Natural Wreath Class

Every year one of our wonderful gardeners, and friends (Melinda Clifton) puts together a private wreath class for her circle of friends. With Michelle's creative guidance, they gathered in the "green" room to create these amazing natural wreaths, including homemade birds nests. 






Gardening in Sunny Florida

 One of the best things about visiting with the kids in Jacksonville is that they are still landscaping their new home. This time our attention was turned to the front yard. Travis had been wanting a shade tree to block the hot southern Florida sun in the summer, and Sara wanted something to "pretty up" the curb appeal. I think we managed to please both of them. After driving around and seeing what other homes had planted, and listening to the kids wish list, Cash and I traveled to a nursery down the road to see what they had to offer. Believe it or not, in November the nurseries in Florida are shutting down for winter. We found a few things that he liked, mostly sticks and rocks....then went back to the house to wait until Sara and Travis could join us. The next day we visited two nurseries, with the favorite being Hall's, just a few miles away. They still had an amazing selection of trees and shrubs and they were extremely helpful. The kids decides on a Nuttall Oak, an evergreen Magnolia, quite a few grasses, a couple camellias and of course some flowers for Cash to plant. Travis worked on digging out a large kidney shaped area and then we started planting. In the matter of a few hours everything was tucked in the ground and the next day Sara had cedar mulch delivered to complete the project. A beautiful garden, for a beautiful home that is filled with a beautiful family. What will we plant in January when I get to return and spend a few weeks with them????? hmmmmmmm
Travis and Sara deciding on grasses

Cash picking his favorite color camellia, red.

Travis and his big helper, Cash

View from the front, almost finished

Our little "Dirt Snake"

Beer Tasting in Jacksonville, Florida

Today we went to Grassroots Natural Market in the Riverside area of Jacksonville. Sara and I had happened upon the store while searching for some vegetarian treats during my last trip in July, and I have been telling Bob about the beer selection there ever since.
The Tasters: Shelley Kelly /Travis Thompson /Bob, the "Beerzilla" Henderson

1. Old Engine Oil - Harviestoun Brewer / Scotland : 8%.
B: Definitely roasty and chocolaty, not impressed.
(Shelley missed this one)
T: Liked it, lighter dark beer with a slightly bitter taste. 

2.Imperial Stout/ Left Hand Brewing Company " One black beer to brighten your day" Not sure about ABV, but Bob is guessing about 6
B: Very similar to first beer but rougher.
T: definitely hoppier
S: Thought it was drinkable, not to hoppy.

3. Porterhouse Brewing Company / Red Ale/ Ireland 6%, Irish Red ale.
B: Quite effervescent, didn't pour a big head but still bubbly, nice color, nice flavor, one of the better Irish Red's I ever had
S: I thought it was very aromatic, and mellow taste.
T: Tasted like most European beers I've had, not impressed, too bitter.

#4 Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan
B: Didn't think it had any pecan flavor at all, didn't think it was sweet, nice beer overall, surprised it tasted that good coming from Mississippi.
S: I really liked this one, sweet but not too sweet, I could taste the pecans, thought it was nutty, didn't taste much like beer.
T: Light flavor for a darker beer, with a little bit of honey taste. Very good, I liked it.

5. Rouge / Double Rouge Chocolate Stout / Rouge Ales / Newport, OR
B: I thought it was extremely delicious chocolate malty, bittersweet chocolate, it was VERY, VERY GOOD, 8.7% ABV
S: I thought that one was phenomenal, it was like a toasty super dark chocolate.
T: Bitter chocolate taste, but smooth at the same time.

6. Lagunitas / Imperial Stout / Launaitas Brewery / Petaluma, Ca.
B: ABV 10.14%, It's a classic imperial stout; pours a very nice head, beautiful lacing.
S: Has a sharp flavor and roasty overtones.
T: Extremely bitter, don't really like it, Bob will finish it.


