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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Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
I woke up this morning anticipating rain since the forecast for the whole rest of the week calls for a down pour. Out my bedroom window the sky was overcast and there was a typical puddly wet sidewalk, but no real rain. I lumbered down the stairs half awake, turned up the heater and gave each dog a pet hello on top of the head. Sprout barely waited for the pet, opting rather to turn back to her bed of blankets and cozy up.
The kitchen was freezing cold as usual, and just as I was debating on hurrying out to do a bit of gardening before the rain came – the rain came. I tossed my felcos and gloves back on the table and lit the stove for some tea, no pajama gardening for me this morning. Whoosh went the flame under my copper tea kettle, quickly boiling my tea water.
I love rainy mornings like this – it gives me a chance to just watch the garden, rather than work in it. Sometimes you don’t even have time to notice what you’ve done, when you are constantly doing.
Bobbi Bankston from { Poppy & Pearl } gave me one of her gorgeously simple mason jar tumblers to try… and this morning was perfect for a huge jar of hot green tea! The tea was from Red Blossom in SF, procured from a trip Matt and I took to China Town the other weekend. We stopped in and had a fascinating lesson on tea leaves, and a tasting (of about 7 types) to go with it. We vibrated out of there with a big bag of different types of green, oolong and flowering tea (I didn’t get any sleep that night!).
Bobbi was kind enough to answer some questions for me the other week… here’s our mini interview:
1. When is your favorite time to use your tumblers?
I’d have to say camping in the mountains with friends at a little place called Kennedy Meadows. My friends and I have been spending summer vacations there since we were young and now we go with our husbands and kids… it’s so special! Every year my boys and I hike up to “the meadow” for a picnic… Aspens and snow capped mountains make for a picture perfect setting.
2. They seems perfect for using at a picnic… any yummy drink recipes you suggest using in your tumblers?
Sangria- my all time favorite drink. The thing I love about Sangria is that you can’t mess it up!
1 bottle chilled cabernet
2 cups club soda
1/4+ Brandy
2 sliced limes
2 sliced oranges
a few handfuls of mixed berries- whatever your preference.
sip and enjoy!
3. What is your favorite plant to grow and why?
My tomato plants because they always look like they are on steroids! I love it! My three boys love picking them and it’s always rewarding to share the extras with neighbors and friends.
Need a tumbler of your own?
Bobbi is generously offering a { giveaway } to you fine readers… the first { 2 people } to add your favorite drink & the recipe to the comment section – wins!
Have a lovely rainy day! xo xo Jenn
PICS by Rob Co.
Tags: Bobbi Bankston, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, garden blog, Gardening Blogging, Green Tea, Green tea tasting, Jennifer Lee Segale, Mason Jar Tumblers, Organic Gardening, Poppy and Pearl, rainy day, rainy day gardening, Red Blossom Tea, Tumblers
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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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Friday, February 24th, 2012
My new little eBook is published! Botanically Belize is a garden/travel book about my adventures in Belize. I went for about 3 weeks in December/Jan. and explored almost the whole country, by way of a tiny little pickup truck and my awesome boyfriend, Matt. We went cave tubing, Mayan ruin trekking, hiking, horse back riding through the jungle, and came across tons of little adventures and friendly locals along the way. I also got to further my obsession with Cacao!
I hope you all download (it’s free!) the book and leave comments here and on my FB page. I would love to hear what everyone thinks of the book. Please feel free to share this link on there own FB pages, blogs, twitters and any of your other sites.
“http://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=12631370
This book will be a series! I’m traveling to Spain in May, so look out for Botanically Spain next…
xoxo, Jenn
Tags: Belize, belize trips, belize vacations, Botanically Belize, dirty girl, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, eBook, ebooks, exploring belize, facebook, Jennifer Lee Segale, 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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Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
Pilarcitos High School was in desperate need of some sprucing up! How are these people supposed to learn when there is nothing pretty outside to distract them!? Wildflower Farms (my landscape design company), donated 2, 3 pocket woolly‘s for the cause! We planted them with a mix of herbs, strawberries and cascading perennials to create a lovely textile on the wall of the school. My favorite combination to plant in these pockets, are Annie’s Annuals wild strawberries and any ol’ snap pea. They grow fast and cascade down… making it perfect for you to walk by and snap a little snack off of the stem.
Need help getting woolly’s of your own?
Would you like to donate to this school or programs like this?
Email me @ jenn@dirtygirlgarden.com or visit www.wildflowerfarms.org
Tags: CUSD, dirty girl, dirty girl garden, dirty girl gardening, Jenn Segale, Jennifer Lee Segale, Jennifer Segale, pilarcitos high school, pilarcitos school, school planting, verticle gardens, woolly pockets. woolly pocket
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