Tag: garden

Phlashback Thursday – Microgreens

On By TimelessladyIn Phlashback2 Comments

This Phlashback Thursday is a consolidation of three posts from January 2012. Microgreens are still a popular food item on the menus of small cafes and upscale luncheonettes. I have some seeds purchased within the last year. When I am finished posting, I will pull them out and plant a few. It’s fun to reset some old habits, but also a good idea to retain a few of my old goals too.

Sowing seeds and indoor gardening seem to be dominating my winter blog posts. I am starved right now for green, tired of the bare branches of trees silhouetted against the sky. I have been sowing seeds in hopes of harvesting Microgreens. Microgreens are harvested from seeds sprouted through the early leafing-out stage. I am using seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds. This is my first attempt at this type of gardening.

I am growing the Microgreens on my windowsill in plastic throwaway containers from cookies and other snacks. To see how I went about the process, check out the photos below.

I gathered my supplies: antique pots to look pretty, throwaway plastic from cookie containers, corn holder for poking holes in the plastic.

I made sure the containers would fit inside my chosen pots before I added the dirt.

I poked holes for drainage in the plastic with the corn holder.

I filled the containers with organic soil.

I watered containers of soil and let them drain.

I spaced the pea seeds out in rows.

I sowed the Kitchen Sink Mix en masse.

I covered with one of my favorite kitchen tools, Glad’s Press ‘n Seal.

The seeds are already up…they sprouted in less than two days.

My Microgreens are up and growing fast. I can’t wait to try them in a salad.

A few weeks later: Oh My! The Microgreens are a bit ragged in appearance…what happened to my lush crop? I’m afraid to say I have already eaten most of the young greens. I pop the tops off the pea sprouts and eat them like candy. This is reminiscent of the peas I grow outdoors in the Spring. They never seem to arrive on my kitchen table as a side dish. Warm afternoons usually find me standing in the midst of the pea patch eating the fresh peas out of the pods. Yum! In truth, the microgreens are a complete success. I enjoy growing them, and most of all eating them. The best use so far was garnishing my turkey and swiss cheese sandwich with a row of them. Oh Happy Day!

The kitchen sink variety is also thriving and perhaps today I will start grazing on them too. Moo!

Photo Challenge – Simply Red/Garden Bench

On By TimelessladyIn photo challenges4 Comments

My grandson, about fifteen years ago, sitting in a red striped shirt beside a red angel wing begonia. Thank you to Becky, of the Life of B blog, for hosting the Simply Red square challenge.

Project – Weekend Project/Flower Pounding

On By TimelessladyIn Projects20 Comments

A way to preserve flowers is to pound their essence and color into a sheet of paper. I had some handmade paper, measuring 6×4, with deckled edges. I found it the perfect background for pounding some of my garden flowers.

I started my flower pounding with violets. Years ago, I transferred some from the woods into my garden beds. I have hundreds of violets in my grass and flower beds in early spring. I don’t mind them at all. I pull them out if they overwhelm my perennials or annuals. Because they sow seed, there will be many more to take their place next year. They are also a great ground cover for areas I don’t want to weed weekly. The leaves are a host for the fritillary butterfly. 

The beautiful violet color is easy to transfer. I place the flowers and leaves on the handmade paper, then, using a piece of tracing paper to see what I’m doing, I place this over the flowers and pound them flat with a small hammer. It is easy to work in a corrugated box based on the floor rather than on the floor itself. Some flowers stick to the handmade paper. I let these sit for a few minutes, and then gently remove them. Voilà, there is an impressionistic-type print of the flowers.

After drying the paper out for about two weeks, I used a 005 permanent marker to create a few lines, using the photos I took before I pounded the flowers as a reference.

I love the way the finished product turned out. I will continue pounding flowers all summer, labeling each pounded flower print with where it was taken from in my garden or other places. At the end of the summer, I intend to make a handmade book containing all the prints.

Phlowers – Profusion Double Deep Salmon Zinnia

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers6 Comments

We grew this lively mix in the front beds of our old farmhouse porch and discovered it is one impressive zinnia, forming mounds of continuous color that were adored by the butterflies. ~Pinetree Garden Seeds

I am in love with this low-growing zinnia. Perfect for the front of my backyard patio border, the color is luscious, a brilliant coral pink.

