A Bay Area first: Double carpool lanes coming to Highway 101

Double carpool lanes also planned for I-580 and Highway 85 when they are converted into toll lanes.

More traffic news
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It's My Birthday!

It’s my birthday today. 

And I shall be mostly standing on spiral staircases in very long dresses, like so….

{I’m thinking that long trail could come in handy for a spot of cleaning. 

Those railings must get ever so dusty

…always practical, my friends, always practical.}

I LOVE birthdays!! 

I made up a family rule that on your birthday 

which says you’re allowed to choose whatever you want to do. 

{An excellent idea, if I may say so!!}

I’ve had a wonderful morning 

opening the sweetest presents from my kiddiewinks…

And now I’m off for a special lunch with Guy…

Image  Unknown…

Modern Country Style

Protecting Your Plants- How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today is the last day of “How Does Your Garden Grow?”. I hope you have found the posts so far informative. Today I am going to talk a little bit about protecting your plants once you get them in the garden. While sunshine, water and good soil are most important for helping your garden grow, plants do need some protection from outside threats.

Pests

Pests are one of the things that are difficult to keep away from your yummy new plants. Last year we had our biggest issue with deer. They ate all of our pepper plants and our beans. Talk about frustrating! So this year we had a plan. We built a 4 1/2 foot high fence out of cedar split rail. Then we put a welded wire fence on the inside of it to keep out the smaller critters. Then my husband & #112;ut some natural deer deterrent around the perimeter of the garden. We haven’t had problems with the deer jumping the fence so far, but if we do we may electrify the top portion of the fence.

Another pest problem are insects who like to eat on the leaves or fruit of plants. In the past years we have always used chemical pesticides, but this year we are trying to do more healthy options and switch to organic gardening. I have been doing a lot of research and found the website Organic Gardening pretty helpful. I am hopeful we will be able to control the pests with organic pesticides.

Cold and Weather

In the spring when your garden is just planted there is always the possibility of frost. We planted our tomatoes and peppers a little bit before the average frost date, just because my husband is a risk taker. There are a lot of different ways to protect your plants, but one of the easiest we have found is to save back the containers that your flowers, bushes and trees come in. They a&# 114;e already vented and are pretty easy to stack.  This spring we have had to put them out once because of frost and once because a hail storm was coming. If you use these, make sure you take them off the next day before the sun heats them up and fries your plant!!

They do also sell water filled cloches in the store for tomatoes and row covers can be used as well.

I wish you all the best of luck this year with your gardening and hope this series has inspired you!



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

Don’t miss any of the other posts from the gardening series- thanks for joining me!

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 1- Stretching Potting Soil

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 2- Stevie from Garden Therapy- Starting Veggie Seeds
“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 3- What To Grow?
“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 4- Annie from MamaDweeb Raised Garden Beds Vs. In Plot Garden

Scout’s Stitches

Man shot and killed on San Jose elementary school campus

An 18-year-old man was shot dead Saturday night in San Jose on the campus of Lowell Elementary School and now police are trying to determine if the killing is gang-related.
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How Apple sidesteps billions in taxes

Tech giant takes advantage of loopholes in system with offices all over the world
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Wilkmeed (Milkweed is Not a Weed)

Let’s start with a refresher–James Wright’s wonderful poem.

Milkweed

While I stood here, in the open, lost in myself,
I must have looked a long time
Down the corn rows, beyond grass,
The small house,
White walls, animals lumbering toward the barn.
I look down now. It is all changed.
Whatever it was I lost, whatever I wept for
Was a wild, gentle thing, the small dark eyes
Loving me in secret.
It is here. At a touch of my hand,
The air fills with delicate creatures
From the other world.

Yesterday, I spent nearly seven hours at Spring Affair, billed as the largest plant sale in the Midwest. At 9am thousands rushed in, an in an hour or two half the plants were gone, a hundred tables suddenly empty. Pockets of plants were left here and there, most noticeably to me was milkweed (and ironweed, one monarchs love to nectar on). Of course, the hostas were selling like hotcakes.

My garden coaching business banner has a monarch prominently displayed, and many eyes lit up ten feet away as folks approached and regaled my wife and I with butterfly stories, while others asked what was going on with the influx of butterflies now (red admirals and sulphurs). Many spoke fondly of their butterfly bushes. When I asked if they had milkweed, I often heard “No. Should I have t&# 104;at?” Of course! No milkweed, no monarchs–and no lots of other butterflies gorging on that rich nectar.

We need more James Wright moments in our landscapes, and that’s the primary reason when I was asked a couple times yesterday if I did speaking engagements, I rushed home and created a list of topics.

