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!
Today I received my copy of I Garden: Urban Style Grow The Garden that Fits Your Space & Schedule by Michael Nolan and Reggie Solomon. The photo to the left is a MUST share considering I can’t help but imagine the creative ideas I’m going to get out of this book to help make this little space in my yard the growing area I’ve been dreaming of. I literally ripped into the package just a few steps from the mailbox and this cabin where the mail is delivered knowing it was what I had been anticipating after speaking with this books Author yesterday. I held the book up to admire the cover and it hit me… TOMATOES! I’ve been drawing up plans to make this roof top a live roof and working on a way to water in this location during the hot months that I never thought of planting one of my FAVORITE treasures from each summers harvest. I can see a landscape with fresh veggies like tomatoes featured in this space growing this summer. As I flipped open the book I was captivated by all the bright images used to capture the true creativity of gardening. Let me tell you – I am loving this book before reading it!
Did I mention that Michael Nolan is our guest host on Monday for #gardenchat. I’m excited to here all the wonderful gardening tips and ideas he has to share with us. Please bring your questions for him as well because he is also a rockstar on Twitter and will be able to take questions live!
Want to know where Michael got his nick name Garden Rockstar? Ever wonder what it is like to write a book? I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Nolan last Friday about these topics and about his plan to grow 60% of what he eats by 2012. I invite you to kick back and enjoy this podcast with Michael Nolan – The Garden Rockstar.
This podcast with Michael Nolan, Author of I Garden Urban Style is going to get you out in your garden or balcony and growing what you eat. If you want to learn more about Michael please visit his website at www.TheGardenRockstar.com
Join us on Monday April 4, 2011 at 9pm EST for a special #gardenchat event with The Garden Rockstar, Michael Nolan. He wrote the book on urban gardening and now he’s breaking new ground building a rural homestead. As a lifelong gardener in some of the most unforgiving environments around the country, Michael thinks that everyone has the power to grow no matter where they are. Come armed with your questions and stick around to enjoy the company of hundreds of like-minded friends. From community gardens to containers, kitchen gardens to just plain kitsch, we’re talking about the limitless potential of a new generation of gardeners this week on #gardenchat. Don’t miss it! If you would like to submit a question early for Mr. Nolan please do on this blog entry.
Grow It * Prepare It * Eat It : My Motto when Gardening
As we dive into the sometimes exhausting chores of spring cleaning here in the Midwest, there is one thing going through my head that helps keep me energized: ‘Grow It * Prepare It * Eat It’. Could Gardening get any better then that? That little saying is one of the mottos that I use in some of the gardening videos to describe what I love most about gardening.
My hobby-turned-way-of-life of veggie growing started with the dream of having an endless supply of food that could be prepared for family and friends. My love for preserving tomatoes lead me to learn to grow my own in our country veggie garden here in Ohio. As I experienced first hand how easy it can be, my garden expanded to grow more of the veggies used to make dishes like salsa, stews, and relishes. Today I grow on a 40′x 60′ garden, raised beds in my greenhouse landscape area, and containers through out my home and garden. This maybe just one of the reasons why I’m loving the P.Allen Smiths ‘Seasonal Recipes From The Garden’ cookbook. In this cookbook you will find some amazing recipes that can served during the Holidays as well as every day cooking that always use fresh ingredients from the garden. Using what we grow is a theme I share here at BGgarden.com in ‘From Garden To Kitchen”collections.
I became a follower of P.Allen Smith after first spotting him sharing the Proven Winners that I so adore when I worked in a local garden center about four years ago. P.Allen Smith shares beautiful blooms in creative landscape and container designs featured in my favorite magazines that we could share with our clients. This was a great way to share ideas on what garden center shoppers could do with their gardens. It was an honor to meet P.Allen Smith for the first time last summer when he was one of the featured guest at the IGC event in Chicago. One of the first displays I visited at IGC was the debut of P. Allen’s amazing Christmas collection that I captured as photographer for Shirley Bovshow of Garden World Report.
In October of 2010, I became the administrator of #gardenchat and was honored to have P.Allen Smith and his crew as one of the first guest hosts. What a way to dive into a twitter forum of sharing the garden world – Wouldn’t you say?! His transcript about Raising Backyard Chickens has had well over 2,000 hits off of my site. And now I look forward to the Garden2Blog event that takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas this April with P.Allen Smith, which I was invited to attend along with 19 other garden bloggers from across the country.
