Friday, May 4th, 2012
I’ve been incredibly swamped with work the past few months. Garden consulting is super busy this time of year as you might expect. This mild Spring has really helped with plant growth – and the evidence is the huge display of awesome perennials packed in the nurseries right now. Rows of lush bearded Iris, Delphinium and Nemesia are already offering abundant clusters of blooms. The plants I propagate from seeds and cuttings are going crazy, bursting over 5 gallon pots begging for a home in the ground. And my clients have all been extra enthusiastic and raring to plant this year – I’m guessing they are over the Winter just as much as I was.
A general feeling of – “Hell ya, let’s plant!” is in the air…
And then there’s Garden Apothecary – another full-time job on its own. I’m redesigning recipes to include more organic botanicals – like Cardamom, Cassia, Cacao, Lotus and Blue Tansy. I’m starting to sell at the local farmers market, to an array of stores in LA, and figuring out just how many products can fit on a pallet for over-sees shipping – all while creating these small-batch blends by hand. Needless to say it’s been exhausting and wonderful all at the same time. The little down time I have, I’ve tried to spend in the garden. Some evenings it’s just to get out and water. Others I can re-pot propagation plants, fertilize, water and weed – all before the sun completely goes down. And then when I’m really zonked from the work day, I sit on my driveway like a hobo and just stare at the garden. I count pollinators, count weeds, count buds on my rose bushes. It’s a pitiful site really, but I love it.A good way to end a busy work day…
I also love to glam it up in the garden. Sometimes – when I’ve had a real shit-tastic day, I put all the fun jewelery I have on, pour some vino, turn on a podcast, and do some gardening. I feel like it takes the drudgery out of weeding when you can add some sparkles to it. And really – if you’ve never listened to a podcast while gardening – you must try! The gardening Zens you out, while the podcast gets your mind to open up to something new, melting away your work day.
Here’s a list of the podcasts I love to garden to:
RadioLab
Relic Radio
Felder’s Show
Pretty much any one of these from the NPR’s
Tags: garden blog, garden consulting, garden consulting in bay area, Gardening, glamorous gardening, Jenn Segale, podcasts, RadioLab, relic radio, Wildflower Farms
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Saturday, April 28th, 2012
I’ve had a dandy Saturday so far.
It has consisted of getting up early to walk around the cemetery for about an hour (there’s an old-ass cemetery right by my house that you can walk around… decent little work out if you keep going and keep up a good pace up the hill. The first thing I thought about this morning was exercise, since before falling asleep last night, I ate half a bag of sea-salt caramel popcorn, two chocolate truffles and a slice of olallieberry pie with vanilla ice cream on top. I disgust myself just typing this…).
I got home and immediately started gardening. I love that early morning energy you get on days that you don’t have shit to do. Answer the phone and respond to emails? Nope. Be on time to some appointment? Nope. Get dressed enough to look respectable around town? Nope. I swear it’s the only time you get real energy, when you don’t have to do anything.
After an hour or so of supermarket sweep dead-heading, weeding, watering, and checking my terra cotta pots for snails (that promptly got fed to the chickens), I brushed a few off a small, broken terra cotta pot and planted a 4″ violet in it. The crack in the pot got a bit longer as I was shoving the little guy in there, but I was too lazy to search for a more stable container. I sprinkle some compost on top, watered it in and put it in a spot I’d notice – when it inevitably breaks apart in the future. Lazy gardening at its finest! Once my big morning gardening project was complete and my first-thing-in-the-morning-energy faded into laziness, I got back into pajamas and surfed the web on the couch.
Wanna see what I found?
I love how simple and functional these are.
Gorgeous house but I don’t think I’d like to live there. How would you landscape or have a garden? It’s too much… too pristine. Any thoughts?
Do you LOVE cactus? No really… do you love them?
Now this is my kind of jewelry!
I love bugs. Period.
Oh. Was that not clear? I LOVE BUGS!
What kind of vine do think would look best on this house? Ivy? A cool rose?