I also had enough people come up to me and say what a cool idea a native plant garden coach was, wishing me much success, that I feel emboldened (and exhausted), but unsure now what direction to take next. So, I’ll start here with another plea: PLANT MILKWEED. Butterflies and other pollinating insects are in great need of our help as we spray chemicals first and ask questions later, like what happened to a 8;l the butterflies. Indeed, on a recent episode of a local garden show on PBS, advice was given to spray earthworms in the evening with sevin to control them (how many problems can you point out in that sentence?). 

If you have a butterfly garden, as many do, not having milkweed is like not having a butterfly garden at all. Asclepias incarnata, purpurascens, sullivanttii, syriaca. Go. Dig. Now. And stay away from chemicals. Soon, if you plant natives, the good bugs will control the bad bugs. I promise. The air will soon fill with delicate creatures from the other world.

T h e | D e e p | M i d d l e

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Facebook page | Giants blog | More

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Raised Bed Garden Vs. In Plot Garden

Today we are lucky to have Annie from Mama Dweeb sharing with us about her experience about in plot gardening vs. raised beds! Annie and I went to high school together and she has such an awesome blog!!

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

Last year my husband and I tilled up a huge area on our land for an in plot garden.  We planted a huge variety of veggies – corn, radishes, tomatoes, peas, green beans, kohlrabi, potatoes and squash, just to name a few. 

We thought our biggest threat was going to be the deer. We did not anticipate the soil and weather being our biggest adversary!

In the end, we only harvested a ton of tomatoes, a handful of peas, a few ears of corn and lots of kohlrabi and radishes. 

This is why I think a raised bed garden is going to be better than our in-ground plot: 

1. Less back ache

If we raise the raised bed high enough, we shouldn’t have to hurt our backs nearly as much when we are weeding. 

2. Control the size

It was way too easy to over-plant our garden when it was in the ground. With a raised bed, we only have so much room to use. This keeps the size manageable and prevents us from creating more work than we can handle. 

3. Easier to water

If we put our raised bed closer to the house it will be easier to water. Last year we had yards and yards of hose strung out and it was a huge pain to water my plants every day. This led to over and under watering. 

4. Looks nicer

You cannot deny that raised beds just have this aesthetic beauty about them that in ground plots do not. Ok, maybe you can deny it, but I sure love the look of a raised bed! And I don’t mind having a raised bed garden close to my house. 

5. Easier to keep pests out

This part is totally my hopes!  I hope that by raising the garden higher off the ground, the fence will keep the critters off my food.  Our fence last year was way too flimsy and they just crawled underneath. Maybe the problem was the fence – in that case, I am going to invest in a nicer fence. 

Do you have any tips about raised bed gardening for me? Please share! 

About the author: 

Annie is a Kansas mom blogger. She started Mama Dweeb  when her son was a baby.  Now she writes about parenting, technology, fashion/beauty and helps new bloggers with her Blogging Basics series.  


***********************************
Don’t miss out on the other posts in our beginner gardening series.

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 1- Stretching Potting Soil

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 2- Stevie from Garden Therapy- Starting Veggie Seeds
“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 3- What To Grow?

Scout’s Stitches

San Jose police respond to homicide, surround home of people claiming to be armed

San Jose police have surrounded a house in the Rose Garden neighborhood where residents called 911 to report the stabbing of a man who later died.
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Children's Bedrooms: Flooring Inspiration

Flooring can make or break a room. 

It’s such an easy aspect to overlook but leaving tatty old carpet down while you spruce up the rest of the room is a bit like leaving one of the walls undecorated. When we decorate a room, I always try to do the whole shabang and not leave bits and pieces of extra work trailing around for years. 

So, flooring-wise, here’s what I narrowed our choices down to:

Carpet:

Unknown

Painted floorboards:

Via Marie Claire

Wooden flooring:

Via Something Hiding In There

I bypassed natural flooring like sisal and jute because although they look gorrrrrgeous initially, they stain pretty easily and don’t react well to the wet. 

{If I could have a pound for each time I’ve had to mop up what shall be vaguely termed ‘spillages’ in my children’s bedrooms then I’d be a very rich lady…}

Which leads me onto my main point….

When decorating children’s rooms, it’s so easy to be sucked in by what looks great on the page of a catalogue…BUT BUT BUT what really counts is how good it’ll look in YOUR home….a year or two down the line…..

Fancy-shmancy options will look fab for a little while but I want our rooms to look great when they’re well-lived in.

Is that too much too ask?

Modern Country Style

Want to Start Gardening? What to Grow- Guest Post by Austin

I am so excited that my brother Austin agreed to contribute to this beginner gardening series.

He has been busy for the past several years turning my parents’ acerage into a hobby farm! He has learned a lot about vegetable gardening and hopefully it will help you decide what to grow!

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

What To Grow?

