Garden Trek Series - Episode 4

This week's Garden Trek episode is really one of my favorites.  We had this face that used to hang on a wooden fence at our house in Tulsa.  My husband built a stacked stone reservoir under it and Boston Ivy surrounded it.  Unfortunately I don't have a good picture of it, but you will be able to spot it in this picture, if you look at the fence area right under the tree in the middle of the yard:

BEFORE - I am linking this post to Metamorphosis Monday and Outdoor Wednesday

At this house, we have a side yard that is simply an eyesore.  Specially because it sits right next to the courtyard leading to the front door.  When we first moved in, this area was a bed of rocks housing several dead or dying bougainvillea plants.  Mind you, this bed is flanked by buildings and sits in the darkest side of the yard - North!  How can a tropical blooming species thrive in such location?!  I don't think that the previous owners knew much about gardening...

I have seen something similar done in gardening shows, but this was going to be a bit of a challenge.  The face weights approximately 150 lbs of solid concrete.  And we do live in hurricane land, so we had to be a little ingenuous.  My Mr. Darcy dug a huge whole and filled it with 100 lbs of concrete.  He then set an 8 foot 4''X4'' pressure treated post in it.  Afterwords, he added two blocks of 4x4s to offset it from the bushes that we would then plant behind it.  The idea is to have the face float out of the hedge.

We then set out to figure out which plant material to use.  We could have chosen any tall bushes, but the supply and cost made us select Pyracantha.  I love that plant!  Even though it has thorns, this shrub produces gorgeous fragrant white flowers in the Spring, which grow into berries in the Summer.  The berries turn a lovely shade of orange by Fall and small birds feed on them thru Winter.  We planted six Pyracantha, maybe a couple of feet apart.  They will grow into each other very quickly.  We probably used too many of them, but wanted quick results.

AFTER

Steve will add a wire spallier in the back to ensure that the plants grow in the right direction.  He has also spray painted the pole with camouflage green rustoleum.  We are still debating on whether or not we'll be adding a reservoir underneath it to get the water flowing.  I have plans to only use white flowering material on this side of the house... azaleas, white hydrangeas, and a climbing rose.  But like everything with gardening, we will be doing it slowly as the plant material becomes available.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of my Garden Trek series.  If you haven't entered my lovely giveaway, please go here and do so now.

Also, don't forget to check back on Wednesday, when we start our new series on The Shiny Pebble Designer Challenge, or: Please, make this pebble shine again.  Blog world's most popular and talented designers will be featuring their visions for my dining room on a weekly basis, right here.  You won't want to miss it.

A Giveaway and a Thank You

Klaus Haapaniemi’s new Taika collection for iittala

Two and a half months ago, on January 28, I wrote my first blog post.  In it I tried to explain my choice for the name and the reason for using this medium.  In essence, I wanted to create a forum where my ideas and those of my readers would be shared and discussed.  A place to ask and answer questions.  A place to help each other out.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that only a few weeks later, 100+ wonderful, intelligent, eloquent, and generous people would be willing to share so much in my little world.  A handful of these people know me in real life...  another much larger number is letting me in their lives and I hope to meet them all in the real world someday.

To celebrate my first 100+ friends,  I would like to share with you all the most beautiful item donated by my very first sponsor, csn.  They have generously let me pick an item from their extensive list of online stores, offering anything from dog beds, to corner tv stands, to high end china and crystal.  I found this lovely plate, big enough for serving a celebratory cake in it.  This beautifully handcrafted piece will accommodate many design tastes --  from the folk inspired imagery, to the modern simplicity of a two color scheme. And the owl... my son would approve (see here and here).

All you have to do to enter is write a comment under this post saying that you are a Follower (I prefer Friend), new or otherwise, by Friday 4/30 at midnight CST.  Unfortunately, this giveaway is open to American and Canadian residents only.  The winner will be announced the very next day.