The plants have been blooming for several weeks. They were available through Pinetree Garden Seeds, a reliable seed company. Next year, I will do the same and plant two side by side. This creates a mesmerizing display of color.

There is a plethora of flowers, and they last quite a long time. The color is beautiful even as they near the end of their bloom time. These zinnias fade to a lovely creamy yellow before they need to be cut away.

My one complaint is the small number of seeds in the packet. Although, the description does include the seed count so there was ample warning.

The zinnias are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Product – Miracle-Gro Composter/Tumbler

On By TimelessladyIn Product2 Comments

I purchased a composter/tumbler from Miracle-Gro this Spring. It was totally unassembled, so it took my husband about 90 minutes to put it together. A few connective inserts bruised his thumb as they were challenging to push into the frame. Yet, when the composter/tumbler was ready to use, it was all easy from that moment on. 

I placed it in the back of the yard. The composter is not an eyesore, but it is only pretty if you are a gardener and recognize what you are looking at. I immediately added a bit of used potting soil, undiseased yard/garden clippings, and kitchen scraps. Every day I made sure to tumble the bins. When the first bin was full, I marked six weeks on the calendar, and today was the day I scooped out my first harvest of compost. 

After removing the few sticks and roots that had not decomposed, I admired the dark, beautifully textured soil the composter created. I added it to the tops of my potted tomatoes. I am pleased with this wonderful garden product and recommend it. I purchased mine through Amazon. 

  • The only drawback to this product is that it is time-consuming and frustrating to connect some of the pieces. 

Problem-Solving & Pests – That’s Ugly

On By TimelessladyIn Pests, Problem-Solving5 Comments

I’m laughing as I read through this, remembering all I have posted on how to chase away garden pests without harming them: water balloons, rubber snakes, jingle bells, etc. Here’s a new idea…yes, you can laugh, I never win 100% with the rodents or the bugs.

In the 1960s, our family’s favorite visitor was my Mom’s cousin, Norma. Norma lived in California, which alone made her quite the novelty since we lived on the other side of the USA in New Jersey. She always visited, armed with plenty of stories to entertain us. On one visit, she brought a hysterical book called ‘That’s Ugly.‘ The witty prose and the illustrations captivated us.

I say all that to introduce my latest pest and squirrel/chipmunk deterrent. Now, don’t get me wrong–I adore my squirrels. I walk around with peanuts to toss out to the friendliest backyard inhabitants. I don’t want to harm anything by using non-organic means to deter them.

Quite by accident, I discovered a perfect deterrent while filtering powdered garlic through a coffee filter. The resulting garlic water, combined with a drop of dish detergent, 1 tsp of baking soda, and a touch of oil, makes the underside of my rose leaves inhospitable to the sawflies laying their eggs on said leaves. After spraying the roses, I noticed that the garlic powder had dried to the coffee filter as if glued and still retained its potent smell.

I was thrilled. I now have made up several of these stinky filters. I put them in pots of newly planted sprouts; I hang them on hooks and skewers near flowers I don’t want nibbled. It is working. The adorable squirrels still get peanuts, but don’t bury them in my garden pots now. The problem is, the sight of them would be a perfect addition to the book ‘That’s Ugly!’ Honestly, it looks like my garden pots have been toilet-papered on Mischief Night. I hope I can remove the filters in a week or two, and the plants will be left alone.

*One note, the garlic actually becomes glue. If I don’t remove the filters from the pan while still damp, they dry and stick to whatever surface I have laid the on.

Long post short: Give it a try. It seems to organically keep the sawflies and digging rodents at bay.

Phloral Arrangement – IAVOM – Hybrid

On By TimelessladyIn Phloral Arrangements21 Comments

Monday morning, I’m enjoying the brilliant sunshine after a rainy Mother’s Day. My family was so sweet and showered me with flowers. All the raindrops were forgotten amid such love. The vase I’ve created is a hybrid, filled with flowers blooming in the garden and also with the small broken stems of the larger bouquets I received.

