
3  for $15.95 each - You save $6.00
6  for $14.95 each - You save $18.00
Item Qty: Ship to (select): OR ship to someone else: (example: Mom)
Very Free-flowering from Winter into Spring
This is one of the Winter Jewels™ series, selected for its rich, clear colors.
Every flower is different on this heavy-blooming, vigorous evergreen perennial. All are canary-yellow with bold red veins along the exterior of the petals, but some also sport bright red edges, a smattering of red freckles, and even a red central starburst!Chosen for its freedom of bloom and unusual clear, strong colors, ‘Golden Sunrise’ is from the renowned Winter Jewels™ series of Hellebores. The blooms are several inches wide, dangling from their stems like bright bells. They remain lovely for months on the plant, gradually drying to a papery consistency that is no less beautiful than their original freshness. They also make fine cut flowers when floated in a bowl of water to reveal their “face”!Hellebore is an absolute must-have in the shade. You can rely on it to remain beautiful year-round, its evergreen foliage large and handsome. A mainstay of the shade border, it resists heat, humidity, drought, cold, and even poor soil. Nibbling pests from deer and rabbits to insects leave it alone. And best of all, it colonizes over time into large, lovely plantings. Don’t miss this gem for the shade! Zones 4-9.
Date: August 18th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos

Tiny House Project: Hyacinth

Hyacinth

Hyacinth

I love the smell of Hyacinth.  It’s heavenly.  It is one of the few things that can shake me from my Ohio Winter Stupor (OWS).  So, in preparation of the horrid Ohio slump and in anticipation of the breaking Spring, I’m planting hyacinth bulbs this fall.

I’ve already detailed my purchase of mixed variety.  Now, the Peter Stuyvesant Hyacinth.

Botanical Name: Hyacinthus orientalis
Description: A longtime favorite valued for its rich, dark blue color, beautiful flower form, and strong sweet scent. Giant blooms reach a height of 10 to 12 inches and long-lasting in the garden and as cut flowers. Great for growing in planters or in hyacinth jars in a sunny window to bring a little spring indoors. Plant in the garden to provide ribbons of color along paths, for massing in beds, mixing with other spring bulbs. We ship premium 15-16 cm. bulbs that will bloom again each spring for years.

Date: August 14th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, family, life the universe and everything

How to Lure Wasps Away

From Clean Air Gardening by blair on August 14, 2009

wasp morguefile

Here’s an easy way to keep wasps and bees from bugging you while you’re outdoors. Take an empty plastic soda bottle and cut off the top. Poke two holes in the top, one on either side of the opening, then invert the top so that the opening is pointed down. Fasten a long, sturdy string through the holes, so that it loops from one side of the top to the other. Then put the top back into the bottle upside down so that it acts as a funnel, securing it with duct tape. Next, pour some sugar water into the bottle, and hang it in an out-of-the way corner of your yard. The wasps and bees will be attracted to the sugar water, leaving you alone.

cleanairgardening_2064_71168416 wasp funnel

Date: August 14th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos

Dividing and Replanting Your Irises

Louisiana Iris Black Gamecock

Louisiana Iris Black Gamecock

  • Late summer and early fall is the ideal time for dividing Irises. Before you start, prepare the planting site according to each variety’s growing preferences or have pots ready to pot them up to share with your gardening friends. Irises are heavy feeders, so be sure to work plenty of aged or composted manure, etc. into the new site for the transplants and in the existing site where you’ll be re-planting the original clumps.
  • When dividing, carefully dig up the entire clump (rhizomes, roots, and all) and use your hands or a garden knife to break new rhizomes away from established clumps. Usually a few will fall loose with just a little shaking, but be sure any new division you cut from the original rhizome has buds or sideshoots and one leaf fan apiece. Cut foliage at an angle down to 4 to 6 inches before replanting and discard any rhizomes that appear rotten or marred by insects.
  • Beardless Irises (Louisiana, Japanese, Siberian) can grow undisturbed for 8 to 10 years before dividing, but division of all Irises is recommended every 3 or 4 years to ensure peak blooming and vigorous growth.
  • Lift and divide bulbous Irises, such as Iris hollandica, every third year.
  • To force bulbous Iris in pots, plant in potting mix with 5 bulbs in a 5-inch pot in early fall, setting the tips just below the surface of the soil. Water thoroughly and place in a refrigerator for 10-12 weeks. Move to a cool (50°-60°F), sunny window when growth begins and water moderately. Flowers should develop in another 2 to 3 weeks.
Date: August 14th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos

Tiny House Project: Bulb Planting – Daffodils

Daffodils

Daffodils

In an earlier entry I detailed my purchase of “Black-Out” Asiatic Lilys for my fall bulb planting.  I recently sprung for a mixed bag of daffodils to plant along the front border of the walkway.  100 bulbs!

Now I know, that I’m not supposed to expect much from my bulbs the first year…even the second.  But I will be very pleased and grateful for any ambitious bulb which wants to emerge in the Ohio Spring 2010.

Gold stars for all of them.

Date: August 11th, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos
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Tiny House Project: Fall Bulb Planting

This is the first fall in the House-of-Chaos, and we’ve installed new doors, painted and redecorated the kid’s bedroom, fixed a toilet, sanded windows, cut the tree back, planted a bit of a garden and painted a bathroom.

The gardens have been minimal.  Mostly making some basic beds and working with the soil, which was mostly clay when we started.

I’ve had the ambition to get a few bulbs into the ground this fall so that come spring, I’ll already have some work done.  This is my plan:

My front yard has a wonderful mature maple tree which covers most of the yard and house in shade.  So I need to get some ground covering, hostas and day-lilies in this area.

Asiatic Lily - Black Out

In the back I have full sun almost all day, so I’m planting another two roses, some asiatic lilys, and peonies.  I love these “Black Out” Asiatic Lilys.

Black Out – Asiatic Lily

Botanical Name: Lilium
Description: If it’s a dark lily you’re looking for, Black Out is your choice. Few lilies have such a dark, smoldering color. The blooms are a black red, with dark spotting around the center which makes it look all the darker. Blooms are large, plentiful, and carries on strong-growing 3-foot plants. Add contrast to mixed beds and borders. Grow them in pots. Wherever you grow them these fine Asiatic Lilies will give you lots of carefree color in mid-July.
Date: August 3rd, 2009
Cate: House-of-Chaos, Tiny House Projects, life the universe and everything
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Tiny House: Garden Inspiration


Froug Spout

Originally uploaded by chinagrrrl

This past Sunday, August 2, 2009, I took a trip to one of my mom’s friends house who has a small backyard and what she’s done with her garden. All hand-done, a little chunk at a time.

Very inspiring.