bangchik
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
pumpkins germinating
Just to be on the safe side, I sow four pumpkin seeds.
One seed rooted first, the rest are still working on it. I have to wait for the others to really come out before putting them into the Three Sisters garden to join sweet corns.
pumpkin germinating, root first
pumpkin germinating,
stem becoming green and leaves about to break open.
stem becoming green and leaves about to break open.
I do hope the eventual fruits
will look like those in the seed cover.
bangchik
bangchik
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Begonia-Induced Laryngitis at Edhat.com
“If I see one more #%@*?~ ________________ [insert name of overused, hackneyed, bored-to-death-with-it plant] in one more garden, I swear, I’ll SCREEEEAAAAMMMM!!!!.”
I’m a lying. It’s an empty threat. There are so many plants I’m stupefyingly weary of, I’d be struck mute by chronic laryngitis.
As I started to say two weeks ago (read I’m Sick of These Plants, Aug. 14, 2010), there are a lot of plants I’m truly sick of seeing in gardens, but what can I do? They’re ubiquitous because they’re workhorses. They show up and clock in every day, they don’t ask for a raise, and they do the job you hire them to do.
See all the plants and comments at Edhat.com
2010 Not So Beautiful Awards
Dateline: Dallas, TX, Wednesday, September 8, 2010
I'm sitting in room 511 at the Hyatt Regency, air conditioning set at a comfortable 72° while the remnants of Tropical Depression Hermine blow through. This is the week I attend the annual symposium for the Garden Writers Association, a professional organization dedicated to communicating the beauty of gardens in words, pictures, television and interpretive dance (good, you're paying attention).I'm paralyzingly freaked out about the hot, muggy weather ahead. I spent much of last year's symposium touring gardens in Raleigh, North Carolina, feeling like a wet sponge in a microwave oven. At the end of the conference they announced that this year we'd be in Dallas, where it would be "hot, hot, hot! But it's a dry heat." Sure, and armadillo road kill tastes like truffles.
I tell myself that I'm just delaying the inevitable, but for now I have a good excuse for not leaving this vegetable crisper of a room: Ed needs this article by noon, tomorrow.
Why Now?
September is when Santa Barbara Beautiful gives out their annual awards for exemplary architecture, landscaping, public art and signs. Since 2008, I've been giving out my own Santa Barbara Not-So-Beautiful Awards to help balance the ledger. Aside from the delirious endorphin rush I get from taking sarcastic shots at the f'ugliness that some people pass off as gardening, I also seek to enlighten readers to a better, smarter path that leads to more sustainable landscaping.
Category I: The Sisyphus Award
He's the mythological dude who spent his entire life (including federal holidays when lots of people get three day weekends) pushing a big muthuh of a boulder up Mount Ararat, only to have it roll back to the bottom, ad nauseum.
That's what's going on in this Chapala Street parkway strip near my house. Like clockwork, the plant janitor teaches the plants who's the boss, after which the lantana flips him the single digit salute and grows back to its intended size.
On the bright side, someone is getting a paycheck and putting shoes on their kid's feetsies for this perpetual dance. On the dark side, it looks really stupid. If you want to grow lantana (or any other woody ground cover that grows four feet across) in a narrow planter, space them four feet apart and at least two feet from the edges. They'll actually end up looking like plants and you won't be in a perpetual, fruitless struggle.
It gets better, a lot better and a lot weirder, too. Right this way...
Calling On The Capitol - DC Revisited
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but something's up. Why would those tricky devils at the Garden Writers Association derive so much pleasure from watching me perspire?
What a great organization. Not only was I welcomed with open arms by the members and given the tools to launch my newfound career as a "real" writer, but they even provided a climate suitable for a banana slug like me.
Last year, it all changed - they had lured me in, then sprung the trap. My second GWA symposium was in Raleigh, North Carolina. The weather was gummy -- that's "muggy" spelled inside out. It wasn't all bad. There were lots of great people and great educational sessions, but then we'd get on a bus, tour a garden and I'd be reduced to a whimpering puddle of sweat.
But there was lots of good stuff going on in DC, too.... click and read on:
Scotts-MiracleGro Stole My Ammo!
As you know, I'm not a big fan of water-sucking, fossil fuel-dependent, stream and lake-polluting lawns. My design practice is in Southern California where growing lush carpets of turf is as natural as Trump's comb-over. My distaste for strictly decorative lawns is one reason I'm a founding member of LawnReform.org, a nationwide group dedicated to silencing the siren song of the perfect lawn.
Eggs, taters, sausage and downright drinkable coffee were served, followed by a pitch from Jan Valentic, Sustainability Officer for Scotts. "Great," I thought, anticipating fuel to top off my next Molotov cocktail rant, "another corporate PowerPoint ‘greenwashing' indoctrination."
More at Fine Gardening...
