Spring Garden Grows!
May 3, 2012 at 8:21 pm | Posted in gardening, homeownership, life, spring, vegetable, Washington | Leave a commentTags: beets, carrots, garden washington dc, limited sun, raised garden bed, spinach, spring garden, swiss chard
Collards, Swiss chard, beets, spinach, arugula and lettuce
This is how we dooz it.
Carrots (hard to see) and weeds.
Tomatoes — the red is an early bloomer “magenta” variety.
Peas are flowering and climbing!
It’s been about 50 days and like clockwork, the greens have filled in the raised bed. Arugula is such a quick crop that it is already beginning to bolt. Time to eat them up to make room for the tomatoes, beans, peppers and things to go in the bed next. The carrots are such an experiment this year. I eat carrots just about everyday and would love if they actually grow with my limited sunlight. I’ll report back soon!
Just yesterday the garden looked like this.
Spring Garden 2012
March 12, 2012 at 1:51 pm | Posted in gardening | 1 CommentTags: dc, direct sow, gardening in washington, greenhouse, raised garden bed, spring garden 2012
Let the gardening begin!
If there was a medal for the person who could sow seeds the fastest, I think I’d win it. As soon as Jack went down for a nap, I whipped out my seeds, soil and trays, and quickly put together three batches of tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, pumpkin, squash, and a ton of herbs. I had an efficient system: fill all cups with dirt, divvy out how many plants of each I wanted, write labels and place in cups, add seeds to each and sprinkle dirt on top, and finally — take a picture. :)
Water and move trays to my new (gently used) greenhouse! Yippee! I’m stepping it up this year with a greenhouse. Something that I just learned is when using a greenhouse, you cannot forget to unzip the door to allow air in during the day. When the sun is beating down, even on a 50 degree afternoon, it can get up to 100+ degrees in there and scorch your plants (which would be a bummer). If the evenings are still getting below freezing, you probably want to bring in your plants for protection.
A couple weekends ago, Daryle and my step-dad Steve took the task of moving the raised garden bed from the shady spot it was originally built, to closer to my house, which is the sunniest part of the yard. The tree’s canopy really does shade a lot, but I think veggies will do better its new spot. I’m so thankful to Daryle and Steve for shoveling all of the dirt and unscrewing the bed and bringing it down. It was a pretty big job and thought it would never happen. So now I’m set up for success! I already direct sowed carrots — which I’ve never grown before and beets; and my greens: collards, spinach, arugula, swiss chard, red and green lettuce. I’m looking forward to documenting this as well as making some homegrown, organic baby food!
Gardens and (modern) glass Greenhouses
November 30, 2011 at 8:21 am | Posted in design, gardening, modernism, photography, vegetable | 1 CommentTags: auckland, greenhouse, moden greenhouse, new zealand, photographs, the selby
Just a few of my favorite things — The Selby photographs an Auckland, NZ couple with their modern glass greenhouse. Lovely, aren’t they? Words cannot describe how much I would adore having a greenhouse in my backyard. I could garden in the winter time! Wouldn’t that be the best? See more from the photo shoot here.
Modern and beautiful glass ornaments with succulents
November 18, 2011 at 8:28 am | Posted in $hit I want, design, gardening, modernism | 3 CommentsTags: air plant, flora grubb, glass ornament, modern, ornament, succulent
Psst, I’ve actually begun some Christmas shopping already. Usually I am so behind but with this little one on the way — right around Christmas, I want to be ready regardless if I’m at home with family or at the hospital. Yikes! I’m falling head over heels for these gorgeous glass canisters with air plants, tiny mosses, lichens, and other trimmings. They don’t even have to be used an ornament as they’d grace any area with their simplistic beauty.
They’re available at Flora Grub. And if you’re kicking yourself for not living in San Francisco — Flora Grubb as a web shop too! Wa-la.
Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2011 at 1:05 pm | Posted in diy, gardening, life, outsider art, Washington | Leave a commentTags: greenbelt pumpkin walk, pumpkin walk, sustainably grown pumpkin
Wishing you a super fun Halloween!
