More than any time of the year, the December holidays always bring back reminders of childhood traditions. Growing up in a family heavily influenced by European customs, I remember doing and making things my classmates did not. As a child it made me feel like an odd bird when I really just wanted to fit in. As an adult, however, fitting in isn’t something I strive for and those childhood habits really define who I am today (which is still pretty much an odd bird). One consistent thread that has traveled through my entire life is an appreciation for natural things over artificial. Growing up it was important for us to have a real tree even though an artificial one would have been more convenient.  As an adult I love selecting a living tree that I can later  plant in my yard.

Holiday decorations were also often made from things that could be found around the house. Wreaths made of juniper or whatever evergreen was growing at the time or holiday window ornaments out of sliced dried citrus were favored over store bought ornaments.

So when I opened a package I received from home today, I was pleased to see some gorgeous deep red Arkansas Black apples. The almost burgundy-red color made me immediately think of the apple Santas we made as a children. So rather than eat one of the apples, I sacrificed it for a little bit of holiday decoration which I hope you will enjoy. These are easy to make with children and can last for several weeks if kept in a cooler location.

What you will need for each apple Santa.

• One large apple
• Some fluff for beard and hat trim (can be polyfill or even some cotton balls)
• A whole walnut for the head
• Two walnut halves for feet
• A couple of peppercorns for eyes
• A couple of twigs for arms
• Some cranberries or  white chocolate chips for jacket buttons (depending on apple color)
• Skewers to hold head in place and poke pilot holes for arms
• Some red paper to make a hat
• Some glue and a pair of scissors (I would recommend hot glue for putting the feet on. When working with kids, parents should do this part)

To prep the walnuts place a couple in a baking pan and bake in a 250° oven for 35 minutes. Baking the walnuts makes it easier to split and insert a skewer. After the required time, remove from oven and let sit until cool enough to handle. For the feet you will need two walnuts halves. Take one of the walnuts and insert a sharp knife into the flat end, along the seam. Carefully push the knife through the center until the walnut splits in half. Remove the flesh and set aside. For the head, insert a skewer into a walnut about 1/4 inch (go too far and you risk splitting the shell). Trim skewer so that about 1″ sticks out of the walnut and push this into the bottom of the apple. Inverting the apple give Santa a wider, more classic, shape. Glue feet to the other end of the apple, using photo of the completed Santa as reference for placement.

Take another skewer and make pilot holes into the apple to insert the arms/twigs. Insert one on each side. To make the hat trace a circle (I used a canister lid that had a diameter of about 5 ” and then just kept twisting to the desired width.) and cut it in half. Roll one half into a cone shape. You can find detail instruction here. You will just be making one on a smaller scale. Glue hat together and also glue some fluff around the bottom. Use a bit more glue to attach hat to Santa’s head. Finish Santa’s face by gluing on some peppercorns for eyes a raisin or cranberry for a nose and some fluff for his beard. Glue a couple of more raisins/white chocolate chips down the from of his body for buttons and your Santa is ready to take his place amongst your holiday decorations.

I take my coffee outside to watch the sun come up as I do most mornings.  As I step out the door I notice the unseasonably warm, dry air. And the stillness. The yard is still cloaked in the grey shades of night but I can see the golden sunlight already hitting the tops of the trees. It’s just after sunrise and the birds must be sleeping in. I place my container of peanuts (for the jays) on the table next to me and take my first sip of coffee. The expected, delightful bitterness tastes good and helps shake away the last bits of sleepiness. I settle in to wait for the birds as the dog eagerly sniffs the air.

Within moments the quiet is broken by the creaking and cracking noises of the Eucalyptus grove in the distance. A gust of wind has come up and you can watch it cross the valley below.  It reaches the top of the hill with force and begins to strip the trees of reddish brown leaves. I watch the leaves spin and swirl to the ground as I cover my coffee cup with my hand. Towards the back of the yard, I see the same thing happening to the trees there. But those leaves are headed in the opposite direction. Within moments I feel it and realize I’m sitting right in the middle of a whirlwind. The commotion caused as the two strong gusts meet picks up leaves and dust and debris. The dog decides to back a little closer to me, unsure of what’s happening. As I look up, I see a swarm of bees struggling to maintain their easterly flight path, their bodies shining in the morning sun.