What are you up to today?
little violet ready for planting
Tags: dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, garden blog, garden blogs, garden links, HMB gardener, hmb gardening, hmb landscaping, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, lazy gardening, Organic Gardening, violet planting, Wildflower Farms
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Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
Finally, a foggy morning here in Half Moon Bay. Well, I guess it’s not uncommon but we’ve had a week of really hot (to me really hot is 70 degrees) weather and the fog is a nice reprieve to wake up to. I got up early this morning and slowly traipsed through my little garden, mostly just standing there checking out everything that is in bloom. My neighbors probably think I’m constantly hung-over or high, since most mornings I’ll come out in a daze – hair unbrushed, pajamas half on, just standing there looking at the garden – like a zombie.
The past 6 months I’ve been frantically planting in my front garden, and you can tell. It’s beautiful, but completely schizophrenic. I planted California poppies when they were just coming out in the nursery, more roses when it was bare-root time, a bunch of iris and lily bulbs from the SF garden show and a menagerie of salvias, boronia, cerinthe and euphorbia left over from jobs. I’ve desperately layered organic fertilizers and compost, as to avoid the terrible growing season like we had last year. My efforts paid off, but I don’t have an inch left to plant in for the summer. Everything is full, lush and blooming – or about to bloom, with hundreds of tiny buds on the tips of each healthy plant. The California poppies are all in full flower, with an array of bright yellow cups on top of every single thin stem. The orange shrubs are in flower, too… the sweet fragrance it slight, since the other plants are so crowded around them. And I have one, lone black iris taking it’s sweet time to open up.But when it does, he’ll match the line of stout black pansies that have lined my pathway.
What are you up to on this lovely Earth Day? What is blooming riot in your garden?
Tags: black iris, black panies, dirty gir garden, dirty girl gardening, earth day, garden apothecary, garden blog, garden blogging, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, Organic Gardening, time in the garden
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Friday, March 30th, 2012
Tags: bulbs, cutting down bulbs, dirty girl, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, Flowers, garden blog, garden blogger, garden writer, growing bulbs, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Segale, old bulbs, organic garden blog
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Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
“Really? We’re seriously going to Alcatraz?”
This was my asshole response when my boyfriend suggested we head to the City for some tourist-y activities. His brother was here for a few days to attend my drunk-fest birthday party over the weekend and stayed a couple extra days to check out SF. As an SF native, my initial reaction to doing the Pier 39-Fisherman’s Wharf-Lombard-bullshit is usually utter annoyance. It’s windy, there are annoying tourists and I’ve been schlepping to those places ever since I was in utero. Pre-utero. Ever since my parents were in utero… or something. You see, both sides of my family were born and raised in SF (North Beach, Butcher Town, Alemany) – a bunch of real hardcore Italian, Portuguese, Swedish SF-ers, who showed my sister and I how to do SF right. Osso bucco and Irish creams at The Gold Spike. Free Shirley Temple’s at almost any Italian restaurant in North Beach since my Grandma knew the owners. And eating the hell out of a “cable car sundae” for my birthday at Ghirardelli Square (I always ordered mint chip, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. The sides are the chocolate cable cars, and I ate those cable cars until they melted in my kung-fu grip – never sharing).
So ya, I know San Fran… and have also inherited the been-there-done-that attitude that comes with a Bay Area upbringing.
But I hadn’t been to Alcatraz in a million years and wanted to mostly see the garden renovation that has been going on. Alcatraz has the coolest history, with some amazing past and present infamous inhabitants.
Al Capone. Frank Morris. John Paul Scott.
Agave attenuata. Blooming Muscari. Bearded Iris.
The wind must have blown the smug right off me because once there, I was enamored with the present day inmates… succulents like Sedum, Agave, and Echeveria thrive on that windy rock. The “prisoners gardens” were immaculate. Growing wild and full, but well tended and tidy. Beautiful and sprawling clusters of California poppies, Alyssum, red Pelargoniums and Kniphofia grew in abundance. Dripping off the terraced walls were hot pink ice plant and large sweeps of native ferns.
