Author: Liz Braithwaite

Good Information

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I want a search engine that can do two things:

  1. Be able to search through my Internet history for a page I remember viewing but I just can’t find.
  2. Search through a selected group of pages, not the entire web: i.e. garden blogs, Extension sites, print-published items, etc.

If anyone finds anything like this, let me know. Or you might even get creative and start something yourself.

At garden rant, I read a post about the web being overrun by articles  not written by experts. There is a ton out there. However, I’m not completely opposed because I’m my mind there is no way to find absolutely correct information anyway. There’s a lot of garbage written by people who have no clue what they are doing. At the same time, I’ve found very valuable information on so-called junk sites.

You can try to find articles written by experts like professional gardeners, extension service agents, people with big degrees and lots of experience. But even the supposed experts aren’t always right. There’s an old Extension bulletin in the USU system that advocates fertilizing lawn every two weeks. It is written by an expert, but the information is bad and outdated. I’ve even worked for the Extension office and (I’m sorry to admit) have offered supposedly ‘expert’ advice that was completely wrong.

Scientific literature and printed information can also be good sources. But scientific literature is far from fact, as discussed on this post at greensparrow gardens. Printed stuff often come from writers that may or may not be actual gardening experts.

The way to get good information:

  • Cross-reference a bit
  • Try and find the most current info
  • Dig up the experience/qualifications of the writer
  • The library, associated resources, and real people beats Google
  • Nothing can replace your own experience and trial and error

If you really want to know something go out and experiment. Often there isn’t a wrong or a right way, just the way that works for you.

And someone should really start a new type of search engine.

Sewing

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I sew a little. Lately I’ve been thinking of things to sew. I’ve got quite a list:

  • Curtains for Peter’s room
  • Curtains for the kitchen
  • Gardening apron
  • Smallish bags
  • Green knit skirt
  • New waistband on workout capris
  • Mend/quilt quilt

I have three problems:

  1. I don’t ever make time to sew
  2. Peter and sewing don’t mix
  3. I’m a horrible sewer

Well today at the library, I stumbled upon a book about sewing. I feel 300% more able to sew a good project. I also was thinking this book is going to do me no good if I have to turn it back into the library. I hardly ever check out a book that the same day I want to buy it.

I realized I need to cut my fabric more straight, not just willy-nilly. Than I actually need to pin or baste it. I should also pay attention when I am sewing, so I keep the allowance the same and actually sew straight. I also learned how to finish a seam so it looks good and doesn’t fray several different ways, without a serger. Most of all, I need to use the iron more. The author mentioned that you should spend as much time pressing as sewing to get good projects.

After writing all that done, it’s very clear why I am not a good sewer. I rush it through it too much. So next up is the kitchen curtains. Whew, curtains are pretty hard to ruin. Although I did start once and ended up unpicking everything and changed what I was doing.

Cheap Can Be Better

You get what you pay for. I was thinking of this saying and plants while lying in bed. I do not think you get what you pay for when you buy plants. For instance:

  • A pack of seed can turn into hundreds of great plants and costs only a few dollars. You have to spend extra work making them into those great plants, but at the same time you have control and know it’s done properly.
  • Larger plants cost more, but often just develop transplant shock when you plant them, and their smaller counterparts outgrow them quickly. This is especially true with perennials. I love 4 or 6 inch perennials. I won’t buy a gallon plant unless there is no other option.
  • Big box stores often stock from local and reliable wholesalers, but they don’t have the mark-up that many garden centers do.
  • Neglected plants are usually knocked way down, but can often quickly be brought back to life.
  • More expensive, newer varieties aren’t necessarily better: sometimes the older cheaper ones are.
  • If you get starts from neighbors it’s completely free and you know the plant will grow well in your exact location.

My neighbors redid their landscape right after I move here. Later on, I inspected their lawn and was pleasantly surprised to see a turf-type tall fescue. Tall fescue lawns are more drought tolerant, pest resistant, and often just look healthier and greener than their Kentucky blue counterpart. It also still handles traffic well, and the newer turf-types aren’t as stiff and spiky as the regular species. I inquired about there lawn later on and found out the reason they bought it wasn’t because it’s one of the best type of lawns to plant. (They had no idea.) It was the cheaper variety of sod.

Another time I was going to buy perennials. I went to about every garden center and store and finally found what I wanted at Smith’s Marketplace. They had the largest selection of perennials in the area, all in 4 or 6 inch parts, and a fraction of the price of the other garden centers. I noticed that a lot of the perennials came from local wholesalers–reliable companies that grew some of the best perennials to plant in our area. I ended up with better plants than many of the traditional varieties sold in garden centers and for a fraction of the price.

