We’re Changing

You might recall that several months ago we said we were going to do a website redesign. Well, we’re finally getting around to it. Over this weekend we’re going to be monkeying with things, so if you check in, you might encounter strangeness. When it’s all done, we’re going to have a new name and a new look.

“Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good” is a favorite saying around here, frequently repeated because we so frequently forget it. We’d planned to make lots of changes to this blog and lay them out with a big “Ta Da!” But that didn’t turn out to be practical. As you’ll soon see, this redesign is pretty minor. It’s just the first step of what will be a slow evolution that we’ll undergo through tiny tweaks and additions as we figure things out. And really, that’s the best way to change.

“What kind of changes?” you ask? Well, those ideas are still developing, but our overarching goal is to offer our readers more: more posts, more resources, more information, more voices. 

This weekend, though, all we’re doing is changing our background to white, adding some navigation tabs, and changing our name. What’s our new name? Like the lady in the picture above, we’re going to keep our secret under wraps–at least until tomorrow.

Bringing Blossoms Inside

It’s such a simple thing to do, and so beautiful. If you’re trimming your fruit trees while they’re in bud, as they are now here in SoCal, keep all those twigs and bring them indoors. Stubby little ones can go in jam jars. Long thin whips in a vase make for instant elegance. They’ll keep blooming for a while. For me, no store-bought cut flower can compare.

The Vertical Gardens of Los Angeles

Photo by Anne Hars

Like Emily Green of the Los Angeles Times I’m a vertical garden skeptic, especially in a dry climate. That being said, artist and master gardener Anne Hars and I found a successful, though unintentional, vertical garden in our neighborhood while walking her dogs yesterday. The plant you see above is growing through a drainage hole (the level of the ground behind the wall is where you see the plant growing). Makes me wonder if this particular design could be done on purpose, given the appropriate context. The plants, in this hypothetical drainage hole garden, could act as biofilters, absorbing excess nutrients and toxins. Slap a trademark on it, form a non-profit and Bob’s your uncle.

Extra points to the person who can i.d. the common weed growing through that drainage hole:

Maybe Anne and I will go back, cross out the gang tags and spray paint the scientific name of the plant once one of you identifies it for us.

Dumpster Herb Score

Mrs. Homegrown here:

Scored big at Trader Joes yesterday. Love a good dumpster find, almost as much as finding good feral fruit.  It looks like they were clearing out their plants and flowers for Valentines Day, because out by the cardboard piles we found a grocery cart heaped full of wilted flowers and random potted mums. (Joes really needs to start a composting program, don’t you think?)

We sorted through the cart and found four potted herbs, only slightly distressed. One was a lemon balm, which I’ve wanted for some time. The others, I admit, I don’t really need (because I already have them), and don’t have any space for–but I’ll squeeze them in somehow. In this way, I’m like a crazy cat woman.

ETA: This morning two complimentary bits of information came in regarding TJ’s and composting. The first came in an email from our friend Anne, a Master Gardener. She tells us that: “Master gardeners encourages gardeners to arrange pick up times with TJ’s for plants. They will tell you when they are putting out the plants so you can get them. Lots of mg’s do this and bring them to various garden projects all around LA county.”

So that’s cool. And then in the comments there’s an anon comment from a TJs employee explaining the issues around composting for the stores, and giving some dumpster diving tips!