gardening – Page 9 – The Salem Garden

Pinterest Gardening

In the middle of winter when it’s snowy and cold and spring seems a very long time away… I Pinterest garden.

I love Pinterest but not in a “check out what other people pin and re-pin it” way. Not that I never do that, but my time is limited and once I start I really can’t stop. I try to use it simply as a place to keep photos and articles that inspire or inform me. When I see something that I like or can use I pin the image to a board so I can get back to it.

I’ve been organizing my gardening boards into separate, more focused categories. It’s nice to have an idea on my mind and know just where to look to find that photo that I loved or the article that I remember reading. I start to see the garden coming to life again.

Recently I created a board about garden markers.

I know, that may seem a bit crazy, but I spend a good amount of time thinking about garden markers and creative ways to identify plants.

And then there’s the succulents board…

I really feel like I’m in the garden, surrounded by beautiful colors and interesting textures for a few minutes, even on the coldest winter day.

I also have a board dedicated to shade gardens. I don’t even have a shade garden right now but lots of people ask me about them so I’m hoping to fill this board with good references. It will be nice to say “If you look at my Shade Gardens board on Pinterest, you’ll get lots of ideas and information.”

And of course there’s the Front Yards board. Front yards are changing, aren’t they? I’m inspired every time I take a look at these photos to dig up my whole front yard. I’m pretty sure it’s actually happening one square foot at a time, but don’t tell anyone!

I’ve also been collecting ideas for my new herb garden…

I have new space that we opened up in the fall when we cut down a few juniper shrubs. A new herb garden will be planted there soon and this board makes it easier than ever to keep my ideas organized and ready for that day when I sit down with my afternoon coffee to sketch out the plan.

I can’t wait to start digging!

I have other gardening boards too, along with home ideas, recipes, chickens and grilled cheese. I kind of love grilled cheese and chickens.

Pinterest is a perfect way to get out to the garden in the winter. A little Pinterest gardening will help you feel the energy of this year’s garden to be!

Check out my Pinterest boards here on Pinterest and be sure to follow me! I add things all the time and I promise to follow you back.

Stay warm and enjoy everything,

Michele

Winter Garden Coop Jam

It’s winter, that’s it…

There’s a rosemary plant hiding under the barrel, rock and large clump of dirt, lol. It will be a miracle if this plant makes it through this extremely unbelievably cold, long winter. That sprig of thyme will though…

A single egg

but fear not! There’s a traffic jam at the nesting box. More are on the way!

I turned around and here she was, patiently waiting her turn. This chicken reminds me of my oldest daughter, she’d be doing the same thing.

It does my heart good to see them waiting at the door again.

See you later sweetie pie.

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Free At Last!

After spending the last couple of weeks inside their coop our girls have finally decided to venture out to see what’s going on in the world.

It helps that after enduring snow, ice, wind, rain and extreme cold it’s 55 degrees today.

In all our winters of chicken keeping I’ve never seen them just refuse to come out like this. They sat inside for weeks. Here we are watching the skaters last weekend.

Of course things like that nice heater and fresh peppers to eat may play a part in their decision.

Sheba looks like she’s trying to remember what it was like to be outside.

Our little white hen and one of our pretty cochin look a bit shocked too.

Ever the lady, the little red hen stays out of the mud and just goes with the flow.

I think she knows something that I don’t.

I love her eyes. Wish that beak had focused a little bit better, but we’re a work in progress here.

I still think she’s the one who’s in charge (not everyone agrees). If she is, she just made her nine sisters spend three weeks in the house watching the wind blow.

Free at last!

Here’s the reason for the sudden venture outdoors… everything is melting including the pond. Hopefully the warm weather will last just long enough to smooth out the ice so it can re-freeze and put the skaters back in business.

How are your chickens doing this winter? Are they laying any eggs? I’ve been BUYING free range eggs.

I think we need to do some daylight therapy or something.

Enjoy everything!

Michele

My GARDEN Resolutions for 2014…

Last January I wrote a list of resolutions based on Pioneer Woman’s post about New Years Resolutions. She and I made our lists starting with the first letters of the word “resolution”… For this year’s list I thought it would be fun to use the word “GARDEN.

Here’s what I came up with:

Go to the New England Flower Show in March.

Arrange a New England Garden Blogger’s Day here in Salem for sometime in the spring.

Ride out to visit the New England Wild Flower Society‘s garden “Garden In the Woods” in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Dedicate one hour, three times a day to my home garden.

