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Two Great Tools for Easy Composting

March 15, 2018 By Heather Blackmore Leave a Comment

Composting Scraps

  If you've ever considered composting your food scraps, I say "What are you waiting for?!?" The above photo represents not even a day's worth of food scraps generated by my family of four. It almost covered the entire surface of an 11x17 inch cookie sheet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 20 to 30 percent of your trash is comprised of food scraps and yard waste. When added to a landfill, they release methane gas, a highly potent and low profile cousin of carbon dioxide. Both are harmful greenhouse gases. As a gardener, it's a no brainer to convert our food scraps to "black gold." My first attempt involved a process used by Trudi Temple, a well-known Chicago area gardener who buried her food scraps in holes around her yard. I did this too, ...

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Filed Under: Food, Gardening, Top Posts Tagged With: compost crank, composting, earth machine, easy composting, how to compost, tools

Egg-Free Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

March 1, 2018 By Heather Blackmore Leave a Comment

Steaming Coffee Oatmeal Cookies

When my daughter was diagnosed with SIBO and allergies to eggs, soy and nuts, it quickly became apparent that cookies were a no-no. Gasp! If you find an affordable egg-free cookie that meets the criteria to keep her gut healthy, I'm all ears. Since her diagnosis last year, I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen trying to come up with recipes that were appealing to all of us. What mom has the time to create individual meal plans? And what I found is that it is possible to have an egg-free, relatively healthy cookie that we all can enjoy. I say relatively because butter, flour and sugar are involved, but it's a cookie for crying out loud and the butter's grass-fed, the sugar's brown and the flour is whole wheat. I also added ground flax seed for some nutritional punch in the form of Omega-3 ...

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Filed Under: Food, Health, SIBO (pronounced See-BO) Tagged With: cookies, cranberry oatmeal cookies, Egg free cookies

Shake the Winter Blues with a Visit to Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory

February 21, 2018 By Heather Blackmore Leave a Comment

Garfield Park Conservatory

I had never visited the Garfield Park Conservatory so when my friend and fellow writer/plant lover Beth Botts offered a guided tour in the middle of February, my guy and I were Johnny-on-the-spot. A two-acre public greenhouse is good medicine for  winter weary souls. Often referred to as "landscape art under glass," the conservatory is part of the Chicago Park District and is located on the city's West Side. It's a horticultural phoenix, rising from the ashes of disrepair, public disinterest and a colossal hailstorm in 2011 that shattered half of the glass panes in the fern room. For months, workers armed with tweezers painstakingly removed shards of glass from priceless plants, some of which have been there since the conservatory's opening in 1908. The conservatory was designed by ...

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Filed Under: Gardening, Virtual Garden Walks Tagged With: Chicago, Garfield Park Conservatory, greenhouse

The Day Mister Lincoln Found Peace at the Tropicana – A Rose Tale

February 6, 2018 By Heather Blackmore 4 Comments

Peace rose

It's hard to say when the gardening bug bit but I think it was more like a culmination of bites that swelled into one enormous green thumb. The result? A pleasant itch that must always be scratched and a plethora of memories that share a common theme. Plants. I was raised on Jefferson Street in Harvey, IL, and if you know Harvey, you know it ain't all that pleasant. It wasn't then and it still isn't. Poor, gang-ridden, loud. The kind of place where you're lulled to sleep by gunfire, barking dogs and screaming. Where if you had a lawn you were the exception. We didn't have a lawn. But I could make one badass mud pie complete with clover flower "frosting." Our next door neighbor, Mr. Randall, doted over his lawn. It was a verdant carpet that met it's demise in a drive-by. Some kid ...