And then it’s over and it’s once again silent. By this time the sun has crested over the hedgerow and yard is glowing a gorgeous golden color. The birds immediately begin to swoop down onto the ground to scratch the dirt in search of breakfast. The jay lands on the small lime tree and nods at me, beseeching me to toss out some peanuts, which I do. I take another sip of coffee. It’s not as delicious as the first. It never is. I look up and the swarm of bees has gone.

I haven’t been posting much this spring because earlier this year I moved. So did my garden. New house, new dirt, new advantages and difficulties. Change can be a little disorienting, especially in the garden. The moving process itself took up a good deal of my early spring garden prep time and I’m just getting around to starting some seeds. Luckily it’s a long season and I still have time. So here is a little update on where things stand.

mushrooms pop out of the sand

Thyme borders the vegetable garden.

A garden plot has been established. I’ve weeded and amended the soil. Before I was dealing with clay, now I have pure sand. On the plus side, weeds pull up super easy. On the down side, it doesn’t hold water for long and the nutrient level is low. I will be breaking a rule and will be composting the weeds. Why? I need the amendment. I plan on giving the piles a good year and will try to get them good and hot. Yes, there will be weeds next year, but there will be weeds anyway. The house was vacant for 2 years and things are a bit out of control weed-wise. But I’ll be here to pull early. The vegetable garden will also get a good layer of straw as soon as the soil gets a better warmer.

Zinnia seedlings begin to emerge.

Zinnia seeds are popping up. After two years of focusing on just edibles, I decided I needed some flowers this year.

Some transplants are leafing out and settling into their new home. My apple tree looks like it will indeed put forth some apples this year. I’m happy to even see it leaf out since it had to spend more than a few days laying on it’s side, roots covered in soil while a place for it was established. I hand pollinated the blossoms because I wasn’t seeing any bees at around where it’s planted. As soon as I find my borage seeds, I’ll get those established so that next year, the bees will know exactly where to go.

Leaves begin to grow on the horseradish root.

My pink lady apple looks like it’s setting fruit.

No matter where you garden, it’s always something. In the last place, I battled snails. Here they aren’t so much a problem. But earwigs? Oh lord are they prolific. To get things growing to where they have at least a fighting chance, I’m using diatomaceous earth around all the seedlings. Earwigs, snails and slugs will not cross it. It has to be reapplied for a while, but normally only until the plants get a little bit bigger and their stems get a bit tougher.

Another prolific pest is the gopher. Luckily I have my trusty gopher hunter. Although as he tunnels into the ground in search of prey he can do more damage than the gopher himself, he still lets me know where they are.

The great gopher hunter keeps watch over the veggie plot.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to catch the Five Cities Orchid Society’s show and sale held at the community center in Arroyo Grande. At only $5 for admission, the orchid show is a steal and the sale portion is a room full of temptation. When I attend an orchid show, all my horticultural professional skills get tossed out a window. There is so much to see and awe over that I neglect to check names, cultural advice, etc. and simply desire everything I see. For this reason I tend to leave my wallet in the car (if I’m truly tempted, I can always go out and get it) and take only photos. Although I can sort of capture the beauty of the show in photographs, what I can’t bring you is the smell. The smell that hits you when you walk through the door is amazing. It’s a combined floral scent like no other. Here are some photos from the show. Clicking on images will enlarge them.

Right at the entry. So much beauty.

Some orchids were winners and it’s easy to see why.

Orchid flowers so tiny you need a magnifying glass to see them.

Chartreuse! My favorite.

Some unusual carnivorous plants were available too. These look like sundews.

Bright bicolors.

You can even match the decor in your home.

Orchids dark as coffee.

Or pretty violet blue.

So hard to pick a favorite here. I’ll take them all.

A show stopper for sure.

Orchids don’t always need to be stakes. Look how pretty they are when they cascade.

Orchids displayed with Ansel Adams photographs.

“Hey are you looking at us?”

I hope you enjoyed the photos. You can find out more about the Five Cities Orchid Society at their website. They are very friendly folk and welcome visitors to their meetings. If you plan on going to their show, bringing non-gardening friends or spouses is not recommended. Non-gardening friends just don’t seem to understand the need to make the rounds, again… and again…and just once more.