A new webpage is ready here on the BGgarden.com website ,where I will be sharing the world of P.Allen Smith during the Garden2Blog event later this spring. You are invited along to the Garden2Blog event via my shares on Twitter where I network whats growing on Twitter as well as shares from P.Allen Smith daily.
Are you curious which recipe I brought to my table from the P.Allen Smith Seasonal Recipes From The Garden Cookbook? You know it is going to have tomatoes as a key ingredient and be super easy this time of year because I’ve got seeds to start and talk about while raising my family.
You’ll have to check out Allen’s book for this yummy Garden Tomato Salad from page 91 featuring some of the herbs that can be grown year-round. You can find more recipes and information about his book on his website at P.Allen Smith Garden Home.
In this podcast P.Allen Smith shares with me his thoughts on gardening, inspiration and the Garden2Blog event that takes place in April. I hope you will follow the event from my page here on BGgarden.com and on their facebook page at Garden2Blog.
I’m lost for words when it comes to sharing thoughts on succulents. My love for this plant began in my small in town yard that I turned into a garden filled with many succulents. As the years pass I’ve been overwhelmed with all the different types of succulents there are available. What turned me on to these plants is the fact that they are low maintenance and they could tolerate the clay soil and dry summers here in Ohio. When I lived in town I had two small children and not alot of time to spend out watering and tending to the clay. The succulents provided amazing color in my earlier days of landscape / garden design. The image to the left I took at the OFA Short Course show this last summer in the Proven Winners display.
Last year I came across some amazing photos of succulents in containers on a new Facebook garden connections wall. It was on the wall of Debra Lee Baldwin and I totally fell in love again with my beloved succulents. I love being on Debra’s friends list on Facebook because she post daily on topics that range from what she is doing in her own garden and on the road as well.
I recognize Debra for being an extremely creative watercolor artist and later found that she is a prize winning author. One look at her choice of color and composition in her work and you will no doubt agree. Be sure to bookmark her zazzle site to take a look at some of her work. She also shares some of her paintings but more so her photography at Gardening Gone Wild where she blogs with Fran Sorin, Saxon Holt, Noel Kingsbury and Tovah Martin.
Debra was kind enough to answer a few questions I was dying to ask her about her art career, her writings and of course some gardening tips.
My Interview with Debra :
Bren : When did you discover your love for succulents? This is from the Preface to my first book, Designing with Succulents:
Debra Shares: Succulent describes any plant that survives drought by storing water in its leaves, stems, or roots. When I was a child, such smooth, plump plants reminded me of modeling clay, and their shapes of stars, beads, and jelly beans. As I grew older, I equated succulents with jade plants that thrive in abandoned gardens and were removed by people who were serious about landscaping.
Succulents were far from my mind when I began gardening in 1990. Because I wanted big, bold, beautiful flowers, I cultivated tropical cannas, and roses and fluffy perennials that hearkened to English gardens—never mind that inland Southern California (USDA zone 9) was subject to frost, 100-degree heat, rain that falls minimally (and mostly in February), and the soil is decomposed granite, poor in organic matter. At one time I had more than a dozen varieties of cannas and 75 rosebushes, all of which required endless amending, mulching, fertilizing, pruning, spraying, irrigating, and deadheading. I still would be doing all that it if my work had not introduced me to people who view gardening as an endeavor that ought to suit the region.
My job as a garden and design writer is to define and describe beauty. Whether I am touring a showcase house or a notable garden, I strive to find what makes the environment appealing. Architects, landscapers, and homeowners who design such settings dissect them for me, so my readers can learn their secrets.
In midwinter of 1999, when my garden consisted of pruned, leafless rosebushes; brown-leaved cannas; and perennials that had been cut to the ground, I was asked to write a story about Patrick Anderson’s garden, located in Fallbrook, California, midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. That day in December his garden was lush and colorful, despite its decomposed granite soil and lack of automatic irrigation.
“Fleshy green monsters in Patrick Anderson’s Fallbrook garden look like they might snap him up if he turns his back,” my article began. “They’re giant succulents, and Anderson’s half-acre hillside showcases hundreds of unusual ones.” The story went on to describe aloes that “pierce the sky like exotic torchbearers, hot orange against cool blue,” and agaves that “sprawl like squids, or explode upward like fistfuls of knives.”
