This blogging experience has been fun but is, unfortunately, coming to an end. I have learned a lot and explored many different areas of gardening in the past 10 weeks. It has been a challenging and rewarding adventure.
At times, it was tricky to figure out how I could provide useful information to my audience in a conversational way. With an excess of information on the Internet, I aimed to make my blog a place where gardening enthusiasts could find exceptionally unique information.
Ultimately, this blogging experience has simply been an opportunity for growth. I encourage all of you to start a blog of your own.
The most valuable things I’ll take away from this experience:
Expansion of my gardening knowledge
Writing improvement
Multimedia experience
Social media as a means of reaching a larger audience
I reached more visitors than I initially expected. For my blog statistics, see below.
Total views: 180
Total visitors: 64
Most popular day: Friday
Most popular hour: 4:00 AM
With a total of 17 posts, the following are the ones I am post proud of:
I asked a few peers to evaluate my blog. The following is their commentary:
Jaime Creager says, “Your blog has inspired me to grow herbs at home. I’ll be getting some tips from your post, ‘One-Pot Herb Garden for Beginners,’ during my academic break.”
“I like the variety of people you interviewed and your post on the drought,” Nicole Peterson said.
Sophie Kelley says, “First of all, I love the background. All of your visuals really add to your site.”
“The photo composition in your photography is really compelling. I notice that you zoomed in on objects or used the rule of thirds,” Peter Gonzalez said.
Thank you all for tuning in and I hope you have enjoyed the past 10 weeks of The Wee Garden Guide.
It is important to consider the California drought when gardening. Sometimes it can be tricky to decide what to plant when there is less rainfall, if any. As you can imagine, the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is not resistant to the current weather conditions in California. For that reason, they have taken proper precaution to ensure that their garden reflects both environmental sustainability and beauty.
The board and staff of the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden have been asked to cut their water consumption by 55%. Eve Vigil, founder of the garden, says, “We are keeping a very close track on which plants do well under this regimen and which do not.” The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is only watered once every 21 days.
The majority of the trees in the botanical garden have been doing well despite the devastating climate conditions. Vigil says, “The Mayten tree, for example, has not shown any difficulty at all.”
Mayten tree, San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
“Now that we are in the fourth year of the drought it is really important that we become aware of what plants do well with minimal water,” said Vigil. She says that, due to the drought, gardeners should consider shrubs and trees because the annuals and perennials will suffer most from a lack of water.
Drought Tolerant Plants
One of the most drought tolerant plants at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is Santolina chamaecyparissus or Lavender cotton. This plant comes in two versions: gray with yellow flowers or green with cream flowers. The garden’s specific Lavender cotton plant started out at about 4 inches in diameter and has now spread to 8 feet in diameter. “This is a plant that can get quite large in your yard, but it looks good in both leaf and in flower. It pretty much looks good year round,” Vigil said. Lavender cotton requires minimal maintenance although you may have to cut off a sporadic dead branch.
Ron Kindig, garden docent of the San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens, says, “Even with El Nino at our door, we need to make water conservation a daily practice and not just when faced with a catastrophic drought.”
According to Kindig, the following plants are water-conservative, vibrant in color and have thrived in the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden:
The Pride of Madeira, or Echium fastuosum, is also drought tolerant. It originates in the European Mediterranean, which has a very dry climate. Vigil says, “After it blooms, cut the entire little branch where the flower has finished blooming.” This is required in order to preserve the plant’s unique shape. “This is a very common plant in California but, with a drought, needs to be used a lot more,” Vigil said.
Pride of Madeira
Another drought tolerant plant is Eriogonum fasciculatum, California buckwheat. “This native plant blooms in the spring time and is incredibly attractive to bees and all kinds of insects. If you are into attracting insects to your garden, this is an excellent plant,” Vigil said. In the fall season, the flowers of the plant turn brown. Vigil says, “A lot of people like that look and it is okay to have the flowers remain on the plant through the fall.”
California buckwheat, San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden (notice the seasonal browning of the flowers)
Eve’s Garden Shop, found on the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden property, has a wide variety of drought-tolerant, volunteer-grown plants.
Succulents sold at Eve’s Garden Shop, San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden
Sundance Severino is an Energy Analyst at Abraxas Energy Consulting. Severino, a Cal Poly agriculture student, studies crop science and horticulture. “I really enjoy landscaping and I’m considering exploring career options around it. Sometimes I come to the SLO Botanical Garden to get ideas, especially for drought-resistant plants. It’s also a nice place to just relax,” Severino said.