 As this year comes to a close, it’s almost time to start planning for next year’s garden. But as I take a break from my regular gardening chores. I have time for other hobbies. This year, I made a wreath. I wanted my wreath to really represent the coastal area in which I live. So with the exception of 4 seashells, all ingredients were found locally. The grapevine came from an untended garden. I found the eucalyptus branch just lying in on the sidewalk a day after our first storm, which also blew down the pale green lichen (which to me looks a bit like seaweed). The magnolia pods I found at a nearby mall, the sand dollar I picked up on a local beach while out for a walk with a friend. All that was needed was a bit of red and some Toyon berries did the trick. I like it. It came out just as I imagined. The eucalyptus and bit of pine smell great and its unfussy design really does fit the area from which it came.

I truly love and enjoy the area in which I live. I feel at peace here. I hope you find yourself in a place that makes you feel the same way.  Happy Holidays!

Lesson 1: Include an image on every page.

I was pinning seed catalogs onto my board Seed Catalogs To Order to have in one spot, and be able to share, links to seed company order forms. On one of the company’s websites, I ran across the problem you see in the image to the left. There was no image on the page and therefore nothing for Pinterest to pin. Sadly because of this, they won’t be included on the board. How much free advertising and traffic might they be missing out on by skipping this one simple step?

Lesson 2: Name your images appropriately.

This is from my own blog. I have to admit, I get lazy or I try too work to quickly and I skip steps when publishing my blog posts. Here you can see that I’ve uploaded the poppy picture and didn’t change the image name from the one the camera gave it. If I go to use the handy “Pin It” button on my toolbar the comment section is pre-filled with the name of the file DSC_0343. Now wouldn’t it have been much better if I named my file something appropriate for sharing that I would want the Pinterest audience to see? Perhaps something like “Saving seeds of Thai Silk poppies” would have been a better choice. Pinners will often use the exact description you have given for your photo if it is appropriate and succinct.

Lesson 3: If it matters, watermark it.

I don’t watermark every image I post. But when I’ve come up with something I feel is a really cool idea and know folks will enjoy sharing it, I watermark it. Often you will find unattributed images shared freely on Pinterest because they were shared directly from Google images. If you want readers to be able to find your blog, you have to watermark it. Now there are two sides to this. Some say watermarks detract from images or can easily be removed. You will have to weigh the importance of attribution over esthetics in your placement.

If you have any other Pinterest image tips, please feel free to share them in the comments.

When we become gardeners, we learn from those who gardened before us. Some things we learn from books. Some we learn from people. Growing up, I learned that wasps were not allowed to build nests in the yard. Why? They sting and it hurts.  So a few years ago when some wasps started to build nests on under the eaves of the house, I’d spray them with something nasty. Problem solved. Then I stopped using the nasty stuff and tried homemade remedies. Vinegar seemed to work fairly well, but don’t stand downwind. That stuff stings too. Last year, I used a sharp stream of water from about 10′ away. Problem solved until they came back the very next day. So I blasted them again. I think it took about 5 times before they got the hint they weren’t welcome.

This year, however, I just didn’t have it in me to continually blast them. I decided that I would give coexistence a try. After all they are considered beneficial to the garden. They are excellent pollinators. If I’m going to spend all this time planting stuff that attracts bees so I get better crop production, it seemed sort of stupid to then eradicate the happy pollinators I already had. They also kill aphids and feed on a number of garden pests including flies, beetle larvae and caterpillars.

The nest that you see is situated near my lavender and lemon verbena. I think they did this on purpose because they seem to love those flowers. I can go out almost any time of day and find them there. It’s also near the faucet where there is always a little bit of moisture. The part that worried me was that it’s two feet from my backdoor. Well, I shouldn’t have been so worried. It’s now the first day of fall and I’m happy to say neither the dog or myself has been stung. And despite my habit of leaving the backdoor wide open when I’m using the computer, I have not once had one in the house. They forage literally all over the garden and just like the bees not once have they seemed agitated or aggressive when I started working on their chosen plant. The photo above was taken from on a ladder about three feet away with a flash. They didn’t even care.