For today’s IAVOM, I used as a focal point a beautiful Iris that blossomed for Mother’s Day. I also included False Indigo stems from my garden, an excellent perennial for flower arranging. Can you spy the puffy chive blossoms near the Iris? The kangaroo paws, mini-carnations, tulip, and lily were broken stems from the Mother’s Day bouquets. 

In memory of my mother, I placed a bunch of yellow tulips in the living room. In her last months on this earth, her house was filled with vases of silken yellow tulips. When I look at them, I remember her and the cheerfulness of the flowers she chose to place in her home. A Willow Tree figurine, titled Tenderly, seemed perfect to include.

Phloral Arrangement – IAVOM McCoy Vases

On By TimelessladyIn Phloral Arrangements32 Comments

The Farmer’s Almanac counts down how many days of winter are left. As of today, there are 63 days left until Spring. Whoo-hoo! I have some sprigs of daffodils showing above ground, and this week, when storms knocked over pots planted with tulip bulbs, I saw that beneath the soil, the bulbs had rooted and were beginning to send up shoots. I hope being overturned won’t stunt the growth.

I have no flowers or interesting dried-out sprigs left to display in a vase for Rambling in the Garden – IAVOM. Happily, I do have a few evergreen plants growing in the gardens. I have gathered sprigs of Nandina, English Ivy, Barberry, and Vinca vine inside today’s vase. I also added a dried-out tassels of a Bald Cypress. To add some interest, I plucked Wisteria pods off the bush and added those into the mix.

The bouquet is so-so, but the vase is a treasure I found this week. Searching for unique containers to craft into hanging planters, I stopped at the local Goodwill. Usually, I find junk, and a caution for other treasure hunters; I often have seen Dollar Store items in the Goodwill store marked at $1.99. To be blunt, this always annoys me. I am often tempted to point it out to the manager, but the earnings from Goodwill Industries go to non-profit groups. Many of the stores have very high rents to pay in the shopping centers they are located in. For this reason, I don’t say a word.

Back to the find in the Goodwill, though. I found treasure—two beautiful McCoy Swan Vases. One is pink, and the other is blue. I used the blue vase for today’s arrangement. I do not have an eye for antiques as some do, but I love McCoy pottery, and I am good at spotting that variety.

My beautiful McCoy vase twins are, Whatsoever is Lovely to me—a perfect choice for Xingfu Mama’s Week Two Challenge.

Phlowers – Six on Saturday/Sowing Pansies and Johnny-Jump-Ups

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers6 Comments
A few of the many shades of blue pansies and violas I have grown in my gardens over the years.


Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Up are a variety of seeds I will be sowing this week. It seems early, but I should have sown them four weeks sooner. I don’t follow the recommended dates on the back of the packets. Earlier is always better if I want to have larger-sized plants for the Spring Garden. If my seedlings are pitifully small, I fall victim to the lure of lusher-appearing plants in the local nurseries.

I purchased several interesting varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds at the end of Autumn, and I can’t wait to see if they are as lovely as the photograph on the package. (Dilemma: I don’t remember the ‘safe’ spot I stored them in.)

The seeds of Pansy and Johnny-Jump-Ups sprout with some bottom warmth and humidity but also have one crucial requirement: they must have total darkness. I will put a plastic tray over the top of my flat and also cover that with a dark, wet washcloth. This will seal out any light rays that might interfere with sprouting.

Organic seed starter and sterile organic potting soil are what I use to start my seeds. The plants develop robustly if I fill the bottom 3/4 of the flats or pots with soil and the top quarter with seed starter. The foliage sits against the quick-draining starter, and the roots reach down into the richer soil. Two types of grow-lights work well for me: overhead and adjustable surround wands. A sunny window provides natural light and is also a good choice. 

One variety I loved, purchased from Baker Creek last year, was Laeta Fire, a viola with dime-sized blooms perfect for flower pressing. I have a few seeds left in the packet and will grow them again. You can see how small this flower is in comparison to the normal-sized geranium leaf alongside it. When I persevere in my gardening throughout the winter, the process brings me a sense of peace and renewal.

My Laeta Fire Viola is part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.