Also fitting of this giveaway is the fact that it is a plate, which also helps me celebrate the kick off of the Designer Challenge, beginning this Wednesday.   Don't forget!

And to top it all off, and bring a wonderful close to my week, I would like to thank Mackenzie over at Design Darling, for awarding me the Beautiful Blogger award.  Thank you so much, darling.  I am tickled pink that you picked me.  Since this is my second Beautiful Blogger award, I think I need to direct you to this post.

Have a wonderful weekend you all!

I am linking to show and tell friday to pass the word.

Nabisco's Genius Campaign

I am linking this post to my dear friend's site at Housewife Bliss

This bored housewife (me) was at the grocery store this week joyfully skipping down the isles with my 19 month old and reached over to grab a box of crackers.  A thousand important thoughts were going thru my mind when I reached for that box -- mainly, would I be buying Triscuit or the omnipresent store brand?  Has Triscuit made a reappearance on the shelves? Did my grocery store stop carrying it in order to push their brand on ususpected Triscuit junkies? What the heck is wrong with the Triscuit new box?

Ever since I had read in my trusty "Eat This, Not That" COLLECTION (so gullibly amassed from Amazon's mesmerizing "Customers Who Bought the Item Also Bought" tactics) that Triscuits are the healthiest crackers for you to eat, I have become the cracker's number one fan.  Apparently their handful of ingredients provides the least amount of junk factor AND with half a gram of fiber per cracker to boost. "About as unadulterated as wheat gets without chewing on chaff."

Whaaa? Dill seeds?  Right up my alley.

Back to the what's wrong with the new box question.  As I reached over and picked up the box, which looked completely different from before, I noticed that it FELT different from before too.  As I grabbed it my fingers fell right into a rougher indentation in the back of the box.  So, startled, I quickly turned it around.  To my surprize, these marketing geniuses have attached to the box herb seeds.  I am so impressed and delighted by the whole experience!  I told you I was bored...  So as soon as I got home, I cracked the box open and pulled out the seed card.

the directions told me to soak the cardboard pack in water

after two hours... ta-da... seeds!

I quickly added them to the pot housing my herb collection and am anxiously waiting for them to sprout.  I know when I am moved to do a review of a product, it is often a negative thing.  No, I am not getting paid to endorse Triscuit, but this was just way too cool not to share.

Oh, and this week I was told that as it turns out I am not just a bored housewife, I just have a lot of energy. Thanks Cynthia, from The Daily Basics.

Don't forget to check back here on Wednesday, for our first installment of the fun filled The Shiny Pebble Designer Challenge, or:  Please, make this pebble shine again! guest blogger series.

The Shiny Pebble Designer Challenge OR Please, Make this Pebble Shine Again!

A few days ago, I stopped by American interior designer Amanda Burdge's blog, AB Home Interiors.  I love reading her blog because she actually explains the whole designing process and freely shares insightful information and tidbits about the designing world.  It is almost like being in class, watching a lecture from a very cool professor.  Well, I just think she is great and she made it to my daily read list.  This day I  asked her on a whim for some tips about updating my five year old, traditional dining room.  How could I make it more hip?  Amanda, then, generously offered to write a post on it.  Well, I jumped at the opportunity.  Wouldn't you?  She came up with the most fantastic design, based on very little information from me. When you have a chance, please go check her post here.

Amanda is a personable gal, so it seems are the rest of the blogosphere.  I have made some lovely friends in the short span I have been here.  We send little messages to each other now and then discussing one thing or another that we would like to delve into further...  we share experiences and ask for guidance.  We even discuss our plans or ideas that just pop up here and there.  The whole concept of blogging is based on this sharing of info and knowledge.  My plan all along when I started blogging was to create a forum where ideas were exchanged and we all learned from each other.  I thought I was being so innovative... pfft...

