I have been having so much fun with my own sempervivums (see my little mint box and picture frame) that I am thrilled to share this news: Arrowhead Alpines is offering to send one lucky person (in the U.S. who is at least 18 years old) six of their very own named sempervivum varieties. Keep reading for how to enter…

• Create a new Pinterest board and name it “I love sempervivums” (this is how I will find all the entries)
• Add this link to your board: http://www.arrowheadshopping.com/collections-124/sempervivum-collection-130/
• Add at least three other links that are about sempervivums (from whatever site you chose) to your board. Look for projects using sempervivums, informational articles about growing sempervivums, profiles of particularly beautiful semps. Whatever you like so long as it obviously relates to sempervivums.

If you are not already on Pinterest and would like to participate, leave a comment on this post and I will send you an invite.

I will pick my favorite board at  12pm Pacific time on April 13 to win a 6 plant collection of named sempervivums from Arrowhead Alpines. My primary deciding factor will be the number and quality of pins included in the board. Any boards with pins that are obviously not linked to the original source (i.e. linking to Google Images instead of linking to the actual website) will be disqualified. Also, you should know that it annoys me when people post things to Pinterest with a “.” for the entire description of the pin. I wouldn’t do that if you want to win.

Ready, set, GO!

UPDATE: Congratulations Anna, you’re the winner!

Now that I have my own worms composting away on my balcony, I think everyone (okay, “almost” everyone) should have worms composting their food scraps and junk mail too. Just call me your friendly vermivangelist. Get it? OK. Sorry for all the bad worm jokes these past few posts. But I have exciting news!

The publisher of The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart and creator of the Worm Factory 360 are generously giving away a book and vermicomposting bin to one lucky reader! Here’s what you have to do to win:

1. Read either There are Worms on My Balcony and It’s All Amy Stewart’s Fault or 1000 Red Wiggler Worms are Doing Their Thing in My Worm Factory 360.
2. Share a tip or factoid that you learned from either of those posts in the comments section of THIS post. Only comments on this post will be counted.
3. If you share something from both posts, you can get a bonus entry into the contest.
4. Enter before Thursday, March 22 at 11:59pm Pacific time.

You must be over 18 and have a shipping address in the United States to win. Good luck!

Send me a tweet (my twitter account is @lifeontheblcny) about mosquitoes

I’ll pick one of the entries to win this cute snail carrying a mosquito-repelling citronella candle. You have until Sunday at midnight California time to enter. You must live in the continental United States to win.

Great Container Gardening Info & Ideas:

• Beautiful photos and great tips on creating a beautiful balcony container garden from Isabelle Palmer on Fennel and Fern
• aHa Modern Living is having a seed sale. There’s still time to sow plenty of fall and winter veggies, check it out!
• Andrea has a great list of and info about winter vegetables, all of them are suitable for containers.
• Renee shares some really cool photos of her recent trip to the DC Botanical Gardens. There are some great ideas for vertical gardening among her pics.
• I loved looking at the progression of Marie’s watermelon from flower to fruit. All grown on her rooftop.

Win a Beautiful Pot from Sunset

Would you like to win this neat pot from the Home by Sunset collection from Bauer Pottery? Sunset Magazine is giving one away to the person who comes up with the best idea for what to plant in the pot. More details here.

Roasted Ratatouille Pizza

Doesn’t this recipe from Vegetarian Times look awesome?! Great way to use up late summer veggies…

• 1 recipe Chewy Pizza Dough (click here for recipe)
• 1 28-oz. can peeled whole tomatoes
• 1 small eggplant, quartered and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (2 cups)
• 2 small yellow squash or zucchini, sliced into rounds (2 cups)
• 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
• 1 Tbs. herbes de Provence
• 1/2 cup prepared marinara sauce or 1 recipe Quick Pizza Sauce (click here for recipe)
• 1/4 cup black olives or capers, optional

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Prepare Chewy Pizza Dough.

2. Drain tomatoes, and discard liquid. Halve each tomato lengthwise. Toss together tomatoes, eggplant, squash, red onion, oil, garlic, and herbes de Provence on baking sheet.

3. Roast vegetables 25 minutes, or until beginning to brown, tossing every 5 to 10 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes, or store in refrigerator up to 3 days.

4. Meanwhile, shape Chewy Pizza Dough into 12-inch disk on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Spread with sauce, and top with vegetables. Sprinkle with olives or capers, if using.

