Our Green Life – Page 3 – The Creative Salad

DIY Plant Marker Tutorial Round-Up

Even though I know the names of most (okay, many!) of the plants in our garden, I try to label all of our plants and vegetables. I find plant labels are important in refreshing my memory each season, as well as being an invaluable learning tool for our daughter as she grows and learns the plant names herself.

I tend to reusue the labels from our local garden center, strictly out of laziness and economy. I love the idea of making more durable and attractive plant markers that we can reuse year after year.

Here are some inspired handmade plant marker tutorials that I’m eager to try:

Featured above:
1. Antique Spoon Plant Marker Tutorial (pin/source)
2. Wine Cork Herb Labels (pin/source)
3. DIY Stamped Plant Marker (pin/source)
4. Make your own garden markers with jar lids and dowels (pin/source)
5. DIY Twig Plant Markers (pin/source)
6. Simple herb marker — permanent pen on pots! (pin/source)

(In writing this post, I noticed a multitude of chalkboard garden marker tutorials out there. Who wants a label that washes off when you water the garden?! Talk about impractical. I just don’t get it.)

Which plant marker is your favorite?

View these and many garden related projects, including several other garden marker tutorials, on my Garden Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

A Tree Kale Update

Remember our tiny little tree kale?

We planted it last September and watched in horror as it failed to thrive thanks to some very attentive caterpillars. Then it rested over the winter and, as the rains have returned to Sonoma county, our kale has begun to grow and grow and grow:

Can you imagine this plant growing to over ten feet tall?! That’s a whole lot of kale goodness to come. I do believe we have some kale chips to make.

Modern Landscape Architecture in Venice, California

One morning on our trip to Southern California we needed to kill time before lunch and decided to go for a family walk. We found ourselves in a quirky, well-kept neighborhood in Venice, California. Navigating up and down the streets, I came to appreciate why people love living in LA. Those small quiet neighborhoods are delightful!

Here are some of the architectural highlights from our walk:

I love those modern fences. (Oh, I almost want to pin each shot!) I look forward to the day we own a house and can duplicate that top fence. We’ll bring a little LA to Western Sonoma County.

A Quick Botany Lesson

Did you know that pollen grains come in different colors?!

I think of pollen as shades of yellow, but that isn’t always the case, as we found out with our Valentine’s Day tulips last month.

The white tulips contained yellow pollen grains:

These pink tulips, however, have PURPLE pollen grains:

How cool is that?! Homeschooling 101 around here.

Curious about other pollen colors? This nifty chart on Wikipedia lists a wide variety of pollen colors, as does the beautiful pollen guide by the Bristol Beekeepers.

So much for thinking that pollen was only yellow! My college botany professor would be so disappointed in me.

My Hard Reality and Their Beautiful Kitchen Gardens

We’ve had an extrememly dry winter here in Northern California. Instead of doning rain boots each morning to combat the daily showers, we put on sandals as we savor sunny and 70 degree days here in Sonoma County. It’s nice, but, well, we really need the rain.

So here we are in February with fruit trees blooming, butterflies coupling, and my hugely overgrown and weedy garden is starting to grow anew.

This can’t be good.

In an attempt to encourage me to get outside and work in our yard, I thought it would be fun to share some particularly beautiful and inspiring kitchen gardens from my Garden Inspiration Board on Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. A Beautiful woven archway welcomes you into this garden featured in The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs and 100 Seasonal Recipes. (pin/source)
2. A stunning kitchen garden with brick accents. (pin/source)
3. Raised beds, strategically placed shrubs and flowers, and generous paths give this Washington garden its unique style. (pin/source)
4. I love the addition of plants along the gravel path bordering the simple raised beds of this beautiful vegetable garden (pin/source)

View these and many more beautiful gardens on my Garden Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)