Charlotta Ward from Space for Inspiration is one such friend - a smart little cookie, Swedish and mother of two.  A former marketeer turned artist, living in Sydney, Australia.  We were corresponding about all of the different points of view in the design world and an idea emerged.  Wouldn't it be fun to have several designers come up with their own interpretation for my dining room?  So we agreed I would contact a handful of designers whose styles I thought were distinct and ask them to participate in this challenge.  They gracefully agreed and let me just tell you how impressed I was with each one of them, who within sometimes minutes of looking at the pictures I had sent them, had already formulated a look for the room.  These are very talented folks, you all!

Together Charlotta and I, with the input of the four other designers as well, spent the next couple of days working out the rules of this fun game and agree that:

1. This is not a competition, it is an opportunity to showcase YOUR (the designer's) style in a Virtual Makeover.
2. There is no budget, but don't spend a fortune and don't make it cheap either.
3. Use the current furniture if you can, but DO NOT compromise YOUR style.
4. Put together a visual concept along with your thoughts.
5. Have fun with it.

Each designer consecutively will submit a guest post that will be published here every Wednesday.  All previous posts will be linked up to the most recent one so that you all, the readers, can easily hop from design to design in one spot. How much fun is that?!

Here is the line up of the fabulously generous designers who are helping me kick off this party and will be featured in the next few weeks:

4/21   Raina Cox, If The Lampshade Fits
4/28   Christina Fluegge, Greige
5/5     Beth Connolly, Chinoiserie Chic
5/12   Amy Forshew, Pemberley Style
5/19  Charlotta Ward, Space for Inspiration

I will keep this schedule over to the right and update it as needed.  I am also asking the designer to be featured to post the above badge at their site, if they wish to.  Wear it with pride!  :)

But wait, there is more, I'm opening an invitation to all designers who would wish to participate in this challenge.  Please, contact me at theshinypebble@gmail.com so I can send you some material and we can set up your guest post date.


Now I will leave you with a few shots of my dated dining room.  Try not to cringe...

I bought this furniture 5 years ago, in a hurry in order to fill in the dark, Victorian looking home I had moved into.  The dining room was the very first room you saw as you entered the house.

The buffet was in the entryway at the other house and was bought separatly from the dining table, chairs and china cabinet

This chair used to be in a sitting room off the entryway.  At the new house, I have tried to stay away from the greens, reds, and golds from the previous house.  My new color scheme throughout the new house is browns and blues.

That little bench and painting were also in the old sitting room

I hate it that all of my walls in this house have this yucky shade of beige on them, which always photographs pink.  Wouldn't this wall look great with one of those stressed gray/gold finishes on it?  I guess I will find out...

Mark your calendars and I'll see you all here next week, when the multi talented, super funny, crazy creative, Raina Cox from If the Lampshade Fits will be featured. I can't wait to see what she comes up with, can you?

You can see all of the designs related to this post by clicking on the Designer's name on the top right corner of this blog.

How to plant herbs in a pot

BEFORE

THIS POST IS LINKED TO METAMORPHOSIS MONDAY
and
OUTDOOR WEDNESDAY

If you think I am overdoing with the gardening segments... just you wait until Summer, when I am considering doing a ten segment series on the joys of eating seafood with your bare hands...  Fascinating stuff! 

But it is Spring after all, and there is a lot that needs to be done around here to get this house feeling like a home.  I have been growing herbs every season for at least the past ten years... and it is already almost tax day and I have not indulged.  April 15th is always a good time to put out your Summer color and your herbs, but here in TX the seedlings come in a bit earlier.  I was afraid that if I waited any longer the goods would be all gone!

My wonderful husband took a trip to the hardware store for another project he has going and I asked him to bring me home some herbs and a nice pot.  I think he did an excellent job.  He got home with this lovely pot from Lowe's. This beauty has a ridged outside and its organic bended shape is only enhanced by the aqua coloring on the inside, which will not be seen this season, but will probably make an appearance in the fall when it will be repurposed.

