Blueberries for Jeannie

Woke up early this morning thinking about blueberries and my garden and my blog, life. My husband thought I might be "tetched" in the head, but it was really a poetic sort of moment. I wanted to be up with the sunrise, planning my blueberry patch for the front yard. I thought about the children's classic, Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey. My oldest daughter, Julie, is up for a visit ... it would be a good project for our time together!

A good companion - IMHO - for the concept of lawnfree front yards is "edible front yards". Why is this? Yea! It's Soapbox Time! Well, I think it's a quality of life issue ... an enjoying of the space you have to the max. Just like creating a gathering spot to enjoy the sunset (or your neighbors' company), or, creating a  native plant border that invite native polinators to share your bounty, doing the right thing, enhances all areas of life. Especially as contrasted with it's opposite: tired, mostly weedy lawns, shrubs that were installed 20 years ago. Why is it there??? It just is.

So, I address this subject while there's still time to buy, plant, pick, enjoy!

Key Points:

South/North:

It used to be that blueberries were limited to northern climates. They needed abundant "chill hours" and those of us in California and the southern states didn't get enough of those. I first started hearing about "southern" highbush blueberries, maybe 20 years ago ... around when they started showing up in the nurseries.

Evergreen:

A blueberry's version of  evergreen, is a "sort of" thing, like our roses that seem to never go really dormant. The value of this is that they continue to contribute the green-ness factor throughout the winter season. I don't believe in stripping our front yards of all vegetation come November and December in the name of lawn-free. If one can do something to blend in one's front yard with the neighbor's, I think it will be appreciated. Much more so than the dried-out, summer's gone, native yards that is often see. Not pretty. But blueberries have their own garden design value - spring blooms, colorful leaves in the fall, and their lingering, "evergreen-ness".

Blueberries and Planting Advice at Peaceful Valley Nursery in Grass Valley

We have a great resource for organic fruits and berries and growing supplies here in the Sacramento Valley ... Peaceful Valley Nursery, located in Grass Valley. They have wonderful videos on just about every topic. Here's what Trisha has to say about planting and growing blueberries:

Blueberries and Pizza at High Hand Nursery in Loomis

Southern Highbush Blueberry are on sale. My man and I went up and had breakfast in their cafe this last weekend. They currently have a 2 for 1 sale on 2-gallon Sharpblues!  ($20 for 2 blueberry plants.) I plan to scoot up there to buy a few, and, perhaps have some of their Outdoor Pizza Oven pizza, or their tri-tip with blue cheese sandwich. It's yum! As for the blueberries ... if you're going to get them, this is the weekend!!! (More about their Sharpblues)

Whether you need garden design, coaching, or just have a question or two, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

My friend, Darlene, and I headed to the Bay Area yesterday for the SF Flower and Garden Show. This guy from the Lyngso Garden Materials was there to greet everyone!

My favorite display garden was created by Jim Grandy, the Bamboo Man. Sometimes in a convention center it's hard to get good photos and this small piece of his is the best I have. But, did he have Japanese tea houses!!! If I ever get the opportunity to design a Japanese dream garden, I know where to get the real deal. He's located in Washington, but says he travels, and delivers...

I was intrigued by this (as the sign says), Coral Fountain. Long rush-like arching branches with pretty dark red tubular flowers ... seems like it would be perfect for some special spot, although not sure what spot that might be! This was in a garden created by students from U. of Arizona in Phoenix.

New Leaf Landscaping, from Santa Rosa seriously mastered the natural water cycle ... permeable pavers, rain gardens, gray water recycling thru the garden and these cool containers that capture roof rainwater (not that we have any!) via the gutter downspouts.

Ok ... what is this? A big walk-thru orb made of old has-been grape vines. Want one? Contact Terra Ferma Landscapes in San Francisco.

This was my favorite new flower ... Limnanthes douglasii, or Meadow Foam. Full and "blousey", and a California native as well! Turns out Annie's Annuals in Richmond sells it! Oooooh .

