Canada has given us John Candy and Martin Short and Bill Shatner…

and some really cool garden gadgets. (borrowing from Jamie Farr)

So I was wondering the web, as I do, and I had the serendipity to stumble across Canadian Gardening. I came across some really clever ideas that I hadn’t seen before. I particularly liked the The GARDENA Spiral Hose Box.

Now if you, like me, find yourself drooling over this little number you’ll be very happy to know that I found it available on Amazon.

Canadian Gardening also pointed me in the direction of aHa! Modern Living where I found these great bird houses:

They also directed me to Alice Supply Co., which has far too many drool worthy garden gadgets than I can do justice to.

Now I just need to find a Molson to properly toast our Canadian gardening friends. Cheers!

How to Make a Birdbath – Outdoor Projects | Fresh Home

Another great DIY project for the garden to share with you.
How to Make a Birdbath – Outdoor Projects | Fresh Home.

 

Forget Invention, Necessity is the Mother of Improvisation!

I’m sorry my dear international friends but this post is completely North American centric.

For several years now I’ve been trying to find something comfortable to wear in the garden during the spring and summer (as you may have guessed I’m not a big shopper, unless it’s plants, seeds and garden gadgets – okay I have a weakness for kitchen gadgets too). Now bear in mind that I tend to wear my grubbys until they fall off my body, and since I spend most of my time around the house I’m almost always wearing grubbys, so  I don’t go shopping for clothes that often… plus when I do it’s often at the thrift store.

The other day however I’d just had it (most of my grubbys are more rags than clothes and, apparently somewhere along the line I lost some weight so, the ones that aren’t are falling off) so I did something I hardly ever do and I went to Target. My hope was to find a couple of pairs of longish shorts and maybe a comfy pair of trousers I could step out of the house in. I was quite please to find a couple of pairs of nice long shorts, and a couple of pairs of cropped bottoms that went just below the knees instead of mid-calf (because mid-calf is such a great place for to trousers to hit the leg – talk about cutting you off at the knees!). Where I really struck gold though was when I went to find a pair of shorts to sleep in.

I found these:

Gilligan & OMalley® Womens Fluid Knit Bermuda

Forget sleeping in these! These are perfect for wearing in the garden – super comfy, loose, flowing, airy and they extend past the knees so that when you do kneel down you don’t get knees full of grit. I’m going to buy several more pairs and live in these until the cool weather comes our way again.

How to make your mark…

From: HardlyHousewives.com

From: puglife85.blogspot.com

From: aptgarden.blogspot.com

From: http://www.glueandglitter.com

From: inmyownstyle.com

Five Lesser Known Tools Every Gardener Should Have

Five Lesser Known Tools Every Gardener Should Have.

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty…

Happy Earth Day everyone! As you can see I’m making a progress (slowly but surely) in reclaiming my garden.

Taming the Jungle

I Fought the Rubble and I Won!

View From the Garden

I have all of my squash and melons planted, I’m starting to get peas, I pulled all my onions and garlic over the past couple of days (a lot of that will be replanted but I needed to reorg the beds), most of my tomatoes, eggplant, tomatillos and ground cherries are in, as well as some okra and basil. Now I need to tackle my getting peppers in and then finding homes for all my left over seedlings (any takers?). I’m hoping they will find good homes at the plant swap I’m attending next week. The problem with the plant swap though is that I’ll end up coming home with as many/more plants than I took with me!

It hasn’t all been dirt under my nails though. Earlier in the month I felt compelled to add a little more art to the garden.

The first thing I found was this Witch Cowboy Boot Barbed Wire Birdhouse With Whisk Broom by Dan Towell. I featured some of Dan’s work in my “buy it or make it” post a couple of months back – he did the barbed wire trellis – but I didn’t realize it was the same artist until I found this little piece.  Anyway, I love this piece – it’s just so quirky and so perfect for a Texas garden.

This is the artist's picture which I think shows the detail a bit better.

Then, while in Santa Fe, we found this fellow. MrGF and I have been looking for a Green Man for our garden for years, but never found one that resonated with us (they either felt too severe or too jolly), but the minute we saw him we knew we’d finally found our man — he’s got a timeless quality about him. I have to say the picture doesn’t do him justice, in person he has leaves and vines etched into his hair and beard. He also happens to remind me of a dear friend who I don’t get to visit nearly often enough. Right now our man is in his temporary home sitting out in the dappled shade, among the flowers, listening to the birds sing and watching over my newly planted herbs and vegetables.