I discovered that succulents are as elegant as they are dramatic and show to advantage in uncomplicated combinations. Two or three varieties carefully selected for shape, color, and texture create simple, eye-catching compositions. Those succulents—notably agaves—with curved or undulating leaves suggest motion, which makes any garden landscape more intriguing. Moreover, succulent foliage forms patterns, like seashells and snowflakes, that illustrate nature’s innate geometry and that are striking when repeated.
During the next few years, I incorporated more and more succulents into my own garden. Like traditional pruned hedges, succulents lent structure to the overall design, but were much more practical. They held their shapes year-round and kept the same leaves for years. I learned firsthand that in a warm, dry climate, a garden comprising succulents and similarly drought-tolerant perennials makes sense economically, aesthetically, and ecologically. It is lush and appealing, requires significantly less water and maintenance than roses and tropicals, and does not turn into naked sticks in winter.
Aeonium arboreum and A. haworthii, Agave americana ‘Marginata’, and Bulbine frutescens proved trouble-free—as did the aloes, sedums, senecios, kalanchoes, and graptopetalums that followed. These were readily propagated, and the results were so easy-care and appealing, that my garden subsequently was featured in Sunset magazine and Better Homes & Gardens.
Since then, I have sought gardens throughout Southern California, and as far away as New York and Vancouver, that show succulents to advantage. This book is the result of my search; its purpose is to offer alternatives to traditional lawn-and-flowerbed landscapes and to show what is possible when succulents shine as primary garden elements. It is a guide to aesthetic and practical ways to cultivate, display, and enjoy these versatile plants, in the ground as well as in containers.
Bren : Did you have formal training in painting or were you born with that remarkable talent?
Debra Shares : I believe that people are born with certain predilictions that, with training, education, practice and passion, can become talents.
My primary interest has always been words, which I suspect may have to do with being so nearsighted as a young child, my world was a blur beyond the pages of a book.
I was fortunate to have a tutor when I was 10 or 11 who taught me how to use watercolors. Subject matter is so very important, and some painters haven’t a clue—I certainly didn’t at first, and my early work makes me wince. I have been fortunate to have interviewed numerous top designers and creative homeowners, who over the years shaped—and I believe refined—my aesthetic.
But as for painting, I have only the ability to copy what I see, not to pull it out of my head. I base my paintings on photos. I don’t draw the image first, but rather trace it from a print-out of the photo. I do know how to sketch, but I don’t enjoy it. Putting paint on paper is what’s fun. I love the translucence of watercolor, the way the brightness of the paper illuminates it, like sun shining through the petals of a flower.
And possibly also because of being so very nearsighted, I don’t like abstract paintings. To me, they depict a blurry world. This may be why my watercolors are so detailed. In any case, I can’t seem to stop painting until every last detail is depicted. When my life is less crazy, I’m going to take a class in how to do quick watercolors. The ones I do now take days! Who is your mentor – in writing and / or art? Do you have a particular artist you admire who has encouraged you along the way?
I have a degree in English Literature, which I pursued thanks to a high school English teacher who terrified everyone with her insistence on perfection. She was a nun at a Catholic girls’ school. Sister Meta Marie now has Alzheimer’s. What a waste of a magnificient brain. Two of my classmates became English teachers. One now flies to Ohio, once a year, to visit Sister Meta. I hope she knows she made a positive impact not only on her own students, but on her students’ students as well.
I learned photography from observing professional photographers (mainly from Sunset magazine and the San Diego Union-Tribune) who shot the locations I was writing about. It was up to me to expedite the shoot—to make sure their photos would illustrate my story. I watched how they manipulated light—photography is all about light. Incidentally, the word “photography” means “writing with light.” Don’t you love that?
Before digital photography became the norm, there was no way I could take photos worthy of publication. I’m hopelessly nontechnical. Once you start talking F-stops, you lose me. But as a writer specializing in homes, gardens, architecture and design, I learned composition—what makes a good photo and how to compose one. For my first book, which came out in 2007, I took 75% of the photos, and had two cameras around my neck when I visited gardens—a Canon SLR and a Canon digital EOS. At the time, Timber Press prefered slides. I’d shoot the heck out of a subject with the digital camera, and when I knew I had a sweet shot, I’d shoot it with the SLR. Thank God I didn’t have to do that for the second book!
