Rainbow Radishes

27 Feb 2010 5 Comments

by nadiaqh in Living Healthy, Vegetable/ Herb Garden Tags: , , , ,

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Growing Fun and Easy Vegetables:

For a fast growing vegetable try growing radishes, a great vegetable for the impatient gardener and ready to eat 28 days after sowing. Growing vegetables such as radishes and carrots are simple to grow and surprisingly rewarding at harvest time. “Rainbow Radishes” pictured below are unique in the assortment of colors- white, pink, purple and red purchased online from Renee’s seeds.

Rainbow Radishes

These seeds grew perfectly and delivered a tasty, juicy and spicy little treat today. I like Renee’s seeds for the quality and seemingly 100% seed germination, accurate harvest time and final product just as the package promises. My winter crop has been fed completely by rainwater these past few months and I want to believe that everything tastes better when water comes from the sky and not from the faucet.

Radishes remind me of my parents and how my mom used to cut them up at dinner time in the shape of a roses and how much my dad always enjoyed them. I planted this garden bed with my parents in mind and for my Dad’s birthday I plan to surprise him with a basket of colorful radishes.

Tips for planting:

* Grow in a raised bed or container with organic planting mix.

Simple low framed garden bed with Turnips and Radishes

* 6-8 Hours of sun is required for good growth.

* Consistent watering and weeding is needed.

* Plant at depth and distance according to package directions.

WEB SITE PHOTOS FROM RENEE’S SEEDS: RAINBOW RADISH SEED PACKET

. ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY GARDEN BLOG: www.nadiaknows.com

Plant – Grow – Enjoy

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Gardening Dogs

24 Feb 2010 7 Comments

by nadiaqh in Vegetable/ Herb Garden Tags: , , ,

Our mom thinks we like to garden, but we really just like to pose for photos and keep her company when she’s in the garden. We are not too excited about the turnips and radishes that are shown growing in this photo, we prefer broccoli. Contrary to popular opinion concerning the chihuahua breed being “un-trainable” we actually passed obedience class and will sit and stay on command, with one exception being UPS deliveries which we still run out to the truck if we can sneak by the adults.

Chihuahuas and Turnips

Roxy is the Golden Retriever that our parents adopted from the Golden Retriever Rescue of San Diego about 7 months ago, she was used for 7 years as a breeding mill mommy in very bad conditions (see this website on puppy mills) and is adjusting to a happier life with us now.  It took us a little while to get used to her because she is so much bigger than we are, but Roxy is a gentle giant. We all like to chew on carrots and smell all the vegetables growing in the garden. Mom calls us “her gardening dogs”.

Roxy

When we get tired out from helping mom we like run around in the backyard, or take long naps relaxing in the sun. It’s a good life being a dog and living in a warm climate.

Thanks for stopping by to meet us. Happy gardening!

Succulent Container Designs

21 Feb 2010 7 Comments

by nadiaqh in Garden Design, Garden Projects Tags: , , ,

modern succulent design

Succulent Container Designs

A small tabletop succulent design with a simple inspirational message rock, decorative pebbles and a linear design of small succulents all the same species makes a clever gift. I like to keep my camera with me when I shop at garden stores to gather up design ideas for creating my own garden gifts, this one shown has a popsicle stick price tag for $60. Being creative with gifts can mean reproducing a design like this one for less than half the price- now that’s being creative! There are many possibilities when designing with succulents from choosing the size and color of a container to picking out which succulent species will best match the theme. Modern, Feng-shui, Ocean theme, or Mexican-Rustic are just a few themes that come to mind when I create gifts for family and friends, and matching up their personality is part of the creativity and design.

Succulents have evolved out of harsh growing conditions and although they look quite exotic, they actually grow well in average soil conditions weathering both hot and cool temperatures. The key to growing successful succulents is planting them in containers that allow for good drainage.

This tabletop display is especially stunning with the choice of using one succulent species and planting them on a diagonal. As the rock says, Imagine!