Besides all the show gardens and vendors, there is an impressive program of seminars. Darlene learned how to care for her tools, and I attended a Pinterest workshop!  If I were returning tomorrow, I'd spend the day in their "Eco-Friendly Track" classroom... learning about how to lose the lawn, plant natives, attract birds, butterflies and other backyard wildlife. Cuz, that's what I like ... that's what I do ... 

If you have a hankering to head there this weekend, the show will continue thru Sunday at the San Mateo Event Center, Find out more, order tickets here.

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Give-Away Deadline Extended to Sunday at 6 pm

In honor of giving me a break (!) so I can get my design projects done today, I'm extending the deadline for my 5th Blogoverary Give-Away Extravaganza to tomorrow at 6 pm! Here's a reminder of what's up for grabs:

Veg - Fruit Shears from Corona Tools

The Variety 3-pack Manure Tea from Moo Poo Tea

A Tin of  Seeds (from any of the 8 collections) from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply

 Seed Sprouter from Botanical Interests

... and a million other packets of seeds for sprouting or planting (some "new for 2014")

To enter, just leave a comment here about anything related before 6 pm tomorrow night (Pacific Standard Time). (For more info about any of these companies, check my other posts over the last 2 weeks.)

Garden Gifting/Garden Give-Away

I want to give special space to the last part of tomorrow's giveaway ... a collection of 10 organic seed packets in their own cute tin from Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden. I love seeds and tins, so I'm hooked. This would be a great item to win, and, an excellent present as well. There are 8 collections in all. (Check them all out: Edible Front Yard, Crafter's Delight, Grandma's Root Cellar and, more!)

"My First Garden, Easy Grow Classics"

While we're on the subject of Peaceful Valley ... here are some of the things I really like about them:

1.   My friend Charlotte (Daffodil-Planter) Germane works there!

2.  Trisha makes all manner of great videos on everything gardening.

3.  They have bare-root fruit trees that will be shipped out in December and January. Most of them are $19.95. (I have a back fence with a slope. I want to terrace it and plant fruit trees along it! THIS year - before the end of February!

4.  They have great resources for DIYers, like goat cheese kits.

 

 Aurora, the goat, is from Nevada City! I think she's the star of Trisha's goat milking/cheese making video! 

 5.  M-braces Great raised bed system invented by a Woodland teacher. $99 for 4 braces. Just add lumber! 

  

6. They have a large variety of frost protection products. While this may not seem the sexiest surprise under the tree (!), but, we are coming around to that season where frost snaps can take out your citrus or other marginal plants. And, smart, is sexy!

To see more of the prizes for the Give-Away, check out this post. There's still time to enter ... Give-Away closes tomorrow night!

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Thankful

Wordless Wednesday - Japanese Zen Garden

From my Pinterest Board, "Theme Gardens" ... my most popular "Pin"

Visit gardening-quick-n-easy.com

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5th Blogoversary Give-Away ... Sweetening the Pot!

The 5th anniversary of this blog was in August! I ambitiously had back-to-back give-aways lined up to celebrate the event, with all of the prizes coming from the sponsors of the (I know, I know, I talk about it way too much), the 6th Annual Garden Bloggers Fling ...

A paused moment in the garden binging, I mean, flinging.

Well, concurrently with this ambition, was a bunch of new clients! Whoa. Somebody got busy! How happy is that!?! The prizes were lined up, but the give-aways lagged behind.

The Blogoversary Botanical Seeds Give-Away

Enter November and my daily posting with Blogher's NaBloPoMo. The blogging mill starts coming back to life! We currently have one Give-Away  ...

... this very cool Seed Sprouter from Botanical Interests

The sprouter has 2 layers that can have dividers added to create 4 sections. Thus 4 potential different seeds sprouting at the same time, or 1 seed in 4 different stages. The bottom tray catches any draining water. There are also a variety of sprouting seeds to be given away. I'm trying one of these seeds now, using an old spaghetti sauce container. The winner will have way more class than me!

The Give-away expands ... Now we're going to "sweeten the pot"!