Touring the buildings and grounds was fascinating, and most of it I completely forgot about since the last time I was there. Here are some pics:
Go and check out “the rock”… even if you’ve been there before!
And to volunteer in the gardens, go here!
Tags: Alcatraz, Alcatraz gardens, dirty girl gardening, garden tours, gardens, Jenn Segale, Organic Gardening, SF, sf gardening, sf gardens, SF native, succulents
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Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Fresh of the heels of my Belizean
“We were both hungry and eager to stroll through the lively and abundant farmers market, so we pulled over and parked. The first stall we came across was a table brimming with different barks, leaves, branches, and clear bags and bottles with cut up medicinal herbs. The woman behind the table, I later came to find out, was Mommy Janice, a bush woman from Belmopan with a wealth of knowledge regarding anything jungle. We spent a while talking about “jungle remedies” and common ailments that can be relieved or cured by her carefully selected herbs and bark. Janice was enthusiastic and excited – the type of person who is more excited about you than you are. She started her herbal lecture as a conversation between friends, rather than someone who you just randomly met. I felt like I was learning something new, but like I was being let in on a secret, too.
“My number one selling herb, Palo de hombre or Quesa amora – for the male gem”, Janice said. I turned to Matt smiling and whispered, “Boner juice! Awesome!” We chatted with her a while and bought tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata L.) and periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus). She wrote the directions for how to use the unlabeled bags of herbs on a slightly crumpled, scratch piece of paper. I had told her how many times I fell on my ass in the caves and she suggested cedar tea, for bruised blood.”
Once I got home, I bought about 72 hundred books on Belize and jungle remedies. My favorite has been Rainforest Remedies, by Rosita Arvigo, D.N. and Michael Balick, Ph. D. This book is an awesome tool to find jungle teas, compress recipes and traditional info on plant healing. My favorite has been the ginger tea recipe, which I use in the evening before bed or if I feel a cold coming on:
Traditional Uses: A household remedy that offers great relief for stomach ache, gas pains, indigestion and colds.
Recipe: Grate 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger root in 1 cup of water. Boil for 5 minutes and drink freely.
This is Begonia popenoei (below), a lovely little begonia that often grows wild in Belize and Guatemala. I found it growing along the Caves Branch river, among wild ginger, Ylang Ylang, clover and banana. It’s a medium to large Begonia, with signature tuberous stems and a fine layer of hairs on the under side of the broad leaf. I learned you can pluck a stem, suck the bottom and taste a light, sweet nectar – similar to honeysuckle. From then on I made sure to scan the ground on our jungle hikes for this sugary pick-me-up. When you’re hot, exhausted and need more than just water and Planter’s Peanuts to satisfy you – Begonia popenoei does the trick.
(To read the whole book, click here)
Tags: belize vacation, Botanically Belize, caves branch, dirty girl, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, garden blog, garden blogger, gardening blog, healing plants, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, jungle cures, jungle hikes, jungle remedies, jungle trees, Organic Gardening, plants
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Saturday, February 25th, 2012
This morning I went to a farmers market in San Mateo… I needed some goodies for the kitchen and wanted a dose of color first thing in the morning. I can’t think of a more fabulous way to start the weekend. I’m spending the rest of the day with a book (Julia Child memoir) and possibly a little glass of bubbly… cheers!
What are you up to?
Here are some lovely links for the w e e k e n d:
Tags: books, dirty, dirty girl, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, farmers market san mateo, Flowers, garden apothecary, garden blog, garden design, Gardening, half moon bay, half moon bay gardening, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, Landscape Design, organic garden blog, Organic Gardening, organic gardens, plant blog, planting, san mateo farmers market, veggies, Wildflower Farms
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Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
I have to admit, lately I have not been the best chicken mama.