Deciding what to grow in your vegetable garden can be tricky, especially when starting out.  A lot of it will depend on why you are wanting to start vegetable gardening, so your reasons and goals should be your main guide.

The first place to start in choosing what to grow in a garden should be what you like to eat.  I find it a lot easier to keep up with watering, weeding, and care of vegetables that I’m really looking forward to eating.

Certainly your tastes and situation should guide your decisions, but if you’re struggling to decide, here are some recommendations and reasons to consider.

Grow a Staple

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are probably the #1 staple for home vegetable gardeners, and with good reason.  They are great used fresh or preserved, are fairly easy to grow, and can be very productive.

My personal preference with tomatoes leans toward preservation.  I love to have canned salsa, tomato soup, and diced tomatoes through the winter.

The first tomatoes I tried to grow were romas, but I didn’t have much luck with them.  I had problems with fungus and rot on the tomatoes,which was probably because I had grown them along the ground without any support.  Processing the small roma fruits was time consuming, and I decided to make a change.

I’ve had a lot more luck with beefsteak tomatoes, and have switched to growing only that variety.  I grow them in tall cages with plenty of space for circulation and keep them well watered through the heat of summer, which has led to a bountiful harvest.

Good harvest of beefsteaks for processing.

Other garden staples to consider: Sweet Corn, Potatoes

Grow Something Easy

Garlic!

Garlic is very easy to grow, assuming you start it at the right time.  It takes a bit of weeding, but not much else.

The first time I grew garlic I planted it in the spring at the same time as onion sets.  That didn’t do too well.  Afterward, I did someresearch and found that it was best to plant it in the fall, around the first frost date.  For the last 2 years I’ve done that, and it has been very successful.

My garlic patch today.

As a bonus, hardneck varieties produce scapes in the late spring, which are very delicious.  I planted my first hardneck garlic this last fall, so I’m very much looking forward to harvesting scapes in the next month or so.

My recommendation: mark your calendar for your first frost date, and plant some garlic.

Other Easy crops: Potatoes aren’t much harder than garlic, I’ve found turnips to be quite easy also.  Some perennial herbs like mint are almost dangerously easy, and should be contained if grown.

Grow a Substitute

Lovage

I like using celery, especially in some canning recipes, but it won’t grow here due to the heat.    This year I’m growing some lovage to try as a substitute for celery in my recipes.  I found it in a search for celery substitutes, and it seems like it should grow well for me.

Lovage may not work out great, but I’m very hopeful.  Finding alternatives that thrive in your growing conditions can be very rewarding. 

Other Substitutes: Swiss Chard and Amaranth can replace cooler weather greens for the hot summer months.  Coriander (Cilantro seeds) can begrown to provide a flavor similar to some tropical spices.

Grow Something Fast

Radishes!

Radishes are the fastest crop to grow in the garden, by a wide margin.  From seed to first harvest can be as short as 22 days!

I’ve grown radishes for a couple years, and find that it’s important to have loose, non-compacted soil for them to grow in.  They really like to develop a long root from the part of the radish we’re used to eating.

Radishes Harvested this morning.

I’ve also been harvesting and eating radish greens for the first time this year.  They are very good steamed and then topped with some vinegar or wilted in bacon grease.

Radish Greens from this morning.

Other fast crops: Nothing else is very close to the speed of radishes, but some things are still suitable for the impatient.  Spinach and Lettuce are fairly fast.  Once Summer hits, cucumbers can produce surprisingly fast as well.

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

Thanks again Austin for the great information!

Don’t miss the other parts of How Does Your Garden Grow?

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 1- Stretching Potting Soil

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 2- Stevie from Garden Therapy- Starting Veggie Seeds

Scout’s Stitches

Review: 'The Raven'

For a while, ‘The Raven’ is gruesome fun — and then it just becomes ludicrous.
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The parents of a sophomore at Sequoia High School in Redwood City have sued the district for kicking the student out of an honors English class last month for copying a classmate’s homework.
San Jose Mercury News Most Viewed

Designing Our Fitted Cupboards Part 2

With our fifth baby on the way, we’re always looking for ways to improve storage, particularly in our current phase of having to store what feels like a bazillion boxes of clothes between children using them.  When I was looking at the existing fitted cupboards in this bedroom, it suddenly occurred to me that there might be extra space above the lower cupboard that wasn’t being used. A secret hole!! See what I mean?….

And it turned out I was right! Yeeeah! Free space! One of the things that bothered me about the existing cupboards is the way they were so mismatched. One way up high and the other mid-height. Odd. This extra secret space gave us some leeway to be able to even the whole space out.

We altered the cupboard plans to include another double cupboard above the existing lower space, and fiddled about with heights to bring both sets of doors to the same height.

The next step was working out how to bring in period details again. 

