by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Days of Flonase and flowers…
The woody little stub of a tree peony cutting that I brought home from the San Francisco Flower and garden show three years ago bloomed and is fully open for the first time today. It’s lovely… and unnamed until I can find the tag.
Just checked my blog archive and discovered that the vendor was The Lily Pad Bulb Farm. Judging from their website, it might be ‘Blue Jewel’.
So much else is blooming as well– tulips, wallflower, Byzantine glads, abutilon, coral bells, African daisies, ceanothus, calandrinia, columbine, blue gilia, etc.
And in other happy news, I found my lost keys! I had been looking “everywhere” for them… except the backyard, where they sat glistening on the teak patio table. The last few months of my life have left me a bit (OK, majorly) discombobulated– lost keys, brewing pots of coffee without remembering to add the coffee, not being able to plan or plant my Summer veggie garden…
Why? The end of my twenty-year marriage, pretty much… not knowing where I would be living… worrying about how everything was affecting my son… and myself. But I’m happy to report that things are looking up. The dust has settled and everything is moving forward in a happier direction. For everyone.
My son will be with me week on, week off, and I may just rediscover who Angela is during the off weeks. I will be moving into a cute little house in about thirty days and may even be in there in time to pop some summer veggies in the ground.
Speaking of ground, my new grounds will be quite downsized. I’m moving from a 1/4 acre lot to a .1 acre lot. This was actually a conscious decision on my part. Not only was I feeling like scaling back because of the economy and my new circumstances, but I wanted to move back to my old neighborhood in East Sac. I’ll be back in the Thrifty Fifties over by East Portal Park!
I have family nearby and would love it if my folks, who now live a couple blocks away from my Carmichael house, follow. There happen to be not one but two empty lots next to the new digs. I’m picturing adjoining gates… me helping them with their yard work… family parties… bike rides… dog walking chats…
I may not have as much space for gardening in the near future… and a giant sycamore currently dominates the backyard (more on that later)… but I still intend to pack that lot with as many of my current plants as possible. And if I need anything new, I can just ride my bike over to Talini’s.
Goodbye quantity, hello quality. Goodbye driving everywhere, hello biking and walking everywhere. Hello new chapter in my life.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’m really happy to see a program like this finally coming to Sacramento. Looks like it’s under the wing of the River-Friendly Landscape Program. Be sure to tell your friendly, neighborhood mow & blow crew about it! Better yet, print the flier and give it to all your neighbors to give to their gardeners. Help spread the word!
Training begins March 31st!
RIVER-FRIENDLY LANDSCAPE
Green Gardener Training Program
Why become a Green Gardener?
This ten-week series provides high quality training in all the key principles of River-Friendly Landscaping, or “Green Gardening” including:
Conserving water, protecting the soil and reducing the use of pesticides. Many classes will include both indoor and outdoor hands-on components. Creating a healthier garden for you, your community and the environment. Offering a list of River-Friendly Landscaping Principles, helping you compete in the professional industry.
Registration begins on Monday, March 2, 2009.
Cost is $30 for 10 consecutive week-sessions.
Register online at www.fcusd.org/adulted
(courses and online registration, Job Training)
Or mail your completed form to:
Folsom Cordova Adult School
10850 Gadsten Way, Bldg C
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Class begins on Tuesday, March 31, 2009*
Class runs from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
*Class will not be held on April 7, 2009 due to Spring Break.
How Do I Sign Up?
For more information call Regional Water Authority at 916-967-7625.
Download flier.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
And some new beginnings.
Ceanothus is about to pop, bulbs are doing their thing (even last year’s tulips), hummingbird sage is looking fresh and reinvigorated after I whacked it back, and my dogs are looking for something disgusting to roll around in. Must be Spring.
by angela@diggingbliss | Mar 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Wanted to pass this along. Tickets are now available for these wonderful-sounding Backyard Edible Gardening classes at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science’s UC Davis Good Life Garden! Whew… that’s a mouthful.
For more information and tickets: www.goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu/event_list
Contact: Kira O’Donnell, (530) 681-6412; kdodonnell@ucdavis.edu
****************************************************************
Backyard Edible Gardening
Presented by the UC Davis Good Life Garden
Saturday, April 25 and Saturday, May 23, 2009
Interest in the establishment of backyard edible gardens has increased significantly as food and gasoline prices skyrocket and consumers become increasingly concerned about food safety, freshness and quality. A rising demand for organic produce and honest, home-grown flavors are also important contributing factors in the backyard gardening movement. All these elements, notes Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist at the National Gardening Association in Burlington, Vermont, are setting the stage for “a perfect storm for vegetable gardening.”
Gardening organizations, seed wholesalers, and local nurseries are all reporting hikes in the number of consumers purchasing vegetable seeds and starter plants and trees. But do consumers have the information they need to establish a functioning and successful garden? The UC Davis Good Life Garden will offer two in-depth seminars, designed as an overview on how to establish, maintain, and utilize the many benefits of a productive backyard edible garden.