Last night, I forgot to move the chickens from their outside garden pen, to their chicken Chateau. It wasn’t until about 10pm, and after The Real Housewives was over, that I heard obsessive squawking. “Shit!”, I shouted. I jumped off the couch, through the crowd of dogs (my boyfriend’s dog is here basically every night… and now it makes 3 dogs in my house. 3 dogs!), out to the garden. I whipped open the door, figuring they would come rushing out right away. Instead, two were fast asleep in their little laying boxes, and only one was awake telling me to put them to bed. Mama chick (AKA Princess Sparkle, AKA Henny Penny, AKA Fat Ass) was in one box, and the other two were jammed in the second box. They looked so sweet and cozy and I felt bad for having to wake them. I picked the two up and it was like picking up a sleeping child – completely lifeless and unaffected by the move. I gently plopped them down in their Chateau, and they crawled up onto the roosting pole and feel back to sleep.
Tomorrow, I’m going to cook them their favorite meal: pasta with cut up pineapple and arugula. It may seem high-maintenance, but the eggs are worth it!
**Pic taken by Rob Co
Tags: bad chicken mama, chicken, chicken keeping, chicken treats, dirty girl gardening, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale
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Sunday, February 5th, 2012
The past couple months I’ve fallen off the garden blog-o-sphere… mostly due to botanical immersion in Belize!
But don’t worry… I’ve written all about my trip in a new eBook coming out very soon. The book is about cave exploration, botany in Central America, cacao, jungle remedies, and the ridiculous fun that comes with traveling (and drinking lots of rum punch!).
Here’s a taste:
Botanically Belize
“Huh? You’re huh? Please!? Where the hell is Please?”.
I reminded my father that I was going to Belize, not “Please” – mostly since “Please” was a word, not a country. I also made sure to note that even though I have not seen the movie “Hostel”, I’ll be sure to check for all my limbs and organs and won’t befriend anyone, ever – just to be safe. I also filled him in on the small fact that Belize was located in Central America. Not South America. Not Mexico. And it wasn’t “the Congo”. And the Napa Valley is for retired old farts, not for a 29 year old who needs a little adventure.
However, my father’s last concern actually made me stop and think.
“Jenn, you can’t bullshit a bullshitter. I know you’ve been digging in the dirt since you were a little girl, but it’s been with marigolds and roses, not in no jungle. You won’t last one day! This whole “Dirty Girl” thing is cute – but your daddy knows the truth! You’re just not that dirty”.
I hung up the phone. “Damn it. He’s right!”.
——–
Stay tuned for the link to the whole book!
butterfly from the butterfly farm in San Ignacio, Belize
Tags: Belize, Botanically Belize, butterflies, butterfly farm, Central America, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, garden blog, garden traveling, garden writer, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, San Ignacio
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Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
the last bit of yesterday was finished off at the farm, doing some general clean-up and a bit of planting. the guys weed whacked and planted clusters of jade in the succulent mother garden – i poked around taking pictures and organizing the accumulating detritus that the wind brings in on the field. on the driveway, a number of volunteers have established well in the compacted gravel. seed from Shasta Daisys, Nepeta, Stock and Feverfew – all have been brought in from my truck or the wind, and have settled nicely in various parts of the long driveway. it’s weird how you can try so hard to get something to grow in your garden, and it dies. but do nothing to cultivate a plant elsewhere, and it thrives. the mother garden is maintaining well, despite a lack of water and attention. some of the succulents are growing, but most are just maintaining, bright in color and healthy – but not exuding too much energy this time of year.
teeth i found in the field
i forget the name of this ground cover...
yarrow who planted itself in the driveway
discolored tree frog on the water tank pump...
Feverfew in the driveway
echeveria growing in the mother garden with concrete blocks
Aeonium growing in the mother garden
Tags: dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, farm, farm clean-up, farm work, garden, garden design, garden designer, gardener HMB, Gardening, growing plants, half moon bay, half moon bay farm, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, landscape, Landscape Design, landscape designer, landscaping, mother garden, organic, Organic Gardening, succulent growing, succulents
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