I’m sure that if I were to swat at their nest, they would attack. But can you blame them. While taking the photo I watched them tirelessly go about the business of tending the young and expanding the nest. If you attack anything’s offspring, it becomes aggressive. Besides, there is really no good reason I can think of for doing. So another tradition/habit/whatever- you-want-to-call-it has bit the dust and it’s really about time.

Scroll down past the photos if you just want a quick list of what you will need.

I experimented with the Ugly Lettuce Monolith back in February. My decision to grow lettuce vertically was based primarily on my adoption of a new, younger, dog. I really wanted to be able to harvest something from my garden and sometimes pets make that difficult. With layers of material to be composted and garden soil, I filled the wire mesh cylinder (lined with weed barrier cloth) almost to the top. Inserting a drain pipe down the center and filling it with bark before removal created a drainage tube. I cut holes into the weed barrier cloth and inserted the lettuce that I had started in empty 6-packs. I also planted a few strawberries.

The lettuce really took off. I think, in part, due to the weed barrier cloth keeping the soil just a tad bit warmer. Things I planted in the ground just sat in February, but the lettuce in the tower grew quickly. I started harvesting salads within a few weeks of planting. But I never got a strawberry. The dog sniffed out and ate any ripe strawberry he could find.

It’s now July and the lettuce has almost gone to seed. Up until a few weeks ago, I was still harvesting a salad a few times a week. Once lettuce gets to this point, however, it starts to get really bitter.

In the beginning I watered the monolith about once a week by running a hose over the drainage hole in the center and letting it run slowly. After the surrounding area was planted with herbs in front (That’s epazote just in front. It’s almost as tall as the lettuce monolith.) and beans and zucchini in the back, the monolith got watered when the surrounding area got water which was about twice per week.

Because lettuce bolts so quickly in the heat, there is no point in planting more right now. I’ll start new lettuce seedlings in about a month which should give these flowers enough time to open and set seed which I will save for future plantings.

After the initial set up (which honestly takes only a few hours) I found growing lettuce this way pretty easy and problem free. If I was diligent about ringing the monolith with some diatomaceous earth, I encountered no earwigs or snails. But once I got busy with the rest of the garden, this happened with less frequency. I encountered a few (three) earwigs at one point and snails were really easy to pick off.  The lettuce itself was a pleasure to harvest in the evening. No stooping to pick it! And because it got no back splash from the soil, it was incredibly clean and just needed a quick rinse.

What you need to build it:

4-Foot Weed Barrier Fabric

2 Inch x 4 Inch Mesh 14 Gauge Galvanized Welded Wire Fence,

2 CUFT Medium Bark

4 foot piece of 3″ wide PVC or Flex-Drain Drain Pipe, Perforated, 4-Inch by 8-Feet

Twist Tie

Espoma PLA1 Organic Planting Mix, 1 Cubic Feet

Leaves to be composted.

Farmers Market Cut and Come Again Lettuce Blend Seeds 2000 Seeds

Alpine Strawberry plants

In conclusion I would rate this experiment a huge success. A few things to note about my experience are:

1.  The weed cloth seems to keep the soil a bit warmer by absorbing the heat from the sun. This can be a great boon in getting the lettuce going. Once it’s filled in, the leaves cover the black fabric so it doesn’t get too hot.
2.  I’ve never grown lettuce that was so pest and problem free. The leaves stay cleaner and drier than they do on the ground. Diatomaceous earth can keep the bugs at bay all season if you reapply. If you don’t, it’s easy to spot the intruders.
3.  I never planted the back side. Because of the trees in my yard and the direction of the sun, I decided the back side would never get enough light to make it worth planting. I thought about making it smaller, but that would reduce the soil room and therefore it would dry out quicker. This is something to keep in mind when deciding on placement.
4.  If you read the original instructions, you will see that the filler is a mix of garden soil and material needing to be composted. That’s right, it also serves as a compost bin and that 4′ diameter cylinder holds a lot of leaf litter that didn’t make it into the regular compost. My expectation was that the dried leaf material would leave areas too dry and the process of composting would drain the surrounding soil of nitrogen. I had no die off of individual plants and I fertilized only once with a foliar spray of fish emulsion all season.
5.  The strawberries planted in between grew, but were quickly overtaken by the lettuce. I would do either one or the other in the future, but not both.
6.  I planted the top with a compact cucumber and it’s not as happy as could be. I now wish I had planted the same cucumber on the ground for comparison. Cucumbers have a tendency to struggle because of our long, cool spring weather.  Next time I’ll probably plant a couple squash on top.

