by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 16, 2013 | air plants, fertilizing, ponds
I love how blogs propagate neat ideas somewhat randomly and virally throughout the land. Via The Horticult, I recently learned that by soaking your air plants in pond water, they are actually being fed by “pond scum” at the same time! Check out their post titled “Soak City: An Unlikely Fertilizer for Tillandsia”.
I love this idea because it’s a clever, efficient and thrifty use of a waste product. As is the way of the web, the folks at The Horticult learned this tip from Florida air plant purveyor Air Plant City’s “Caring For Your Tillandsia” page.
I was able to put this feeding method into practice at the nursery yesterday, but will have to wait until I have a pond at home to determine how well this works as a long-term feeding regimen. Until then, I can use Grow More 17-8-22 Bromeliad & Tillandsia Fertilizer
on my tillies at home. Grow More’s is the only commercial tilly fertilizer I’ve come across that’s relatively inexpensive and readily available.
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 9, 2013 | container gardening, moss, planters
Being a tomboy who came to lipstick later in life, I don’t have the ability to get super excited about handbags and high heels. I have one purse, a little Tignanello backpack purse, that holds all my stuff and allows me to move about my life with both hands free. The allure of a really expensive handbag slung over one shoulder escapes me entirely. My affliction is rare, judging from the abundance of websites, blogs and gossip rags devoted to the daily chronicling of female celebrities and their $10,000 designer handbags. To me, purses and shoes are just… meh. Unless they’re made of moss.
Finally, something ladylike I can get excited about! Hmm… what to plant? A little string of pearls succulent to go with that plantable high heel of yours? Super Moss
makes these adorable moss purse planters, which make fun gifts, planted or unplanted.
Moss purse with String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus), Echeveria and Calibrachoa
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 5, 2013 | container gardening, talini's nursery, vertical gardening
We got new wall pots, aptly named WallPots, in at Talini’s. Each WallPot contains three deep pockets and has plenty of grommets for attaching to vertical surfaces. This one, I planted with mostly shade-loving plants. Update: the lobelia bit the dust, but the begonia and potato vine are thriving.
WallPots
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 29, 2013 | landscaping, trees
We finally did the dirty deed. The huge sycamore tree dominating our small backyard is gone. Granted, the tree was not diseased, nor a danger. But it snuffed out precious morning light, dropped anthracnose-ey leaves everywhere, and it was simply too big and oddly placed.
The work was done while I was at work, but my fiance Kim was able to photograph and videotape everything. He texted me photos throughout the day, so I could see the progress.
When I first moved in, my friend Cheryl said,
“It would be a sin”
to cut down the ginormous tree in the back. And my mom recently declared,
“You can’t cut down that tree.”
I did appreciate their concern for the tree and all it provides (loveliness, greenery, shade), but every once in a while ya gotta do something selfish. The tree was casting a shadow, literally and figuratively, on my happiness.
The first few cuts on the backyard sycamore
In my mind, I was left with two options– either move to another house or kill the tree. After much mulling and several bids from arborists, I finally went with my gut. After all, we live here and want to be happy here. And my folks just built a house behind ours, so if we move now, we’ll lose out on the closeness that proximity affords. (more…)
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 20, 2013 | books, digital gardening, gardening books
If you’re not one of those people who needs to smell the papyrus when reading, you might be interested in knowing there’s starting to be quite a nice selection of digital gardening books available for FREE from your local library. OverDrive is the mover and shaker in the business these days, with some competition from the 3M Cloud Library. While OverDrive and 3M are the e-book vendors, your library is the provider. (more…)
