The Carnage & Starting Over

These past few weeks have been trying. Very trying.

The gophers (it has been confirmed) are attacking with a vengeance. They've pulled down into their holes almost every single gorgeous, blooming nasturtium that I planted. My beloved nasturtiums.

This area used to house my blooming nasturtiums. After taking these pictures...even more of the plants are gone.

In an effort to deter the gophers, I dug a trench and laid hardware cloth against the fence where they were entering. Did it work?

Nope.

I am now re-drawing and re-planning the garden. I basically have to pull everything out...replant what isn't damaged in gopher baskets. I may add some additional raised beds as well, so long as they have hardware cloth underneath them. 

In better news, my near dying passionfruit vine has blooms! I've realized that the vine was probably munched by gophers. It's wasn't my fault!

I still will probably need to sacrifice her, but for now, I will enjoy the gorgeous blooms.

My gardening ideas have drastically changed over the past few weeks as my dreams of my "little garden" have crashed. I have been knocked down but am getting up and learning from this experience. I am re-focusing my attention and re-invisioning my dreams of this space.

I will report back soon!

xoxo

Bailey

I Blame the Birds.

I do...I blame them for making my tiny baby plants their breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Not only are my seedlings their meals...the seeds are as well. After watching my new favorite show, I was inspired to sow some cut and come again baby lettuce. What did I find the next morning? All of the soil that I carefully planted had been foraged through. Oh well...I'm definitely learning my lesson and taking each one in stride. The lettuce has been re-sewn and has been covered with berry baskets.

The only true success I've had so far has been with my nasturtiums. I think they might be my forever favorite since they're my first. Do you know what they are? I didn't.

Pretty...yes?

They're also edible and apparently for me, easy to grow. We'll see how they do as the season progresses. 

I've found out that the birds like them too. So as soon as a baby seedling pops out of the ground, I have to cover it with a cloche (which I use a water bottle cut in half) to keep them safe.

It's a bit trashy looking and not up to my personal garden aesthetic (in an ideal world they all be beautiful vintage glass). Alas, they work and really...that's all that matters.

I love how fast they grow! This one has only been above ground for a few days! I have some now that have 4 leaves!! I consider that quite the accomplishment for my black thumb.

It was a crazy weekend last weekend and so far a very hectic week. My parents are out in Pasadena to visit so there's been plenty to do.

I've not really made much progress in my little garden beyond continually covering seedlings as they pop up but I did acquire some new plants from the Pasadena City College Flea Market last weekend that need to be planted. I also got some nifty new (old) pots there as well (among other things for Antiquaria).

xo

Bailey

Garden Snapshot

I spent a lot of time in my little garden this past weekend. The weather was gorgeous (60-70 degrees and sunny) and perfect to spend outdoors.

I acquired some new plants (a couple of citrus trees, blueberry bushes, a quince tree and strawberries)! I was quite the busy bee. 

You can see that I've planted the little strawberry plants in the cinder block holes that surround what will be a raised bed--once I add dirt. You can also see my new dwarf Meyer Lemon tree on the left. It's in bloom and smells heavenly!

Here is the "overall" shot of the garden as of February 23, 2013. I will be regularly updating with this vantage point in order to record the growth throughout the seasons. You can see what it looked like when I started here. 

I am very pleased to report that my passionfruit vine is looking better and better everyday. Thank God I didn't send it to an early grave with the under-watering in the beginning. I'm now very diligent with watering all of my little plants.

Also, I have more sprouts!! I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see the Nasturiums pop up yesterday when I was watering. I've noticed though that a few of the tender leaves have been snapped off! I blame the birds...

If it continues to be a problem I'm going to have to figure out a solution. Maybe adding little cloches until they're bigger would help.

All of the other little seedlings (which I am now almost 100% certain are poppies), are doing well and going strong. They're still teensy tiny but growing in numbers daily--which is so cool.

xo

Bailey

Daffodils!

A few weeks ago...these little grassy onion like things started popping up in the front rose bed. Thinking they were weeds, I pulled a bit on them...but the buggers were really tight in the ground.

I thought...maybe they're wild onions and tried digging a few up. While they certainly looked like onions, they sure didn't smell like them so I knew that I had something entirely different on my hands.

Once I saw this little wisp of yellow...I was so excited! Daffodils!!!

I love that these little gems required no effort and were such a lovely surprise. Now, I just need to figure out how to keep care of them!