Some views of a garden center tour in Salt Lake

5 Garden Center Owners (Truckee, Susanville, Carson City & Fallon)
1 Kellogg's Organics Representative to drive us and narrate (The Amazing Mike McLain)
6 Garden Centers to tour
1 trip to Sundance Resort
Snowfall, Rain, Sunshine, Mountains, Fall Color, Friendly People, Great Food
ahhh...............................
The original delivery truck at J & L Garden Center, the first stop on our tour.

Sun River Gardens AMAZING!!!! I wanted to take home little pieces of their garden center and add them to ours. Of course the early morning snow was beautiful also.

Melissa, Every Bloomin' Thing, Susanville and I, enjoying the colors of Sundance Resort.

Favorite quote on the wall at Sundance. The entire room was filled with art and quotes. Took me quite a while to get through it all.


The Gardening Gang - David & Julie Ruff, Greenhouse Garden Center, http://www.greenhousegardencenter.com/ Carson City, Mike McLain, our tour guide and every ones representative for Kelloggs Organics, Melissa - my traveling buddy from Every Bloomin' Thing in Susanville & Eric from Villager Nursery http://www.villagernursery.com/   in Truckee and me.

We managed to have two meals here!!!! Dinner and breakfast the next morning. Market Grill, Salt Lake City, DON'T MISS IT!

display out front of Sun River Gardens

the drive through the canyon on the way to Sundance

Sundance Resort
"Cactus & Tropicals", an absolutely amazing place. From the outside it looked like we were just pulling up to a plain greenhouse in the middle of a residential area, walk through the front door and you are standing in a tropical paradise. Very inspiring!

Hard to tell from this picture, but this is Cactus and Tropicals artistic director turning an old carousel horse into a "mushroom, bark, twigs, glitter and ???? " covered display piece for the holidays. Just beautiful!


Thank you Southwest Air!

Back in 2001, my friend Melissa brought back an antique watering can as her carry-on so that she could get it home from England. While this is not quite up to those standards, this still deserves mentioning. While in Salt Lake City this past week I found the PERFECT accompaniment to my vintage wicker set on the front porch. I HAD TO HAVE IT!! We asked if the garden center we were at shipped things, but unfortunately the answer was no, so .......since I had Melissa with me, it inspired me to just try and check it at Southwest. Made it home safe and sound, not even a tiny piece broken. Thank you Southwest Air!!! Oh, and the best part, IT SHIPPED FREE!!!
                 

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Garlic Planting with Bill Mewaldt

We started preparing the new garlic patch about three hours before the class was to begin. The ground that we chose out in the back display garden does not receive any water other than where the drips are around the trees and planting beds, and from rainfall - so it was very dry and compacted soil. We raked back the shredded cedar from the area, and then soaked it four times, about an inch deep. It took about 20-30 minutes for it to completely soak in each time. Then we fired up Rose's little rototiller and started loosing up the soil. This is where I should tell you to be very careful with these little tools. While they are quite effective in breaking up the soil, they are also pretty good at cutting right through an existing drip line.
We then added 1 bag of each:
 Gardener & Bloome Farmyard Blend
Gardener & Bloome Soil Building Compost
Gardener & Bloome Organic Vegetable Fertilizer
http://www.kellogggarden.com/

Rose firing up the Honda
Organic amendments, ready to be tilled into the soil

Garlic all layed out, ready to be planted

Bill placing the garlic into the soil. 2-3 inches

Our "Garlic Guru" Bill Mewaldt, owner of Mewaldt's Organic Farm here in Fallon. http://www.mewaldtorganics.com/
Yes, I really did cut through the drip line, but lucky for me, it had to be moved to cover the garlic bed anyway.

FREE Seeds

 Do you qualify for 25 FREE PACKETS OF SEEDS?
Every year the seed companies take back hundreds of packets of seeds that we have not sold and give us credit towards next years order. Last year we happened to ask them "Just what do you do with all these seeds that are returned ever year?" We were told that they were either 1. Sent to developing countries 2. Repackaged and sold again the following year (something I can not imagine! them doing, opening up all those little seed packets and re marketing them) 3. Destroy them.