If I had to credit a mentor that has made the greatest impact on my photography and painting, I’d have to say it’s light itself. Light is a great teacher. I become transfixed when I see sunlight glittering on leaves, shadow patterns, or some lovely translucence. I’m uncomfortable in the presence of “wrong” light—i.e. a windowless room with fluorescent lighting.
Bren: Do you have another favorite medium in art besides watercolor and photography?
Debra Shares: The way plants are combined in a garden is art in three dimensions. I have a half-acre I’ve played with for 20 years. (See the Debra’s Garden page of my website.) The great thing about gardening as an art form is that you don’t need a lot of space. You can create a entire garden in a container.
I enjoy teaching container gardening workshops and seeing what my students come up with. I do a demo and explain basic design principles, then walk through the nursery with them. Each carries a glazed pot, and we pair it with succulents with colorful leaves or intriguing textures. What they come up invariably transcends what I’ve taught them, which delights me. Bren : Which came first with your succulent water paintings – the photograph or the canvas work?
Debra Shares : Oh, definitely the photograph.
Debra will be speaking at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show and attending the show March 23-25 and she invites all #gardenchat participants to attend this show. You can find out more about Debra’s presentation schedule at her website.
I highly recommend Debras’ latest book and guarantee it will make a succulent fan out of you. If you are a fan of succulents already you will be inspired to have a succulent in all your containers this growing season. When you purchase Debra’s book through her website at DebraLeeBaldwin.com you will receive a signed and personalized book plate. This would make a wonderful gift that could be specified the recipient’s name from Debra.
I hope you will join us this Monday as we Twitter with artist Debra Lee Baldwin. I invite you also to submit any questions you may have for her at this time in my comments. THANK YOU for participating in #gardenchat!
Winter is usually the time of year that I use to organize and get caught up on any reading I have collected during the year. For Christmas I received ‘The Small Budget Gardener’ by Maureen Gilmer as a gift. I’m enjoying the book even though I’m not reading every word. It doesn’t mean it isn’t a good book in my opinion if I don’t read every word. If anything, I would have changed the photographs. NO OFFENSE Cool Spring Press, I have a habit of judging books and magazines by the photos used in the publication. NOW the cover grabbed me. In fact my friend who gave me the book said it looked like something I would enjoy reading because the containers in the photo look like some I have in my greenhouse. See, I’m not alone! There are others who judge publications by the images.
I would totally recommend this book to anyone looking to cut corners in gardening. Maybe cutting corners isn’t the correct wording but this book will lead you step by step on how to create a beautiful garden on a small budget. The chapters referring to seed sowing and veggie growing has caught my attention this week and I wanted to share some thoughts from the book with you. If you follow my blog regularly, you know that we are in the middle of preparing for a HUGE seed event. MY mission is to promote growing your veggies and blooms from seed. I hope to encourage everyone to get in the soil and sow a seed ( or two).
There are many references in the book to how to save money growing a beautiful garden starting with seeds. I am intrigued by Maureen Gilmers comments on ‘tightwad gardening’ where she gives little tips throughout the book on specific ways to save some cash. The chapter on the $30 tomato caught my eye because it totally applies to me. Last year I went SEED CRAZY…. I was so excited to see a seed display in various locations I visited I felt compelled to buy a pack or two of seeds. It all adds up and I ended up with way too many seeds. Luckily, I own a Seed Keeper so I could store my seeds in this container to save them for a few years to come. Below I share some small budget veggies & blooms I grew this year in my raised beds around the greenhouse. My goal around the greenhouse was to create a small space garden that was filled to the max producing just as much of a harvest as my 40′x60′ garden on the other side of our property produced. I was successful at this task and here are some of the blooms I recommend.
I grew one Cherry Berry Tomato plant that filled almost 1/2 of my 2′x 8′ raised bed. This small variety of tomato was amazing because it was early to harvest and it lasted till the first heavy frost. The fruit off of this plant was sweet and purely amazing in any salad or eaten out in the garden. I grow organic / natural so you can eat right off of my vines without worrying about chemicals.
The image above is a view of the same raised bed that the Berry Cherry Tomato grew in. The Marigold was grown from seed as well and the ‘Alyssum Carpet of Snow’ was simply amazing throughout the entire summer. I totally believe in using Marigolds as a way to keep bugs away from the veggies. I can honestly say, I’ve had no issues with unwanted bugs using the Marigold around veggies in my beds. In the image above you can see the Heirloom Squash plant ( from Natures Crossing out of Indiana ) reaching out around the beautiful blooms. I just love the feel of growing veggies mix with flowers not to mention how they work together to create healthy growth.
