Just One More...

 

This apartment is lame. Not because it's 1970's construction, rather due to the fact that the "deck" above this lower patio has one glaring flaw...

 

 

....it has no solid floor! So if the lower tenant wants to sit outside, well, it's just not cool if the upstairs tenant is outdoors also. (Not to mention the particulate matter/"stranger dirt" that rains down always.) What to do?

 

I found the solution at The LA Shop ! They have a huge variety of items for outdoor living, pets, and just about anything else you can think of - and I found this great market umbrella. Very sturdy, and large enough to stop the gross "rain of terror". The summer patio enjoyment is saved!

Disclaimer: The LA Shop gave me this complimentary umbrella in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Garden Gloves Worth Trying

I first became aware of these gloves when I read a post where a favorite blogger, Mr. Brown Thumb, had reviewed them. I really wanted to try a pair, so I contacted Alice Strong at Garden Basket and proposed reviewing their gloves here in exchange for a complimentary pair. May I present the Atlas Glove! These folks at Strong Marketing have several nifty products, including Seed Ballz (I've been wanting to make some of these myself, but theirs look to be done very well!)

The gloves are soft and stretchy....

....and I found them terrific for weeding. Great dexterity and sensation, and the rubberized tips really help me grip the weeds.

I could even handle seeds!

The pair I wore are a size medium, which I usually wear in women's garden gloves. These were just a tiny bit loose on me, so small would have been better. But for performance in the garden at a great price, the Atlas Glove is a perfect fit!

Disclaimer: Strong Marketing gave me these complimentary gloves in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Gardening Giveaway!

We have a winner!!! Congratulations to Monica the Garden Fairie! Thank you to everyone who entered :)



As a follow-up to my post about Garden Safe products, they are generously sponsoring a random drawing to win a nifty prize package! Of course an assortment of products are part of the prize...
...including:

· Fruit & Vegetable Insect Killer

· Rose & Flower Insect Killer

· Houseplant & Garden Insect Killer

· Multi-Purpose Garden Insect Killer

· Insecticidal Soap Insect Killer

· Fungicide3

They are also including this garden tote bag with tools, including a weeding fork, sprayer, hand rake, trowel, transplanter, and clipper. And that's not all!



You also win a $20 gift card to Lowe’s! For a chance to win all that swag, just enter your info in the widget below. Good luck! (Contest ends July 2nd, 2010 and open to residents of USA and Canada)

Tools for Garden Defense

I was contacted awhile back by a representative of Garden Safe brand products to see if I might be interested in trying their products for free in exchange for a review. I was very hesitant at first, because I am genuinely fond of the bugs around here, and I don't want to use chemicals at all. But after reading the details about these products, I relented. They claim to be safe and organic, derived from plant-based ingredients. I have used other brands of insecticidal soap, and found it to be generally safe and effective...

.....but my primary interest currently is in these two products. I have a dwarf sage with powdery mildew issues, and as for the slugs....

...you wouldn't think I have any when you look at these hostas! However....

....this is another story! I'd added new mulch this spring, and it supplied slug hideouts! Poor 'Guacamole' here has them bad, eating away the stems too!

Yikes! Looks like swiss cheese! My friend Rose has used their Rose & Flower Insect Killer, because her roses were being eaten to bits. Thanks to Garden Safe, Rose's roses are feeling rosey! :)

(Okay, that was pretty corny. But Rose's roses are looking great since she used the stuff.)

Disclaimer: Garden Safe gave me these complimentary products in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Mystery Product Revealed!

The product I selected from the CSN Stores is.... Aw yea! This is exciting for me, as I have never used one of these cold frames but always wanted to try one. I won't put it together just yet, I need to select and clear a spot. But I'm hoping that this fall, with a little luck, I can have some greens or carrots or whatever you can enjoy during cold weather using one of these things. They shipped it super fast, too! Thank you CSN Stores!!

Disclaimer: CSN Stores gave me this complimentary item in exchange for a review of their stores. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Product Reviews: Beauty and Function

Check out the awesome goodies I get to try out! I was contacted by Allsop Home Garden products to review some of the items they offer, and since I just love to try new things...here they are! First we have "Pot Pads" to maintain air circulation under outdoor planters. They prevent damage to decks and patios, and come in four different colors! This will really protect my deck, since last year's veggie pots took a toll.

Next is a beautiful solar light called "Firefly". It came with good instructions and excellent packaging...

....with its' own solar collector on the pole (near the ground to be less noticeable).

Looks cute already...

....this is the "Calla Lily" topper....

....it's made of glass with this neat crackled pattern on the outside....

....even more beautiful after dark!

Thank you Allsop!

Disclaimer: Allsop Home Garden gave me these complimentary items in exchange for a review. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Mystery Review Product Revealed!

I broke the news the other day that I would be reviewing a complementary item from CSN Stores , and I got word that it shipped on February 26th. March 2nd it arrived! Pretty speedy shipping, and Gizmo is obviously excited for the big reveal... ...it's an Earth Box! Have you ever tried one of these? According to their website: "The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers and proven in the lab and on the farm. Our maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden- with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort." I'd seen these advertised and always wanted to try one, but they're fairly pricey (like $50!) so I never bought one. Thank you CSN Stores!!

Got it unpacked, comes with a bunch of accessories-even wheels!

Not too sure how I feel about this "plant food", since I prefer amending my soil over granular products. Guess I'll behave myself this first year and follow the instructions :)

Gizmo inspects the planter, pretty large considering he's 23" long (not including his tail). Interior planter dimensions are 27 1/2" long, 12" wide, and 8" deep....I should be able to grow a bunch of veggies in here!

