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Hello everyone! 

I can officially say that I’ve caught terrarium fever thanks to my fellow gardening friend, Jayme Jenkins.  Jayme is the owner of a brilliant online boutique called aHa! Modern Living that features standout, modern and earth-friendly home and garden accessories.  aHa! is Jayme’s dream business that was founded in November of 2008 and since then she has grown her small biz by specifically seeking out products that appeal to the gardener, foodie, entertainer and bird lover.  If you are looking for something that’s a little different, unique and stylish, then aHa Modern Living will be a fun shopping experience for you!

One of the products that aHa! carries is called the Roost Recycled Wall Glass Terrarium that is 7 1/2″ wide x 10″ high x 4 3/4″ deep, that literally made me squeal when I saw it in person.  What I love most about this bubble terrarium is it’s rubbable belly-like shape and its hand blown look and texture.  Since each vessel is blown without a mold and made with recycled glass,  it is typical for the terrarium to have “irregularities such as bubbles, dimples, flow and grit marks and rippling”, which adds to its unique appearance.  There’s also an adorable smaller version available that is 6 3/4″ wide x 8″ high x 4 1/2″ deep that looks too cute words.    

 If you are new to terrarium making, like me, or love the look of these enclosed indoor gardens and don’t know where to start, all you have to do is follow these steps that Jayme Jenkins has laid out for us:

10 Steps to Plant in Your Roost Recycled Glass Hanging Terrarium

 

1. To begin building your terrarium, place a layer of pea gravel or aquarium rocks at its base. This is necessary for proper drainage.
2. Next, layer a 1/2 inch layer of horticultural charcoal, which will help to keep your soil from developing a stinky smell.
3. On top of the charcoal, add 1/2 inch to 2 inches of relatively dry soil. You can find potting soil that is specifically made for terrariums, or just use any good quality organic potting soil mixed with one part coarse builders sand and one part humus. The soil should be dry enough that it should not stick to the sides of the terrarium.
4. Use your Terrarium Hand Tool Set to spread out your soil and create a hole in which you will place your plant.
5. Transplant your selected plant(s) into your hanging terrarium.
6. If you wish to include items from the outdoors such as rocks, shells, or driftwood, make sure to first rinse them with clean hot water. You don’t want to introduce any diseases or critters into your terrarium.
7. Hang your terrarium in a spot where it will receive sunlight, but NOT full or direct sun. Try to place it no further than 10 feet away from a window or skylight.
8. A terrarium is pretty much a set-it-and-forget it kind of thing. You don’t need to mess with them much. To water your soil plants, simply give them a misting with a spray bottle about once a week.
9. Steps 1-4 involve soil and therefore apply to plants that are not air plants. Air plants need no soil- only sunlight and water.
10. For air plants, it is best to give them a good soaking two times a week. When your plant needs to be watered, its leaves will feel soft and weak. When it has been watered sufficiently, its leaves will feel hard and strong. To water air plants, it is best to remove them from your terrarium and give them a dunk in a sink full of water. If you can’t remove the plant, just give it a good soak with a watering can inside the terrarium. Your plant should be dry within 4 hours after watering {be careful not to leave it in a swampy condition}.

Please note:  aHa! Modern Living provided a complimentary Roost Terrarium for me to review. The content of this review is entirely of  my own, and is not, in any way, influenced by aHa! Modern Living.  I love this terrarium and in my opinion think that it is the perfect gift for any gardener!  Thanks Jayme! For more information on their products they can be found at www.aHaModernLiving.com , on Facebook on Twitter. Happy Gardening!

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UPDATE:: After writing this post I found out that aHa! Modern Living has a giveaway going on for  a Roost Recycled Glass Wall Terrarium with Timber Press’s Terrarium Craft book by Amy Bryant Aiello and Kate Bryant.  Go ahead and enter now!  (after you check out my Pinterest Wednesday, of course )

It’s a succulent Pinterest Wednesday at Dirt & Martinis today!

As we know, succulents are very popular and fashionable in indoor and outdoor gardening these days.  Here are some of my favorite images that I’m very excited to share with you today.  I’m absolutey smitten with what you can do with these fascinating plants and am inspired to add some of these ideas to my home…

The above miniature garden tricycle would be so cute to add to any miniature/fairy garden.  Isn’t it darling?!

Pinned image found here.  Website for this image is from Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center shop found here.  