I have also bought plants that are poorly taken care of and succumb to rot or other problems soon after purchasing. I have also bought more expensive plants because it was the exact variety I wanted, or even because I loved the garden center it was sold at. But more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better.

Perennials

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My day flew by today. It’s already almost over and I’m thinking of all the stuff that I thought I could get done today. I didn’t do half of it. Mostly I took care of my toddler, along with a lunch date/shopping trip with my husband. The toddler is pretty high maintenance right now, but a joy too. Sometimes I have I think of what I could be doing if I wasn’t taking care of him all the time. So many things I want to do just don’t get done, nor will they for a long time. But mostly I love being a stay at home mom. There’s a slew of other things I wouldn’t have dived into if I hadn’t been home with him. Like this blog and my fledging hort business.

Right now I’ve working on lots of stuff for the above venture. One of which is making a plant list that is taking forever, mostly because I get distracted and start to read all the cool things about plants. I’m working on perennials right now. I got up to over 380 species, but have since consolidated some. There are so many different plants to plant out there! I wonder why people plant so much lawn when you could plant big borders of beautiful perennials instead. It’s been a really good project because I’ve increased my knowledge immensely. (I didn’t know 380 perennials before. Okay I still don’t know that many, but more than I did before I started.) It’s also nice to have a list I can copy/paste out of to make plant lists for clients. I will share when if I ever get done.

I’ve used two books for the plant list–Still’s manual (Manual of Herbaceous Ornamental Plants), and Graham Rice’s book (Encyclopedia of Perennials (American Horticultural Society). Both are good books and complement each other. I like Still’s better as a basic reference, but Graham’s is the better read. I get very distracted by all the wonderful pictures and fun facts. And so many cultivars are listed! That is one thing I do not think I will ever learn unless I go into the nursery business. What do you think about learning cultivars? For me, it’s best to learn general facts about the species and worry about specific cultivars when I am at a nursery about to buy a plant. No point in finding the perfect cultivar that no one sells!

Bread

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I was making bread. After I got the yeast going, and measured the flour, I realized my mixed was broken. At the same time I dumped half of the flour down myself and onto the flour. Peter quite enjoyed playing with it. I let him while I tried to figure out what to do with my mixer. It was a little lot frustrating. Eventually I did figure out that on small piece was gummed up, and hopefully I can get it cleaned out or order a new piece. The mixer is still broken, however. I also learned today that you can actually make bread by hand. Wow. It wasn’t that hard and actually a wonderful way to work away the stress I had built up over the broken mixer.

Peter has been grumpy, not only because his mommy ignored him while she tried to make bread. He has the rest of his teeth coming in. All at once. Poor kid. We made it through the day. The kitchen even got clean even with lunch spilled all over, and flour everywhere. We went sledding with Daddy. (Which scared little Pete, but Joe and I liked it.) And we played at the library. Most wonderful of all my bread was delicious. I was so worried that after a morning of trying to get it made it would fail. But it didn’t. I would say it is the best bread I have ever made. I’m not in any hurry to get my mixer fixed. I wouldn’t mind just kneading again. 🙂

*Oh, and congrats to sister who had baby Annalee today!

New Year

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Ignore the noise: I took it through my window. Too cold to go outside.

Welcome to the new year! I’ve got lots of good goals. ( I like goals too.) They do not include losing weight (since I would rather gain some), or getting out of debt (since we will need more to get through school). But they do include getting up earlier (although I usually get up well before 7, so this might seem a bit strange to some people), reading 25 new books, heading a community garden, and getting new gardening clients. My favorite one is to take a picture of the sunrise every morning. I made that because too often I get caught up in life and forget to realize how wonderful/beautiful it is. And I think it will be fun.

We spent New Year’s Eve at my parents house eating pitas and playing games. Reverse charades is the funniest game ever. I have not laughed that hard and that long in ages. My brother in law reading cheese instead of chess was the best. I stayed up until midnight (which is very late for me), and went to bed right after. I was actually brushing my teeth when the new year came rolling in. So I guess it can be the year of dental hygiene.

And Peter is adorable. He now likes to sweep and mop floors. If you count moving a rag back and forth on the floor as mopping.