Solar-Powered Fountain Pump
Ken Wilson lives in San Diego, CA., and recently visited the garden for the first time. “I was going to see my brother in Morro Bay and I’m just stopping here to rest. I noticed that there is extensive information about the plants on the plaques.” He also noticed a sun-powered pump. “It pumps a little fountain of water which I think is pretty cool,” Wilson said.
Sustainable Buildings and Recycled Water
The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden’s buildings conserve energy and are made up of recycled materials. One building, for example, is intended to provide a large majority of its own heating and cooling. In addition, the floor tiles, bookshelves, counters, and more all contain recycled supplies.
Water is recycled in a variety of ways. The roof rainwater and the wastewater treatment facility, for example, both recycle 100% of wastewater to help irrigate the park.
If you would like to know more about the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden and all it has to offer, watch the video below.
If you would like to get involved with the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, here are some resources:
Landscaping/Gardening Class at San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens
The San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden also offers events to help local gardeners grow eco-friendly plants at home. If you live in or nearby San Luis Obispo County, Sage Eco Landscapes will be having a hands-on landscaping/gardening class at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens. The event will be on Saturday, December 5 from 10am-1pm and is free to attend.
Hey everyone, I’ve asked six people for some feedback so that I can improve The Wee Garden Guide site. If you have any additional comments or concerns, feel free to comment.
Gosia Suroz says, “I think you should add some more pictures because the ending part looks really empty.” Suroz says that my site could also use some more content about plant care.
The majority of my feedback is layout related. Many people said that I should have a way of organizing the different categories of my site. John Cunningham said, “Have some way for people to see a list of the articles, in case they want to know all about lavender and don’t want to scroll through every blog.” Others suggested that I should simply have a search bar to allow visitors to search through the content quickly. Lorea Foinels says, “The only thing I would change is to have more tabs so that the text is broken down and categorized.”
“You should separate the topics into ‘indoor plants’ and ‘outdoor plants.’ I also think that you should define some of the bigger words you use more, with hyperlinks or something,” Troy Sampson said.
Shirley Milton says, “Maybe more polls or ways to invite your audience to participate. Or maybe a chat room on your site for visitors to share different tips on gardening.”
A lot of positive feedback was about the colors of the website and the pictures used. Only one person, Gosia Suroz, requested that I use more photos to make the website more engaging.
Ashley Johnson says, “I’d like to see maybe more information about do-it-yourself gardening projects.”
A few of the people also suggested that I talk more about solutions for small-scale gardening, similar to my earlier blogs.
Topics that seem to attract more attention are the ones that are slightly more universal rather than local. For example, “Grow Your Own Home Remedies,” attracted more viewers (a total of 10) than my piece on Growing Grounds in San Luis Obispo (a total of 7).
The total number of visitors between 10/05/2015 and 10/11/2015 was 35 views, 12 visitors, with the views per visitor being 2.92.
In the future, I will work to engage audiences both local and not. I will try to pick topics that are more versatile so that even people in other countries, who probably won’t visit San Luis Obispo soon, can gain something from my blogs. I can also try to focus more on small-scale gardening, since I have strayed from my original topic a bit. I will also try to explore new tools to engage my audience, add more photos, and take advantage of social media to expand my current, small, audience.
Tune in next week for my upcoming video on the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. It will feature special guests including the garden’s founder, Eve Vigil.
Vigil will provide information about the layout of the garden in terms of climate zone, the many benefits of growing succulents, how to grow plants with desired characteristics such as height, and more.
The video will also feature new visitors to the garden and their differing reasons for visiting. Some visit to take photographs of cacti while others use the Botanical Garden as a relaxing pit-stop while traveling.
Young visitors, too, will share what brings them to the Children’s garden, an area dedicated to young children. The purpose of the Children’s garden is to get the children involved in gardening early on. The Children’s Garden, an educational yet fun area, is a place for kids to be kids while learning simultaneously.
Whether or not you are from San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden is a destination to prioritize. It has something to offer for a visitor of any age.
Check out the video below for a sneak peak of the full video.
Consider this upcoming video an opportunity to see the best of the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. It is a place to experience for yourself, whether you choose to come with family, friends, or alone as a place of reflection.
If you have any suggestions, tips, or sources that can improve the upcoming video, please respond in the comment box at the bottom of the page.
LikeThat Garden is an application you can download that allows you to take a picture of a flower or plant and identify it using image recognition technology. It can be used for a variety of reasons.