Jury Duty: My Horticultural Inspiration
Dateline: September 21, 2010; Santa Barbara County Courthouse - Jury Assembly Room
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Postal Service delivered an all-too-familiar, neatly folded brown and beige mailer. JURY SUMMONS. I get them every year; I'm special that way.
This year? Not so much. In my post-layoff, Billy v2.0 life, I pretty much spend all my waking hours working, networking and engaging in shameless self-promotion.
If I'm not writing for Edhat, Fine Gardening Magazine, 805 Living, or putting the final edits on my Trader Joe's shopping list, I'm prepping for and teaching City College and adult education class, creating landscape designs for clients, shooting a TV show, or banging on my drums with King Bee. (I have people who eat and sleep for me.) So the prospect of eight days of testimony and who knows how many days of deliberation for an assault, battery and lewd conduct in an adult bookstore trial, for $15 a day plus mileage was about as attractive as the south end of a northbound peccary
The jury selection routine proceeded throughout the day without hearing my name. Though I tried paying attention to the interview questions thrown at the other prospective jurors, I was preoccupied thinking about my Thursday noon deadline for Edhat. What if I'm selected? What could I write about off the top of my head, in the scant two evenings I might have at my disposal?
Day one was almost over when I heard "William Goodnick." Taking my seat and grabbing the microphone, I was straight up with the Honorable Judge Ochoa. Name, rank, serial number, occupation, etc.
Lovely pics and more words at Edhat.com
The story of a vegetable bed.
First lets see what was there before. It was the very site of our first papaya, which has grown so tall almost to the roof of our double storey semi detached bungalow. We had enjoyed a lot of sweet red slices of papaya over many months. At the end the plant had died due to termite attacks.
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| papaya was the first plant to grow |
I quickly filled up the void with sunflowers which grew into little forest. That too has gone with their bright yellow flowers.
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| then replaced by sunflowers |
When we first transplanted the three seedlings of clitoria ternatea, sunflowers were still around, still flowering. Now the whole bed is for clitoria.
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| Clitoria ternatea, the latest. |
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| clitoria already at the top of trellis |
The three seedlings are at different stages:
One, the most vigorous plant has completed its winding to the top of trellis. The shoot would probably be wondering why it has to go horizontal now.
The second clitoria has different story. It was not as energetic as the first one, trailing behind. It has completed two rounds of winding around the slanting bamboo stake before a strong gusts of wind loosened the grip and the whole tiny stem was dangling, dancing in the air with nothing to grab. I offered assistance by tying it back to the stake. Now the plant is making a new winding process. If we look closely we can see the missing loop due to wind.
The third one was a late comer, It germinated weeks after the first two. In fact I was about to give up and empty the tiny pot that I notice a tiny shoot appearing. With me now is three clitoria ternatea at 3 different stage of growth even though, there were sown at the same time and seeds coming from the same place. I am expecting a pretty blue flower anytime now.
bangchik
The whiteness of white
chive flower, earlier
chive flower, 2 days ago
chive flower today
white rain lily
white rain lily
white periwinkle
close-up of white periwinkle
Serene would probably be the best word to describe the inner beauty of white.
Tranquility.
bangchik
Serene would probably be the best word to describe the inner beauty of white.
Tranquility.
bangchik
a glimpse at container gardening
Three crude plastic container housing kale
at varying stage of growth
at varying stage of growth
a close-up of kale in
plastic containers
I can offer three benefits of container gardening.
bangchik
plastic containers
I can offer three benefits of container gardening.
Firstly,
its flexibility, a chance to get away from the traditional vegetable bed on the ground. Containers can come in various sizes, small and big. Some can be hanged too, and some can be placed indoor. We can do experiment with plants easier, in fact container gardening offers opportunity to study and observe closely. Arranging them to our liking is easy. We can redo and redo, to suit the age of plants, blooming time etc. In my case, I can even try cooking oil plastic container, to gear up the recycling drive. Secondly,
containers offer mobility. We can just shift them around to our needs, space available, the right amount of light exposure. As the seasons change, we can easily do re-potting or replanting to brighten up the place.Lastly
the control on pest problem is very beneficial. Most pests will not venture close to the house. Pests treat open space of the garden and lawn as their playground. Putting containers away from pests playing field will increase the chance of plants to survive pest-free.bangchik
I thought Clitoria Ternatea is going to be blue
top of the trellis
the winding clitoria ternatea
clitoria ternatea, the flower bud
clitoria ternatea, the flower bud
I am expecting it to be blue, but it turns out to be white instead. There are three plants growing, and this flower comes from the most energetic plant. I really have to wait for the other two to bear flowers, if it is going to be white or blue. The hunch is the flowers will be white too. Therefore to include blue in the garden, I have to ask Rosiah my sister to spare some seeds.
bangchik
bangchik