Finally, if you’ve been to Santa Fe you know that Saint Francis is beloved there. Now I give “lapsed Catholic” a whole new meaning, but I’ve always been fond of ol’ Frankie (it’s that whole talking to the animals, patron saint of the environment thing) and I was really drawn to this representation of him, so he’s found a little place in my garden as well.

P.S. MrGF has been playing with the new camera so there will be updated pics of “the cast of characters” soon.

Vogue, Vogue … the garden runway

I don’t know what’s going on with me the past couple of days; I have a million things to do (and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration) but all I want to do is sit around and read and write.

I am going to get up and go do something (really, I am), but first let’s just have a wee bit of fun and take a tour through MsGrubby’s gardening wardrobe (and yes I do/would wear these in public). Ladies be warned, if you wear these out and about people WILL stare at your chest!

        

Gifts for gardeners – to buy it or make it, that is the question.

Well it’s been quite a week for the pod people and cast of characters here on our little patch. In and amongst everything else we have going on here we’re renovating our lovely little circa 1955 bungalow (with help from a very strong supporting cast headed by my dad) and the latest project is a lovely big laundry room/mud room/dog room for moi (and obviously the dogs..). Given the house’s age and the fact that until not too long ago it was in the country so folks just added on rooms as and when required we’re always being greeted with “Surprise!” and it’s been a week of “Surprise!”

I’ve responded by hiding out in the greenhouse for the past few days and as far as “ignoring the problem” goes I’d say it’s a good strategy – I’ve now got ground cherries, eggplant, tomato and tomatillo seedlings poking their little heads out of their soil beds (I’m expecting to see peppers next week). And today, after an early morning trip to the dump to bury the unsalvageable surprises, I decided to go to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

Here’s the thing though, all week I’ve been trying to write a post specifically about permaculture that would start tying all my posts together. For some reason though the post just won’t write itself, I guess I need to leave it simmering in the subconscious for a bit longer. So with a strong case of writers block re: permaculture I found myself thinking about Valentine ’s Day (which is funny because I’m not a chocolate and roses girl – or at least not a full price one – buy them for me at half price on the 15^th and I’ll be just as happy) and that led to thinking about gifts for gardeners and that’s when lightning struck.

Now, I love Etsy! There is so much creativity displayed, so much inspiration, I’ve gotten some really lovely things from Etsy and I love that I’m supporting small businesses/artists. But if I bought everything on Etsy that captured my imagine “broke” wouldn’t even begin to describe the state of the piggy bank here at the Three Pea Homestead; and for some reason the animals get really grumpy at the idea of not being fed. So for those of you looking for something special for that special gardener in your life (and that includes you) I offer some buy it or make it ideas.

Click on to either the “buy it” or “make it” labels to link to either the item or instructions to make it.

(Disclaimer: please note, that these are just samples and there may be other places to buy the item or other ways of making it. Also I have no affiliation with any of these people – these are simply ideas for things that might make your favorite gardener smile.)

Mason Bee House: Mason Bees are fantastic garden helpers, although they do not produce honey they also don’t sting and they are prolific pollinators.

Buy It 1

Buy It 2

Make It

Toad House: Other great garden helpers your favorite gardener will be over joyed to see are frogs and toads. This article highlights their benefits, and how to attract them and house them in your garden.

Buy It

Make It

Mason Jar Bird Feeder

Buy It

Make It

Plant tags: Do I really need to say that a gardener never has enough plant tags?

Buy It 1

Buy It 2

Make It

The absolute easiest way I’ve learned to “make it” is to find some old vinyl blinds at a thrift store and cut them into 4 inch pieces, wrap a bundle of them up in a nice ribbon, throw in a colored grease pencil and you have a winner. Here are some other ideas:

Make It 1

Make It 2

Trellis

Buy It

Make It

All I can say is “who knew chain-link fence could be so beautiful?”

This is just a very small sampling of “buy it or make it”, some other things to consider are: worm composters, compost tea brewers, humming bird feeders, compost bins, gourd bird houses, etc.

I hope this inspired you, wish me inspiration on that permaculture post. Until then, happy growing!

P.S. Speaking of supporting small businesses, I have another blatant plug for one of my dear friends, It’s a Buzz Boutique.  It’s a Buzz Boutique specializes in personalized products for toddlers and children. You can email them mailto:itsabuzzboutique@hotmail.com