Garden Inspiration: Mickey Mouse

Recently we were lucky enough to meet with one of the most inspirational gardeners of all time, Mickey Mouse.


I have to say, this is the first garden tour I've been on that I've been eager to get the home-owners autograph. Out of embarrassment, I made my daughter ask instead.

Happy to see no sign of Miracle Grow here, but I do question the contents of Petoonia's Pellets.

Hmmm... I must get Mickey's secret to growing his turnips that large.

And here's where the magic starts, his modest potting bench. I LOVE his watering can and wish I had it for my own garden!

And oh my goodness, how jealous am I that he has chickens too? I keep begging my husband for chickens, but he keeps saying no. Hmmm... maybe this is why Mickey and Minnie never married?

A busy lifestyle leaves Mickey Mouse no time for mowing his lawn. He's opted for a low maintenance dichondra .

Dichondra is a popular lawn alternative in Southern California. Here in Northern California, most of us consider it a weed.

Every good gardener must have a workbench for tackling all of those DIY projects, and at Disneyland I hear that Mickey is their go-to guy for just about everything. When you have neighbors like Donald Duck (who seems a little careless with his property in my opinion), it's important to keep a well organized workbench to keep track of anything you might loan out to friends, etc.

It's great to see that Mickey also cares about the environment. He seems pretty into being "green", whether he's recycling glass, cans, or gloves. Wait...gloves?!

Okay, okay, okay.... so we didn't have a private tour of Mickey's garden. We bought our ticket just like everyone else, so I don't have to do one of those *blogger disclaimers* at the end of this post. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised at how inspirational Disneyland was for me as a gardener- and I wish that someday I COULD get a private behind-the-scenes garden tour. There are edibles tucked here and there and most of the food is actually used there at Disneyland. The picture above is various sages, rosemary, dill and cilantro located near the Astro Orbitor in Tomorrowland.

Well, we'll let you know if we ever do get that tour. I snuck a few hints in with the Fairy Godmother, but I think she has her hands full with Cinderella.

Garden Fun With Kids: Worm Bins

A couple of years ago we put together some worm bins in our back yard with my daughter and her cousins. I had followed the instructions on The Germinatrix's website, and bought two Rubbermaid bins for each worm "house", some window screen scraps, and a few containers of red wiggler worms from my local fishing store. The project was super easy for kids, and here we are a few years later still pulling tons of worm castings out of them and making worm tea.
Here in Sacramento we're able to keep our bins outside year round in a nice shady location. My daughter loves "feeding" them our fruit and vegetable scraps and grossing out her friends with her pet worms.

"It's the biggest brownie ever!" Sadly, no, that's just worm poop. Last weekend it was time to give them fresh new bedding and split up our single winter bin into two bins. During the winter time we don't produce enough food for them to support two bins, so I usually consolidate into one bin late Fall. For you backyard gardeners, worm composting is a much easier and faster way to produce compost than your standard compost bins.

At four years old (ahem, okay, she says "almost five"), she has a much bigger appreciation for earthworms than most adults I know do. You should see the heart ache she has when she finds a dried up one on the sidewalk. And yes, I have found several in the pockets of her laundry. But her little fingers are useful for separating them from the castings, and putting them into their fresh new digs. Although, she does sneak a few into the planter beds, especially the ones that look "pregnant" to her ("Run mommy worm! Go have your babies! Be free!").

This is what we use for bedding. Finally there is a positive use for junk mail! We shred most of the mail we receive (just not the glossy kind) to add to the bins. We also add napkins from dinner time, newspaper, egg cartons, grocery shopping bags, even pizza boxes. The bedding is added to the bins and sprayed with water to make a nice moist environment for them (but not too wet, or they will drown). In addition to bedding they get fed regularly with fruits and vegetable scraps. Banana peels are always popular for them, as are coffee grounds. Avoid onions, too much citrus, meats, and dairy.