Identify flowers in your neighbor’s garden
With LikeThat Garden, you can mimic your most-admired neighborhood gardens. If the plants easily flourish in your neighbor’s yard, it’s likely that they will thrive in yours as well.
Educate fellow gardeners
Introduce LikeThat Garden to other gardeners to inform them about unfamiliar plant species. When you receive a match for your photo, click “more info.” Here you will be directed to Wikipedia where you can learn just about everything relating to the plant of interest.
Discover flowers similar to the flower you’re interested in
When you take a photo of a flower, LikeThat Garden will offer a number of potential matches. It is not always correct in matching your photo, but will always provide information regarding similar flowers. This can be helpful if you like a particular look of a plant but dislike its other characteristics. For example, LikeThat Garden will help you find a plant that is similar in appearance, but is more flexible in terms of care. You can also use the application to find out the names of flowers you’ve received in a bouquet.
Use LikeThat Garden when touring gardens in unfamiliar cities
While traveling, you may see certain plants or flowers that you are unfamiliar with. Instead of spending your traveling time tracking down a plant’s name, simply take a photo of the flower or plant and find its name through LikeThat Garden.
Keep a list of identified plants
Click “History” within LikeThat Garden to view your search history. This application will keep all of the photos you’ve taken of plants and flowers in one place. This is especially useful if you’ve taken countless photos of plants or flowers while traveling.
Study thousands of flowers and plants
Expand your gardening knowledge with LikeThat Garden search results. Educate yourself about the scientific classification, physical description, species, cultivation and uses about the plant you’re curious about. Before you know it, you will know much more about different plants and flowers than you ever thought possible.
Growing your own herbs and other health-related crops ensures high quality and potency for your at-home treatments. Many home remedies are simple to make with just a few ingredients found in your garden. This piece will provide information on natural medicine, remedial plants, and the therapeutic properties of lavender.
Natural Remedies: Why Grow Your Own Ingredients?
Dr. Bara Waters has been an educator and advocate in the holistic health movement for over two decades. She says, “Natural medicine tends to work with the body and fortify it whereas western medicine typically tries to suppress, or work against, the body’s symptoms.” The two healing approaches conflict in fundamental ways.
Farming is a way to think about the differences between natural and western medicine. Waters says, “Organic farming, for instance, is similar to natural medicine. It is all about building up the health of the soil, the viability of the plant; trying to create an environment that the plant will thrive in.” If the plant is thriving, healthy, and strong, it will naturally fight off pests.
Waters says, “In traditional farming, similar to western medicine, chemicals are sprayed on plants to kill pests. The chemicals also hurt the soil, and the plant itself.” The wellbeing of a plant, in this case, is compared to the wellbeing of a human. The more natural a treatment is, the less abrasive it is on the body.
Healing compounds within the plants are called phytochemical concentrations. These concentrations vary and may have drastic differences in their crude and homeopathic forms. Some plants need to be extremely diluted to change from being poisonous to medicinal.
Waters says that the American medical system has made people feel like they cannot help themselves. She says, “Natural approaches can heal the body, working with its own ability to heal and strengthen itself.” She says there is a lack of respect and general knowledge for the body as its own healing mechanism, but is optimistic that this is changing as people become more aware of healthy lifestyle changes.
The medicinal properties of chamomile tea are described in the infographic below.
Medicinal Plant: Lycium Barbarum
The goji berry plant, or Lycium Barbarum, thrives in sunny, near-drought conditions and can be an addition to your remedy garden. The medicinal berries grow on large bushes and produce several hundred berries per plant. They can be prepared in a variety of ways: steeped to make an herbal tea, added to breakfast items or blended into smoothies.
Massimo Izzo, employee at Bliss Cafe in San Luis Obispo, says, “The point of consuming goji berries is to lower blood pressure. The process takes massive antioxidants into your system by getting rid of free radicals and eliminating toxins in your body.”
In addition to their high antioxidant content, goji berries also contain many minerals and vitamins. Their mineral content includes selenium, potassium, zinc and iron and their vitamin content includes vitamins A, B2 and C. Goji berries contain 15% protein by weight.
Therapeutic Herb: Lavender
Lavender is an herbal plant with naturally medicinal properties and can also be an addition to your herbal garden. In the form of an essential oil, lavender stimulates the body’s healing power in a way that is unparalleled to modern pharmaceuticals.
