Friday, May 20, 2011

Photo Friday. Terrariums!

I love garden stores.  I could spend hours and hours walking among the rows of plants, trees, and flowers, reading about shade and sun and soil conditions, imagining what I would plant if I had a garden (or even a yard, for that matter).  There is something so calming about plants and nature.  Can't get enough!


I've always wanted to create my own terrarium but I had no idea even where to start (thank god for google).  While perusing the garden store I found plants specifically for terrariums!  It took me over 45 minutes to pick out my plants but I am happy with the outcome!  Hopefully I did everything right and they don't wither and die!

My next project is to plant a container garden for my little deck!  Tomatoes?  Herbs?  Bee-friendly flowers?  Your thoughts?


‘Tis in the garden that Time slackens its pace and beckons us to rest.  
All the languages of the world are spoken here in soft whispers.  
’Tis here that geometry, texture, beauty and elegance gather...
and summon us to dream. 
-Robin Norris.

Do you have a garden?  (Stephanie, I know YOU do and I am so jealous of it... what's growing now?)  I wish I had a garden.  Every summer we visit my in-laws and I spend hours in my mother-in-law's garden... weeding, picking veggies, and just watching things grow.

5 comments:

  1. I wish I had a garden! I live in an apt in brooklyn with no backyard. I have always wanted to make a terrarium as well. But I will say that I do have tons of plants inside :)
    Sarah

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  2. I wish I had a garden and loved to garden in it. Loved your quote at the end of this. Beautiful words. :)

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  3. Hello Brianna, this is Stephanie's boyfriend Ryan. I just thought I would drop on by to give a few tips. I hope there's no character limits.

    My thoughts!!! You're on the right track. I've been doing a lot of "ghetto" container gardening this year. This includes 5 gallon buckets. 4 gallon buckets. 3 gallon buckets. Empty 1\4 gal chocolate milk cartons. Old gigantic recycling bin from the city. I think you get the point. You can use just about anything. If you want a tomato plant, I would recommend a 5 gallon bucket at least. Last year mine got over 10 feet tall, so you want a deep sturdy base just in case. Especially if you wanna grow carrots with the tomatoes. There's actually a book out there called, "Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets Of Companion Planting For Successful Gardening." That's a mouthful. I've got more good news for you....carrots like chives, and chives like tomatoes. A happy little family. Supposedly tomatoes also like most seasonings used in Italian food. Experiment with a little basil, parsley, or oregano in the same container. You're actually supposed to be able to taste the herbs a little in the tomatoes. You'd be surprised how much you can fit into a little area like that and still have plenty of room for the plants to all grow. The carrots might get a little stunted, but who cares. Baby carrots rock too. Those 5 gallon buckets are around a foot deep, so they're perfect. I'm all over the place here, so you'll have to forgive me. Use a good potting soil or sterilized soil. I've had great luck using 1/3 each of vermiculite, pete moss, and different types of compost. If you're only doing a few containers, it would probably be easier to get a huge bag of Miracle Grow potting mix, even though I try to never give that company any of my money. Whatever you can get your hands on though. Put holes in the bottom of the bucket or container and also a few way at the bottom on the sides.

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  4. I checked out the growing zone in Boston (6b), and you have quite a unique micro climate there along the coast. You're about 3 weeks ahead of us here in Iowa. The nightshade family loves heat, so that is gonna include peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, ground cherry, tomatillo. I would think you can still get transplants from a local nursery for at least tomatoes and peppers. It may sound completely backwards, but pick the smallest, most sturdy plant. You don't want a huge one with roots all balled up down below. Cut all the leaves off the base of the plant about 2/3 up. Plant the whole thing under ground after you cut off the roots at the bottom of the container. New roots will shoot out from where you cut the stems away and buried it. I'm also growing potatoes in buckets. Those freakin' rock. My greenhouse is creating a climate probably closer to Boston, and they love it. Same holes in the bucket or container. I put rocks in the bottom on these for better drainage. Potatoes are susceptible to fungus, so you don't want a swamp in there. Inch of rocks, couple inches of soil. Potatoes go on top of that. If you have really small ones like say the size of a quarter, plant the thing whole. If it's a bigger one, cut up into pieces so at least 2 or 3 shoots (eyes) are coming out from each one. If you cut them up, it is recommended to use a dusting sulphur fungicide and let sit up to a week before you put them in the soil. I'm good so far, and I didn't use the sulphur. Cover up the potatoes with soil, and they'll shoot up within a week or so. As they grow higher, keep adding soil till you get all the way to the top of the container. I'm gonna chop the bottoms off another container, and stick it on top and keep adding soil. You're probably a little late for spinach. You can still probably get by with lettuce if it has shade. Swill chard is awesome, way higher nutrient value over lettuce and even spinach, plus grows throughout the hot summer months. You can keep planting beans from seed. Same with carrots. Radishes, beets, cucumbers, maybe something from the melon family that fruits early. Try radish, beet, chard, lettuce from seed. Much easier than I had previous thought. I wouldn't recommend trying that with peppers and tomatoes though. You need a well established plant. I hope that's at least a little helpful. Writing this down actually helps me think about what I'm gonna be doing in a few weeks here since you're ahead of us with the weather. Have a good week, I hope this helped a little.
    Ryan.

    I almost forgot. My favorite gardening show I've found so far is from a guy in Maine. I sent you the mp3 download page for the show if you ever wanna listen to some informational gardening radio. It's called the Paul Parent garden show, and he does 4 hours every Sunday. Hahaha, one time I asked Steph is she thought I was the only one in the gym listening to gardening talk radio. I think it was more of a rhetorical question.
    http://podcast.gcnlive.com/podcast/paul_parent/pcast.php

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  5. Son of a B. I guess this means you didn't get the second part of my comment. It was 4,500 words, so I had to cut it in to two parts. I'm not too happy right now.

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