Separating the worm castings is kind of like a treasure hunt. We come across a lot of stuff that simply won't break down since a worm bin lacks the heat that your standard compost bins has. Items like food labels (as shown above), staples, tape, and seeds won't break down. Pick these out if you can. Although, last year we had a fantastic cantaloupe plant grow in our garden that was started from worm castings that had cantaloupe seeds in it.

Another item that won't break down is egg shells. These also seem to attract Black Soldier Fly Larvae more, which is actually not a bad thing.

Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) is that disgusting looking grub thing pictured above. It used to creep me out when I'd find them in the bins, but now I've learned that they are also beneficial composters. They do put off heat, which helps keep the worms happy and warm during the winter time, but you'll want to keep the population down in the summer time so that you don't cook the worms. Lots of extra bedding during summer will also help the worms and BSFL live happily together in the bins. The larvae is great to use for fishing (instead of worms), and are a yummy snack for chickens if you have them on your property.

Above is a mature Black Soldier Fly. They are rather clumsy and creepy looking, but they are suppose to help control housefly populations, so they can't be all that bad.

The end result of the worm castings (aka vermicast)and worm tea that you will produce in your bins will lead to happy plants (and a happy kid). A tablespoon of worm castings can feed a plant for up to two months. I use worm castings every time I put a new plant in the ground to get it off to a healthy start. Since worm castings don't burn your plants (like manure can), it can be used all year long in the garden. Consider adding a bin to your garden this summer and start reaping the benefits!

Garden Inspiration on a Rainy Day: Green Acre's Nursery

It's June 4th and we've got weather like it's March. My skin is pale, my tomato plants are catching diseases, and the weeds have taken over my garden. We spent this morning looking for a reminder that Summer is coming, and found it at Green Acre's Nursery here in Sacramento. Rubber boots on, and umbrellas in hand; it will take more than rain to keep this family indoors.
A little water doesn't hurt anyone, and the plants here seem to be enjoying this weather quite a bit.

These mushrooms are now on my wish list. Super adorable! I love the colors! They remind me of Alice in Wonderland, and can really brighten up a shady area that doesn't have much color.

You don't need a lot of space to create a beautiful garden room. Green Acre's is full of ideas for small gardens.

This is where my daughter said she's getting married. Once she finds her Prince Charming, of course.....

I love this little section of the nursery. They often have some teak chairs over here that we like to sit on to enjoy the sounds of the fountains. I would love to have a space like this in my backyard someday.

Enough playing for now... back to the reason we came here: plants! Have a nice weekend everyone! Good luck staying dry :)

I've changed...

For most of my life I've been focused on growing edibles in my garden. This was the case even when I had only a patio to garden on, often growing several tomato plants and herbs in pots.

This is the first year that I have been drawn to do otherwise. Thanks to my daughter, I am much more fascinated by the birds, bugs and the flowers than I am about growing tomatoes.

It used to be that I'd spend my time searching for tomato horn worms, pulling weeds and starting seeds. Now, I kind of just want to sit and look at every bloom and every bug and ignore the bermuda grass that is slowly taking over my pathways. Thankfully I always have company.

"I think that is the bluest flower I've EVER SEEN", says my daughter about 'Blue Diadem' shown above. These bachelor button flowers return faithfully every year, so perhaps I've grown too accustomed to them to enjoy their beautiful color. We took a few minutes today to check them out, and pick a bouquet for her bedroom.

I used to be so rigid, I always worked from a "plan", and I planted my vegetables in rows in raised beds. Now the vegetables are directly in the planter beds, mixing with perennials and Dr. Suess-like oddities that my daughter has picked out from various nurseries.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my edibles- but my daughter has shown me there is so much more to gardening than to JUST plant edibles. At the same time she's taught me that I need to relax more and I don't need to grow everything myself from seed. My time with her and my family...and my garden.... are much more important. Buying plants from a local, reputable nursery can be soooo much easier than trying to grow the plant myself from seed.