Tips for creating succulent containers:

1. Use garden charcoal as the bottom 1/4 of the container base.

2. Use cactus mix to fill the container. Place succulents and add a top decorative rock or sand around plants.

3. Water succulents at the roots of the plants, avoid saturating the leaves.

4. Allow soil to dry between watering.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Sharing Inspirations- Creating- Growing

Rainbow of Colors in Bloom

17 Feb 2010 5 Comments

by nadiaqh in Cactus, Flowers, Garden Fruits, Photography Tags: , , ,

There are some popular garden blogs on the internet this month all showing their colors in bloom.  I’ve enjoyed my new garden blogger friends and their photos from other parts of the country where trees are capped with snow and their gardens are in blankets of white.  Capturing photos of garden color is a bit more of a challenge for them in these winter months and it gives me an appreciation for San Diego’s year-round gardening.

I’m joining in on the celebration of color this month with my rainbow theme of colorful blooms in my garden. These photos were all taken with a macro lens digital camera yesterday in the afternoon.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Be Inspired!

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet Blossoms.

Red Blossoms on Crown of Thorns

Orange Nasturtium Bloom

Yellow Succulent Bloom- (This succulent got a little beat up by hail two weeks ago)

Green-Lime Succulent Blooms

Blue Blooms on Rosemary

Violet Color on the Lilac Vine

.

Garden Soul Video- Happy Valentine’s Day

14 Feb 2010 5 Comments

by nadiaqh in Photography, Video Blogs Tags: , , , , ,

 GARDEN SOUL VIDEO

Cats in an Irish Garden

I was thinking of a Valentine Blog that had some soul to it and I came up with this video. Some of these photos were taken in cemeteries throughout Ireland where the feeling of peace met me with each shutter release. The gardens and flourishing greenery in Ireland is breathtaking to say the least. These photos captured a tranquility and appreciation for the soul in life and the beauty of the present moment. It was a great day creating this and remembering the beautiful places once visited and always remembered. This is a video blog about LOVE.

Thank you for visiting my gardening blog: www.nadiaknows.com   —- what do I know? That gardens inspire me to grow and create.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Funky Garden Finds

12 Feb 2010 4 Comments

by nadiaqh in Garden Fruits, Vegetable/ Herb Garden Tags: , , ,

FUNKY GARDEN FINDS

What is the quintessential fruit or vegetable? Would you classify them as perfectly shaped with no growth deviations, or speckled, oblong and skinny? They have to taste amazing if I am going to take the time to grow them in my garden, but not everything that I plant ends up looking perfect and in my opinion the funkier the shape the better. Here are some photos from my garden over the past year that I thought would make a nice blog of funky garden finds. Pulling a carrot out of the soil and being surprised by its root diversion, or asymmetry gives it that quality of  looking “home-grown” and not the super perfect produce we find at the grocery store. I called the Master Gardener Hotline  of San Diego this week to ask about my carrot with two roots, I was informed that I over-watered my orange friend which caused it to create two roots instead of one. Even though it turns out that my carrot was a gardening blunder, I liked its uniqueness and it still tasted great so I consider it a success!

* *Click on each of these photos  below to enlarge

I look forward to the next growing season with anticipation of what I might find under the soil, up in the trees and growing on vines! Watching how soil conditions, sunlight exposure, air temperatures and watering ratios can create different growth patterns and outcomes is simply amazing.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Enjoying the process of creating, growing and planting.

***************************************************************************************************************************************

Traveling Toys

09 Feb 2010 9 Comments

by nadiaqh in Garden Design, Photography Tags: , , ,

TOYS AT THE BEACH FIND A NEW HOME IN MY GARDEN…

I found a few Mattel cars at the beach this weekend lodged in a sandcastle, left behind and forgotten. I scooped them up and smiled to myself just imagining what a great addition to my succulent garden they would make. As you can see from the photograph below it looks like these toys were pulled out to sea, sunken and left behind from a day of play at the beach. The great thing about a succulent garden is adding to it as the years go by and building on its theme. Creating small changes and adding a little whimsy keeps a garden interesting and fun and constantly evolving in the feng shui design of the landscape with creativity, balance and newness.