What’s not to love about these toy planters!? 

Pinned image found here.  Website for image found at More Design Please. 

I love Fern Richardson’s flour sifter planter!  So cute.

Pinned image found here. Website and tuturial for image found at Fiskars.com 

The above bubble terrariums are stunning aren’t they?  Sleek, modern and simple.  I adore these lovelies.

Pinned image found here. Website for image found at aHaModernLiving.com

So, are you on Pinterest yet? You can follow my Pinterest boards here or let me know via Twitter, Facebook or leave a comment on this post… Happy Pinning!

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The red-shafted flicker woodpecker in my garden.

Now that the temperatures are starting to drop and a lot of the work has come to a hault in my garden, I’ve turned my attention to attracting feathered critters into my landscape with the use of bird feeders.  Birdwatching may sound mundane and boring but once you start attracting birds into your cold weather garden it is far from dull and is often called a free ticket to the theater of nature.  Once you add fresh water and some bird seed you are guaranteed to always have a show. 

With the cooling temperatures birds need an extra addition of fat to help them survive so adding suet cakes is an important accompaniment to their fall and winter diet.  I am  so happy to have the ilusive red-shafted flicker woodpecker (shown above) frequently visit my garden since I’ve set out out the fatty suet cakes and bird seed.   If you’re not one to use animal products (most suet is beef kidney fat) you can easily make a big batch of vegetarian suet cakes and store them in the freezer for future use.  I found an easy recipe at www.suetbirdfeeder.net:

Wintertime Vegan “Suet”
The birds won’t miss the meat and your kitties will love to watch the action!

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups flour
6 cups cornmeal

Melt peanut butter and shortening in a large pot.
Stir in flour and cornmeal.
Turn dough onto a waxed paper lined 13×9″ pan.
Cut into rectangles for use in a suet feeder.
Suet can be stored in a freezer.

Here’s another easy project that I’m going to try soon.  All you need is a toilet paper roll, some peanut butter and bird seed!  Easy right? I’m sure the birds will love it.

Have you heard of peanut butter bird seed balls?  I made a bunch last year and they were gone in no time.  Hopefully I kept a lot of birds alive with all the fat I fed them! Click on the image for the Bird Seed Balls recipe…

 I hope these recipes and tips have inspired you to attract birds to your fall and winter garden.  What birds to you attract to your yard in the colder  months? I’d love to hear from you and even see photos.  You can share them with over on my Facebook page or via Twitter.  Tweet tweet!

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As I type it is still dark outside and the thermometer is reading 27°F.  Today my compost heap is going to get an extremely large addition of plants that were frozen overnight.  Before the frost hit I dug up and repotted some herbs and brought them indoors, did one last final harvest of green tomatoes, tiny squash, sugar snap peas and said goodbye to the nasturtiums and borage.  It’s always sad to see the gardening season end but, on the other hand, it’s also a good time of year to start planning next years garden.

tiny harvest before the freeze

Still trying to figure out what kind of squash that is...

goodbye nameless squash...

goodbye yummy dill...

Goodbye borage. I enjoyed you in cocktails. Sorry you're frozen solid right about now.

Well, it’s time to have some coffee and wait for the sun to rise before ripping out frost-bitten plants.  Enjoy your Wednesday everyone!

this will make me feel better

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I used to be discourage with all the green tomatoes I had on my hands as soon as Fall hit and because of that frustration all my green tomatoes ended up in the compost heap.  Yes, I was composting perfectly good tomatoes that would  have been ideal for many dishes that call for green unripened tomatoes.  Live and learn, right?.  Sure, there’s nothing like the taste and smell of a fresh summer tomato, but since the Fall harvest is here I celebrate the green tomato by making batches and batches of luscious, sweet and savory sauce know as green tomato chutney.

My first canning experience was in the Fall of 2010 that resulted in several half pints of green tomato chutney.  Unfortunately, I lost the recipe, but it included green tomatoes, onion, apple, red bell pepper and a little pickled ginger. Once I find it, (and I need too because I’m harvesting green tomatoes today), I will share it with you.  If you have a favorite green tomato chutney recipe please feel free to share it by commenting on this post or over on my Facebook page.