Also...a few little seedings (or weeds with my luck) started peeking through the dirt in the first area that I scattered seeds (on 2/5/13). There are so many that look the same that I'm very hopeful that they are indeed my Shirley poppies!

They're so teensy tiny, I circled them for you. Will keep you posted....

xo

Bailey

Oranges for Everyone!

The other day, our neighbor John recommended I lean over our fence and take some of the oranges from his tree (there are tons). I thanked him and told him I would take him up on the offer closer to the weekend, when I could actually do something with the bounty. Now come the question...what to do?

I'm thinking tea or possibly flavored salts.

It's so fun to see that the tree is already coming back to bloom while the ripe fruit awaits picking!

xo

Bailey

Friends in the Garden

I've spent a good deal of time this week/weekend in the garden. While there isn't much growing (yet) it's still quite a lovely place to be.

As I've spent more time sitting outside, I've noticed just how many different birds there are singing & dawdling around the garden. The one that's really caught by heart though is the hummingbird.  There are at least two (I've seen them together) and they are colored differently. Perhaps they are friends...or mates?

This little guy was enjoying my lavender topiary this morning. He only stayed around long enough for one quick shot.

My garden all started in early January with a Passion fruit vine (Passiflora edulis "Nancy Garrison").  I do not have much of a green thumb (although I am working hard to train it in that direction), so after being in the ground for a week or two it was starting to look kind of rough. 

I thought it was maybe the cold snap we had...or that something was attacking its roots. I was a worried plant mama.

One day, Emma (my business partner), came by the house and took a look at the vine. She said that all she thought that it needed was a long soak with the hose. We immediately turned on the faucet and let it get a nice long drink.

Ever since, I've been giving my vine lots of water. I also added a bit of fertilizer and organic mulch so that it would stay moist longer.

Overall, it still looks a bit scraggly but there are signs of new life on the vine. Little leaves are sprouting out in many places...promises of future growth!

I look forward to the day that this vine has so much growth that it covers our ugly fence. Until then, I will take the small victories and try to keep it alive.

The seeds that I ordered online (all but one) came this week in the mail!! I'm trying my hand at lots of varieties of poppies, as well as some other beautiful varieties. From my research, I learned that you want to scatter poppy seeds early in the season (or even the previous fall) in order for them to germinate. They don't like to be transplanted or grown in pots...so this seemed like the only option.

I prioritized my poppy plantings first so that I could get them off and running. My first batch was planted on 2/5/13, so 5 days ago. It will be interesting to see when & if they sprout. My worst fear is that nothing happens or that birds have eaten all of my seeds (since you don't sow them but on the surface, they are susceptible to that). Only time will tell.

So far, I've managed to plant up about 1/3 of my "little garden" (the one behind the garage). You can see above that I've staked off where I've sprinkled seeds so that I can keep track and not over plant (haha...as if--with my luck, nothing will grow). I like that there are a few plants anchoring the bed (so far 2 scented geranium and 1 current bush). 

The other project I took on this weekend was setting up a raised bed. I will be sure to share images as I have them. I really think that it helps define the space & will be good since there is a weird, huge root running through that side of the bed.

I am excited to also try experimenting with propagating in the future (geraniums, lavender, succulents, my current bush)! Who doesn't like free plants?

Speaking of free plants, I am very lucky to have inherited this Yellow Jessamine vine with the house. It really wasn't anything at all to look at a month or so ago but has recently bursted into color. It also smells divine, sort of like jasmine but different.

The hummingbirds love this bad boy too! The blooms are fairly small but there are so many on each branch, the whole thing looks canary yellow from a distance.

That's my snapshot of the progress so far here. I welcome any suggestions or tips that you may have for my little outdoor space.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

xo

Bailey

Friday Flowers

A view of the altar.

Just wanted to send some floral eye candy to you for your weekend.

These were all from a wedding ceremony back in February. The wedding reception was at Becker Vineyards, a very beautiful and quaint place to hold a reception. They also make some pretty stellar Texas wine...I recommend the Viogner. It has a strong nose and taste of Texas peaches, mmmm...

In case you need some entertainment, visit www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com, it made my sides cramp I was laughing so hard. You will see what happens when professional cake bakers get it very wrong. It was crazy...the longer I looked the funnier it got. It is my mfln or fml, meaning it sucks you in and the next thing you know you've been reading for an hour.

Have a wonderful weekend.