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More Fun with Connects

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

I spent last week playing with my latest garden innovation; Garden Connects. I was motivated to discover ways to build plant supports from metal material after my Nana shared with me there is science behind the use of metal plant cages. It is called electro-culture, the metal in your garden attracts static electricity and charges the atmosphere in your garden during thunder storms, increasing vegetable production.¬† Check out this copper creation…. ;-)

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Garden Connects Big Hit at IGC

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Wrote LOTS of orders for the new Garden Connects at IGC. Everyone was very excited to have something so simple to build plant support structures with. It is great to know other gardeners besides myself had the same need for this type of product. Here is an image of the final design and packaging.

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Tinker Toys for my garden

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

I have had so much fun developing this product! I don’t have a lot of time to create plant supports with traditional methods using twine or wire to connect my bamboo and have at times, taken a short cut and purchased those awful wire cages that are not only visually obtrusive but are a pain to store at the end of season. All of these issues brought me to design a connector that would accommodate a variety of stake diameters and give me the ability to configure them in any way I chose. I wanted Tinker Toys for my garden. And that is exactly what I created. I can use this clever (if I do say so myself) little 5 petal silicon rubber flower to build any type of structure I need; cages, tee-pee’s, trellises, and frames for covering with cloth or net for protection. At the end of the season I will just pull them apart or collapse them like an umbrella. Nice!

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Island Humor

Monday, July 26th, 2010

I was recently island hopping in the Pacific Northwest and stumbled upon this scene as I toured beautiful Vashon Island, a short ferry ride from  West Seattle:

Islanders with a fantastic sense of humor have collected several misfit USED stationary bikes, positioned them to over look Puget Sound as if to invite the casual passerby to jump on and take a spin while enjoying the view.

Oops!  Somebody went crazy and rode right off the bank!

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Mobile, Small Garden

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Since seeing the imaginative “Book” planter box idea, I have been on the look out for other unique planter ideas. This one takes first prize and I wish I had a photo for you but I would have had to flip a u in the middle of Saturday traffic to follow a truck. Yes, a truck; a little garden truck to be exact.
I call it a garden truck because that is what I called my very old but beloved 1980-85 series Mazda B2000 truck that I used to haul garden stuff around the property and branches to the dump. It was a little truck like that with all the character enhancing dings, scratches and rust. In addition to the “well loved” appearance, what made this truck special was the cute little white picket fence themed planter boxes mounted on each end of the rear bumper, complete with flowers in them! A mobile and small space garden all in one!

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Outside the Box

Monday, May 10th, 2010

This is a window box I stumbled upon at the back of the general store located in picturesque Langley on Whidby Island, Washington. I did a double take thinking it was a shelf of books. As I got closer I realized the books were merely random pieces of lath painted to look like¬† book spines. The VERY original titles such as “Ten Minutes to Normal” and “My Family and Other Animals” made me laugh. Waiting for the Sunday night fairy to the mainland gave me plenty of¬† time to consider the many creative ways I too could re-think “outside the box”. The window box that is.

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Remember May Baskets?

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Surrounded by all the beautiful spring flowers today reminded me of celebrating spring as a kid. We made cute little May baskets out of all sorts of things. The fun part was hanging it on someone specials door knob, ringing the bell and running. How fun it was to see a good friend or favorite neighbor smile in surprise!

I wanted to re-create that fun this spring for a special gardening friend. The utilitarian in me pondered what to use for the basket. There was no way I would use something “typical”. I have been thinking what a cute gift pocket the Garden Holster would make and gave it a try. It is so cute don’t you think? I bundled the stems of the flowers in plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. Stretch it out and fill with just enough water to keep them fresh. You could put all sorts of little surprises in it for a variety of occasions or just because. I think it would make a great garden club favor too.

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Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

The Garden Harvester makes a great gift basket. This one is for my Nana. I added my some of my favorite things and must haves for the gardener in your life; Nitrile Touch gloves, Cobra Head Cultivator, L’Occitane hand creme and my favorite snack when I need energy from all that digging, organic cashew/cherry Pure bars. (Sorry Nana. No Peeps for you!) Skippy loves these too! She was rewarded with a couple of bites for enduring hair and make-up.

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Northwest Flower and Garden Show

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

WOW! Today is the start of the Northwest Flower and Garden show held at the Washington Convention Center in downtown Seattle. I was over whelmed by the amazing gardens, complete with goats ( it was so cute to hear them while setting up) and chickens. The artistry of the floral arrangements are beyond words so I’ll post pictures tomorrow. It smells like heaven to a gardener! Dirt, flowers, mulch…….what more can I say. You have to come see for yourself and be sure to stop by booth 516 and say “Hi”.

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Clever Gardening Tools

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Dolly went to her shop and assembled the first Garden Quiver from pieces of PVC pipe bolted together. It had a fantastic twine dispenser, scissor holder and drawer pull handle for carrying. “What fun it was to finally have a way to take my stakes and twine to the garden and keep them organized for hanging neatly in the shed.” Dolly then applied her expertise in textile product development to create a fabric version with features for holding additional garden tools, garden gloves and various other garden accessories. It was light, functional and in spite of being used for gardening, appealed to her sense of style and fashion.

“From the shed to the bed! No matter what scale your garden, be it a few containers on the deck or a large tilled plot, we all have plant stakes and tying material to organize. The Garden Quiver holds all the needed materials plus extra tools and accessories in one easy to carry tote. It even has a string dispenser. Conveniently stands at your work site with the support of a stake and hangs in the shed for storage.”

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