From the category archives:

Good Reading

I’ve recently discovered a newish blog that I wanted to bring to LOTB readers’ attention: J Peterson Garden Design. Jenny is a professional garden designer who works in the Austin, Texas area. I originally discovered her blog through Twitter (@MulchMaven), and have really enjoyed reading her thoughtful and interesting posts on her blog. Recently she has had a slew of posts that I think would be of interest to my fellow container gardeners:

  1. “Mulching” Potted Plants
  2. Very Super Cool Wall Planter Ideas
  3. Lessons from the Pile: Why We Compost
  4. Autumn Potted Garden
  5. And just for fun… A New Way to Insulate Potted Plants

If you’d like to subscribe to Jenny’s blog–and I think you should–you can do so right here: J Peterson’s RSS feed.

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If the title of this post describes how you feel right now, take a deep breath and sit down for a second. Hopefully you’ve got today off, but even if you don’t, the collection of 4th of July decorating ideas below are easy enough to accomplish before your party starts.

  • I’m tempted to make these lawn stars in the grass out front of my apartment building. Think my landlord will mind? Pretty much everyone will already have the supplies needed on hand, and who doesn’t want stars all over their grass?!
  • The Seattle Times has not 1, but 6 (!), decorating ideas for the Fourth that lean towards the “modern-spin on kitschy classics” look.
  • This seems like a super-easy, super-quick way to add some patriotic cheer to otherwise boring chairs.
  • Download this pinwheel pattern, print it out, follow the instructions, and repeat. Soon you’ll have plenty of wind-powered decorations for even the craft-challenged person’s balcony.
  • Pop this Stars and Stripes Mandevilla into a pot with some blue lobelia and white petunias and you’ve got a pretty festive container to greet your guests at the front door.

Okay, jump up and get going!

If you’re one of those people that always has a list of to-do’s that you’ve ticked off in an organized fashion over the past week or so, then please leave your Martha Stewart-esque tips in the comments.

p.s. If decorating sounds like too much of a pain, you can come hang out on the Queen Mary in Long Beach with me. The fireworks show starts at 9pm.

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Lots of Container Gardening Tips and Ideas Mentioned in Dead Tree Media

June 28, 2009

8 Tips for Growing an Herb Garden
Plant a Window Box to Improve Your View
Aluminum Cachepots are Lightweight Alternatives
Getting Creative With Containers
Give Your Container Plants Some Love–But Not Too Much

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Great Weekend Reading

June 5, 2009

I’m headed out the door for a weekend cruise with my family. I’m super excited to spend a lot of time with my brothers, one lives in Philadelphia, and the other just finished his first year of college in Vermont. I’ll be back on Monday and will have a new post up then. I hope [...]

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Great Blog Posts For Some Lazy Sunday Reading

May 17, 2009

The herb garden totally threw off everything in my life. The phone call letting me know when they wanted it planted went something like this…
911? Can I speak to a gardener please? EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY, we need an herb garden tomorrow!!
Okay, maybe they gave me two days. I stopped everything, completely moved my schedule around, had [...]

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Review of California Container Gardening

May 11, 2009

I am really excited to share a book I have been using with my fellow Californian container gardeners. Container Gardening for California by Jennifer Beaver and Don Williamson is a great pocket reference for plants that will do well in California and are particularly well-suited to container gardening.

The book is 224 pages long and is [...]

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Good Weekend Reading for Container Gardeners

May 1, 2009

Miriam’s experiment allowing the rose ‘Graham Thomas’ to overwinter in a pot without any special protection appears to have worked!
Vanessa  talks about gardening by the moon and zodiac.
Sue celebrates her blog’s 200th post with some great info on growing Swiss Chard in containers and some tasty recipes for eating it.
Gen reprinted a hilarious article by [...]

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Six Plants You Can’t Live Without Roundup

April 21, 2009

Here are some of my favorite lists of plants posted yesterday and today as part of the “Six Plants You Can’t Live Without” meme.

Green Acres – White Wisteria, Maidenhair Fern, Yarrow…
Dirt du Jour – All of Cindy’s selections would work great in a container garden, except the Michelia figo. I’ve never grown it before or [...]

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Great Gardening Links for Early Spring

April 17, 2009

Here are some of the posts I really enjoyed reading recently:

Drink Your Beets: Check out Adriana’s funky video for a great way to fit some healthy goodness into your breakfast. As an added bonus, it comes with punk music!
Hand Pruner Showdown: Genevieve has a readable yet informative post on pruners and which one she thinks [...]

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Alternative Places To Buy Plants

April 12, 2009

Occasionally I get emails from people who are frustrated because they can’t find the spectacular plants that are used in container gardening magazines and books. If you are nodding your head right now, or if you’d just like to try something new, this post is for you. Everyone can get interesting plants, no matter where [...]

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10 Gardeners I Think You Should Follow on Twitter

April 9, 2009

I resisted Twitter for a long time. Whenever anyone mentioned it, I let out a huff and said it was a completely banal forum for people to tell the world that they just brushed their teeth. I realize now that I was acting out of ignorance. Yes, there is a lot of banality on Twitter. [...]

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Container Gardening Guide for Spring 2009

March 23, 2009

Spring has sprung! The first official day of Spring was last Friday. Below I’ve put together tons of posts to help you plan and care for your container garden. Be sure to bookmark this post for future reference!

Photo by Steve Took It
PLANNING

How to Plan a Beautiful Balcony Garden: Some ideas and resources to help you [...]

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