A friend of mine every year organizes a “Pumpkin Walk” in Greenbelt, MD — a cool little co-op town with tons of artisans and musicians right outside of DC. Throughout the year, the community sustainably grows their own pumpkins in a community garden; and the night before the walk, everyone gets together and carves a pumpkin. Then the pumpkins are set up with candles on a nearby trail in an area forest. The neighbors and friends come to the forest at dusk to walk along the trail to view all the glowing pumpkins. The walk is only one night a year. It’s a magical experience seeing pumpkin after pumpkin smiling or growling at you. I hope to make this a tradition. I bet this little one will love it too!
More info: Greenbelt Pumpkin Walk
Dream mid-century home in Portland
September 25, 2011 at 6:43 pm | Posted in dreams, gardening, homeownership, life, One of the most amazing things I've ever seen, travel | 1 CommentTags: house for sale, midcentury, portland
I’ve been in DC for eight years now and easily get wanderlust about a lot of places that I travel to. My poor husband has to listen to me go on and on about how much better the [fill in the blank] town is than DC and how it would be so perfect to live there. But as I mentioned before, Portland was the one place that we both were awestruck by. So what do I do? I am a whiz at researching cost of living, crime statistics, public schools, and even local creative jobs. I’ll go as far as looking up houses for sale in various neighborhoods. You could say it’s a hobby. :) I was really excited to find a website entirely dedicated to mid-century real-estate in Portland. It couldn’t be more perfectly our taste! Gah! And wow, what do ya know, this house pops up. The most dreamy, glass house with backyard zen garden and amazing views—just six miles outside the downtown area. I’ll take it!
I thought I had all of the Portland posts out of my system, but had to include just one more. I hope I never have Portland out of my system. With love.
Daytime in Portland – I’m seriously moving here
September 14, 2011 at 10:49 am | Posted in architecture, classic, design, gardening, photography, travel | 1 CommentTags: fuel injection logo, hand churned ice cream, marion barry, marionberry, mississippi avenue, oregon, pistils nursery, portland, psu farmers market, public domain coffee, vintage car show portland
We started off the day with coffee and a muffin at a sleek and modern coffee shop called Public Domain.
Wow, check out Portland’s “subway” system—more like a monorail.
We found the most amazing farmers market at Portland State University. I have never seen a market so big. All of the sellers were super friendly encouraging passersby to try a sample.
We discovered a berry called a marionberry. What?!?! That’s the same name as DC’s infamous, crack smoking mayor, Marion Barry! It turns out a marionberry is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry and it tastes so sweet.
This guy was rocking out. I’m not sure what that horn/pipe thing is called, but he had a few of the instrument, each a different size and tone.
Spectacular, aren’t they?
I noticed many of the shoppers had their very own unique basket. I’ve seen these baskets in Sunset magazine and Organic Gardening magazine’s shopping guide. It certainly adds to the quantness of shopping at the market.
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From the market, we stumbled upon a vintage, custom-made car show.
That’s my hot ride.
The Fuel Injection logo never gets old.
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My very favorite part of Portland was the Mississippi Avenue area. A street packed with the greatest little microbrew bars, a hand churned ice cream shop, a few vintage stores, a few more knickknack/fantastic gift stores, one of the city’s best vinyl shops, an amazing architectural salvage store, a handmade modern furniture store, and so much more.
This was by far the best little garden/nursery I’ve ever been in. It is called Pistils Nursery and it’s packed with the most beautiful terrariums, interesting succulents and indoor plants.
I loved this hanging plant inside a wire bowl.
The backyard of the nursery housed loads of sustainably grown plants and vegatables for sale.
And chickens of course.