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Filed Under: About, Gardening Tagged With: Rose, Roses

Growing Figs in the Midwest: An Experiment

January 24, 2018 By Heather Blackmore 3 Comments

Chicago Hardy Fig Tree seedlings in container

Hard to believe, but I had big plans for these two little sticks the moment I laid eyes on them at Costco last March. What gardener isn't hungry to play in the dirt after a long winter? They didn't look like much but the moment I realized they were Chicago Hardy figs (Ficus carica) I was instantly envisioning fig jam, prosciutto wrapped figs, figs stuffed with blue cheese. Figs. Figs. Figs. The reality however, is that I haven't got a clue how to grow a fig tree, but the fact that it's got Chicago AND Hardy in it's name has to mean I might not kill them. Right? At just four inches from root to tip, the saplings were on the dry side, the tiny leaves crisp and barely hanging on. A bit of condensation on the inside of each bag told me they weren't completely parched but the roots would ...

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Filed Under: Food, Gardening Tagged With: Chicago Hardy Fig, Cold Climate, fig trees, Figs

SIBO: More Than Just A Tummy Ache

January 10, 2018 By Heather Blackmore Leave a Comment

Abigail White Sox Game after SIBO

You never realize the importance of the passenger seat airbag "ON" light illuminating until it doesn't any longer. Little things like this are taken for granted. Kinda like how the sun will always rise. Until it doesn't. So when the light glowed last week (for the first time in over a year) as my daughter Abigail settled into the seat, we were silent. It's significance meant more than just the reassurance it provided, it meant my daughter was healing. The sun was rising and man was it bright. At 82 pounds and 13 years old, she was slight but strong, her weight enough to allow her to sit in the front passenger seat. This was June 2016 and around this time, things started to change. Long tearful stints in the bathroom, tummy aches after every meal or snack. A general feeling of malaise that ...

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Filed Under: Health, SIBO (pronounced See-BO), Top Posts Tagged With: IBS, SIBO

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Hi there!

I'm Heather and I love to grow stuff. LOTS of stuff. Most importantly, a healthy family. I'm a stay-at-home mom with a passion for playing in the dirt. Read More…

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My Hydrangea serrata has chlorosis, a common issue My Hydrangea serrata has chlorosis, a common issue with trees and shrubs in areas with heavy clay soil and an alkaline pH. Pretty typical in Illinois.

Plants with chlorosis will have yellowing leaves with veins that remain green. And it indicates an absorption issue in the soil. While it won’t kill ☠️ the plant, it does hinder its ability to produce chlorophyll so the sooner you respond the better.

I submitted a soil sample to a lab 🔬 before applying amendments to know exactly what I was lacking and you can find more on that on the blog. 🔗Just hit the link button for more.

The test revelaved a pH of 7.6, no surprise. 

Where the chlorosis begins is a good indicator of what’s going on below. The new growth on my hydrangea was chlorotic and the leaves further down were completely green. That told me I was dealing with an iron issue.

So I loosened up the soil around the drip line of the plant, added compost and top dressed with a ring of @espomaorganic Iron-Tone. Scratched it in and watered. I’ll added a few inches of mulch to help with moisture retention and keep an eye on it. 

A soil test is an invaluable tool for diagnosing problems and it prevents you from adding amendments you may not need.

Happy Gardening!

