May: warmer temps, more ice dyeing and a litttle gardening!

 At long last, Winter lost out to Spring with a week of early monsoon rains, followed by lovely warm sunshine and a lot of greenery and Spring blooms!  No pictures to show for it, but I have really appreciated the change.  I got back to walking the square that our home is located on, and I got back to doing more ice dyeing.  Here are some of my recent ones:

I love this one because I got a lot of points and some really neat markings.  This is a simple 2 color incline dye.

I was trying a new color combo here: Marigold and Wedgewood blue, with one color on each half of the shirt.

This is similar to the one before it, only using sky blue and palomino gold.

Since I'll be participating again this year in the annual Flagstaff Open Studios Tour, I need to start cranking out more inventory, since I'm also in 2 galleries!

Here are a couple of larger bowls I finished this month:

I love the fabric I used for the bowl above - my colors and the design is very pleasing to the eye!

This one is for a fund raiser raffle for a group I belong to, and will also contain an apron, pot holders and pot handle sleeve made by my friend Joyce of Rabbit Hill Crafts.  Bowls this size (10" across, 3" high) are a great size for gift baskets.

On the garden front, I bought some flowers at local nurseries and planted in containers:

Sadly, critters ate a lot of them, so I transplanted into smaller pots and put them on tables on the

deck.  So far, so good!

So that's it for May... hope you're all enjoying Spring, and I'll be back!

Ice Dyeing, and more!

My friend Lynda Heines is offering a great on-line class in ice-dyeing, and I decided to treat myself to it!  I have tried ice dyeing a number of times in the past, but never liked the results.  Lynda's excellent class has made all the difference!  Here is a link to her class... if you've ever wanted to try this great technique, this is a wonderful opportunity!  Here are a few examples of the results I have achieved using her instructions:

I will be doing a lot more dyeing using her instructions, and will post pix here soon!

Meanwhile, I got an order from one of my long time customers to dye some "Mommy & Me" outfits for her daughter and grand daughter - here are a couple:

These were a little challenging because I was using black dye, but she wanted black, white and gray. I did a few tests on shirts before I got to this point, and glad I did... these came out better than I thought they would!

On a non-dyeing note, I have been nurturing some seedlings - tomatoes, basil, chives and snap dragons to start.  

Started transplanting into larger containers a week or so ago, and they are doing well.  Spring is finally starting to warm up here, so I hope to be able to move them out to the deck soon.  Meanwhile, I'm working on enhancing some bird areas in the yard... added a couple of hummingbird feeders, added 2 watering dishes, upgraded my bird seed feeders... love to watch 'em!  And my Irises are budding up, so I should have pictures to share soon.  Happy Spring, and get ready for Summer! 

 

Getting ready to plant

I'm getting ready to use my new cold frame and 12" planting beds!  No, they aren't ready to be planted in yet... need to prep the inside of the cold frame to accept the seedlings I'm starting in the bathroom, and I have to trench the foundation of the beds... I plan to create a base of cinder blocks, then put hardware cloth on top, then the wood-sided raised beds, then posts at each corner so I can surround it with screen to keep out the Elk, prairie dogs and other critters.  But I have the seeds started, as well as some herbs:

I planted the herbs (a Chia Herb Garden!) about the beginning of February, and recently divided them to put them into larger pots.

In the seed beds, I have Delphiniums, Hollyhocks, Chives, Dill, Cherry Tomatoes, Bell Peppers and Cucumbers.  I will be planting salad bowl lettuce and carrots directly into the raised beds so they won't need to be transplanted.

I should mention that this is a project I have had in mind for quite awhile... I actually had a little garden in a raised bed when we were in California, but here I have a large lot with great sunlight... just a limited planting season due to our elevation and weather, so the cold frame is going to go a long way toward extending my growing season... I'm really excited about finally getting this started, and look forward to being able to grow some of my veggies and herbs!  Progress reports will be forthcoming... 

Looky what I got!!!

I have been an off-again, on-again gardener for years, mostly off... I love having beautiful flowers, veggies and herbs... just seems like I can't get myself organized early enough to have enough grow time for everything, especially here in Northern Arizona.  I have thought about getting a cold frame to start plants, but couldn't find either a source or even a kit to assemble, and I gave away my power tools a long time ago.  But the good news is... I have a neighbor who is a contractor, and I ran into him the other day at a Home and Garden show, right after I visited the Master Gardeners' booth which had photos of cold frames!  I sent Lawrence over to look at the photos, and told him I wanted one... well, here it is!

He just delivered it yesterday, so it doesn't have any plants in it yet, but I have lots of seeds, peat cups, starter mix, plant food... of course now we are due for two days of wind followed by 2 days of sunshine(during which I hope to get some seeds planted and in the frame!) followed by several days of rain.  So hopefully the next photo I take will have a slight green tinge to it... the sign of sprouting seedlings! 
 

Plant Growth

I got a couple of pix of my gardening efforts this morning... first is my window garden:

On the left is a Tea Rose I bought in May... almost lost it the first month! I forget that potted plants sometimes need more water than those we plant in the ground! Once I started watering it almost daily, it came back and has bloomed a couple of times since!

In the middle is a container with Rock Rose seeds... I'm experimenting to see if I can get them to germinate. If not, a friend with tons of them has offered to let me try transplanting one to my yard. On the right is a vagrant plant that sprouted at the base of a Rhododendron I bought and put in the yard, again in May... don't know what it is other than a vine, and probably a squash vine. Another one is still out in the yard sprouting flowers, but no squash.

Below is a shot of two Nasturtiums I planted in the yard this summer... at first, I had the pot facing East, but it was too hot and the plants weren't doing well. So I decided to move them to the West side of the house, giving them morning shade. Then along came the Monsoons and kept them watered nicely... much better!

I really love the brilliant colors of the flowers, and I also like the shape of the leaves. I have had Nasturtiums before, but they always seemed to get leggy and weren't too attractive. I think I have solved the problem here by planting in a pot, and now that I know I can grow them here I will keep them in mind for color spots in the future. I will admit that this is the best year yet colorwise in my yard! I have been focused so much on planting trees that I haven't done much with flowers before. This year, I have Marigolds, Pansies, Geraniums, the Nasturtiums, Snap Dragons, Shasta Daisies, and of course our wild Brown-eyed Susans, Coreopsis ( I know that isn't spelled correctly, but can't find it in the dictionary!), Mexican Hat and Mallow... now if only I could get more Bearded Iris to grow for Spring! Maybe I'll splurge this fall and buy bunches!

Look what I got!

Okay, so.... for my birthday I decided to by me a present... a compost bin! Now that I'm RETIRED I have time to putter, which has always been one of my favorite things, especially in the yard! Here's my new bin:

It was a little tricky to assemble, but with the help of my hubby, we got it done and I started putting stuff into it. I printed out a really neat guide to get me started, and I had already begun to amass coffee grounds, peelings, egg shells, etc. Of course, the yard has so many things I can add. The guide is great for identifying whether the items to be composted add carbon or nitrogen to the mix (chemistry was never my strong suit!), and gives recommendations on the order you should layer the matter. I'm really excited, and can't wait to be able to use the compost next spring! So now, I have eliminated a whole bunch of stuff from the landfill, and added nurishment to the garden, all for a very reasonable cost... wow! Putter... putter....