March 29, 2007
Garden Soil
Say soil. That's where it all begins. You can dig and plant, water and fertilize, hope and pray all you want, but if you don't start with good soil, you're always playing catch-up. Do yourself a favor. For indoor gardening and outdoor container gardening, use the "potting soil" you can buy from your supermarket or garden center. It's not exactly soil, but that's what they call it. Most any brand you find will do. Scotts Hyponex is an organic variety from the fertilizer people. Available online from Shop.com for $2.99 per 40# bag. (plus shipping of course)
For outdoor "earth gardening", dig generous quantities of compost, treated manure, or other soil amendment into your garden plot. You can find everything you need in big bags and bigger bags and really big bags from the garden centers in Home Depot, Wal-Mart or Lowe's as well as your local nursery. Buy it. Dig it in. Water it well. Sure it's a pain...a little boring...and messy, but you are laying a foundation as important, relative to your garden, as the one your house is built on. Now you're ready for fun.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Container Gardening | How-to Instruction | Indoor Gardening
June 22, 2006
Sink Top Compost Crock
Gardens love compost. We've covered some great outdoor composters like the multi-purpose wine barrel a few days ago, but this is a nice one for your kitchen sink. Love that beautiful blue, like the sky on a summer day when you're out digging the compost into your favorite bed of flowers. At the very least you'll feel so righteous!
Pretty Crock Composter
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Indoor Gardening | Organic Gardening
June 17, 2006
Update on Sprout Garden
Remember the sprouting device I bought for a Christmas gift? Well, it has turned out to be really great. We get lots of organic sprouts with very little work, and I'm very pleased with the product. This is one I can enthusiastically recommend based on my own use. (The Sprout Garden)
No, they don't advertise on this site. This is free love.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Gift Ideas | Herbs | Indoor Gardening
November 29, 2005
Phototron 9
Here's a 21" x 51" indoor greenhouse, with lighting panels to mimic the sun so you can actually propagate outdoor plants in your home or office. Picture real live roses growing in the living room. The Phototron 9, shown here, comes with bulbs, soil medium, plant nutrient, germination bulb, reflective hood shield, and "complete instructions" for $555.95 (why not just say $556, for heavens sake?). It is made by a company called Pyraponic Industries–"still the original, still the best"–so their motto goes. This product might be a nice gift for a gardener who can no longer spend time outdoors and misses seeing favorite plants close up.
Phototrons from Pyraponic Industries
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Indoor Gardening | Organic Gardening
November 21, 2005
Orchid Plant Gift
This is a nice (expensive) twist on the twelve months of flowers gift idea. Each orchid comes in a 6" growers pot ready to slip into a cachepot, and the gift is announced to the recipient with a set of gift-boxed notecards sent before the first plant arrives. Can be started at any month of the year. Order before December 15th for Christmas. Around $550 with shipping.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Botanical Gifts | Gift Ideas | Indoor Gardening
Glass Rooting Vases
A glass rooting vase is a reasonably priced Christmas gift both unusual and very practical. What gardener wouldn't put one of these directly to use, maybe even before all the packages are opened? Remember our glass watering ball post? These are very similar. Made of handblown glass, they are 6/5"H, have a 3 foot satin hanging cord and cost $12.95 ps. Many plants root from cuttings, including ivy, ficus, geraniums, pothos, and begonias to name a few. I can see clipping some cuttings from one's own plants to give with the rooting vase, which would make it a really personal and unique garden gift.
Handblown Glass Rooting Vases
Permalink | Comments (1) | Posted to Gift Ideas | Indoor Gardening
Desktop Garden
The perfect office gift–a little garden where your friend/co-worker can grow grass and contemplate nature while working or daydreaming about spring, as the case may be. They call this an "idyllic English garden," which sounds like a bit of hyperbole to me, but it seems pretty cool. You get the planting tray, bricks and gravel to form pathways, grass seed to plant, two urns and some "miracle" coco soil, whatever that is. This is only 8.5"W x 5.75"D, mind you, so those bricks must be very, very small, but for $21.95 it would be a memorable gift, and who knows? Maybe other types of seeds would grow as well.
Desktop Garden
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Gift Ideas | Grasses | Indoor Gardening
November 11, 2005
Glass Watering Balls
While we're on the subject of decorative glass, take a look at these hand-blown (what else?) watering balls from Europe. You fill them 2/3 with water, push them into an angled channel in the dirt of your pot, and they release the water slowly, presumably at the proper rate to slake the thirst of your favorite raphis or prize aspidistra. In most homes, the info says, they provide enough water for a week. Available in blue, green and the multi shown in the photo above, these are from Plow and Hearth at $15 for two or from www.coolgardenstuff.com for $14.95 each (can that be right?–I think they must mean two). It always pays to shop around, though, doesn't it? Bless the net!
Glass Watering Balls
CoolGardenStuff Watering Balls
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Gift Ideas | Indoor Gardening
November 10, 2005
Make Your Own Glass Terrarium
Here's Jill's article on making your own terrarium. This would be a wonderful gift for a special someone, with your own creative touches reflecting the person's passions and taste. Start now and you'll have it all ready for Christmas giving.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Gift Ideas | How-to Instruction | Indoor Gardening
Hand-blown Glass Terrariums
Teeny, tiny plants in a hand-blown glass terrarium–beautiful! The perfect gift, right? Maybe a little pricey, though, at $10,000 each, at least for my budget. Yes, friends, it's hard to believe, but New York artist Paula Hayes makes and sells these gorgeous creations, which she also maintains after purchase, for that price or more. Her websites are beyond artistic and worth a visit just to see. The first link is a post by Jill on fav website Inhabitat about the terrariums (which were also featured on Treehugger and Apartment Therapy). See following post for the article she promises on making your own.
Glass Terrariums [via Inhabitat]
Paula Hayes
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Botanical Gifts | Gift Ideas | Indoor Gardening
November 07, 2005
Flower Aquarium
Here it is, the flower aquarium you've been searching for. Or not. This looks very pretty in the photos. My experience is that it is hard to achieve the perfection seen here...but the last time I gave one of these, the reaction was enthusiastic. That is, once he figured out how to use it. An inexpensive gift for a gardener who has time and patience and appreciates seeing a flower close up.
Single-blossom Flower Aquarium
Permalink | Comments (0) | Posted to Gift Ideas | Indoor Gardening