#chlorosis #hydrangea #soiltesting #soiltest #ironchlorosis #gardenproblems #gardentip #soil #ph #highph #organicgardening #smallspacegarden #chicagogarden #alkalinesoil #gardening #zone5b #hereshegrows #soilamendments
This combo is giving me all the feels today. Wench This combo is giving me all the feels today. Wench is the only bearded iris I grow and I love how she looks paired with Wildberry heuchera, Mini Saffron barberry in the foreground and Seducer hosta bringing up the rear. I love how they grow into each other and the way the chartreuse color of the barberry makes everything around it pop. @provenwinners @pwcolorchoice #plantcombinations #smallspacegarden #beardediris #purpleandyellow #perennialgarden #inmygardentoday #gardening #zone5b #chicagogarden #heuchera #irises #hosta #barberry #hereshegrows
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” My “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” My Scarlet O’Hara peony opened today and unlike Rhett Butler, I DO give a damn. She’s a beauty. #peonies #scarletohara #peonyseason #gonewiththewind #garden #inmygarden #zone5b #chicagogardening #hereshegrows #smallspacegarden
The wren is singing his little heart out while the The wren is singing his little heart out while the hummingbird takes advantage of my fountain I scrubbed and plugged in yesterday. I start every day during the garden season sipping coffee and enjoying this space. What’s the point of having a garden if you don’t take time to absorb all the beauty it invites? #myhappyplace #inmygarden #hummingbirdsofinstagram #rubythroatedhummingbird #gardenfountain #birdbath #pollinatorgarden #pollinatorgardens #smallspacegarden #waterfeature #birds #zone5bgardening #chicagogarden #hereshegrows #backyardgardener #fountain
Some of my favorite things this morning…🌱Dolc Some of my favorite things this morning…🌱Dolce Wildberry heuchera is all about the foliage and I’m here for it…🌱I can’t remember the name of this monarda (it was a trial sent a few years ago) but it blooms in May every year and Peter Rabbit wants nothing to do with it…🌱And while I’m on the fence about whether or not the Sicilian Honey Garlic will be around much longer (they flop and grow in all sorts of weird contorted ways) I love the bell flowers. What are you loving  in your garden right now? Tell me in the comments! #maygarden #springgarden #smallspacegarden #wildberryheuchera #heuchera #monarda #allium #sicilianhoneygarlic #chicagogarden #gardening #gardenvignettes #zone5bgardening #perennialgarden #hereshegrows
If you need me, I’ll be in the veg garden. The s If you need me, I’ll be in the veg garden. The soil in my @vego_garden raised beds is 70 degrees and ready for the climbing zucchini, baby butternut squash, salad slicer cucumbers and nasturtium I started from seed in late April. What are you planting in your veg garden? Tell me in the comments! #vegogarden #sustainabilitymyway #vegetablegardening #raisedbeds #smallspacegarden #potager #growwhatyoulove #foodgarden #eattherainbow🌈 #youarewhatyoueatdaily #gardenlife #gardening #growveg #gardentotable #growyourown #chicagogarden #urbangardening #suburbangardening #zone5b #hereshegrows
Just a few moments from my garden this morning… Just a few moments from my garden this morning…

🌱The Musa basjoo banana is leafing out following winter storage in my basement. A good feed and plenty of 💦 woke him up! I love the alliums surrounding it right now.

🌱Can’t beat the purpley goodness of Cat’s Pajamas nepeta in the foreground. The yellow on the Autumn Frost hostas in the background just pops next to the grey Adirondack chairs.

🌱The most recent addition to the shade garden, Fun and Games ‘Eye Spy’ heucherella, has fabulous foliage and brightens up the space.

🌱And last but not least, the Salvia argentea is about to pop any day now! I grow it from seed and the foliage was gorgeous last year. It’s biennial and will peter out once it completes flowering. But I have a tray of fresh starts waiting in the wings to replant. 😉 

How are things coming along in your garden? 

#springgarden #inmygardennow #musabasjoo #alliums #backyardgardener #smallspacegarden #chicagogarden #zone5b #garden #gardening #hereshegrows
🐰Rabbits and voles, no matter how cute, can rui 🐰Rabbits and voles, no matter how cute, can ruin your hard work in a blink 👀! I’ve experimented with a lot of stuff but have had great results with @plantskyddrepellents and it’s not just effective for small nuisances. I’m fortunate to not have deer pressure, but it works on them too. It’s 💯% organic, won’t harm your pets or the little critters you’re trying to keep out. In my experience, I’ve only had to reapply it after a heavy rainfall. It also comes with a satisfaction guarantee. If you’re having critter issues, give it a go and let me know what you think! #plantskydd #rabbitrepellant #gardenpests #rabbits #gardenissues #gardentip #rabbitinthegarden #rabbitproblems #rabbitskeepout #freeloaders #inmygarden #chicagogarden #zone5b #hereshegrows #smallspacegarden
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