So we asked very kindly if we could give them away to non-profit organizations, and they said YES!!! This year we thought we would put it out to more of the community that these packets are available, and since we reach over 4000 on our email list every week...........here goes!

** FREE ** 25 PACKETS OF SEEDS 
Available to any Non-profits in the Fallon/Fernley area. All you need to do is bring in some sort of ID or information on how your non-profit will use the seeds. We will let you sort through the hundreds of seed packets that are available. All we ask, please share this information with your friends that might also be able to use them. Seeds continue to keep their germination success for years, you can store these until next spring and then plant.

Think of the possibilities:
Teachers - class project

Senior Citizens - start a community garden at the Senior Center 

Churches - Want to start a growing area around your Sunday School program?

The seeds will be available until they run out! And a huge Thank you goes out to our two seed suppliers that have agreed to allow us to do this: Livingston Seeds and Botanical Interests.


today in my garden.....

Mabel keeps a very close eye on me from inside.
Early morning, the sun had just come up over the willow trees in the front yard, and wrapped in my soft cotton robe, with a steaming cup of coffee I ventured to my wicker chair on the front porch to plan out my day. It's been pretty busy in "SusanWorld" for the last couple weeks, what with a camping trip, nursery trade show in Reno and trees arriving for Fall at the nursery. I have missed my time in my garden. The weather could not have been more beautiful today with the sun shining bright, no wind and the birds playing in the new seed I set out last night in the side yard. First task at hand: pull up all the calendula that has overtaken, in a pretty way, the entire area under my roses out front. Shades of yellow and orange have been a beautiful ground cover all summer but it is time to mulch in the roses for winter and do some clean up. Anyone my age will certainly have memories of the many times you heard Carol King signing "I feel the Earth Move Under My Feet", (I know, it's in your head now!). As I was pulling up the calendula the earth was literally moving under my hands as the earthworms danced in the sun trying to get back underground. I know I have told you before, but the combo of worm castings and cocoa mulch works!! if you want to bring earthworms to your garden, and have them stay there and multiply.
peppers for tonights dinner


YES......I too, still have plants to get in the ground.

Next it was on to fertilize the lawn. Sure wish I had done this job before we had those marvelous rains of last week, but we were out camping in that storm. I was given a sample bag of Kellogg's Gardner & Bloome new lawn fertilizer so I could do a little test study on my own lawn. They have formulated this new organic to compliment the rest of their soil lines and fertilizers. I did the north side of my lawn with Dr. Earth and the south side with Gardner & Bloome. Will keep you posted if I notice major differences in the results. Both have living microbes and other wonderful organic components. Only wish: neither one puts the settings on the bag for the spreader.

The rest of the day, bike riding, resting and reading, gathering peppers and tomatoes that wil make up part of our dinner for tonight.....ahhhhhh Fall in Fallon. Gotta love it. See you in the big garden, Flower Tree, soon, Susan 


geraniums will be coming in soon


Cody C helped me plant this new multi branched birch in the side yard.


A shopping we will go....

Michelle and I spent the last two days in Reno shopping at the huge L&L Nursery Supply trade show. This is the best time for us to see all the latest products that hit the nursery world all in one space. We picked up some wonderful new information on organic pest control, new products that will make some of our gardening chores much easier, and we picked out some beautiful new fountains, hats, and SURPRISES, that you will just have to wait till Spring to see.
Michelle was intrigued with this new wire wrapped moss. It will make it easy to turn ANY container into a beautiful hanging basket.

Melissa and I looking through some of the new Dr. Earth products.
New hats for Spring Gardening!!!!!!

Rose was able to join us for a day in between her Arborist classes in Carson Ctiy. Her she is on the new bench she picked out for her own porch.
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