Expand my reach here at The Salem Garden. I’m thinking about connecting with some garden product lines and changing my look a little bit.

Notice the little things as much as possible, and take photos of them.

Yes, this is a very garden related list, but won’t it be an amazing year if I can accomplish some of these ideas?

–I’m aching to get to the Flower Show this year and the NEWFS garden has been on my list forever. I just have to make time and do it!

–I’ve been thinking a lot about how nice it would be to connect with other garden bloggers in person and I can’t really find any type of gathering here in New England. What do you think? Leave a comment or e-mail me at thesalemgarden@gmail.com if you have thoughts about getting together. It could be simple, low cost and fun!

–Now that my kids are a little bigger and we’ve settled in to the working mom situation I want to get back to my home garden with great focus. I may not make it out there three times a day but if I try to I think I’m more likely to succeed. My biggest obstacle is that once I’m out in the garden I don’t want to go back inside.

–I’ve been thinking about adding some things and changing the format here at The Salem Garden. We’ll see if that comes together in 2014.

–I see so many interesting views and details in my travels that I want to slow down and document with my camera. If will be great if I can, although there’s usually several people asking me to stop taking photos and keep up the pace, please.

Here’s last year’s list:

Rest more, I’m on the run (if not actually running) a LOT!

Eat healthier snacks (yesterday my 18 year old son said “stop making cookies mom!”)

Sleep soundly

Own every decision

Live in the present

Use my camera everywhere

Take my kids to the beach once a week (even in winter)

Increase my blogging skills

Owe no one

Next fall, plant some hellebores, I keep wanting to do that!

This was a pretty subjective list but I must say I did pretty well. Not so sure about resting and sleeping, eating healthier is always increasing, I have to remember to take my camera, blogging is coming along and with such a large family the budget is always a bit of a challenge. I still have some loose ends (like those darned hellebores) but overall we’re on a good track.

What does your list look like? Share in the comments, or feel free to comment about mine. 😉

Happy New Year!

Love, Michele

The Salem Garden— 2013 in Review

I was thinking about writing my own review for the year but WordPress composes and sends me this one and quite honestly, I like it. It’s fun to read about my top posts and how much traffic I’ve had and where my views come from with these nice graphics and photos. 2013 was quite a year. There was lots and lots of change and adjustment and re-grouping and figuring things out around here. Sending first children off to college isn’t easy, nor is returning to the workforce after seventeen years, or experiencing a terrorist attack, but I did all of that. I’m hoping that 2014 will be full of amazing gardening times and fun family experiences, and maybe some really good posts here at The Salem Garden. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for reading and for all of your love and support. Your all wonderful! xoxo Michele

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Nelson Mandela: prisoner, president…gardener?

I’ve read several quotes by Nelson Mandela in the last day or so that were garden related so of course my curiosity was piqued and I had to learn more. I simply googled Nelson Mandela garden and a page full of articles came right up. He gardened for the same reasons that many of us do… for peace of mind, for control over what were uncontrollable situations, and perhaps for the simple joy of it. Here’s the link to a post published yesterday by the Christian Science Monitor.

Nelson Mandela: prisoner, president…gardener?.

In the post Kurt Shillinger, former Africa Correspondent for the Boston Globe, describes his experience living in South Africa at the time of Mandela’s presidency and his association with him as a journalist and a gardener.

“Gardening is a metaphor for life, teaching you to nourish new life and weed out that which cannot succeed.” —Nelson Mandela

May you rest in peace, Mr Mandela, in the most wonderful garden of all.

Michele

The First Annual Salem Garden Holiday Wish List

It’s the holiday season and that means it’s time to find a gift for your favorite gardener. There are so many choices and ideas everywhere you look, from your local garden center to millions of places on the internet. Here’s a few of my favorites this year:

First up, how about a pair of great gardening clogs? I’m really love the adorable chicken design. These are $36.95 here at Gardener’s Supply company.

If I were in the market for a greenhouse, I’d choose this one.

The sides are polycarbonate, it appears to vent well and it’s a nice size. I found it here at Greenhousemegastore.com for $749.00.

Look at these great garden markers! I found them on etsy for 3/$22 at this cute shop called FromArtisanHands. I think they would add a nice punch of color and they look nice and sturdy and fade proof.