{These were NOT the original cupboard doors so no guilt about ripping them out.}

Four words: 

architraves, 

cupboard style,

handles, 

hinges...

{Okay, that’s five but read on to see what I mean…}

We changed the architrave surrounding the cupboards to match the main door to the room.

I love Shaker style cupboard doors, and chose beading to compliment the beading on the main door (more on that to come!!). 

The handles are now chunky, matt-glazed wood. 

Perfect for little dimpled hands!

Rather than using kitchen-cupboard type hinges, which ends up with doors shutting onto the existing frame, I prefer to use hinges that ensure the doors fit within a frame for a more bespoke look. I love these brass hinges with silver detailing. Yum!

See how I’ve lopped off the bottom of the cupboards from these photos? That’s to keep the floor hidden from your all-seeing eyes…

but not for long…

Yup, next up:

 FLOORING !!

Modern Country Style

Starting Veggie Seeds: Root Vegetables and Heat-Lovers (Guest Post from Garden Therapy)

I am so excited to have Stevie from Garden Therapy here to talk about starting veggies from seed!

She has an amazing blog with so many inspiring and creative ideas for gardening.

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

One of the most rewarding ways to grow your own vegetables is to start them from seed plus it's a great educational experience for kids big and small.  Root veggies like carrots, beets and radishes do the best when planted directly in the soil where they will grow as they have a delicate taproot that doesn't like to be moved.  Other garden e dibles appreciate the helping hand of growing up a bit indoors before braving the elements.  Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are good examples of great seeds to start indoors.

 Planting Root Vegetables: Carrots, Beets, and Radishes

Plant root vegetables in fertile, well-drained soil that has been sifted to remove any stones or hard debris that will obstruct the root growth (and make funny shaped veggies).  Sow seeds according to the plant depth and spacing as recommended on the seed packet for each variety.  Carrot and radish seeds are quite small and beet seeds come in clusters, so it will be necessary to thin out your plants when the ;y grow.  You can do this by cutting (not pulling) out the seedlings that are the weakest, leaving the strongest lots of room to grow a yummy root.  Keep seeds moist while they germinate. Once sprouted make sure they get lots of sun (8 hours/day) and water (don't let them dry out on hot days).  As they grow they will push up their shoulders from the ground so mound soil around them periodically.  Plant root veggies in spring and summer for a fall harvest or plant over-wintering varieties in late summer for a winter harvest.

Planting Heat-Lovers: Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants

Heat lovers like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants like to be started indoors between 4-6 weeks before the last date of frost.  Starting seeds indoors gives them a jump-start on the growing season, and ensures that your plants will have lots of time to produce fruit before it gets chilly outside again. 

Start seeds in homemade newspaper pots set in a plastic nursery tray or even a plastic salad box.  Newspaper pots can be made by wrapping 5" strips of newspaper around a wooden pot maker or a household item like a glass or a can. Wrap the paper strip around the form leaving 1" of paper overhanging the bottom.  Crimp and fold the overhanging paper so that it tucks into itself and makes a pot that holds its shape when you remove the form.  Use a bit of tap e to hold it if necessary. 

Fill each of the paper pots with seed starting mix, a light, disease-free soil mix made specifically for seed starting.  Don't use garden soil that can have many fungi, bacteria and critters that can attack little seedlings. Plant each pot with 3 seeds, cover with soil, and water well.  Keep pots moist until seeds germinate and the little green sprouts come up.  Sadly you will have to choose only one strong seedlin g per pot to keep by cutting (not pulling) the others with clean scissors.  Keep your seedling in bright sunlight until it gets 2-3 true leaves (the plant will initially have 2 "seed" leaves which are rounded then grow the "true" leaves which look quite different), then transplant the whole pot, newspaper and all, into a larger plastic nursery pot filled with a container mix soil.  Grow your plant into a teenager in thi ;s pot and when kit's warm enough (as determined on your seed packet) you can move it outside. 

These tips will hopefully have enough information to get you started keeping in mind that there are variances to different vegetables and climates that you can determine by visiting your local nursery.  Read seed packets for the most specific information on planting seeds and transplanting seedlings. 

For more information on seed starting check out Garden Therapy's Seed Starting Series including Seed Starting 101, Homemade Seed Starting Containers DIY Projects,  The Best and Worst Store Bought Seed Starting Containers and Seed Starting Outdoors Under Umbrella Gre enhouses.

Don't forget to visit Stevie at Garden Therapy for more DIY garden projects, yummy recipes, and crafty goodness.  You can also find Garden Therapy on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,and Etsy.

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

Thank you so much Stevie for sharing that information with us!!

Don’t forget to check out the other posts in our “mini gardening series”!

“How Does Your Garden Grow?” Part 1- Stretching Potting Soil

Scout’s Stitches

Connecticut repeals death penalty

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