Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category
Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Gardening and Pets and Places and Reuse and Salvage on
7 July 2010, with 1 comment so far.
A tree grows in Brooklyn, and so does its flock of birds. If you live in New York, or plan to visit before the end of the year, take a special trip to Fort Greene, where you’ll find the Myrtle Avenue Bird Town.
The project, created by Jennifer Wong and Daniel Goers of Wongoers, includes a sanctuary of 50 birdhouses and feeders, designed by the couple and built by people in the community. The bird favela is meant to house and feed some of the boroughs native birds.
The avian accommodations, according to Wongoers, “express creative use of both natural, recycled, and found materials. Throughout the project experimental fabrication, detailed carpentry, and materials science were employed.”
The installation is located at the Northwest corner of Fort Greene Park (Myrtle Avenue & St. Edwards Street) as well as Person Park (Myrtle Avenue & Carlton Avenue). Just remember to look up!
I plan on checking these guys out in person in November — before heading over to Cake Man Raven’s for a slice of delicious red velvet cake — but if you can’t make it to New York to see these in person, check out Flickr user Atomische’s great snaps of each of the birdhouses in the collection. After the jump, some of my faves I’d love to reproduce… (more…)
Posted in Gardening, Pets, Places, Reuse, Salvage | 1 Comment »
Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Furniture and Gardening and Pets on
29 June 2010, with no comments so far.
Dogs love being outside. If you’re lucky enough to have a fenced yard your pup can frolic in you probably already know how important it is to have a place where your dog can retreat from the sun. A shady tree can do, but if a dog house is in order, you probably don’t want just anything sitting amongst your flower beds and vegetable garden.
Sustainable Pet Designs’ beautiful green roof dog homes are a gorgeous addition if you have the money to spend on one of these custom designed homes, but if you don’t, check out David Neighbor’s prefab Architectura dog house.
(more…)
Tags: dog house, frank lloyd wright, modern dog, prefab
Posted in Furniture, Gardening, Pets | No Comments »
Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Gardening and Reuse and Salvage on
28 April 2010, with 1 comment so far.
Unfortunately, as a home owner there are times when you have to cut down a tree. Whether it’s disease, roots battling for space with underground plumbing, or the simple desire to bring more light into your home, that evergreen just has got to go. So, is there a way to honor that retired perennial, while still making room? I recently saw this solution in the front yard of a home here in Pacific Grove, CA and thought it was pure genius. (more…)
Tags: california, containers, front yard, pacific grove, pine tree, planters, repurpose, second life, stump, tree, tree stump
Posted in Gardening, Reuse, Salvage | 1 Comment »
Posted by Chris Gardner to Gardening on
9 April 2010, with no comments so far.
Last week, the New York Times’ Michael Tortorello explored a few new models of indoor container gardens, which allow for those without any outdoor green space, or even choice windows, to produce their own herbs and greens at home. Tortorello points out though some traditionalists argue that real gardening can only occur outdoors,
“the American consumer seems to think otherwise. According to Bruce Butterfield, research director at the National Gardening Association, container gardening is roughly a billion-dollar-a-year retail business. And he said about half the country’s home food growers — that is, 18 million households — do at least some gardening in containers.
After several years of steady growth, container sales climbed 25 percent last year at Gardener’s Supply Company, a mail-order business with a store in Burlington, Vt., said Maree Gaetani, the company’s spokeswoman. That’s “mostly owing to the increase in vegetable gardening and people’s desire to grow anywhere they can,” she said.”
The most exciting items in the summary seem to be the Herb Grow Bag, a shoebox sized polypropylene sack that’s designed to be paired up with a friend and fit inside a Self-Watering Tray, allowing them to suck up water through the bottom.
Have a peek at rest of the article to see more indoor gardening options, like the MyGreens Light Garden:
[Read More: In the Garden: Container Gardens Get Spring Started Indoors. Images: New York Times]
Tags: container, Gardening, herbs, Kitchen
Posted in Gardening | No Comments »
Posted by Sonia Zjawinski to Gardening and Pets on
2 April 2010, with 3 comments so far.
I’m one of those people who always wants more animals around. Dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, goats, horses, the list goes on and on. Don’t worry, I only have three cats, but I try to get my animal fill by luring wildlife closer to home. Thanks to bird feeders, bat houses, and carefully chosen plants, you can have a little wildlife sanctuary in your own backyard.
