Letters from the Garden

Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Well, the Hampton Hostess might have been hanging with William and Kate last week, but remember how Kate practically welcomed me to England (I “ran into” her after I’d been there for all of 14 hours)? I love looking at other people’s houses all holiday’d up. Linda’s decorations are refined, unique and restrained. I bet everything she puts out has ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY (OR UM, SATURDAY) FINDS

This is actually getting out so late that Friday Finds has most likely turned into Saturday finds. Either way, here’s my (mostly) weekly roundup of cool stuff I found on the Interwebs this week. Don’t forget to enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Uncommon Goods. I’m closing the giveaway on Monday night so the winner has time to ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

I am such a sucker for a workout fad. I didn’t even finish this article before I ordered the foam roller. What can I say, she had me at “taller and thinner.” I’ve been doing it for almost a week and it’s definitely helping with my neck pain (I get that tense neck thing so many women tend to get). ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

A couple weeks ago I wrote about preserving the parsley harvest, but what do you think about nasturtium pesto? If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a year, you know that at some point when temperatures start dropping, my thoughts start veering toward inside projects, so don’t be surprised that lots of inside DIY/decorating type posts are on ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

I really want to check out this book (hint, hint, somebody send me a review copy). And this one too. Do you follow the One Room Challenge? Calling it Home organizes the One Room Challenge and selects bloggers to participate. The challenge is to completely redo a room in six weeks and post about it once a week. To me ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

How to make beautiful, delicious (and chemical free) colored sugars with edible flowers. Deborah Silver photo Deborah Silver (who I like to call the Queen of Containers) never fails to disappoint. Look what she did for autumn. Rusted steel in the garden is such a great look. I like fashion but I am not a fashionable person and to be ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Kylee’s video of a monarch butterfly eclosing (hatching, sort of) is so cool. Deborah Silver is recommending that gardeners in cold climates apply an antidessicant to their boxwood this fall. The change of seasons always makes me want a clean an uber-organized house. This roundup of fabulous pantries is making me very jealous. North Coast Gardening image After all this ...

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The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.

The area for the new vegetable garden was finally started this week. Leveling has begun, a messy process that involves moving around a lot of dirt. The next step is building the raised beds and I thought the decision making behind the beds deserved its own post.  Gardening in raised beds is very popular, and […]

It’s raining out and I can feel the to-do list getting longer rather than shorter. Currently the list includes: Weeding. Shocker! It’s been alternating rain and sun, heat and damn near freezing here, which means the weeds are popping up faster than I can grab them. Designing my containers for the year. I can’t believe […]

This whole “Impatient Gardener” thing isn’t just a gimmick. I struggle with impatience, and although I’m getting better with it, this time of year is especially challenging on the impatience front.  The landscaper we hired to do the grading for the new vegetable garden told me it would be done this week and now it’s [

The first real days in the garden are special. The jobs at this time of year are not particularly exciting or interesting, but I usually write about them anyway because being back in the garden is special in and of itself. Although the weekend here wasn’t all that nice, we’re looking at some more seasonal […]

Two weeks ago it was snowing at my house, but not until after it sleeted for awhile. It was miserable. Or so I was told. I was fortunate enough to be enjoying gorgeous California sunshine surrounded by amazing plants.  I have much to tell you about those plants, but first I wanted to share the […]

I was skeptical when I first heard about Calamintha nepeta ‘Montrose White’. I’d been to multiple garden talks in which speakers extolled the virtues of this plant. It was a “must-have” they said. But I didn’t think it looked particularly spectacular in photos. Still, I’m a sucker for a new-to-me plant if multiple people have [&hellip

Many gardeners in the north are looking at snow in the forecast this weekend. My most sincere condolences. That is just not OK. I wonder if this lousy spring is a harbinger of an equally cruddy summer to come or if Mother Nature will make up for lost temperatures and cook us this summer. I’m […]

I didn’t intend to start cleaning up the garden over the weekend. The thermometer never got over 40 and there is snow cover on about 40 percent of the garden. But on Sunday, after  walk on the beach with the dogs (in which we saw two bald eagles fly just overhead, quite a rare sight […]

A quick note: This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE®  Multi-Purpose Oil, but you know I will always tell it like it is, so all words and opinions are entirely my own. This post may also include affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog. It’s hard to think of something that matches […]

Oh my, us gardeners are a sad lot indeed these days. Judging by the comments on my last post and what I’m reading on Facebook, it seems like everyone is feeling the pain of some very confusing spring weather. Sad as it is, I’m taking a lot of comfort in knowing that I’m not alone […]

I can say one thing about this crazy “spring” weather that has blanketed my garden in yet more white stuff: I’m not alone. I’m feeling a little whiny about the almost 6 inches of snow we got overnight (and the fact that they say more is on the way this weekend), but I know what […]

Anyone can garden in a container. The first gardening I did on my own was in my first apartment after I graduated from college. I lived in the upstairs of a duplex and got the landlord to let me put a single plastic pot on the sunny driveway. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t call that […]