August 9, 2006
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Containers Herbs Links

My Minty Centrepieces

Guest post by Amy Urquhart

I got married last month and I sure as sugar wasn’t going to incorporate the usual, boring, over-the-top, expensive floral centrepieces I saw in most wedding magazines into our reception!

Instead, I thought I’d buy scented geraniums. However, when I got to Richter’s to buy them the week of the wedding, the selection wasn’t that great, and those they had in stock were looking a little worse for wear.

The mint plants, on the other hand, looked great. There was a lot of variety, too. I needed 15 plants. I picked several different varieties, including Apple Mint, Candy Lime Mint, Variegated Peppermint, Scotch Spearmint (I ended up putting this one on the table where I’d seated most of the relatives from Scotland) and even Berries & Cream Mint.

I made new, pretty plant tags that co-ordinated with the rest of the stationery items I’d made for the wedding and had them laminated. I copied the Richter’s wording for them…it’s just that I really wanted the font and colour to match the rest of the decor.

I repotted the plants into new, 6″ plastic pots and placed each one into a galvanized steel holder (I picked these up at Dollarama). I had to put a smaller upside-down pot in the bottom of the container so the rim of of the plastic pot would line up with the rim of the steel container and inserted the newly-laminated, colour-co-ordinating plant tags.

This is the end result:

Centrepieces

We encouraged our guests to take the plants home and put them in their garden. It was great to find a way to incorporate my love of gardening (and knack for growing invasive plants) into our wedding reception decor. Each centrepiece cost about $7 to make.

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August 9, 2006
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Containers Ecology Links Stuff

EcoForms

EcoForms (photo from EcoForms.com)

The world of gardening containers is a sad carnival of ugly. I grow A LOT of plants, therefore requiring A LOT of pots. Unfortunately, the few stylish containers out there fall outside of a price range affordable to the bountiful, yet thrifty grower. That’s why I was excited to find these gorgeous plant pots at a Whole Foods on a recent trip to San Francisco. EcoForms embody all of the positives of plastic plant containers but they are made of biodegradable materials such as rice hulls. While they won’t last forever — this is a GOOD thing — they will last five years and claim to be structurally sound and resistant to freezing and thawing conditions.

I bought three pots with accompanying saucer: a Nova 6 in mocha brown ($5.99 US), an ebony black urn ($3.99 US), and a bowl in avocado green ($3.99 US). Saucers ran just over a buck or so depending on size. It turns out I should have bought more since EcoForms only seem to be available on the West Coast for the time being.

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August 6, 2006
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Containers Links Seasonal Veggies

Home-Grown Edamame

Edamame

My spouse, our cat (she LOVES edamame!), and I just finished sharing a small plate of fresh edamame aka soy beans harvested from the rooftop garden. This first harvest came from one plant grown in a medium-sized container. The variety name is ‘Toyha.’ To be honest the taste was not unlike the frozen beans I have cooked up at home or purchased in Japanese restaurants, yet they SEEMED exceptional given that we grew them ourselves and watched their progress with eagerness since I sowed the first batch of beans in mid-June. I will add that they were much better than the under-sized pods I purchased at the Farmer’s Market last summer.

Edamame

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July 7, 2006
1 Comment
Containers Seasonal Veggies

Versus the Squirrels (Part 2)

Well it turns out that the squirrels just up and left of their own accord. I have no idea why they would want to leave considering the cornucopia of delights waiting just outside their front door, but I’m not about to complain. And with their leave the peas have flourished. The ‘Carouby de Maussane’ plant has grown lush and has been pumping out pretty flowers and fresh peas on a daily basis.

Peas 'Carouby de Maussane'

I admit they rarely stay on the vine long enough to make even a small handful — nothing lasts very long since I tend to munch on whatever’s available when I’m out there with the watering can.

Handful of Peas

I’ve been very happy with this variety and will definitely grow it again. The plants are slowly starting to reach their end with the full heat of summer kicking it out on the rooftop. I’ll let them go for as long as they continue to produce and may just start a fresh crop in late summer when the intense sun and heat subsides out there. Or I’ll replace the plants with something else — I haven’t decided. I started another crop of the dwarf ‘Tom Thumb’ variety a few weeks back and they’re getting close to the flower-producing stage. They grow in smaller containers so I can control their heat exposure more closely. In the meantime fresh beans are starting to form from pretty purple flowers in another container across the deck. Here they are looking like microscopic penises!

'Royal Burgundy' Bush Beans

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June 14, 2006
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Containers Gardeners

Dallas Hays, a Gardener After My Own Heart

I was recently inspired by a gardener profiled in the April/May issue of Organic Gardening magazine. In the interview, gardener Dallas Hays of Lewiston, Idaho talks about making his own fish fertilizer (good for nitrogen) “..using a blender and squawfish from a nearby lake.” He also makes his own potting mix and substitutes ground up loofah that he grows himself as a substitute for peat moss. In the same mix he replaces perlite with corncobs run through a cornmeal grinder.

I love it when people take it upon themselves to go outside the usual and try new and crazy homemade substitutes in the garden. Dallas, if you are reading this, you rule!

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