5. Place on middle rack in oven, and preheat oven to 350°F with pizza in oven. Once oven reaches 350°F, bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until bottom is crisp.

• Jim McCausland over at Sunset Magazine’s Fresh Dirt blog has discovered that Asiatic lillies grow great in containers without any special treatment.
• Mike has been brewing manure tea. I know it sounds weird, but your plants will love it, I promise.
• Check out these unusual–I’m not sure what to call them?–plant orbs featured on Planet Green. What do you think?
• I have to say, I am a bit jealous of the Dahlia garden that Matti at Far Out Flora featured. My Dahlias (1) were not the variety on the tag, (2) were a blah baby pink, and (3) immediately inundated with aphids.

Today is the last day to enter the handmade card giveaway!

If you’d like the win this set of handmade cards and enough extra page pebbles to keep you in crafting bliss for quite some time, tell me how gardening weaves its way into your other hobbies by:

Option #1 – Leaving a comment about garden inspired hobbies on the Life on the Balcony Facebook page.

Option #2 – Tweeting about garden inspired hobbies using the #LOTB tag.

Option #3 – Blogging about how gardening inspires your other hobbies and leaving a link to your blog post in the comment section of this post.

This contest is open to anyone in North America over the age of 18. You have until August 1st at 11:59pm PST to enter.

Best of LOTB in July

In case you missed these posts the first time around, here are some of the most popular posts from this past month

• Make Your Own Bird Bath – A compact bird bath is easy to make, let me show you how!
• Learning From Others Container Gardening Mistakes – I hate to say something not nice, but if these two containers can save you from making the same mistakes, it’ll be worth it.
• How to Grow Currants and Gooseberries in a Container – If you dream of canning your own home grown fruit preserves, but have a part-shade balcony or patio look into growing Currants or Gooseberries.
• Five Fall Vegetables for Your Balcony Garden – Here are five vegetables that you may not have tried growing before. And yes, you can grow in a container garden.

• Are you a fan of gazing balls? Garden designer Jenny Peterson is. Check out how she has used gazing balls in containers.
• Adriana Martinez has got some great advice on growing peppers.
• If you’re growing your tomatoes in a small space, you’ll want to check out Mike Lieberman’s tomato training tutorial.
• Gayla Trail has got a simple tip for quickly expanding your herb garden.
• Love the victory garden seed packets Pamela Price found on Twitter.

Handmade Card & Craft Supply Giveaway…

If you ‘d like to win a set of three handmade cards inspired by the garden, as well as some craft supplies you can use to make your own garden art, check out this guest post from my mom.

Don’t Forget To Submit Your Carnival Entries!

Time to submit your summer container gardening posts to the July blog carnival is running out. Click on over for information about how to enter your post.

If you’re in Southern California, I hope you’ll join in a meetup group Adriana of Anarchy in the Garden and I have created. Eat Me is a group for Southern Californians who want to meet other gardeners who like growing their own food. It should be a lot of fun to meet in person and chat about gardening. I hope you’ll join us! “Like” Eat Me on Facebook, or follow @SoCalEatMe on Twitter.

Container Gardening Posts:

• Interested in growing carnivorous plants in your apartment? Check out this post on Far Out Flora about Nepenthes, also called Monkey Cups.
• Check out how beautiful Kim’s container garden has become on her Barefoot Gardening blog (which is a great way to garden, in my opinion).
• Kerry has reviewed a nifty looking watering can called U CAN. I like the positive subliminal message of the name.
• If you’re looking for a slender, modern style BBQ for your balcony, check out what Robin posted on Urban Gardens.
• Congratulate Mike on his first homegrown salad eaten on his new LA balcony!

Congrats Karen!

