Eco: Organic Gardening

I am by no means a gardener, but do have a strong interest in it. My mom has an amazing green thumb and can basically bring any dead plant back to life. Last month we just replaced some things that died in the freeze this year and I planted some seeds of beans and carrots and a tomato plant. I love this book and they have some great tips on how to garden organically, using things you already have or doing it in an inexpensive way. Having a concierge company, I have researched a TON of landscape and gardening companies throughout Houston and I manage a lot of these types of services for clients.

What are some of your gardening tips?

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Made in the USA: Ames Shovel

Spring is on the way and it often means time for outdoor projects. We got this Ames shovel from Home Depot and was happy to see that it is made in the USA. It has come in handy with so many projects, including shoveling rocks out of our sunroom area. So far it has held up well.

Do you have a favorite type of gardening tool?

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How to Plant Succulents

This is post I meant to post last year and never got around to it. 

I have always been a lover of succulents. We had them as center pieces at our wedding a) they looked great b) they are cheaper than flowers c) they last longer than flowers. 

My grandmother has always had a succulent garden for all my life and my mother in law has grown a ton of succulents. 

We recently tried starting a succulent garden at our new house, but the yard people keep stepping on it or something. I need to put a sign for them, so they know not to disturb it. Luckily several succulents have actually survived pretty while despite all that. I decided to plant succulents in various pots that I had got at ikea, or got at the hardware store and leave them in our garden window in our kitchen.

Here is what you will need:

• Succulents
• Pots / containers or if they are going in the ground
• Cactus soil
• Rocks (optional)

You decide if they will be in the ground or pot, put soil in, plant succulent, and top with rocks. Super simple. They need minimal water, just every so often. I put several cubes of ice every week or if I forget to do that I take them to the sink and run them under the water for a few seconds. 

The succulents have thrived in our garden window and look great!

You can purchase succulents at places all over Houston. 

• Cactus King off of IH-45 (they have a TON)
• Bucchanans 
• Joshua's in the Heights
• Kroger's 
• HEB
• Whole Foods

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Herb Garden

This was a post I meant to post last Spring and since the herb garden is basically the same I thought I would go ahead and post it. 

Since moving into our new house one thing that I had at our old house and really wanted at the new house was an herb garden. We tinkered on different ideas of whether to have it raised on the ground or up off the ground, that way we could move it. 

My concerns were that I didn't want treated wood to be used for the majority of it, so it would be cedar and galvanized metal or a stone herb garden. I decided to use stone. We had some extra stones in our yard and just decided to use those. 

Here is what we did (it's super easy): 

• Used 20 stones and we did two layers on top of each other to form a rectangle
• Lined the bottom with newspaper
• Then organic compost 
• Then organic soil
• Plant the herbs
• Label if you want. I had metal labels made years ago that I got off of Etsy.
• Done!

I got the herbs from Whole Foods and a local nursery that I found at a farmers market called New Leaf Nursery. When we first did this herb garden the herbs did amazing. Then winter came and many died off while many others did awesome. Now that Spring is here, some of the ones that died have come back to life. They need full sun. I water mine about every 2-3 days.

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