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We just could not get enough of Portland. Everyone was super friendly, and it was interesting to be in an environment that was so dedicated to being eco-friendly. That mindset is deeply engrained in everyone. You can’t buy something without it being placed in a compostable bag. We bought lemonade from a little girl at a lemonade stand who served us the refreshing drink in a compostable cup, complete with farmers market blueberries! There are recycling trash bins all over the city. Why can’t DC adapt that attitude? It really made us want to live differently. We loved the sense of community and the respect for art and design. Every single restaurant and shop had a unique style, each with the best signage. There were tons of vegetable gardens—even in people’s front yards. I could so be that person. I noticed that most people drive a Prius, or a really old little tiny car, or a VW bus. There is respect for preservation and interest in being true to yourself rather than keeping up with the Joneses. —Which is sometimes hard to get away from here on the east.
Backyard garden: Lots of greens
April 26, 2011 at 10:25 am | Posted in gardening | 1 CommentTags: arugula, backyard gardening, container gardening, fresh edible greens, kale, red lettuce, salad greens, spinach
This is the first year I’ve grown kale. It is a hardy plant that will thrive through the summer. I love the blue-ish green leaves. Kale tastes yummy sautéed with olive oil and a little balsamic vinaigrette. At least I think so. :)
In March I doused fresh soil with edible greens seeds—partly out of laziness because the seeds are just so small. Here we are at the end of April and everything is growing—a little too close together. I pulled several young plants to give their brothers some room.
Arugula. This crop is flourishing. It is the easiest green to grow. I literally threw seeds on the soil and they sprouted in a few days. Eating arugula makes me feel like I’m at a fancy restaurant.
Mixed red and green lettuce.
The ole nightly standby—spinach.
Above: Don’t judge me, haha. I have a giant mirror as a long ornament in my backyard. It is SO big and soooo heavy that it has sat here for um, a little while. And now that I have openly admitted this, maybe it will encourage Daryle and me to move it up the hill to the ally. I’m not looking forward to that day. …
Raised bed. Hi.
The ash tree is filling in.
The neighbor’s cat, Ruby. She’s so cute and makes my cats jealous.
Baby greens pulled fresh from the garden. We enjoyed a fresh salad along with our steak and sautéed mushroom dinner last night.
This week is going to be very warm—almost hot. The days are so much longer and I love coming home from work and sitting in my backyard unwinding. Until then…
Washington, DC Cherry Blossoms 2011
March 27, 2011 at 6:01 pm | Posted in DC, gardening, life, spring, Washington | Leave a comment
Every year I make an effort to go to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry trees in bloom. The parking can be tough, but once you’re there, it’s such a pleasant way to spend the afternoon holding hands, people watching and lusting after super cute dogs. (I saw more than a few.) The mood is tender and sweet; and everyone smiles as they meander about because at this very moment, there are few places more beautiful. Washington, DC may not be the hippest place to be, but springs here are hands down the best with a bounty of staggered blossoms that emerge week by week through the summer. The air is still chilly, but the sky is true blue which promises warmth that is just around the corner.
Spring scenes from my desk
March 22, 2011 at 4:07 pm | Posted in contemporary art, gardening, life | Leave a commentTags: ben baker, daniel craig, gq magazine, hokusai, macy's day parade, yoshitomo nara
City gardeners were clipping off daffodil stems in preparation for the tulips that will soon bloom. My sweet colleague, Justin scooped up the poor yellow ladies and distributed them throughout the office. Lucky for me, there was an empty Genevieve gin bottle laying around (not mine, haha) and it makes a lovely vase for the little flower to stand.
Just for fun, the pictures taped to my wall are (clockwise):
1. Dreamy Daniel Craig on the cover of GQ from December 2007
2. A pretty print by Hokusai
3. Print by always favorite Yoshitomo Nara.
4. A photograph from the Macy’s Day Parade by seriously awesome (and also dreamy) photographer, Ben Baker
Sunshine+Design- Five Months Old Today! May 23, 2012Jack Mack, My little love, you’ve had a busy month growing and exploring. You are changing so fast, whenever we are out and about people comment how big you are, but I always explain to them that you are actually right around the 50th percentile — not too big and not too small. I think [...]Sunshine Design
- Five Months Old Today! May 23, 2012
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