Sprouts!

I love this part of gardening, you know, when you first see the sprouts coming up.

How to Turn a Pallet into a Garden

 

I recently saw a picture of a pallet online that someone painted yellow and blue and recycled it into a garden tool shelf.  I was set on doing that DIY!

Then, I saw the picture posted above.  WAY COOLER!

My landlord called me, after a gardening conversation where I apparently mentioned the pallet idea, and she said they found one and they are saving it for me.  I seriously do not remember mentioning the pallet DIY at all.  I need to take my vitamins or something.  

So right now there is a pallet that needs to be transported (call me Jason Statham) to Sacramento, to my boyfriend's place.  We will work on that this weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a link to this cute blog called Life on the Balcony where I found this DIY project that you can do on the cheap.

  Click here for an easy DIY project on Life on the Balcony Blog

Make a Macramé Plant Hanger

 

I love Etsy. Who doesn’t? I spend a lot of time on the website dreaming. Well, here is one good reason why I love Etsy so much, the DIY’s and Tutorials.

SOURCE

How to Grow Cuttings

I snagged this from Pinterest. 

May 2013 is 

Garden Rookie’s 

6 year anniversary! 

Thank you to all of my visitors!

Chandelier Bird Feeder - DIY

I snagged this simple DIY project from Sparkles and Sprinkles, oh my!  

A lot of us have these chandeliers in our dining rooms and are ready to move on to something that does not collect so much dust, etc. 

Just simply remove the lamp shades and part that holds the light bulb with pliers.  Make sure it's not hooked up to any power... seriously.

Next, paint the new bird feeder the color of your choice.

And then fill with seed....  

The original DIY is here.

My trip to Fair Oaks Blvd Nursery is Sacramento, CA

Recently, my boyfriend's work moved him from Fresno to Sacramento so he found a nice place in Midtown with a large back yard for an apartment.  We both agreed that it needed some care because the person before him just sprinkled the ground with rocks and let it be.

On my lunch hour at work, I decided to google some nurseries in the area since I prefer to buy plants from locally owned businesses than the big guys.  I came across the site for Fair Oaks Blvd Nursery was overwhelmed by all the color going on, on their website but was very pleased to see they had a Vertical Gardening Class coming up in 2 weeks.  I emailed them and got a reply from, who I thought was the owner but later turned out to be a cat, saying that there was room for Anthony and me.

The day off we get out coffee and arrive 20 mins ahead of time and we start looking at the fountains and Anthony fell in love with this one in particular.

We then found ourselves in the veggie area and were excited to find many veggies that we wanted to grow were still out and we were not too late to plant them.

We then headed over to the class after an encounter with one of their friendly helpers.  As we sat down we noticed a cat had followed us and sat right down on a chair as if she was ready to learn all she could about vertical gardening.

We later found out that they have two cats living at Fair Oaks and I am fairly sure this is the cat that emailed me, Ming or Maggie, not sure.  I am guessing she was on her lunch break at the time.  

The class instructor Q arrived we we began the class which was, quick, simple and informative.  Q went over several different vertical gardening products and explained key items we would need in case we decide to make our own planter.  It was a small class but full of very friendly gardeners and one cat.  

Once the class was over we were excited to get started vertical gardening but we really needed to focus on getting some veggies planted first.  So that's next trip.

Time to explore!  

This place has so many plants and cool ideas I could barely stand it.  I think I let out a couple "squeees".

Anthony was having fun but had to keep me focused because I was running around like a 5 year old at a toy store.

We made it home with many plants and some planter boxes we purchased at Home Depot (his idea) and planted.  Right now, we think the eggplant are too close together and worried about it.  We think there is much updating to be done in the future. We also planted some swiss chard and strawberries.  

Overall, we had a wonderful time at Fair Oaks and loved the class, cats, selection and all the ideas the staff gave us.  We will return soon. 

-Michelle

UPDATE: Fair Oaks uploaded a video of the class: 

Re-Purposed Spice Rack Kitchen Garden

Taken from:  http://instagram.com/p/ZOj3eTS5RV/ with LOVE>

And it goes a little something like this:  Try to get past the incredibly catchy names, okay? This is a  vertical gardening idea that I created for my new vertical vegetable book (Title-To-Be-Determined, released in January 2013). Husband-Extraordinaire and I found the spice rack for the Spice Rack Kitchen Garden at a garage sale for $3, which had us jumping up and down before we’d even planted it. Easily entertained, I know.

It was easy-peasy to set up, too.

1. First, I cut 2 burlap strips 91/2″ x 24″ for each container (for double lining), then lined the baskets with the burlap.

2. Added some potting soil.

3. Added the plants.

4. Folded and tucked the corners into the baskets, which makes nice little pockets (instead of straight edges) so the soil wouldn’t fall out.

5. Then I watered.

SOURCE

Why haven’t you UPDATED Garden ROOKIE??!!!

Hello everyone!


I haven’t been updating Garden Rookie at all lately and it’s because I have had some change in my life and I have been very busy. 

 First off, thanks for checking in for updates! That’s very cool! Why I have been away from Garden Rookie for months is that I met a great guy and we have been too busy having fun and I have neglected my baby GR. The upside is that my guy, Anthony, also has a green thumb and we now have new material for the blog so stay tuned Garden Rookies!


I can’t wait to tell you all about Far Oaks BLVD Nursery in Sacramento! 

 Have a great day all!


-Michelle


Check out Fair Oaks Nursery.

How To Use A Garden Cloche