Corona Fruit and Vegetable Shears

Pruners are important. Different sizes for different jobs. I'm always glad to have them around. But these shears have something extra ... they're like an extension of my hand! Comfortable, easy to use. I love 'em!

Variety Pack of Annie Haven Moo-Poo Manure Teas ( "Horse", "Cow" and "Alfalfa")

My biggest gardening weakness is soil fertility. Maybe you, too, need to give your soil and your plants an extra boost. Would be worth a try, don't you think? And, you'll get to try it in all three "flavors".

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply in Grass Valley, CA

Suppliers of  everything organic for the homesteader and urban gardener, except tractors and hay balers. Details to come ...

How to Enter, How to Win

How it will work ... post a comment on this post saying something about pruners, sprouts, manure tea or hay balers. (Also, make sure a return link to you shows up in the comment box so I can contact you.) Random drawing for winners will take place on Nov. 30th. Good Luck!

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Garden Adventures: Palm Desert Plants

Here's a compendium (!) of plants from my walk-arounds at La Quinta Resort in the Palm Desert. All of them drought-tolerant and perfectly at home in this environment characterized by hot summers and low rainfall. All of them, except for the last (ahem). 

Agave americana, Century Plant

Fouquieria splendens, Octotillo

Opuntia, Prickly Pear

Cactus, ???

Cercidium microphyllum, Littleleaf Palo Verde

Euphorbia milii, Crown of Thorns

Bougainvillea - pruned, unpruned, mid-pruning

Lawn, and more lawn ... lawn everywhere in Palm Springs.

(ahem) 

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Garden Adventures: Playground of the Rich and Famous, and Me! La Quinta Resort

Two years ago I spent a few days at La Quinta Resort near Palm Springs, with nothing to do with my time but roam around, look at plants, shop, eat great food and absorb some history ...

That's me!

From the La Quinta Resort website: 

"In the early 1920s, San Francisco businessman Walter H. Morgan was drawn to a place in the California desert that dwellers in these lands had long referred to as the Land of Eternal Sun. He envisioned a tranquil retreat that captured the essence of quiet hacienda-style living. Purchasing 1,400 acres from the native Cahuilla Indians, he enlisted the renowned architect Gordon Kaufman, along with scores of artisan craftsmen to make his dream a reality. From more than 100,000 hand-formed adobe bricks and 60,000 locally fired roof tiles, a small grouping of quaint casitas and a cozy dining room sprung up. Morgan called this place La Quinta.

"Word quickly spread among Hollywood’s elite that Morgan’s oasis in the desert was a truly relaxing escape, far from the harsh glare of the limelight and away from prying eyes. The brightest stars came, each seeking the solitude of La Quinta for their own reasons."

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo's casita ... her dress, her bed, her stairs, her pretty window to let in the light.

"Greta Garbo, we learned, had her own casita at La Quinta. Not surprisingly,the reclusive movie star whose signature comment was, “I vant to be alone,’ selected a casita that was at a considerable remove from the Main Plaza, with its shops and restaurants. As a result, whenever she ran low on cigarettes, she was faced with a long walk. But that never fazed her. “I’d walk a mile for a Camel,” she often said, providing R. J. Reynolds with its universally known and still-recalled slogan."  Luxury Life Review

Frank Capra

A plaque in front of his *good luck* casita, where he came to write some of his biggest Hollywood hits:

 "Director Frank Capra first came to La Quinta in 1934, to turn the story "Night Bus" , which he read in a Palm Springs barber shop, into the movie script for "It Happened One Night." When the film swept the Academy Awards that year, Mr. Capra became superstitious about La Quinta.
This is where Mr. Capra wrote the screen plays for many film classics, such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington",  "You Can;t Take it With You",  "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "It's a Wonderful Life", and "Meet John Doe". 

I have a writer husband, so it's especially interesting for me to see the typewriter on the desk and realize all these famous movies had a beginning. A writer, who hoped he'd be successful, that he'd do it right! If you haven't seen it, here's how you can watch It Happened One Night!