In the image above I share one of my favorite places to just sit and enjoy the garden. Yes, I was down on the concrete pavers to enjoy this traditional combination of Alyssum, Carpet Of Snow and Marigolds growing on the border of this raised bed filled with tomatoes, squash, zucchini and a Hillbilly Tomato. I loved the way the Alyssum draped onto the pebbles that fill the pathways around the raised beds.
I also saved money wintering over a few of my favorite Proven Winners that are pictured in the image above. Now I’m asking for it by stating ‘saving money’ by wintering over annuals in a greenhouse here in zone 5b. Well, that discussion can be continued over at the site I contribute to with my greenhouse sister Glenda. Be sure to check out Growing4Seasons. I mixed the ornamental grass with zinnias that I grow from seeds. In the image above featured on the left side of the image is my raised bed where the mammoth dill that was sent to me from an internet friend, Pickles and chives. I harvested more cucumbers out of the raised bed in that image then I did in my 8′x8′ section of trellised cucumbers over in the large traditional garden. Read about that experience at : Pickling Made Easy.
I hope these images of a few of my favorite veggies and blooms grown from seed inspire you to think about all the money you can save by growing your own from seeds. I hope to share with you next how you can grow items in a small space as well as saving money.
Be sure to follow the updates at #supersowsunday for more information on the huge seed give away to take place February 6. I want to hear from you : Please share what you grow from seed this year with me at the comment space below.
Happy Years – Memory says the Tulip
Today I received my copy of I Garden: Urban Style Grow The Garden that Fits Your Space & Schedule by Michael Nolan and Reggie Solomon. The photo to the left is a MUST share considering I can’t help but imagine the creative ideas I’m going to get out of this book to help make this little space in my yard the growing area I’ve been dreaming of. I literally ripped into the package just a few steps from the mailbox and this cabin where the mail is delivered knowing it was what I had been anticipating after speaking with this books Author yesterday. I held the book up to admire the cover and it hit me… TOMATOES! I’ve been drawing up plans to make this roof top a live roof and working on a way to water in this location during the hot months that I never thought of planting one of my FAVORITE treasures from each summers harvest. I can see a landscape with fresh veggies like tomatoes featured in this space growing this summer. As I flipped open the book I was captivated by all the bright images used to capture the true creativity of gardening. Let me tell you – I am loving this book before reading it!
I highly recommend Debras’ latest book and guarantee it will make a succulent fan out of you. If you are a fan of succulents already you will be inspired to have a succulent in all your containers this growing season. When you purchase Debra’s book through her website at 
Winter is usually the time of year that I use to organize and get caught up on any reading I have collected during the year. For Christmas I received ‘The Small Budget Gardener’ by Maureen Gilmer as a gift. I’m enjoying the book even though I’m not reading every word. It doesn’t mean it isn’t a good book in my opinion if I don’t read every word. If anything, I would have changed the photographs. NO OFFENSE
I grew one Cherry Berry Tomato plant that filled almost 1/2 of my 2′x 8′ raised bed. This small variety of tomato was amazing because it was early to harvest and it lasted till the first heavy frost. The fruit off of this plant was sweet and purely amazing in any salad or eaten out in the garden. I grow organic / natural so you can eat right off of my vines without worrying about chemicals.
The image above is a view of the same raised bed that the Berry Cherry Tomato grew in. The Marigold was grown from seed as well and the ‘Alyssum Carpet of Snow’ was simply amazing throughout the entire summer. I totally believe in using Marigolds as a way to keep bugs away from the veggies. I can honestly say, I’ve had no issues with unwanted bugs using the Marigold around veggies in my beds. In the image above you can see the Heirloom Squash plant ( from
In the image above I share one of my favorite places to just sit and enjoy the garden. Yes, I was down on the concrete pavers to enjoy this traditional combination of Alyssum, Carpet Of Snow and Marigolds growing on the border of this raised bed filled with tomatoes, squash, zucchini and a Hillbilly Tomato. I loved the way the Alyssum draped onto the pebbles that fill the pathways around the raised beds.
I hope these images of a few of my favorite veggies and blooms grown from seed inspire you to think about all the money you can save by growing your own from seeds. I hope to share with you next how you can grow items in a small space as well as saving money.