If you would like to try your own lettuce monolith, you can read the instructions here.

I love to visit our local community gardens a couple of times each year because the gardeners are so creative. I always come home with ideas and inspiration. There will be several things I want to grow, build and try. Today’s visit to Emerson Community Garden was no exception. Check out the simple watering solution for this oak barrel garden. Many of the gardeners don’t get to their plots every day. A simple inverted soda bottle can save your crop on an exceptionally hot day.

One plot in particular was a wealth of ‘must build’ items. A delightful gardener named Susan told me that this plot belonged to Ernie who is the star gardener of their group. Like many community gardens, ECG is completely open and people come and go as they please. This can be a problem if you want to have some gardening tools on hand for they have a habit of disappearing. Ernie’s solution is the beautiful storage locker. The top is covered with roofing asphalt paper and sloped to keep water from settling. The pretty red stain weatherproofs it and makes it pretty.  A simple combo lock means your tools are safely stored until you need them. I honestly wouldn’t mind a storage bin like this in my yard.

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Ernie also had a great solution for birds nibbling crops. The top portion of these raised beds are covered by a frame of pvc pipe over which he has hung some bird netting. I’ve seen the pvc trick before. But look closely at the top section of board and you will see a little knob. The top section lifts up. How much easier is that than pulling off and re-securing the netting each time you need to work the bed? The entire portion could be removed when no longer needed I suppose. One could also use poultry netting if squirrels or rabbits were a problem.
Not only is this gardener a builder but he seems to really know his stuff. Susan told me she had been gone for a few weeks and all of this was new. We marveled at how far along his plants were compared to other gardens. She told me that before she left Ernie was growing some sort of groundcover over his bed that he was going to till in. “A cover crop,” I thought. I must make it a point to meet this Ernie. I think I could  learn few things.

And last my favorite concept at the community garden, the concept of sharing. I saw this little bag hanging from a fence with the attached note offering up sunflowers seeds to share and an offer to refill it once it was empty. I would have to say one of the best things about community gardens is the sharing that takes place. At Emerson you can see that has been going on for a long time which is evidenced by the irises you will find in almost every bed now. Some of which are already in bloom. Isn’t it lovely?

I got a good jump on my seed starting last night. And as always, I planted too many. I always do. No where is my gardening obsession/plant geekery more apparent than with seeds. I just love them.

Throughout the year I scrape them out of peppers from the grocery, snip them off plants in parking lots, buy them,  trade them, hoard them. Having a seed stash is just a nice way of saying you have a seed hoarding problem. Isn’t it?

As I sift through my stash determining what I want to plant inside now and what I want to sow outside later, my pile always becomes bigger than what my yard will contain. This year was no exception. I know that I have allocated the same square foot to three different plants each needing more space than that. I know that I have done this more than once. Why? I know better, but yet I continue.


Although I have pretty good success with germination of most seeds there is

Kiwi seeds ready to go with very little hope of finding a home once they've germinated.

always that bit of uncertainty. What if something doesn’t come up? Then what? How could I possibly handle a bare patch of soil? Besides, I can always add more edibles to my front yard. That’s cool now, right? Plus there’s always a chance someone might not want to use their community garden plot.


As a means of justifying my behavior, I could say that some of what I do is just to gain experience with different types of germination methods. Also I love sharing seedlings with my gardening friends (and sometimes people I barely know). But I know that I am fortunate that the seeds themselves are small and most are very inexpensive if not free. Why you barely notice the four mason jars in the back of the refrigerator of the ziplock bag in the linen closet. I’m also lucky that my obsession isn’t for something like ostriches or alpacas (although come to think of it, raising my own yarn might be cool). My only consolation in all this is that I know I’m not alone. I know there are many of us seed addicts out there. I know some of you see yourself in this post. Stop by and say hello. I’m Kat and I’m a seed addict.