So the lawn that I ripped out just two years ago in order to grow more edibles, has become heavily blurred by color. This is no longer "my" garden, it's just as much hers as it is mine. And as much as I always said I would never change my life when I had a child, I'm realizing that I have, and it's not a bad thing.

Last night I went to check on her after she had gone to sleep. Next to her pillow was a stash of honeywort seeds that we had harvested earlier in the day. At that moment I had to give myself a pat on the back, for teaching my child that seeds are magical. Growing life is magical.

I'm so glad that I have her to share that with.

Garden Inspiration: IKEA

Yesterday was a rainy day in Sacramento. My husband had been out of town for a few days, and my preschooler had some energy to burn. I decided to take her to IKEA for their $1.99 breakfast (potatoes, eggs, bacon AND french toast- for $1.99! And free coffee until 10am!), and to look for a couple of cheap lighting options for the garden. Our first deal of the day were these lanterns pictured above. They are solar lights, available in several colors, and they aren't paper! Prices are $9.99 and $14.99 for the globes, and $19.99 for a strand.


These cute galvanized pots come in a variety of colors and range in price from $9.99 to $14.99, and would be a great way to add some color to a boring apartment balcony or fence. Tacky artificial flowers are not included.

If you're into modern looking containers, they have some really cute trash cans and hampers that would make great containers! As you can see, this Rundel trash can is $19.99 (approx 14" tall), and the Rundel laundry basket that is over 23 inches tall runs $39.99. These would be really easy to drill drainage holes in if you have a drill bit that can easily drill through metal.

Here's one item that went in my cart. This is part of the GRASET line of containers, available in the two colors shown above. I bought their largest one for $39.99, made of galvanized steel, and it weighed less than 10 pounds. I think it cost more to fill this container with soil than it did for me to buy the actual container. I was able to drill holes through the bottom for drainage very easily with a standard drill bit.

If you just want a couple of smaller containers and aren't afraid of color, for $1.99 you can pick up one of these.... but for $1.99 you should pick up several! These will be great for a kids painting project.

Also in the waste basket section, you have these adorable pails! At $14.99 they are a little more costly, but these colors will make a bold statement!

If you want to add color to a blank wall or fence, these SOLMYRA art pieces are mounted to fiberboard and are only $9.99. Since they are paper, I imagine they will continue to fade through summer. However, since they are fiberboard, you should easily be able to paint over them with your own creation (or have your kids do it) once you get bored with these.

For those of you who lack the ability to keep things alive, IKEA offers a nice assortment of artificial plants to help you spruce up your patio table. Just remember to dust them occasionally.

Need a watering can? How about twenty of them? At $4.99, these 88 oz SOCKER galvanized watering cans are not just functional, but they would look wicked cool hanging along the back fence in a row. Or maybe holding flowers on your dining room table?

I have arrived on a Tuesday before when they've had a large selection of potted plants delivered and I went hog wild, filling my cart with $7 gallon-sized succulents. I didn't see the selection yesterday that I have seen in the past, but they still had various orchids for $14.99, succulents for $2.99, and various house plants in a range of prices. Consider coming here the next time you need an inexpensive housewarming gift for a friend.

The galvanized containers pictured above range from 99 cents to maybe 3 dollars. Pop one of those two dollar succulents inside and you've got a simple inexpensive tabletop display .

Last but not least, check out these $3.99 lanterns. I recently bought a bunch of hooks from the Dollar Tree store like the ones used in this display, and I think they'll look super cute along our back fence with these lanterns. The pastel colored ones kind of made me gag, but even those can be cute for a baby shower or Easter decoration. Of course my daughter thought the pink ones were awesome.

I was pleasantly surprised by everything that IKEA had to offer this summer season. If you're like me and get bored easily with your decor, this is a great place to help you change things up a bit at a decent price. If anything, you have to go for the $1.99 breakfast.