In Autumn of 2011 the new Growing Style App was introduced by my friends at Costa Farms. I was fairly new to owning my own iphone and was extremely excited to have downloaded a new application that was easy to navigate and filled with loads of useful growing information. Did I mention that this app was also FREE?! What’s not to love about all that packed into one 5 second download? This past week the new spring edition of Growing Style became available. I hope you will click over to your App Store and search for “Growing Style” so you can be inspired this growing season from the amazing people at Costa Farms. You can also click over to www.growingstylemag.com for your free copy!
Colorful Images and Informative Articles at Your Finger Tips
Here’s what Costa Farms has to say about Growing Style Spring / Summer 2012
Why go digital?? Because the world is changing at a rapid rate and we wanted to go the extra mile to EDUCATE,CONNECT and ENHANCE the relationship between gardeners and those ‘plant curious’. Our editor, Karen Jimerson, has a deep, undying love for anything green and affinity for teaching others how to ‘do-it-yourself’, thus we feel GrowingStyle is the be-all, do-all App for iPhone, iPad and Android tablets.
About Growing Style Editor – Karen Weir-Jimerson
Karen Weir-Jimerson is a magazine writer and book author who has been gardening since she was 8 years old (when she planted mint and learned the lesson of invasive plants). Karen lives on three acres in rural Iowa where she and her husband raise perennials, annuals, containers, herbs, vegetables, and water gardens.
Karen is a writer, editor and Master Gardener. She is author of So Much Sky, essays about living and gardening in the country, as well as eight books about gardening, including Better Homes and Gardens Container Gardening Made Easy and Better Homes and Gardens Herb Gardening. Karen is also a columnist for Country Gardens magazine as well as a frequent contributor to gardening and lifestyle magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Midwest Living, Country Home, Family Circle, Nature’s Garden, Garden Ideas, Horticulture, Country Woman, Creative Home, and Country Almanac magazines. Visit Karens website at Author Site.
I’d love to hear from you … share with me what app’s you are using on your mobile devices that make it easy to stay in the garden!
Monday on Twitter I came across this blog share from one of my #foodie friends who blogs at The Adirondack Chick.
The first bloom that came to mind while retweeting her link was the majestic dahlia blooms that took over my landscape last summer just outside my greenhouse. I quickly clicked over to her blog to find some fabulous shares from other Foodie / gardeners and just had to share this with you on my blog. Be sure to follow Michelle on Twitter at @theadkchick And I hope you will share a comment over on her blog with what your favorite flower is.
My Obsession with Dahlia’s
This year I’m trying very hard to not go crazy with too many different colors in my greenhouse landscape / garden area. My theme this year is Yellow, Orange and Hot Pink so I was delighted to see this dinner plate Dahlia at my local garden center.
Last year starting the Dahlia root in March / April provided me a perfect head start with blooms early on in summer. The image above shows the dahlia’s each planted in 1 gallon containers in my Ohio greenhouse.
How can you not LOVE the dahlia after seeing the image above?
I will admit that after the heavy rain in late July when this dinner plate sized dahlia was found laying on the mulch in the garden I was sure to ‘tear’ up. Fortunately, the blooms were continuous with low maintenance so there were plenty more that stood tall in the garden.
Hand full of dahlia in my 2011 Ohio garden…. I totally tweeted that one!
I totally can’t wait to see the dahlia blooms for 2012 and I hope I’ve inspired you to give a dahlia a try in your garden. They are super easy to grow and they love to be left alone even on the hot days of late summer.
That image of the huge dalia above is labeled tequila. I was delighted to find it again this year at Aldi for $1.69 each : I picked up 3 to grow in my landscape this year. I hope you will share with me what your favorite flowers are and maybe I will try and grow some in my Ohio garden if I don’t already! Happy Growing ……
One of my favorite events in the summer takes place locally at the Black Swamp Arts Festival in Bowling Green, Ohio. Featured in the collage above are some images from Saturday nights center stage line up with Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers. Taking a break from summer garden harvest and enjoying the sights and sounds locally. Summer just wouldn’t be complete with out a pulled pork sandwich prepared out on the street by Po Mo’s Ribs .
Clips from Black Swamp Saturday Center Stage in Bowling Green, Ohio
The video and images above was captured with my iphone which I had just purchased the month before. Just listening to these tunes I can smell the pulled pork and feel the heat of summer. The festival is free thanks to locals who contribute to this organization. Can’t wait to see the lineup for this years arts festival and reflect on how lucky we are to have such a art filled community so close to where my garden grows!
Last Monday on #gardenchat we welcomed the talented author Geraldine Adamich Laufer (also known as @gardengeri ) as our guest host. It was an hour filled with love as we got to ask questions and learn more about the language of flowers from our #gardenchat friend Geri. If you missed the event and would like to find out more about what was shared please visit the #gardenchat website link to the transcript on featured on February 13.
Could the topic have been any more perfect leading into Valentines Day week? I do believe I wasn’t the only twitter participant that was rethinking ‘roses’ for my sweetheart and going with a container of Rosemary which has been associated with love and remembrance throughout the ages according to Geri Laufer. This writer knows her herbs because she also the Administrator of #herbchat that takes place every Thursday afternoon on Twitter. I’m all for some rosemary on my grilled fish so way not give it as a gift!?! Little did I know the bunch of tulips I picked for my family from my greenhouse forced bulbs as well as a few from the store meant ‘Happy Years – Memory’ according to page 88 in Geri’s book ‘ Tussie Mussies’ – the Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in The Language of Flowers.