As you all know, I held a quick contest this week to give away two boxes of Triscuits with cards impregnated with seeds, and a $20 gift card to buy gardening supplies. To win, LOTB readers had to submit recipe ideas that used fresh from the garden ingredients and Triscuit crackers. I loved Karen’s simple, yet original idea to combine Marigold flowers, tomatoes, cream cheese & Triscuits. And I’m going to try recipe combining Nasturtium flowers and leaves, figs, and Camembert for the next GROW Project post. Karen, I’ll send you and email so I can get your mailing address. Your prize will be in the mail next week. Enjoy! Smart Pots Update I wanted to pass along a quick observation about my Smart Pot comparison. By now I’ve had my two identical tomato plants in their respective pots (one plastic, one Smart Pot) for about 5 months. I’ve been harvesting tomatoes from both plants for awhile, but the Smart Pot plant is more prolific, healthier, and about 18 inches taller. Cheesy Gardening Joke

Photo by Melissa Robison

Two friars are having trouble paying off the belfry, so they open a florist shop. Everyone wants to buy flowers from the men of God so business is quickly booming. The florist across town sees a huge drop in sales and asks the two friars to close their shop, but they refuse. A month later the florist begs the friars to close because he’s having trouble feeding his family. Again, they refuse, so the florist hires Hugh McTaggert. Hugh is the roughest, toughest thug in town and is hired to “persuade” the friars to close. Hugh asks the friars to close their florist shop. When they refuse, he threatens to beat the crap out of them and wreck their shop every day they remain open, so they close. This proves once again that Hugh and only Hugh can prevent florist friars. [Source] Container Gardening in the News

• New York City reached an agreement with it’s community gardens. The Wall Street Journal has the story.
• Dill is a superb herb. Or at least that’s what Jana Louise Smit of Helium thinks.
• The Seattle Post covers two of my favorite topics: container gardens and cocktails.

Have you seen some unusual looking Triscuit boxes in the grocery store lately? Wanting to support the the home farming movement, Triscuit has included plantable herb seed cards in 4 million boxes of Triscuits. They have also created a website that includes information about growing vegetables at home, a crop guide, community forums, and lots more. Would you like to see the boxes for yourself? Triscuit has sent me two boxes (one with dill seeds, the other with basil) to give away, along with a $20 gift card that you can use to get planting supplies.

You’ll have to act quick with this one. If you’d like to win some crackers, seed cards, and $20, leave a comment on this post with a recipe idea that uses triscuits and garden fresh fruits, vegetables, or herbs (you don’t have to share exact amounts, just a description of the final product). I’m going to pick my favorite recipe idea and feature it in the grab bag this Friday. I’ll also send that person the Triscuits and gift card. Sound like a plan?

So, to recap:

1. Post a recipe idea involving Triscuits & fruits/veggies/herbs in the comment section of this post.
2. Entries must be posted by Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 10pm PST.
3. The winner’s recipe idea will be featured in a post on LOTB on Friday, July 9, 2010.
4. The winner will get 2 boxes of Triscuits with embedded seed cards, and a $20 Visa gift card.

Can’t wait to see your ideas!

Earlier this week I announced a new contest with a beautiful self-watering container from Clean Air Gardening. To win you had to leave a comment on Facebook or Twitter sharing how you’d use the container if you won. I assigned each entry a number and used Random.org to pick a winner. Megan of Far Out Flora‘s number was drawn. Congrats, this is a really awesome prize!

Megan said that she’d “use the box to successfully grow some veggies by the beach.” Sounds like a great idea to me!

I want to thank Lars from Clean Air Gardening for being so generous with the prize. Please check out his online shop and all the great garden products there.

Since we’re talking budget-friendly containers today, check out this self-watering container. It’s like a stylish, Italian upgrade to the ubiquitous Earthbox. It isn’t normally free, I would imagine that the folks at CleanAirGardening.com couldn’t feed their families if they always gave their products away. But they have generously offered to send one LOTB reader their very own Deluxe Grow Box, how cool is that?!

What do you have to do to win?

Well, if you live in the 48 contiguous states, leave a comment on the LOTB Facebook Page or send me a tweet telling me how you’d use the Deluxe Grow Box. If you comment on or retweet someone else’s contest entry, I’ll double your chances of winning for being so nice. You have until Friday, July 2 at midnight PST.

Click on over to the Clean Air Gardening site to check out the photos. They show several different views of the container with different things growing in it that will get your idea juices flowing. I’ll pick one person at random to win.

Here’s the run down on what the winner will receive:

• A well-built, Italian-designed, self-watering container (33.25″ W x 14″ D x 13.5″ H) that can hold 18.5 gallons of potting soil.
• An easy to access filling port to allow you to add 4 gallons of water to the reservoir. Depending on the season, the water reservoir can keep water from 15 to 30 days.
• It also comes with a sturdy, 30″ high, heavy gauge wire that can support multiple vegetables, flowering plants, or climbing vines.

What are you waiting for?! Get on over to Facebook or Twitter!