First things first.  Here is the list of materials:

• One large pot with a drain hole
• Organic potting soil
• Herbs: we have several basil varieties, oregano, a hot pepper plant (OK, not an herb), sage, rosemary, arugula, thyme, parsley, etc etc etc
• gloves, a digging tool, scissors (for cutting soil bag open)

We had to drill a hole, but you can find several pots with holes or a little removable plug

I found these cute gloves at Target. I love the toggles at the wrist so you can easily adjust its aperture

Here is a shot of the beautiful colors on the inside

Fill the pot with the organic potting soil leaving two inches on top to prevent a big mess when you water

I'm not growing mushrooms this year, so I added this one just for fun

Dig a whole and put the plant in, generally herbs are easy creatures whose only demand is some water when they are dry, so don't worry too much about which plant will require what. I try to plant the trailing herbs such as oregano and thyme in the front and place the taller one in the back.

Make sure to tap in at the base of the plant to stabilize it and get rid of big air pockets

Water it through... this thorough watering will get rid of any air pockets that might dry out the roots

And TA-DA...  You are all done.  Ready to enjoy the results of your not so hard work.  Everyday, check to see if it needs a drink.  Just stick your finger in the dirt down to a half and inch to one inch.  If you feel moisture, the plants are happy.  If it is dry, give it another good drink.

AFTER

These are looking a little tired right now, but once the leaves dry they will perk right up.  In a couple of days I should be seeing new growth, which usually comes in with a lighter shade of green.  Some of the herbs will be tossed out when it gets really warm... some will be transplanted in the garden in the Fall to come back again next year. 

Growing herbs is so easy and rewarding.  Just brushing by the leaves and enjoying the fragrance is an experience to share with your kids and loved ones.  Add to that the benefit of having fresh herbs to enhance any boring ol' meal...  They become indispensable to me.  I hope you give it a try.

Don't forget to stop by on Wednesday... Great adventures are ahead of us with a new series I will be unveiling...  It involves some fabulous bloggers who are willing to share their talent with all of us.  But that is all I am saying for now!  I promise you it will not disappoint!

Good Ol' Gossip

Hi , you all! 

This Wednesday I will be kicking off the most fabulous series. Not to be missed by anyone in the blogosphere, at least not the ones who visit this blog and all of the other blogs linked to it.  It should be lots of fun and it will involve a lot of very talented people that you all read everyday. 

Make sure to come back and visit this Wednesday for the big announcement!  And spread the word.

Hugs and Kisses,
Catherine

Springboarding from a Spring Onion

Purple Spring Onions

I just sat down to take a quick look at my daily blog read and the very first blog inspired me to write this.  I was visiting PVE Design, a blog by a very talented artist whose work you see all over blogland.  Go check her out. She posted on Spring Onions this morning.  I started commenting on it and thought it was getting so long that the comment deserved its own post.

Celebrating Spring plantings, but not necessarily part of my Garden Trek series...

The Green Onion (also known as scallion, spring onion, Welsh onion) is an edible little plant from the genus allium.  The same family as the shallots, but a different species.  My understanding is that the green onion is just a baby version of the ubiquitous large onions.

They are extremely easy to grow.  Here is all you have to do:

• Buy a pack of starter seed onion from a hardware store or garden center.  You can grow all sorts of varieties:  regular yellow onions, red onions, sweet onion...
• Place a few of the bulbs about half an inch from the top of some soil in your garden bed or in a pot, wait a couple of weeks and plant some more. By 3 to 4 weeks, you will have a succession of fresh green onions to enjoy.  Just remember to keep the bag of unused bulbs in the refrigerator.
• Continue to plant as you harvest and you will have fresh green onions through the whole growing season. Don't forget to plant enough to share with the neighbors.

Also be sure to wash it really well inside the folds of the blades. Green onions are notorious for harboring harmful bacteria.  These little fellows are delicious, easy to grow, and they even look good in arrangements, albeit a little stinky.