Lavender:
Stimulates the immune system
Relieves headaches
Fights infections
Remedies congestion
Reduces stress
Relaxes muscles
Relieves itch and pain
Disinfects and cleans
Soothes with its aromatic scent
Santa Ynez Lavender Co. grows and distills lavender on its CCOF certified farm in Santa Barbara Country, CA. Allison Okada-Brown, a representative of SYL, says that their distilling process is slow but worth the results. She says, “Our processing helps retain more of the medicinal values of the lavender oil.” While other lavender farmers use faster processes that involve high heat, SYL prefers to slow cook and steam-distill the herb to ensure the highest potency.
Okada-Brown says that lavender is naturally medicinal with limitless uses. She uses it for headaches by placing the 100% pure essential oil directly to her temples. If she has a cold, she puts a dab on her nose to clear her sinuses. It has a strong aroma in all forms: oil, dried florets or live plants.
The medicinal properties of lavender oil are described in the infographic below.
The “healing life force” of lavender is a mixture of compounds:
Oxygenating molecules
Medicinal nutrients
Amino acid precursors
Trace minerals
Enzymes
Vitamins
Hormones
Lavender oil is also useful for cuts and abrasions because it is naturally antiseptic. Okada-Brown says, “My friend used the essential oil on his poison oak and it deadened his pain.” The oil is also a natural insect repellent and a cure for pesky, itchy bites or stings. It is the one essential oil, incomparable to others, that should be in everyone’s medicine cabinet.
Whether you decide to grow your own Lycium Barbarum or lavender plant, there are many options for customizing your small-scale remedy garden. Hopefully this post inspires you to further explore therapeutic plants and grow your own remedy garden.
There are many types of soil to garden with. If you do not know about each option, it can be tricky to figure out which soil you should use.
Moistening the soil and rolling it into a ball can tell you a lot about what kind it is. With sandy soil, for example, the soil should crumble through your fingers.
Answer my poll about soil types below.
Some different types of soil include:
Sandy
Silty
Clay
Peaty
Loam
The following is a break-down of each of these soil types.
Sandy soil:
Dry, gritty to the touch
Light to work with
Drains water rapidly
Warms quickly in the spring
Silty soil:
Smooth to the touch
Slick when moistened
Retains water longer
Has trouble holding onto nutrients
Easily compact
Clay soil:
Has good water storage
Sticky to touch when wet
Smooth when dry
Slower to drain
Clings to plant nutrients
Peaty soil:
Easily compressed
Has high water content
Rich in organic matter
Good growing medium
Can be a fire hazard in summer months
Loam soil:
Is a balance of silt, sand and clay
Also has humus
Has a high pH and calcium levels
Holds onto water and plant food
Drains well
Hopefully this information makes your decision easier and your garden more fruitful.
Whether or not you watch her television show or read her magazine, Martha Stewart is a well-known American icon. She is best known for Martha Stewart Living, her magazine and television show promoting the domestic arts: cooking, gardening, entertaining, and home decorating.
Born in 1941, Stewart originally began her teen career as a model. After attending Bernard College, she married Andy Stewart. They had a child six years later, Alexis Stewart. After the birth of Alexis, Stewart began working as a stockbroker. This continued until the family moved to Westport, Connecticut, in 1972.
The Start of Her Career
Stewart and her husband, at the time, remodeled their newly purchased 19th century farmhouse. After it was completed, Stewart discovered her passion for gourmet cooking. This passion eventually turned into a catering company in the late 1970s.
Her Continued Success
In the 1980s, her company grew much larger than anticipated. Her popularity inspired her to write her first book which became a bestseller. Several publications followed. However, her and her husband divorced in 1990 due to her drastic lifestyle change.
Business Expansion
Martha Stewart, Inc. became Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. in 1991. Her business grew to include two magazines, recipe publications, books, a radio show, a newspaper column and an internet site. Her retail sales grew to $763 million, annually.
In 2002, Stewart was confronted with numerous legal accusations. In 2003, she was charged with security fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false statements to prosecutors and the FBI. She was sentenced to prison for her illegal activities. When she was released from prison in 2005, her career carried on for another eight years. In 2013, Stewart was faced with yet another lawsuit. This was against Macy’s, the department store.
Stewart, regardless of these mishaps, is still known as a “lifestyle guru” for her many domestic art talents including gardening. She is labeled as a living legend and is recognized for her many accomplishments.
Flowers are often an expensive but necessary component to a wedding. For this reason, it is helpful to plan a budget to keep you from overspending.