My green tomato chutney and fresh peach sauce recipe is an excellent accompaniment to a cheese and cracker platter or equally delicious spooned over grilled fish and roasted meats.  With the addition of diced peach, a little jalapeno and cilantro this sauce takes on a surprisingly mango-peach salsa flavor. 

Green Tomato Chutney and Fresh Peach Sauce

• 1/2 pint or 8 ounces of green tomato chutney
• 1-peach peeled and diced
• 1/2 a jalapeno, diced (optional)
• 1 TBSP chopped cilantro
• red pepper flakes for garnish if you want more heat (optional)

Directions: Mix green tomato chutney, peach, jalapeno, and cilantro together and put it in a bowl…It’s that easy and takes just a few minutes to prepare.

Mix a half pint of green tomato chutney...

...with one peeled and diced peach, some fresh cilantro and chili...

...and there you have a nice dish of green tomato chutney with fresh peach sauce. Dig in!

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Not junky bad, but junky good!

I realize it is appalling for some people to use junk in the garden but not to me.  Most of my garden “art” is aged, rusty, and weird but in my eyes it’s interesting to look at and the BEST part- most of it was free!  I admit and confess I’m a junk junky .

Recently I had a chat with someone that was down in the dumps because her garden was blah and boring.  She procrastinated doing anything to update it because she thought it would take wads of cash to even get her garden space comfy and inviting. This made me sad. 

For those with little money my garden is living proof that you don’t need a bunch a cash to create a unique garden of your own.  Here are some “dumpster diver” tips that I gave to the lady I mentioned before:

 Use splashes of color throughout your garden.  Here’s a couple of battered rusty chairs that a couple of nice guys dropped off for me.  Since they’re non-functioning I thought they’d add some interest and color in my flower bed…

Use similar found items and group them together.  As you know, I heart rocks…

Create flower/vegetable beds and borders out of bottles from your recycle bin or do what I did…put the word out on Facebook and you’ll have bottles in no time!

Make your own garden art by thinking outside the dumpster…literally.  Here’s some metal pieces that got a new lease on life.  The round metal rings were off a wine barrel planter that fell apart and the metal candlesticks were found at a second hand store for a few bucks…

Before you throw something out ask yourself if you can plant in it.  Here’s a couple vertical planters, one made from a heater that was salvaged from a house demo and the other from a rice bag…

So, I hope this has given you some junkalicious inspiration to get in the garden and be creative with found objects and items headed to the dump.  Gardening with reused materials sometimes is a better and prettier way to go,  especially,  when you don’t have a lot of money in your pocket. 

What sort of fun ways do YOU garden?  I’d love to hear from you!!!!

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Now, here’s the cocktail recipes that are sure to cool down any hot day… 

Cucumber-Tomato Water Martini 

• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 1 teaspoon dry white vermouth
• Ice
• 3 ounces cucumber-tomato water
• garnish: cocktail onion and cucumber slices

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add the gin, vermouth, cucumber-tomato water. Shake until cold, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cucumber-Tomato Water 

• 6 cups chopped tomatoes (the ripes juiciest you can find), chopped
• 1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp salt (optional)

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until coarsely pureed. working in batches, process the tomatoes, pulsing on and off, to create a very course puree. Pour puree in a cheesecloth or coffee filter lined colander with a bowl underneath to catch the liquid.  Refrigerate overnight.Cucumber-tomato water will be clear and not a tomato red color.

Cantaloupe and Watermelon Cocktail

This cocktail is a party pleaser!  As with all drinks, fresh is best so this drink entails the use of veggie juicer which is so worth the extra effort.  Juice up one cantaloupe and one small watermelon separately and pour juice into it’s own individual container .

• 1 1/2 ounces vodka
• 3/4 ounces of tripe sec or Cointreau
• 1 ounce cantaloupe juice
• 1ounce watermelon juice
• squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• ice
• garnish: cantaloupe and a lemon wheel.

Make cantaloupe and watermelon juice with a vegetable juicer and store juice separately in its own container. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add vodka, triple sec, lemon juice and shake until icy cold.  Pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish with melon and lemon.

Campari Spritzer

• 2 ounces Campari
• 2 ounces orange juice
• 6 ounces sparkling water
• ice
• Garnish with orange, or in  my case I used what I  had on hand…borage.

In a highball glass add the Campari, orange juice, and sparkling water.  Garnish.

 I’d love to hear what your favorite summertime hydration libation is?  Enjoy and stay cool!