sew sow so

First off Dolly is magnificent! I love the flower in her hair!

And back to your question about school gardening:

A box garden for every class is a wonderful idea. We have done the same. What I have found though is without the infrastructure for the teachers to know what to do with them, it only goes so far. That is where your connection to GrowingGreat may be most valuable. I think though, ultimately, there is so much put on our teachers right now that some (as we talked about today!) just follow the prescribed checklist of reading, writing, and 'rithmetic without ever leaving that box. It is those teachers (and in some cases parents in the classroom) that realize that the garden can be used for more than just teaching nutrition but integrated into those three subjects (along with science, art, history etc.) that will have the "best" garden boxes on campus.



And so, a question now for you. I need to get a "system" in place and will start with the pile on my desk in front of me. What do you do with magazines? (Ok, not the most important doc in front of me but hey, its the top of the pile so its a start!) I have every dwell since the beginning - and am not sure why. But also can't seem to part with them? Should I?! I also have piles of tearsheets from those mags I have bid farewell too (Martha Stewart; Sunset, Real Simple...) I'll add - I don't have time to paste them into some kind of scrapbook, as others have suggested to me. What do you do?

So good to be with you today in person. (And to know I can be with you any day here.) xo

You got your wish - it's *still* raining

You reminded me of an episode of Living With Ed where he buys a rain barrel and his wife hates how it looks. I actually kind of like the way it looks, but then you know how I feel about orange. I consulted his book to see if I could find a resource for you but alas there wasn't one. It does say it costs $90 which seems steep. He also writes you shouldn't water your vegetables with water collected from your roof, just your ornamentals, which I wouldn't have thought of.

Can you believe this weather? - I bet we could have filled up a couple of barrels over the past couple of days.

I do like the grey one below. If we lived in the city of LA we could get a free barrel as part of the LA Rainwater Harvesting Program. LA Times article here.

Update: I think I just found Ed's rain barrel here.

Rain Rain Don't Go Away

I am loving the wet stuff. We don't get enough of it over here - compared with you. Crazy how you can live in the same city and have completely different weather.

So I am thinking to maximize we should invest in a rain barrel.

I like these - but wonder if they are too "traditional" for our mcm home?

$149-$219 at Gardener's Supply Co.

Maybe this grey one instead. (Supposedly designed after an English "dollie"??)

$149 at Gardener's Supply Co.

What do you think? I am hoping they go on sale in the new year.

Or we could just go the "do it yourself" route. Instructions here. Will watch Craig's List for free barrels.

Stay wet! xo

wiki-d

My favourite native plant nursery - Theodore Payne, in Sunland - has a new Native Plant Wiki chock full of useful information for the native plant gardener.


encelia californica

Garden Box

My eldest daughter and I recently took an organic gardening class together (at one of our fave local haunts, Green and Greener). The class was geared towards kids - with lots of talk of vermiculture and "oooohs" over the definition of "casings".

The best part for me was the box we got to bring home.



The instructor (John Lyons of The Woven Garden - who is a wonderful teacher)had the kids plant a variety of items - bulbs (shallots), seeds (cat grass), seedlings (pansies) and plants (strawberries) into a wooden wine crate he had procured from a neighborhood restaurant.

The little box has been receiving a lot of TLC and happily growing on our patio. Happy plants - and happy reuse!