After the jump, a round-up of some products that make it easy to bring the great outdoors closer in.
(more…)
Tags: backyard, bats, birds, feeders, hummingbirds, outdoors, songbirds, squirrels, wildlife
Posted in Gardening, Pets | 3 Comments »
Posted by Chris Gardner to Gardening and How-To on
1 April 2010, with no comments so far.
Depending on where you live, you may have already said goodbye to your final frost, it may be coming up in the next few weeks, or you might simply be scratching your head saying “what’s a final frost?” Well, regardless of when you can actually plant your veggies, mid-to-late march is seed starting time. Do it now so that whenever the final-frost date arrives, there’s something you can actually put in the ground.
A quick search engine-ing of “seeding starting” will turn up trillions of articles from the deep recesses of the internet suggesting purchasing special trays, toilet paper rolls, using egg cartons , or ACTUAL eggs, but this year, I’m going with Ashley English’s instructions for Design*Sponge. They’re well-documented, well-photographed, use recycled materials, and can be applied to small or large scale projects. She covers the basics from choosing seeds and soil types, to creating the best possible growing conditions (light, humidity, water), and provides a great how-to for creating biodegradable pots from black and white newspaper.
And if you laze out and just read the intro and look at the pictures, you’ll miss this great link for fashioning a seed starting unit out of an IKEA shelf, which looks like it works perfectly as is, or could be adapted to make perfect sense in your space.
[Small Measures with Ashley: Starting Seeds Indoors]
Tags: frost, garden, Gardening, newspaper, pots, seed starting, seeds
Posted in Gardening, How-To | No Comments »
Posted by Chris Gardner to Decorating and Gardening on
17 March 2010, with 4 comments so far.
Air plants, aka bromeliad tillandsia, are epiphytes, which means they don’t need soil, because they absorb water and nutrients through their leaves. A ten-minute soak in water once a week is all these little guys need to stay green and spiky.
Which means you’re no longer tethered to bulky, soil-filled containers when getting your greenery up in the air. Modish offers a sweet how-to for making an air plant chandelier using glass votive globes and linen thread. As project author Renee Garner explains,
“Sprung from a train of thought somewhere between John Giacomazzi’s chandelier and the numerous terrariums all over the web, I was inspired to create a simple chandelier of air plants for Mabel’s room…Give them a good shake after watering so the water doesn’t settle in around the base of the leaves; the collected water will cause rotting. Semi-monthly fertilizing is also recommended for making baby plants and for flowering. After the soak, I just use the water on the other houseplants and no one feels left out. See more great tips for caring for them here.”
Oh, imagine the possibilities. Nature is a wonderful thing.
DIY Air Plant Chandelier
Tags: air, How-To, plants, terrarium
Posted in Decorating, Gardening | 4 Comments »
Posted by Chris Gardner to Gardening on
4 February 2010, with 3 comments so far.
Over the last few years, home gardening, food production, and permaculture have rightfully gained the respect they deserve. And whether it’s a fad or not, home-grown produce is delicious, less expensive, and permits a smaller carbon footprint. But for those of use without the ability to dig up yards, build raised beds, or even employ window boxes, home food production can be a challenge, if not impossible. And though there are all sorts of indoor options, there aren’t too many that integrate well into one’s home decor.
Until now…
Enter the Urb Garden: It’s a vertical home gardening solution (space-saving) that employs a cubby hole approach (geometric and modern) to grow green, leafing produce (delicious), and incorporates an integrated worm farm (awesome).
“Designer Xavier Calluaud illustrates the Urb Garden’s simple step-by-step process. Scraps of food are deposited into the worm farm, creating nutritious fertilizer. Water is added and the liquid fertilizer is delivered to the plants via a drip system. The water drains down the tank and then is pumped back up to be used with the next batch of fertilizer. As the plants grow, modular bins are easily removed for harvesting and re-potting.”
Read more at Inhabitat.
Tags: garden
Posted in Gardening | 3 Comments »
