Garden Dining Room Project

I'm dusting off the old blog today since this project seems to fit here a bit better than over at the farm blog. Over the past two years in our backyard, we've removed a few trees and the raised beds that didn't get any sun and have put my grandparent's rehabbed picnic table into the back corner of the garden. Last summer, we enjoyed eating our BBQ dinners tucked into the leafy surrounds of the garden, but realized that it gets very dark after the sun goes down. I spent the winter scheming about how I could get some light back there and decided I needed some vintage oil lanterns hanging on the fence to add ambient light in the evenings (bonus - fill them with citronella oil and keep the mosquitoes away too!) I hit the jackpot a few months ago and found three working, colorful lanterns at one of the Second Sunday Antique Markets in downtown Sacramento.

To complete my garden dining room, I also decided to hang some Woolly Pockets that would make the fence a lush, green living wall. After measuring and deciding on the layout, I ordered four Wally Ones to flank my oil lanterns. Here's what the space looked like before:

The Woolly Pocket installation was super easy. Measure, level, drill two (provided) screws into the fence wall. And voila! I had four pockets up in about 30 minutes. By myself. And that included the ten minutes it took me to figure out how to change the drill bit.


Then, I hung the lanterns. I selected hanging brackets that keep the lanterns about 18" away from the fence since I don't want hot lanterns leaning on a wooden fence.


Now, its time to plant! Woolly Pockets suggests three "full sized" plants per pocket: a Thriller, a Filler and a Spiller. This actually made shopping for plants much easier and helped me focus while plant shopping - which is always a challenge for me! So I purchased a total of 12 one gallon plants for my four pockets. The pockets on the left are almost completely in the shade so I selected a couple of ferns, a hosta, a small gardenia and two licorice plants. For the pockets on the right that get some sun I picked a salvia, two trailing lantana, a red hot poker (that's actually a creamy white color) and a few other filler plants.

As suggested in the instructions, I arranged the plants in the pockets while still in their pots to make sure I liked the layout which was a great idea since I swapped plants quite a few times before settling on the final combination.

Just like that, I completely changed the feel of my garden dining room in one afternoon. As the plants fill in, they should completely cover the pockets and make it feel even more like a living wall. All that was left to do was put the umbrella up, light the lanterns, pour myself a glass of wine and relax....

Summertime

For the last week, my husband and I spent our first week off together in three years. We escaped to the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast and stayed lakeside in a canvas cabin at the Lakedale Resort. The weather was perfect, the pace was slow and we returned truly relaxed.

My favorite stop was the Pelindaba Lavender Farm. 25 acres of lavender in full bloom and by some stroke of luck we had the place all to ourselves as the fog lifted in the morning.

Did you know that lavender only requires water in its first year while getting established and no fertilizer at all? And deer don't bother it. Of course, the bees love it too - what a great "crop" to grow!

One of the more surprising parts of our trip was to the town of Roche Harbor. Not only are the views breathtaking, but the town is so charming. After walking around the formal gardens, having lunch and stopping for ice cream it dawned on me.....we were in one big resort. Everyone had the same logo on their uniforms. It was like Disneyland for adults - with multi-million dollar boats in their marina!

I'm not really sure why it bothered me - no little tourist town could spend this much money on gardens and have every little storefront and restaurant occupied. Someone had bought this entire town and turned it into a destination - otherwise, it probably would have died when they stopped mining lime there decades ago. Regardless, we spent an entire afternoon there and really enjoyed ourselves.




And of course, my toes had fun too.

Wordless Wednesday

My beautiful new Datura discolor from Annie's Annuals is blooming! Enjoy....

I Have an iPhone and I Know How to Use it

Okay, I've had some fun at my own expense mocking my lack of photographic prowess. I enjoy taking pictures with my iPhone - I can hold it in one hand and a drink in the other while blaming the lack of quality on the equipment. However, I have the day off today and decided it was time to start learning how to work with my chosen tool. Also, I'm totally jealous of my friend and coworker Ashlee's photo collages and wanted to have some of my own. So - here is my first effort.

Look out now - not only do I have an iPhone, I almost know how to use it....

The Opposite of My Garden

Three years ago, my in-laws moved from Cedar Ridge (literally on a ridge straight up a hill from Sonora) where the deer and antelope play - well, the deer do anyway - to five acres just outside of Sonora where the hills roll a bit more gently and the deer don't use their front yard as a playground. They installed a beautiful "waterwise" garden and I have enjoyed watching it fill in everytime we visit.

I snapped some iPhone pictures last weekend to share here. Since this garden is the complete opposite of mine (soggy shade), there's quite a few plants I'm unfamiliar with, so I'll just post the pictures and let you enjoy!

Also, my husband's cousin's girlfriend (did you follow that?) made this homemade lemonade with fresh fruit. Too cute not to share...

Through a Dirty Window

Walking downstairs in my house, there is a small landing halfway down where the stairs turn and go the other direction. That landing is eye level with this window which has a pretty unremarkable view most months out of the year. Except for when my neighbor's hydrangeas are blooming - which happens to be right now. He keeps them pruned to exactly the height of the fence so the happy blooms peek right over the top - where I can see them everytime I walk downstairs. So I snapped a pic with my favorite photographic equipment this morning (my iPhone of course) to share. Now, I need to get out there and clean that window so I can enjoy the view while it lasts!

Summer Challenge

Remember when you were in school, you were given a list of books to read over the summer to be ready for the next grade? Or maybe it was just something for your parents to hassle you about doing so when you went back to school in the fall there was still a brain cell or two left in your head? I've always enjoyed reading, but as an adult (and without the required reading list), the volume of books I consume in a year has been replaced with a volume of TV watching that nobody would be proud of.

Seriously, if I'm at home, the TV is probably on. I'd like to think it's on in the background while I do other, more important stuff, but most of the time, it's on and I'm sitting in front of it. When we got our first DVR years ago, I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread - and it would enable me to spend far less time watching my favorite shows, right?!? Wrong. It just allows me to keep up with more than ever before.

I'm always telling myself that there are so many things I'd like to do more of (garden, read, blog, bike ride, etc, etc, etc) and not enough time to do it. Then, a few weeks ago, it dawned on me - STOP WATCHING SO MUCH TV!!! What the heck am I watching half the time anyway? Like I need to see another episode of House Hunters or Yard Crashers. Really - why don't I go crash my own yard? Or read or go for a bike ride or take the dog to the park...heck, I could even clean the house or do laundry during the week which would free up some weekend time - what a concept!

So - here's my challenge for the summer: No TV on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. I can catch up on the DVR on Thursdays or weekends.

I started this week and, already, I've been doing all of the things on my aforementioned list and my house is pretty clean too! I actually don't think this will be too difficult since I'm replacing TV with things I truly enjoy. In fact, I'm keeping a list of all the books I'm reading this summer - if you're interested, there's a link on the side bar of what I just finished, what I'm currently reading and what's on deck. Now, if anyone asks me in the fall if I kept up on my reading over the summer, I won't have to lie and say that the dog ate my list.