Decisions, Decisions...

I am having a hard time deciding what to put in our front yard. Since our house has brick on one side, is all brick too much? Should rock be added to the mix? Would plants used in place of a wall be more street friendly? I've added the photo-shopped pictures I have so far. For the rest, use your imagination and HELP ME DECIDE!
RESULTS: Fairly even distribution among the pictures displayed! Thanks for voting!

Tomato Time! (Part 1)

If you look carefully you can see the tomato plant coming out of the bottom of this plant hanger! I had seen the containers for planting tomatoes upside down while looking on the web for tomato cages and decided I needed to try this. Not wanting to wait for an order to be delivered, I bought this planter at the local Wal-Mart store after dinner and finished planting before dark. The picture above was taken the next morning around 8 am. As you can see, the tomato plant had already started growing up!! That was about three weeks ago and this is what it looks like now... much bigger and with flowers...

To plant a tomato upside-down:

Items needed: 1) a small tomato plant in a 4 inch or less container, 2) a hanging planter with a coco mat liner, and 3) some potting mix.

Directions:

1) Cut a hole in the coco mat liner at the bottom of the planter in the middle (optional: reinforce the cut hole with duct tape),

2) Put the tomato plant on a flat surface

3) Turn the planter over the tomato plant,

4) Guide the plant through the hole,

5) Turn planter right-side up, remove tomato plant container, fill in with potting soil, hang and water. All done!!!

Second Annual Cottage Giveaway-Seeds

My friend told me that Kim from The Twice Remembered Cottage ~ One Woman's Cottage Life is having the Second Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway. Being new at blogging, I decided it would be a great way to have peope find out about my blog! I have put together some packets of seeds I collected last autum that I will send to you if you leave a comment and I draw your name from my raffle. I have made packets of 20 Pink Lemonaide Hollyhock seeds each that I will send to the 5 winners (the 5 names I draw). I will also send a package of Clematis seeds that I have never tried to grow. Everyone can enter by leaving a comment, but I can only send these seeds in the U.S. The drawing will be on Saturday, May 31st. You have until then to leave a comment and if you don't have a blog, please make sure you include your email address. Even if you've never left a comment before, you can still enter!

Confused with Asparagus

I am a little perplexed about the growth of my asparagus. I planted Purple Passion Asparagus and Jersey Knight Asparagus. Both seem to produce less than expected the first year. My first question is, "Will there be more shoots over the years?" I dug a hole about 12 inches deep, placed the asparagus with the tip up and the roots spread and covered with 6 inches of soil. Hopefully that was the correct way, since I also read that you should just lay the plants on their side... I was going to cover them with the remaining 6 inches of soil, but did not want to discourage the rest of the shoots. The next question is, "If the snails/slugs eat the tops of these plants, do they have any chance of surviving?"

Natives Plant Tour/Plant Sale in October

On May 4th, my husband and I went on a wonderful self-guided tour called "Bring Back the Natives Garden Tour(TM)." We had gone to the web site, http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/, to view the open gardens and their plant lists. Taking the plant lists with us really helped us figure out what native plants we liked and which ones also fell on our list of drought tolerant plants provided by Santa Clara County. It was fantastic to see what others have done. Take a look at the gardens #15 and #17!!

On April 28th, we had attended a wonderful plant sale at Foothill College. I strongly recommend everyone attend their next sale (see below for info.)...Great plants at unbelievable prices:) ..too good to miss!
From the Website: Foothill's Environmental Horticulture & Design Program will hold its inventory sale Oct. 20 and 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the horticulture facilities that are adjacent to Parking Lot 4 at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Items are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is free; parking is $2. Items for sale include bamboo, succulents, cacti, grasses, tropicals, orchids, ornamental and fruit trees, shrubs, perennials and more. Price range for most items are $1.50 to $35. Payment must be cash or check. Credit cars are not accepted. Bring bags or boxes to transport purchased items. Sale proceeds are tax-deductible and benefit Foothill's Environmental Horticulture Program.