Summertime in the garden bespeaks the sensual delights of picking juicy tomatoes, finding yourself danced over by butterfly shadows and basking in the radiance of sun and sunflowers. It’s also a great time for creating hardscaping elements, like garden paths. And those can be an opportunity for reusing and recycling leftover materials. As someone whoContinue reading “Upcycle Leftover Paint In A Garden Sidewalk”
Author Archives: lisatheardentgardener
Lavender Harvest!
The highlight of the garden right now is a waving patch of purple, aromatic and buzzing with life. It’s time for the lavender harvest! We planted this patch fourteen years ago and it has outlasted our expectations. I pondered back then what we could plant that the gophers would leave alone, that was drought-tolerant andContinue reading “Lavender Harvest!”
Dry Soil, But Delicious Cherries
You’ve probably read about the extreme drought here in much of the western U.S., or you are dealing with it yourself and have the biceps to show for it (carrying greywater buckets). The field grasses in our low-lying spot in Sonoma County, California, are turning brown and crackly now, and it feels like late summer,Continue reading “Dry Soil, But Delicious Cherries”
Upcycled Micro Bags & Bins — Made From Plastic Bag Trash
Though this is primarily a garden blog, I like to toss in a few posts about creativity and upcycling from time to time, since those also inspire me and feel in sync with nature itself: creative and cyclic. One of the recycling challenges that always stumps me is what to do with the plastic bagsContinue reading “Upcycled Micro Bags & Bins — Made From Plastic Bag Trash”
Drips, Frit’s & Fruits — a mélange of garden musings
Drips, Frit’s & Fruits — a garden mélange of garden harvests, butterflies and irrigation during drought #sonomacounty #drought #gardenblogger
The Summer of Buckets — Extreme Drought & Early Wildfire Season In the Garden
The Summer of Buckets You’ve heard of the Summer of Love, right? Well I propose that 2021 here in Northern California be called the Summer of Buckets. There are buckets in all the sinks — to collect dish-washing and handwashing water, a bucket in the tub to catch the water as it warms for aContinue reading “The Summer of Buckets — Extreme Drought & Early Wildfire Season In the Garden”
May In the Garden — a joy even during drought
Even a Sprinkle Is Welcome During Drought! A few days after my last garden blog post, we received a tiny bit of rain: about a tenth of an inch. Even such a small amount was welcome to ease the drought we are facing here. The garden is still green–as is the norm for spring–but withContinue reading “May In the Garden — a joy even during drought”
April Garden — California Poppies, Veggie Seedlings, Critter Habitat & Prep for Drought & Wildfire
The California poppies and lupines are abloom in Sonoma County, and so are lilacs and foxgloves and columbine. Pipevine swallowtails are mating and tree swallows returning for the summer. Keep up with the wildfire safety and drought preparedness steps taken by organic gardening blog of The Compulsive Gardener.
Drought and Wildfire Resilience In the Garden
“Farming needs a kind of toughness, doesn’t it…?” says Edith from Downton Abbey — one of our favorite lines we quote to each other in amusement. Same with the garden and it’s time to talk about some tough subjects affecting the garden here: drought and wildfires. Though I’ve been busy with the usual spring gardenContinue reading “Drought and Wildfire Resilience In the Garden”
What’s Been Happening In the Early April Garden
Garden Flowers and Scents to Balm the Spirit This week, the garden soothed worries, as it so often does, with the comfort and enjoyment of the squiggling tadpoles, the pipevine butterflies, and the blossoms of the flowering crabapples, flowering currants, ceanothus and pear trees. Wandering through the garden, I’m often taken aback by lovely aromas.Continue reading “What’s Been Happening In the Early April Garden”