Although the cost of weddings vary, examples of what other brides have spent can be useful. View arrangements and their average cost below. While this is a rough estimate, it may help you begin your budgeting costs.
Some gardeners grow fruits and vegetables to eat while others garden to make their yard more visually appealing. Florists, on the other hand, arrange flowers in bouquets to sell. Harvesters, gardeners and florists all have one thing in common: their appreciation for fruit, vegetables and flowers alike. In this piece, I will share the inspiration of two gardeners, a floral design instructor, and an owner of a florist shop in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Norma Venturi: Gardener/Harvester from SF Bay Area, CA:
Norma Venturi grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and married her late husband Robert Venturi many years ago. Throughout her childhood, her father and uncle had a small-scale farm in their family’s backyard. “We grew most of our food and we never purchased produce,” she says.
At their family home, fruit and vegetable trees were in the backyard while most of the flowers were grown in the front yard. “Our neighbor, who lived in the apartment building across the street, was a photographer. He would take pictures of my dad’s flowers in the front yard almost every day,” she said.
Her husband worked at UC Berkeley’s botanical gardens. “Robert worked in the strawberry canyon for over a decade. We would garden a lot together, too, depending on where we lived,” she said.
To this day, the garden still has an abundance of fruit trees as her nephew keeps up the property. She says, “The huge, bright persimmon tree hangs like an umbrella over the garden. The other trees surround it, providing just the right amount of shade for a picnic in the summertime.” Her mother, father and late husband’s love for gardening has made the hobby a big part of her life.
Tzolig Abadjian: Owner of Flower Shop in San Luis Obispo, CA:
Tzolig Abadjian, the owner of Albert’s Florist in San Luis Obispo, has been in the flower business for 35 years with her husband, Barkev Abadjian. Abadjian says that flowers simply symbolize joy and make people happy.
Flowers have developed meaning over time, especially in regards to color. Abadjian says, “The roses, especially, people make a big deal about. The red, and the yellow, and the pink and the white are the color meanings that people are most familiar with. We ask the customer what it is they are looking for, or envisioning, so that we know how to direct our creativity.”
Certain flower colors, especially roses, are appropriate for specific occasions while others have the ability to be misleading. She says, “A gentleman will send yellow flowers instead of red to a woman if they are not romantically involved with one another.”
Abidjan says that when she purchased the shop, she was a biology major and her husband was a botany major. Her husband is really into plants and loves plant life. They thought the business would be something fun for them to do, so that is what they did.
Gosia Suroz: Gardener/Harvester from SF Bay Area, CA:
Gosia Suroz, currently studying abroad in The Netherlands, has a wonderful garden to come home to in the United States. “The process of transforming our less than desirable backyard was a lot of work, but it was worth the extra time and planning,” she said.
If you drive by the Suroz family home in the late afternoon, you will likely find her sister, mother or father either planting new plants or trees, watering them or investing time into their property in one way or another. “We have many fruit trees: fig, avocado, persimmon, orange and lemon,” she said.
Persimmons from the Suroz garden
Halfway through the backyard, there is a gated portion meant to seclude the area for peace and quiet. She says, “My dad built a structure that our grapevines grow along. He cleverly placed a hammock beneath the growing grapevines.”
Suroz believes that flowers are unlike anything else. She says, “Receiving flowers, especially sunflowers, is like being gifted love. Flowers have a way of making me feel remembered. They’re just so colorful and really brighten my day.”
Flowers have a way of making me feel remembered.” – Gosia Suroz
While studying abroad, Suroz misses her family’s garden. She says, “I miss getting my hands dirty and watching something grow. Seeing nature at work is a beautiful thing.”
Professor Melinda Lynch: Floral Design Instructor at Cal Poly State Univ., San Luis Obispo:
California Polytechnic State Univ. Professor Melinda Lynch teaches a floral design class. In her October class session, her students complete a pumpkin bouquet. Check out the audio story below:
Professor Melinda Lynch’s completed pumpkin, dressed as a mummy.
Professor Lynch is a farmer’s daughter. Her grandmother, who inspired her since childhood, had a rose garden. She says, “She would give me the snips and a basket and say, ‘Go out to the garden and pick whatever roses you want.'” When Lynch returned inside, her grandmother had vases ready for her to fill and place around her house. Professor Lynch says, “That inspiration, being able to create without restriction, is what I want to give my students. It is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
While studying abroad, Suroz misses her family’s garden. She says, “I miss getting my hands dirty and watching something grow. Seeing nature at work is a beautiful thing.”
The Wee Garden Guide 