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY GARDEN BLOG: WWW.NADIAKNOWS.COM :) Create - Grow - Inspire :)

“BLUE CURLS” Echeveria

05 Feb 2010 2 Comments

by nadiaqh in Garden Design, Photography Tags: , , ,

This Echeveria succulent has grown in my “under the sea” planter on my backyard patio for five years now. It is perfect in my theme planter because it resembles the colorful underwater sea life found in tropical dive sites. It has lettuce type edges on the tips of the leaves and boasts colors of blue, green, reddish pink and yellow hues. Blue Curls spans out to 10 inches wide, categorized as drought tolerant, very hardy to cold temperatures (25 degrees Farenheit) and shows off a cluster of orange-pink bell-shaped flowers on a thin dainty stem about 18 inches tall. I have a long list of favorite plants and this Echeveria “Blue Curls” is no exception. 

* Origin = Mexico- North America  * Family = Euphorbiaceae 

*Scientific name: Echeveria sp.  * Common name: Blue Curls , Echeveria hybrid 

* Plant Height = 1 Foot  * Exposure = Full Sun to light shade  * Soil = Grow in cactus mix.  *Excellent in rock gardens. 

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com 

Create- Grow- Inspire 

Echeveria

Southern California Planting Guide- FEBRUARY

03 Feb 2010 3 Comments

by nadiaqh in Living Healthy, Vegetable/ Herb Garden Tags: , , ,

VEGETABLE PLANTING GUIDE

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY -

Radish & Turnip Seeds

Raised planters, containers, garden beds or troughs… any size space will work if you want to start growing some vegetables of your own. Health, vitality and personal satisfaction are all the benefits of gardening and growing your own food. Eating a salad with even ONE ingredient from a home-grown garden creates tastier and fresher meals at home. Now get out there and dig!

PLANTING GUIDE :) PLANTING GUIDE :) PLANTING GUIDE :)

ASPARAGUS —– BEETS —– BROCCOLI —– BRUSSEL SPROUTS

CABBAGE —- CARROTS —– CHIVES —– COLLARDS —-CAULIFLOWER

KALE —– KOHL RABBI —- LETTUCE —–ONION

PARSLEY —– PARSNIP —– PEAS —– POTATOES —–

RADISH —–RUTABAGA —– SPINACH —– TURNIP —– SWISS CHARD

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

My New Year’s Resolution was to try new vegetables with each growing season and this month I chose to plant Organic Turnips seeds.

Follow this link to Renee’s Garden Seeds for more information on ordering your own seeds online.

Some of my favorite flowers to plant this month are California Poppy, Carnation, Dahlia and Sage. Follow this link for a complete flower planting list : Flower Planting Guide by Digital Seed.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Plant- Grow – Create

Bookmark Garden Project- The gift that keeps giving!

01 Feb 2010 4 Comments

by nadiaqh in Flowers, Garden Projects Tags: , , , ,

MAKING  BOOKMARK  GIFTS

-from your garden flowers, herbs or leaves-

From the Garden to a Bookmark

1. Grow some great flowers, herbs or choose leaves from your garden.

2. Press the flower petals, leaves or herbs in-between newspaper in a heavy book, or a flower press for a week. Plant clippings should be completely dried out before going on to the next step.

3. Use Cardstock paper to create a bookmark. Add the pressed flowers around the bookmark paper. I used a tiny bit of glue-stick to tack the petals in place.

4. Laminate them (I went to Kinko’s and used their machine).

5. Cut bookmark out from lamination leaving a little plastic space (a few centimeters)  between the paper and the cut edge of the lamination.

6. Use Photos, stickers, quotes or even decorative paper to create the bookmark.

The sunflower petals in this photo were seeds that I gave to a friend in July because we share the same birthday.  She planted the seeds on her patio in containers and they grew beautifully. She then created a bouquet from the flowers and gave me that bouquet on Thanksgiving Day. A month later I dried the petals from that bouquet and used them to make bookmarks and gave one to her for Christmas.

This sunflower went from seed gift to flower gift to bookmark gift, now that’s recycling!

* Valentine’s Day is coming up and I bet some red bookmarks with dried flowers would look great!

Sunflower Bouquet

This was truly THE GARDEN GIFT THAT KEPT ON GIVING! :)

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Inspire

Saving and Drying the Flower Pedals

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 108 other followers