At the very top of my “gardening books to read” list is Margaret Roach’s “the backyard parables, lessons on gardening, and life.” I loved Margaret’s last book “And I Shall Find Some Peace Here” in which she talked about her journey from corporate life as a garden editor for Martha Stewart to a full time gardener and writer. This new book looks to be a continuation of her story. It’s available on Amazon.com for $17.57, hardcover and $11.04 on your kindle.

If your a very practical gifter or receiver this bucket caddy is perfect. For just $9.19 your favorite gardener will be able to store all of his or her tools and weeds in one place and move around the garden. This is also an Amazon find. Take a look here if you’d like to check it out!

Here’s another practical gift—a tumbling compost bin! People ask me about compost bins all the time and this one is absolutely my favorite. We purchased it for our adaptive gardens at work last spring and I love it! It makes compost in two to three months, has two chambers so one “cooks” while the other is in use, and it’s quite compact. I’ve never noticed any odor, which is often a concern of new compost makers and its quite animal proof since it’s up off of the ground. You’ll find it at Home Depot for $99 or it can be ordered online here.

This bench/kneeler is a great find for the gardener who needs a little extra help to be comfortable physically. It can be used as a bench as pictured above or flipped over as a kneeler with handles to assist when pushing up to stand. It’s $28.95 here at Amazon.

International Caravan Santa Fe Nailhead Double Rocking Loveseat

And finally, I had to include this lovely rocker for two. I can just imagine sitting in this chair with Michael enjoying our view (when we’re 99 and 102, maybe). It’s so pretty and I think it would be a beautiful accent piece without distracting from the rest of the garden. I found it on Overstock.com for $217.00 along with 117 other beautiful bench designs. If your looking for a bench, you will find something at Overstock!

So there’s my wish list. What’s on yours?

Feel free to share this post far and wide… just put hint, hint in the subject line if you send it by e-mail ;).

Enjoy everything!

Michele

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day- November 2013

I didn’t think that I’d have a November GBBD post to share but I just can’t quite give up yet.

We still have a few blooms to enjoy here on the coast of New England.

Still a few knock out roses, the rest of the roses are gone. I’m really in love with this color that I chose for the front and side yards. We planted several of these recently. You’ll see more of them in the spring.

Some snapdragons too…with the right kind of winter I may be able to post a photo of these in the February and March GBBD posts (just kidding, probably)..

Not quite a bloom, but the asparagus foliage and seeds almost qualify. I love these!

And just enough foxglove to make sure that we don’t forget about it.

That’s it for me! Looking forward to looking at the other Bloom Day posts at May Dreams Gardens!

Hope you do too!

Michele

ps/ It’s the weekend! Be sure to take a few minutes to check out the video that I shared here the other day of Margaret Roach‘s gardens in New York State. It’s great!

Growing a Greener World Episode: Garden with Margaret Roach

Here’s the link to a wonderful episode of Growing a Greener World, a national gardening series on PBS, featuring one of my favorite garden bloggers, Margaret Roach. It was so much fun to see Margaret’s stunning gardens and to listen to her talk about gardening and design. She inspires me every day! Make a cup of tea or coffee and relax and enjoy for a few minutes~ Michele

Episode 418: Garden with Margaret Roach.

Now THIS is Horseradish….

It started out like this. I remember saying something like “there’s the horseradish” and going on to my next thought.

Yesterday I was cutting back and cleaning up the garden and realized that the horseradish had died back from the frost and was ready for harvest. I thought I’d pull some out for Michael to enjoy. I didn’t get the horseradish gene but he and my mom eat it like it’s candy. So I started digging, for at least an hour. Long story short, we have a lot of horseradish root out there and it’s buried very deeply. There will be horseradish on our property for many years to come.

Here’s what I was able to dig out. It was getting dark and I was tired. We had pizza for dinner.

… a view with my hand to give you a better sense of the size of this root.

I soaked it a little and washed the dirt off. My middle daughter, the Harry Potter fan, saw this and immediately went downstairs and put in the Harry Potter movie with Professor Sprout and the mandrakes and watched the whole thing, lol.

It looks like the large one is actually six roots that fused together. I might of missed it last year.

The smaller, normal size root was easily peeled and chopped.

Then I processed it with some water and red wine vinegar.

And my Michael was happy.

He doesn’t smile like this for just anything.

The larger root is still sitting on my counter. I think that I’m going to try to cut it into smaller pieces and freeze it to grate later since the refrigerated version only lasts for up to six weeks.

Looking forward to a nice horseradish cream sauce with the roast beef on Christmas Day 🙂

Enjoy everything!

Michele