Thank You, Renee's Garden!

A big Thank You to Renee Shepherd and the good folks at ReneesGarden.com! They donated seeds to help with the new garden at Jackjack's elementary school. Look at all those great colors--the kids are really going to enjoy growing these!

We're putting in worm bins, a butterfly habitat, and each grade (K-6) will have its own raised bed. Stay tuned for more pictures as the project progresses.

The seeds at Renee's are organic, not treated, and non-GMO. Still need seeds for this year? Drop by ReneesGarden.com and show them some love.

Sacramento Veggie Gardening Survey

Sacramento readers! Want fresh, organic veggies without all of the work? My friends at Soil Born Farms are gauging interest in a veggie box installation-and-maintenance business here in town.

Complete this survey to share your opinion and be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card!
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Converting to a Low-Flow Toilet

BrownThumbPapa and I circa 1995--yes, he really has always worn a Giants hat.

After a zillion years of marriage, I've learned that there are some topics I can't change BrownThumbPapa's mind about.

On cats: "Why on earth would you want a cat? We don't have a barn, so we don't need one. That's why you need a cat, to get rid of mice."

On canceling cable: "Yeah, we could also give all our stuff away and live under a bridge somewhere, but why the hell would you do that?"

Which brings us in a roundabout way to our topic: converting a "regular" toilet into a low-flow toilet. Our house was built in 1976 and the toilets have never been replaced. Papa has a curmudgeonly opinion about low-flow toilets, which I won't discuss here (let's just say it involves multiple flushes). On the other hand, I'm interested in saving water--especially since we're on a water meter now.

There are all kinds of thingys to place in your toilet tank to displace water, but I didn't know which one to choose. Thankfully, the folks at Golden State Water came to my office on Earth Day and gave me two of these nifty water savers.

It's called the "Toilet Tank Bank:Deposit and save water and money" (wocka wocka wocka).

It's easy to use and install--just fill up with water, seal the lid, and hang on the inside of the tank.

 

Yep, those are original, rusty 1976 bolts. Thank goodness there's a lid on this so nobody knows how stained it is!

Speaking of the lid, once you replace it nobody will know the displacer is in there. This is all that shows. (Don't tell my mom that I didn't paint behind the toilet.)

:

Now all that remains is to see if our water usage goes down as a result! I haven't seen a difference in flushing power, so we're in good shape.

I haven't seen these in town, but you can order a Toilet Tank Bank on Amazon for about $2. Pair it up with a low-flow showerhead and you could see real savings!

P.S. In the interest of full disclosure (and staying married for another zillion years), I told BrownThumbPapa about the displacers today. He shrugged and said, "Well, I guess it doesn't make a difference then." Maybe he's not so curmudgeonly after all.

Planting Asparagus

This year, I decided, was time to make the plunge. Now that I have a front yard garden, the limited garden space in the backyard can be used for more permanent crops. The citrus trees went in last year, so this year it was time for asparagus!

I used my Christmas gift cards to go on a Home Depot shopping spree, and came home with (among other things) a bunch of asparagus crowns. This is what they look like:

Image credit: Territorial Seed.com

The project began in January. Knowing I couldn't harvest for a couple of years, I chose a spot behind the pool that doesn't get a lot of traffic. It was lying fallow with a thick cover of straw to keep the weeds down and preserve moisture.

I cleared the area of straw and started digging. And digging. And digging. You get the picture. I found some squirmy worms along the way that let me know my soil is good and healthy though!

After what seemed like an excruciating amount of digging, I had a nice deep trench.

With a healthy layer of homemade compost to lay the crowns into and some dirt on top, I was done. I covered up the fresh, soft dirt with netting and sticks to keep Neighbor Kitty away, and I waited.

Good thing I covered it up, because Neighbor Kitty just loves luxuriating by the asparagus bed. Note the extra sticks and PVC pipe to keep him out of trouble.

By mid-March, other gardeners started reporting on their asparagus successes. I figured it was time to go check on my crop and bask in the glory of my hard work. It was too soon to harvest, but at least I could brag.

Do you have a magnifying glass handy? Here, I'll put a big red arrow in the picture to help you out. That's my crop! It's a little thicker than a pencil lead.

What do you think? Should my asparagus patch go the way of my potatoes? Or should I give it another try? Cast your vote in the comments...

Garden Shows & Hob-nobbing with Celebrities

The San Francisco Flower & Garden Show was last month, and I was invited to a pre-show party with lots of celebs from the horticulture world. Hanging out with the pros was like getting a seat at the grown-up table at Thanksgiving. And as long as nobody used Latin plant names, I could pretend like I knew what I was talking about!

Check out the lovely garden of our hostess, Rebecca Sweet. I could spend hours here taking notes and getting ideas for my yard.

 

Remember The Edible Front Yard giveaway? I met the author, Ivette Soler, and got my book autographed. Read her saucy garden blog at The Germinatrix.

Thanks to Charlotte "Daffodil Planter", H. Potter provided a fabulous door prize. Many entered--and Ivette walked into the party and promptly won it! Stinker. Here is Charlotte intensely explaining some aspect of the planter to Ivette. Or maybe she's just reminding her not to drop it...hard to say.

Almost done name-dropping! Here is the lovely and sweet Laura Livengood Schaub, who helped advise me on healing gardens along with Jenny Peterson. See, Mom? There were redeeming, educational aspects--it wasn't just a party (heeheehee).

There was maximum silliness as time passed, though. Here is Billy Goodnick wearing "Crimes Against Horticulture" police tape. If you've ever seen a ridiculously pruned bush or tree and thought, "What the h*** were they thinking?" then you need to talk to Billy.

There were tons of other garden geeks there, but I didn't get pictures of everybody. Whew! By the time I dragged back into Sacramento, it was late, late, late. And it was so hard to focus on work the next day...next year, I think I'll make a weekend of it. =)

Why Didn't I Think of That? Wednesday

Each Wednesday I'll share a tip to make your week go more smoothly or just make you say "aha!" 


Last week, we had a bunch of friends over for a Baked Potato Bar dinner. We were lucky to get some huge 'taters, but there wasn't enough room to lay them all out on the oven rack. To get maximum use of every bit of oven space, we stood the potatoes on end in a couple of muffin tins. They all fit and were easy to remove all at once too!

Reusing Jars for Bulk Food Storage

About a year ago, I recycled all of my plastic containers. We use Pyrex containers for leftovers, and have started recycling all kinds of other containers in our pantry.

Unless there's an outstanding coupon deal, bulk food purchases here are always cheaper. Our stores  don't double coupons, so I buy in bulk and put usable amounts into spaghetti sauce jars or canning jars. Here we have: yeast, white beans, popcorn, and homemade breadcrumbs (stale bread + food processor = huge savings).

 
Recycled plastic containers are handy, too. I don't microwave in them, but they work great in the pantry where little hands might reach (and drop) them. The ones on the end originally held cashews and the ones in the middle were peanut butter jars. These hold oats, homemade rice-a-roni mix, pasta, and cornmeal.

I've also reused peanut butter containers for baking mixes, homemade pancake mix, and such...but we've eaten all of those up!

Do you use creative storage for bulk foods or leftovers? Tell us more in the comments!