First Snowshoe

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We had to use the new kid carrier we got for Christmas so we went snowshoeing. Yesterday we went up Maple canyon in Mapleton. It was quite an excellent place to snowshoe, and there were several other groups we came across while we were out. There were lots of places to go exploring, and with fresh snowfall it was beautiful. We didn’t go long, not with Peter in tow. I carried him for about 200 ft, and than luckily buff husband carried him the rest of the time. He is heavy, even with a nice backpack for him to ride in. I really wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t so big: small babies have lots of advantages.

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It’s been nice not having school for Joe. Although he picked up extra shifts at work and is still gone quite a bit. Today we tried to go sledding. We went up to the disk golf course in Spanish Fork. We already knew it had pretty good hills…but it’s also windy. Windy and cold meant a short trip. It was also nap time for Peter, so he was tired and hated the wind. We’ll try again sometime, hopefully when it is warmer. I just don’t know about any good sledding places around where I live now. I miss the gravel pits in Lehi and Old Main Hill in Logan. I’m sure there are good places to go, any ideas?

Sunrise

I’ve recently started taking pictures of the sunrise every morning. On Christmas Eve, I took a sequence of pictures of the sun rising over a period of a couple hours.

It was quite lovely. As I was watching I read these scriptures:

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

3 Nephi 18:24 Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas

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Christmas came. We visited the husband’s relatives on Christmas Eve, which included a rip-roaring game of hide and go seek outside with my niece and nephew I don’t see that much. I did not win. I think Ella did, who cleverly laid down beneath the old satellite dish. But Jame maintains that he did and it is true that it took a while to find him. It was a fun visit, and then we went down to Liz and Dave’s for dinner. Delicious. And I remember why I don’t like scrabble or about any derivative of it. Maybe if I played more…but I’m just not into word games. Even though I did not win the game, I still enjoyed the visit. And the food was delicious which makes any visit that much better.

On our drive back home, we did the Christmas program I made up which involved lots of singing and reading the different scriptural accounts of Christ’s birth. I tried to focus more on Christ this Christmas, and as I did I grew extremely grateful for everything that He has done. He has given me all the hope and joy that I have in my life. This Christmas I gained a great desire to serve Him and follow Him no matter what.

We stayed at home with just our little family for the first time this Christmas. Santa still came to our house, with stocking and a brand new (okay, not-quite-new e-bay deal) hiking backpack to put Peter in. With the backpack came a desire to go backpacking next summer with Peter. But for now, probably snowshoeing this week as long as its not that cold. Santa even remembered to wrap the living room doorway, just like he did growing up. Peter was the first through. It was fun for me, since that’s been Christmas morning as long as I can remember.

We opened more presents, ate a delicious breakfast that was more a dessert, and went to my parents for lunch and even more presents. Some of my presents included much loved/desired yoga blocks from Joe that I never even really asked for, pruning equipment (if you have fruit trees/shrubs, I’ve got all the equipment minus a ladder), new sheets (that were needed and firmly asked for: our old ones just developed holes) and cups from my mom, and cute aprons and recipe box from my sister-in-law. Joe got a computer bag from me. And little Peter now has even more toys: a basketball that goes with his new hoop, a tractor that he adores, and electronic barn toy that he also adores because he can make it play music, some board books, small balls, and new pj’s. It was a great Christmas.

Christmas also always seems to involve lots of time playing games with family. We even went and played disk golf, and I was keeping up with my brothers. They eventually beat me but I was a good solid fourth, only a point behind. Joe was much better than everyone. He also plays the most and has the best muscles (at least look wise. My brothers are college ball players so I hope they are in better shape then him.)

Christmas is Coming

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Yesterday was a big day. We went to go buy shoes for Peter because he currently has one pair and they were wet. So at the store, he got his feet measured and we were looking at size eight shoes and I suddenly realized I had about four pairs of hand me down size eight shoes. Glad the trip to the store resulted in more shoes for absolutely nothing.

We went to the library and than the  Springville Art Museum and saw their current display of religious art. It was a great display. Then it was a trip up to Salt Lake, to see the lights at temple square. And more museums. Too many museums for one day. But…it was all pretty awesome as well. Peter enjoyed the lights and did pretty well at the museums. His favorite part were the bunks at the church history museum he could climb into. He would have probably stayed there for a good hour.

Today was much lazier. We went to the store. That’s about it. But it is Christmas Eve tomorrow! Tonight, after Peter took his nap from 6-7 (that boy’s nap schedule is all sorts of weird) we were sitting on the couch. I was eating crackers and dipping them in a batch of hummus. So Peter handed me the package of crackers. I gave two to him, one for each hand, and then he dipped them in the container with the hummus (even though he didn’t get any dip) and than ate the cracker. He is adorable.