The seminars will be taught by University of California master gardeners, farm advisors and respected gardening experts. Offered on Saturdays, the seminars will run from 9am to 2pm, and cost $35 with box lunch included ($25 with no box lunch). They will be held in UC Davis’ Good Life Garden and the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science sensory theatre. For more information, visit the UC Davis Good Life Garden website at www.goodlifegarden.ucdavis.edu or call Kira O’Donnell, (530) 681-6412.
Growing a Successful Vegetable Garden
Saturday, April 25, 2009
This in-depth class will focus on growing vegetables successfully all year.
Subjects addressed include:
• planning your garden
• vegetable varieties
• the importance of climate
• seed saving
• when and how to plant
• pest and weed management
• harvesting and storage
Participants should have a basic working knowledge of growing a garden with a desire to learn how to create a highly productive garden. Instructor Robert Norris is a UC Davis Plant Science emeritus professor, and has been teaching UC Master Gardener trainees the craft of vegetable gardening for 29 years. Also instructing will be Terry Allan of Seeds of Change, whose mission is to help preserve biodiversity and promote sustainable, organic agriculture. Seeds of Change cultivates and disseminates an extensive range of open-pollinated, organically grown, heirloom and traditional vegetable, flower and herb seeds.
All About Fruits, Nuts and Berries
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A backyard garden can be much more than simply a vegetable plot. In this information-packed seminar, we explore ways to plant, train, grow and enjoy fruit and nut trees and berry bushes.
Subjects addressed will include:
• planning and planting your orchard
• variety selection
• space requirements
• growing fruit in small spaces
• fertilization, irrigation, weeding, and thinning
• training and pruning
• pest management
Participants should have a basic working knowledge of gardening, with a desire to learn how to create a highly productive backyard orchard. Instructors for this unique and informative class will be Chuck Ingles, Sacramento County Farm Advisor; and Ed Laivo of the Dave Wilson Nursery.
by angela@diggingbliss | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
Got a favorite Sacramento area garden center? Check out the contenders here and cast your vote!
Want to see the current standings?
by angela@diggingbliss | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
I like the fact that he’s promoting IPM and organic methods here.
by angela@diggingbliss | Feb 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
OK, so this isn’t quite what I envisioned in my enduring fantasy of being in Sunset Magazine (kicking self for not majoring in journalism or English). Still, this is pretty fantastic!
In its March issue, Sunset included my oddly URLed little Garden Bliss blog in a list of “go-to sources for cooking, gardening and living well in the West.”
I will try to post a link to the article if it shows up online. Until then, I did happen to scan the page in order to preserve it for all eternity… and for kicks.
Kicks don’t pay the bills, though, so if I continue blogging myself into the soup line, it’s a good thing I’ll have Sunset Magazine to read while I’m waiting for my rations.
May I take this opportunity to say that I think the print version of Sunset Magazine just keeps getting better and better? Pretty impressive feat at a time when many magazines have become thinly veiled adverzines or, failing that, have gone to that great magazine stand in the sky. And have you seen Sunset.com lately? Wow! It’s gorgeous… and slick… and educational… and interactive. Kudos, Sunset.
by angela@diggingbliss | Feb 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Just learned about a cool program through City of Roseville, CA called the Cash for Grass Rebate Pilot Program. If you live in Roseville and want some extra incentive to lose the lawn, check it out!
by angela@diggingbliss | Feb 9, 2009 | Uncategorized
Just learned about a cool program through City of Roseville, called Cash for Grass.
by angela@diggingbliss | Jan 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
Amy at Garden Rant just posted about an article in the Seattle times announcing the demise of the San Francisco/Pacific Northwest Flower & Garden Shows. What’s next, Sunset Magazine? My local Starbuck’s? My neighborhood Border’s? Whole Foods? Raley’s? My little library? My son’s school?
Top story in my local paper today is the lovely “Official: Sacramento could ax 500 city jobs to close deficit“. What’s in your paper today?
This is getting ridiculous. Gotta remember to breathe and to keep up the yoga practice. Forget Victory Gardens… I think we’re heading toward Subsistence Gardens. Survival Gardens? Are we gonna have to eat our pets? Oh, man, and they’re so cute! They’re my babies! Wait… am I going to have to eat my child? My only child?!
Think vegetarian thoughts, Angela. Ask yourself, “What would Alice Waters do?”. She would plant something obscure and complete-protein like quinoa. In her front yard. Oh, my neighbors are gonna love that. But maybe they don’t care about that kind of nonsense anymore. Maybe they, too, are starting to “rethink the front lawn” in a way they never could have imagined would be necessary.
Interesting times we live in. Deep breath. More coffee… which I will grow myself if I have to. OK, so maybe that horticulture degree isn’t as worthless as I thought. I think I can probably teach myself to make elderberry wine too, if necessary. If only I had some elderberries.
Wait, I can barter. That’s what scrappy survivors like us do. I’ll give you a dozen lemons for a basket of elderberries. These lemons will keep you from getting scurvy, you see. You need them. And I… well, I could use a nice, relaxing glass of elderberry wine. After 5:00, of course.