I was honored when my dear Twitter friend who I happen to have met last year at the Garden Writers Association #gardenchat tweet-up I organized in Indianapolis. She is a Horticulturist, Garden Writer, Public Relations & Social Media Consulting for the Plant Industry and you can find out more about her at her website : GardenGeri.com
‘Tussie- Mussie’ can be purchased on Amazon so be sure to click on over and get your copy. WHY PURCHASE this book? I highly recommend this to ANYONE who wants to add a beautifully illustrated art filled book to their library collection. Although I must add that you may never put it up on the shelf because the images will light up your home decor. The book is filled with inspiring images on how to put together flower bouquets for any and all occasions. Before you pick out your seeds to grow a garden of blooms this spring you must flip through this book to get ideas on what you may want to tell your friends with cut flowers you may gift them with later in the harvest season.
Thank you Geri Laufer for sending me your beautiful book.
It isn’t every day an article or book can change your lifestyle. Of course for me it takes additional weeks during my prime growing season to get through an entire book because I’m more of a visual person who would rather be out taking photos or some where with my hands in the soil. After being sent a publication by Barry Estabrook those tomato volunteers that were popping up in the middle of the isle in the traditional veggie garden bed in my Ohio garden became more then just a question of should I ‘compost it?’.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have fetish with seeds so being the administrator to an event afflicted to #gardenchat called #supersowsunday will come to you as no surprise. Seeds are like shoes to a fashion fanatic to this city girl who finds herself in the middle of ‘tomatoland’. Not only am I effectuated by the art on the packaging but the creative ways companies and gardeners chose to preserve them. It was no surprise this late spring when it came time to transplant all those seed starters from my 10′x12′ greenhouse out into the soil that I had enough for my entire county! As the season rolled on and most of those little seed starters were off to a strong growing start in my veggie garden areas I noticed a few volunteer tomato plants in various sections of the veggie garden and in my raised beds. After reading Tomatoland by Berry Estabrook there is no way I could compost most of those volunteers. Growing my own tomatoes from heirloom seeds has became even more of a lifestyle for me rather then just a hobby. If you want good tasting vitamin packed tomatoe its even more important to grow your own.
On My Desk Today : shared on Twitter
I want to share with you my thoughts on the opinions and facts that were shared in this book because it not only effected my way of thinking as a year-round grower it inspired me in more ways to grow my own food and preserve it for during the months I can’t grow my own. I’m sure you have come across someone at some point in your life that couldn’t stand the taste of a tomato. Either it was the texture or the various flavors. My opinion on that had always been that the person who didn’t like a tomato just didn’t have it prepared properly. Now ask yourself where does most of America buy their tomatoes? In my neck of the woods if it isn’t summer time most of the tomatoes are purchased in grocery stores carrying hot house tomatoes. In this book you will learn why the tomatoes we purchase at the supermarket are not ‘really’ tomatoes. They contain less vitamin C, thiamine, niacin and calcium and have way more sodium as its 1960′s counterpart.
These are my 4th of July tomatoes by Burpee Home Garden
This book covers everything starting from the roots, chemical warfare, slavery, cost factors and a plan to help get the tomato back to a good tasting supermarket tomato. All though I may not be a big fan of enjoying a good book during the summer months when I would rather be out growing this book is on my MUST READ for everyone who enjoys to eat. Take responsibility for what is being put on your table starting with the tomato.
I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who enjoys to eat! It is a fact filled book that will get you thinking about how gardening and buying local will effect your lifestyle. Thanks for taking the time to check this entry out and I hope you will leave your 2 cents on the comments section below!
As the gas prices this summer go up I find myself discovering creative ways to keep the family entertained without going to far from home. We have always been the family that kept travel for special occasions having a large garden and animals to care for. The landscape here at home filled with edible gardens and greenhouse to grow in provides a personalized getaway we enjoy in our own backyard. Living out in the country allows my family and I to enjoy different commodities then many of our friends who live in town but however big or small your living space is it is possible to create a getaway. Locally, I’ve seen a couple of yards where younger people live where they have converted their yard to a 4wheeler track , ‘greens’ being developed in backyards used for golf course activity, and my own pond with sand beach. In the image featured in this article I snapped a photo of the deck on our pond at night. Adding little things like Christmas lights to the trellis adds a special touch to the surroundings. This year we found a paddle boat for the pond on ebay for $70. It needed a little fixing up but we’ve for sure got our moneys worth watching our pup Olivia waiting for someone to join her on an evening ‘cruise’.
What are you seeing people in your community do to stay close to home? I invite you to share with me and my readers what you are doing to create your summer getaway.
Tips On Creating A Getaway
Keep it simple : use items that you have on hand to create a zone. Example of this would be using Christmas lights out of season to festively light up your zone.
Think of what you enjoy most when you are on vacation away from home. Maybe it is a Tiki Bar ? This can easily be created at home by supplies found at a hardware store and adding inexpensive tiki touches to your patio area.
Look on Ebay / Craigs list for larger commodities. Remember I’m the queen of ebay finding my $4,000 greenhouse available for $350.
Think green – of course I’m going to put a plug in for growing a garden or patio container garden because I truly believe living a good life begins with gardening!
Karen Weir-Jimerson is a magazine writer and book author who has been gardening since she was 8 years old (when she planted mint and learned the lesson of invasive plants). Karen lives on three acres in rural Iowa where she and her husband raise perennials, annuals, containers, herbs, vegetables, and water gardens.