Thanks to the staff at La Quinta for my private golf cart tour of the grounds, and a peek at this resort as it was then! Tomorrow will be my chance to take another look again at the plants of La Quinta Resort.

. 

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Garden Adventures: La Quinta Resort in Palm Springs

Two years ago, my husband and I took a business trip to Palm Springs where we stayed at La Quinta Resort. Now a fancy Waldorf-Astoria hotel with a world-class tennis club and surrounded by golf courses, back in its early days it was a quiet hacienda retreat in the Palm Desert.

From the website: "Before it became an oasis of lush gardens, La Quinta Resort and Club was just a 26 casita resort surrounded by the Palm Desert.'

While my husband sat in on break-out sessions, and think tanks (!), I roamed the property... 

I saw plants I loved, 

Mexican architectural details ...

I discovered the casitas (little houses) and stories of the stars,

ate great food

 and went bug-eyed at the fancy cars. 

Too much to say in one post about La Quinta Resort, past and present! I have great pictures of Greta Garbo's house, which being me, I found equally fascinating with the pruning of the bougainvillea! I'll show you some more pictures tomorrow. We'll start with Greta, and also, Frank Capra, who wrote some of the best classic screenplays of the  30's and 40's in his lucky casita, including "It Happened One Night". (Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable ... rent it if you've never seen it. It's great!) 

Ta for now ...

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.

Garden Gifting

A few gift ideas for the garden crazies in your life!

1.  A Gift Certificate

Annie's Annuals and Perennials

Now til the end of the year, 15% off all gift cards at Annie's Annuals

2. Boulders

Mid-Valley Rock Yard

May sound really weird, but boulders really bring about the glimmer in a gardener's eye. The bigger they are, the bigger the glimmer! But big also equals heavy lifting equipment. I talked to my friend, Anna Chetcuti, owner of Mid Valley Rock in Sacramento ... she said if the boulders were 2 x 2 they could be managed by the homeowner, larger they needed that heavy equipment. But, what the heck ... see what you like and figure it out. Not as expensive as you might think!

Silverado Building Supply ... getting that glimmer yet?

 3. A Fruit Orchard ...

January and February are the best months for bare root fruit trees. Bare root trees are in their dormant stage (no leaves, not actively growing) during these months, so they're easier to transport and easier to plant, plus, you  get the best selection and the best prices.  Dave Wilson Nursery in Modesto supplies a large part of the trees sold in the California market (including those sold by Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply in both their online and retail stores in Grass Valley.) Good educational material on both sites.

... with a book or two?

Here's a couple I have at home that are great. The first, Fruit Trees in Small Spaces, by Colby Eierman, invites the new orchardist to give it a go, in a friendly encouraging fashion. 

The book covers design, choosing and caring for your trees 

with recipes ... 

and sketches

The second book is a new one, well, newer than that, even. Not even published! So how do I have a copy? Timber Press has sent me a review copy!!! I know, cool, heh? I'm prepped to like it just from the title because it's the 3rd in the uber practical series, What's Wrong with my Plant?, What's Wrong with my Vegetable Garden? and now, What's Wrong with my Fruit Garden? by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth. 

I use to work in a nursery and customers would always come in asking, "what's wrong with my ...?" Sometimes, most of the time, there were numerous answers (guesses). Perhaps if I had been a grower my whole life, I would have had 100% certainty on the cause and solution to the problem. Well, this book drives this ability to your doorstep and says, "Howdy, I'm yours!"

(from the author's blog)

Easy to use, it covers vines like this kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, stone fruit, citrus ... or, as the cover says, "100% organic solutions for berries, trees, nuts, vines, and tropicals."

Sure, you could get a flannel booted bunny bag for watching t.v,. or a makeup kit with 50 shades of eye shadow. Maybe a set of new socks or 7 days of the week undies (my mother's favorite). Or, something I'd (I mean, they'd) really like! Go ahead, I've made it easy for you! 

(from the author's blog)

You're Welcome 

Whether you need garden design, coaching, seasonal maintenance or planting, Geno's Garden can help!  Call me at (916) 764-5243, or email hansonja@aol.com.