Good clear instructions too...now I just need some warm weather....soon!
Meanwhile, Gizmo has selected his favorite item in this shipment =^^=
Wow, now I'm really anxious for this growing season!

Disclaimer: CSN Stores gave me this complimentary item in exchange for a review of their stores. The opinions expressed here are honest and all my own.

Product Review

Garden blogging is fun, and very educational for me personally. Many bloggers have advertisements on their blogs to earn extra money as well. However, I've always felt that there are too many ads on the web already, so I keep them off my blog. Recently I got a welcome and unexpected perk from a vendor-free merchandise! The nice folks at Forte Promo sent me some custom imprintable, garden-related items to review and give feedback. Score! Here thay are, packed very well for the trip......this is a BPA-free sport bottle , and I love the color! Check out the lid! I like the metal ring that locks it shut...

...and when you want a sip, just press the button...

...presto! There's a ring to hang it from your belt or backpack too. I have used this daily for a couple months now, and I'm finding it to be very durable. Plus I'm feeling very "green" to be off the bottled water.

They also sent me this very heavy-duty tape measure! It has inches, metric, and a locking slider to keep it where you want it. (Of course it auto-retracts too, which I always found entertaining, much to my father's chagrin! ;-)

What's this?! It's a "Gizmo-approved" garden stool of course!

It has a carrying handle, pockets to hold your tools, and a vinyl-lined bag underneath for even more supplies! (The bag part snaps off, too.) The stool is a nice working height, folds for easy storage, and is rated to hold up to 200 lbs.!

Friends, I'm here to say that I personally, ahem, tested this weight limit, and the stool came through with flying colors! ;-)

So if you're having an event and desire some custom-printed swag, the folks at Forte Promo have the quality stuff you need at reasonable prices! In fact, these items would be great for the next Garden Bloggers meet-up! Hint, hint! :)

Summer happenings...flowers are blooming all over the place! We've had plenty of rain, so the show is excellent right now. This peony is new from last fall, 'Green Halo' from Song Sparrow Nursery , and I like it/don't like it. I mean, I like the green and white, and the general flower form, but I don't like the fact that in the catalog, it appeared to be a "bomb-type" white bloom with a green skirt. I emailed them, and the reply was that it will take a little time for the peony to display "fully mature" type flowers, and the picture in the catalog was of an incompletely opened bloom. So it's not going to be a big rounded bloom...but I wanted that, and I don't think it's fair to use a picture of an incompletely opened flower. Oh well, it's still pretty cool.......another mailorder plant, Echinacea 'Green Envy' from Spring Hill Nursery . Although I've had some mixed results from these folks in the past, I had a credit to use and this plant is vigorous and decent-sized. Cool!

Showy ladyslipper always starts with this fuzzy, egg-shaped bud........opening to the pretty pink slipper...
....bigger flower (and plant) this year. This was only purchased fall of 2006, and it bloomed the very next year. I bought it from a nursery called Raising Rarities , and being a blooming-size specimen, it was not cheap ($45).
But just look how pretty she is!! Now this tiny plant to the left is also a ladyslipper, the all-white showy ladyslipper. It was purchased just this spring as a tiny baby called a "pip"....
...and this one is another pip, a Kentucky ladyslipper orchid. Both of these infants are from Shooting Star Nursery , and as babies they were much less expensive. (Less than $20 each.) You can certainly imagine that blooms will not be forthcoming on these two for at least 3 years, so I guess it just depends how patient and/or frugal you are. Personally, I was too cheap to spend for the mature specimens of these two, since I already have the showy...
....and the yellow, seen here making seeds. But for instant gratification, I'd go with Raising Rarities, because they deliver! (And frankly, plenty of other nurseries charge closer to $100 for mature specimens.) Heh, the only reason I was ever brave enough to try and grow any of these was because the yellow grew and bloomed for me so well, after I purchased it for only $6 from Mellinger's in 2003, a mailorder nursery no longer in business. It may have even been wild-collected for that price, but I didn't know about such things back then, I just wanted to try and grow one because they are native up here. And it did take 3 years to grow to bloom size, even not emerging at all one year.

Blooms on my 'Luscious' snowy woolrush, a very cute little grass with fuzzy hairs on the leaves, and only about 5" tall......pretty iris mom gave me...

....annual New Guinea impatiens... ....I like the foliage and flowers both!
Japanese painted fern, overwinters in this aluminum pot every year. That's one tough cookie!
Hosta 'Christmas Tree', and this year my hostas are happily safe from the deer because of my diligent spraying program with Liquid Fence . This product works great against deer and rabbits, but there's one pest who's undaunted...

...slugs! Ack!! Creep!! This one got a toss into the river for fish food!The damage is definately noticeable...
....why the straight line? Buffet-style? Oh well, I won't get too riled up if it doesn't get any worse, but I may just have to break out the beer traps. (Seems like a waste of good beer, though...unless I pick up some "Red White and Blue" beer or something. It's like $2 a case! ;-)
The other day while visiting my son in Green Bay, he told me to pull into this church parking lot, and this is what we saw....
....this plant is enormous! I think it's a colocasia, but I've never seen one so huge! Very cool.
Here's my confused hellebore, blooming at the wrong time per the catalogs...
...but apparently the right time for him. Fine with me, buddy!
We've had plenty of rain lately, so I get to see lots of these.......making the river current wicked fast!

My mom gave me this strawberry begonia , and I like how the offshoot looks nothing like the parent, at least at first. Of course what would summer be without these babies? The stupid flash on my camera went off inside the car, so I got this glare...

....and my next attempt is her "parting shot" And as the sun goes down, mine too!


Happy 4th everybody!