Posts under ‘Gettin' Dirty’

I’ll admit it. I used to think watering cans were stupid.
I mean, sure. They’re fine if you’re Peter Rabbit and need to hide from Mr. MacGregor or whatever, but for ordinary gardeners? Really?
After all, when I looked around our kitchen, I saw plenty of vessels perfect for carrying water outside and dumping it into the [...]

Back in the day, I wore flip-flops to garden, even at the risk of breaking an ankle in situations of rabbits and chasing and throwing of things.
That was then, and this is now. Though I live in California, at the point when I moved into this apartment, I indeed did not have the requisite cast-off [...]

After all the drama with hauling and drilling and casters and dirt, it was time for what is, every time, the least dramatic, easiest part of the process.
The tomatoes. I planted them.

With four seedlings, it seemed reasonable to put two in each wine barrel, but that left room for other things. I still had some [...]

I have well documented that the volume and weight of dirt confounds me. I never know what the right size pot is going to be, I don’t know how much dirt should go in it, and I clearly have no idea how to load a car.
But when I went to get the dirt for my [...]

I will admit that though I completely expected to have to drill holes in the wine barrels, the thought of installing casters is not one that particularly occurred to me in the initial planning stages of the whole patio garden deal.
But as I stood on the BART platform in San Francisco one night with my [...]

Here is what the instructions say on my new drill: “If the tool speed drops abnormally low, begins to make abnormal noise, vibrations, or if the motor housing produces smoke or burning odor – turn the tool off immediately and do not operate, until repaired.”
So it should come as no surprise to anyone reading this [...]

Though I realize it’s probably a bit disingenuous, at this point, to act like I know absolutely nothing about gardening.
But five things? That means I’ve learned more than one thing per year. Or something like that.
Regardless, today I’d like to invite you to step over to Heather Mak’s Five Takeaways blog, where I am featured [...]

Though I had not planned to end up at a big box store, after the local hardware store employee sent me hightailing it in search of dirt, I decided a return to Home Depot was the most obvious solution to the problem. The day was getting ever-later, and I still needed to put my new [...]

Before I could plant anything, I had to accomplish two wine-barrel-related tasks: Drill holes in the bottom, and install casters.
It should be noted for the record that, going into this? I had no idea how to do either. And I definitely didn’t own any of the proper equipment.
Related to this issue: I hate it when [...]

I have rebelled against the issue of putting drainage material in the bottom of containers since I started gardening in Iowa. From day one of this adventure, I took one look at the bags of pea gravel and thought, Haul a bunch of rocks home from the store just to line the bottom of some [...]