Spring Sprung . . . then got hijacked

Remember folks - it's only March. That's three months into the new year and I've already gotten sunburned twice. My spring plants could not be more confused. About a month ago there was unseasonal hard freezes and a bit of snow, now I'm looking at the second week in a row of temperatures topping 80. I have bok choy and spinach with barely a few leaves bolting. Bolting. That means they're going to seed already. My lettuce is way to small to test for bitterness, but if it doesn't cool down I can bet on inedible leaves. My peas are climbing fast, but that's not a warm weather plant either. Really, I'm bracing myself for no spring crop at all. I just keep telling myself how grateful I am that I'm not a farmer, that my livelihood isn't based on this, that it's more a hobby. Then I stop cold and realize, wait, but I eat the food of farmers. I can't just dismiss whacky weather like that. We all depend on food, you know, to survive. Oh 70 degrees, could you just come back for a little while? Even three weeks would help.

I've still been busy in the garden though, getting coated with pollen as the visible yellow cloud blows up and down my pine tree lined street. I found another tire and a random container on the side of the road, so now I have TWO purple planters! 

Also, I had this broken worm bin since last fall and decided yesterday to salvage the good trays for flower pots. Besides, I was reading an herb cookbook and saw all these beautiful flowers in salads and promptly went to Stone Brothers to get some Johnny-jump-ups. Flowers to eat - the best of both worlds, I say.

I've started other flowers in egg cartons and the shaded part of my garden shrinks everyday. Now if things could just cool off enough to let everything grow!!

Last thing, I made a video yesterday to enter Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment's "Gotcha" Green Living contest. It had to be a 30 second video of you or someone else being "caught" in the act of sustainable something. So I made this  Check it out and let me know what you think. I hope I'm one of the winners . . . $500 would be nice!

Tire Planter

The weather yesterday was delicious. A perfect Sunday afternoon to be outside in the garden. The sun is slowly making its way back around the north side of my town house, and because my pea shoots were getting just high enough to climb, I went ahead and moved all the planters to the front. The configuration is nice and tidy for now, but as plants grow and bush out, my garden footprint will bulge.

What I really had fun with, though, was converting an old tire into a planter - almost for free. Last fall, I picked up a tire from the side of the road. Yesterday, while arranging my containers, I remembered I had it. Rolled it around, tried to slosh out a winter's worth of leaves and water, and decided to paint it. I had no paint, so I went over to the Scrap Exchange. [Side note for those of you who may not know this, or have yet to check out the new location: the Scrap Exchange is one of the coolest places in Durham. Located in a huge new space over by Golden Belt, the re-use center is my go-to spot for fabric, paper, containers, plastic, random garage-sale-like items, and all sorts of odds and ends. If you live near here, you should go, often.] I found a sample jar of blue-grey paint for 25 cents. Loosened the ground where I wanted the planter, wiped down the tire quickly, and painted it with a brush I already had.

It looked better than expected when I was done. Filled it with dirt and planted some bok choy. Now it's one of my favorite planters, and I did it for a quarter. I need at least one more, because I still have paint and they're the perfect size for squash plants. Matching tire planters, one squash, one zucchini, got to make it happen. So, any of you locals who happen to see a free tire and do not need it yourself- LET ME KNOW. But really, how could you resist making this yourself?

More buttons, with a little paper mixed in

My focus at the desk this week has been nil. Checking my spring seedlings only takes 10 minutes and I haven't had to water in days. Even after exercise, chores around the house, and seeing some of my kids, I've had a hefty chunk of time I "should" have been writing but knew nothing was going to come. And again, the lack of focus makes working through a narrative slump even harder. So what to do? Make more things with buttons (okay, so I got a little obsessed).

First off, I made a different kind of button tree:

I used sturdy scrapbook paper, sketched the shape lightly in pencil, and started gluing. Put it in an open frame and the random width and texture of the buttons create a subtle 3-D effect in a mostly 2-D picture. I've seen this technique used for button letters on fabric, hearts, and other shapes.

Another day, while indulging in one of my guilty pleasure t.v. shows (my most recent obsession is Xena, Warrior Princess, which I've never seen before), I made pastel flowers in honor of Spring:

Similar technique as the felt flowers and button wire tree of the previous post, it's as simply as stacking buttons, threading wire, and twisting.

To top everything off, I also made these paper birds (last weekend, I found fantastic scrapbook paper stacks on sale): 

By far the fastest craft I've ever made - and I think they look so cute! Spoiler alert - friends and family may very well be seeing this later as gifts. Cut out tear drop shapes and use a pen to draw the sparse details. I saw the idea here: http://www.creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com/2010/07/annie-inspiration-5-simple-birdies.html

As always, thanks for checking in. My goal after all this handmade crafting is to get some brain babies on paper. There's plenty mulling, just not much coming out. I have a few great kids to see in the next couple days, however, and time pretending, getting on different age levels, and talking about life with a teenager often gets me in a jazzed, creative space. Go out and make something - or grow something. Do something creative. It's good for you!

Buttons!

They've been around a while, holding stuff together in vital areas. Buttons have moved from humble beginnings hundreds of years ago, to the symbol of power and oppulence, and back again. Who doesn't have a jar or bag of random buttons somewhere in their house? Wood, sea shell, plastic, metal, ceramic. Every color and size, I even have some weird chicken ones. My collection brings together my grandmother's, K's mother's, and my own found, thrifted, and purchased. Utilitarian, whimsical, and even scary (as in Coraline's button eyes for the Other Mother and Father), I decided to organize my stash and make something. I found this website as endless inspiration: http://pinterest.com/spilltojill/so-many-things-to-do-with-buttons/

Seeds Indoors- the experiment

Until this year, I've shied away from starting seeds indoors. In theory, I always knew it was the better option simply on cost. One basil plant at the garden store is $3.95. The farmer's market is a little better, with a 4-pack for that price. A packet of basil seeds, however, with a couple hundred potential plants in it, is about 2 bucks. Why, you may ask, not just plant the seeds directly outdoors? Totally an option, unless you're impatient for the taste of summer as I (and most gardeners I know) always am come April. Or, the plant in question needs more growing time than the area's season allows (like tomatoes and peppers). Putting plants, rather than seeds, in the dirt after the last frost can cut one to two months off waiting time to start harvesting.

If you google indoor seed starting, though, it's intimidating. Techniques (and price) range from milk and egg cartons to multi-hundred dollar systems of movable shelves, special eco-domes, and automatically timed sunlamps. Pile onto that a lack of space, two curious cats, and sun that only comes in the south windows, and my decision seemed easy. Until this year. The direction my garden is taking, the number of high priced plants I want, and my general try it and see attitude made me want to experiment.

I decided to use what I had and go cheap and simple, which included an egg carton, some small planters from previous years, and cups made out of newspaper.

Newspaper works well for plants that don't like their roots disturbed, like cucumbers, but also for being free. Tear a piece of newspaper in half and wrap it around a can, leaving about an inch off the end. Fold down the bottom, fill it with potting soil, and place a bunch in a container that will hold water. Because it's paper, you'll need to water from the bottom up by pouring directly into the container. Then, in 6-8 weeks, you plant the whole thing, paper and all.

For the milk carton (which has to be styrofoam because cardboard will disintegrate), poke holes in the bottom of each section and cut the top away to use as a drip tray. I have heard various levels of success with this, so I'm growing cilantro and parsley that I don't care as much about. Plan what seeds go where and get to planting.

I only have a few spots to put all these future seedlings, so we'll be coexisting for a while. 

That is if they ever make it to plants with the likes of this one: 

Seedling updates to come in a month or so!