Recently we were asked to help with an event at San Rafael Oakmont Senior Living Center. We had originally thought of just doing a repotting demonstration, but then somebody (the marketing team) had the brilliant idea to do fairy gardens instead. Our marketing team was dispatched post-haste and turned out three separate gardens. This blog goes through the materials and steps they used to create one fairly normal fairy garden, one found planter garden, and one…well we did say it was the marketing team right?

Supplies:

(clicking the picture will take you to the Acehardware.com page for that item.

Not all items were Ace products. Check with our garden guru about those.)

1 flower pot

1 small bag of horticulture sand

1 small bag of pea gravel

1 small bag of miracle gro potting mix

1 pair of  leather palmed garden gloves

1 trowel

1 spray bottle filled with water

1 chalk pen

1 terrarium bowl

1 small plastic watering can

1 sheet of vinyl letters

1 Exacto knife

-various decorative items

-plants(types in the specific instructions below)

Fairly traditional fairy garden

We used a self-draining pot for this so we did not need the full layer of rocks for drainage that we did for the other two.

First, we filled the pot a little over halfway with potting mix, stopping halfway to spritz the mix as we put it in.

For this garden we wanted something blooming and traditionally pretty. So we chose a six-pack of purple Alyssum for our lower coverage and a 4” tall flowering Argyranthemum (Marguerite Daisy) for our taller element.

Gently we dropped the Daisy from its pot and started teasing apart the roots. Often when you buy a fully flowering plant it is going to be slightly root-bound because of the amount of time it has taken to flower.  Take the time to untangle those lower roots before planting it and the plant will grow better.

Plant the Daisy up to the bottom stem. Then we used three of the Alyssum and spaced them evenly around the front of the pot leaving room in the middle for a decorative element. We repeated the process of making sure the roots were gently untangled and buried up to the bottom stem. Then we spritz the entire pot until the top layer of soil was moist.

We then added our decorative elements. For this one we kept things simple, a pair of frogs and a painted rock with a little flag. The perfect gift for a friend, a housewarming, or for your sweetheart.

We did spritz it once more after the elements were in place and after it had dried a little to make sure that it had plenty of water.

Found container garden

For the second garden, we wanted to do something different. We found a small plastic watering can that was dirty and disused. We cleaned it up and using our chalk pen we marked where we wanted to cut it.

Using a sharp box cutter we were able to safely remove the sections we wanted to remove, however, an Exacto knife is a safer option.  We added six drainage holes to the bottom. The actual planting surface was very shallow so we did not want any chance of standing water.

Once the holes were done we put a 1” thick layer of pea gravel evenly across the bottom. It’s important that the gravel does not fully cover the drainage hole. Make sure that no one stone is fully covering a hole.

When the gravel was even we added three inches of potting mix. We had decided that we wanted this one to be a windowsill herb garden.

For our found container we selected Rosemary, Sage, and Oregano. The plus side to using these three is that they were all traditionally assigned special properties. Rosemary ensures that you will not be forgotten, Sage is a purifier, and Oregano promotes joy. You can make an amazing spaghetti sauce and bring some much-needed happiness to your kitchen all at the same time.

As above we pulled each plant separately and gently untangled the roots. Because the container was so shallow we took extra care to make sure the roots were spread and covered evenly. The Sage and rosemary were buried to the bottom stem. The Oregano was split into one larger plant and one small runner to be used in the spout of our planter.

We spritz the soil until it was wet for these, then added a little more soil and spritz it until moist.

This container would also do well for strawberries as they, like the oregano will creep quite happily over odd angles.

That other garden.

The merchandising team tells us that when they saw the ants in our garden section that this image immediately came to mind.

The glass terrarium was chosen to simulate an ant farm.

Succulents were used to mimic the Mojave Desert

The vinyl letters were used in case normal people didn’t know what they were looking at.

Anyway, first we filled the entire bottom stem of the terrarium with gravel.  We then added another ½” of gravel above that. We mixed about ¼ cup of the horticulture sand into about 4 cups of potting soil. We spritzed that with water lightly. We then added a thin layer of horticulture sand before deciding where our succulents would go.

As stated these plants were chosen to simulate the flora of the American southwest desert landscape. So miniature succulents were used.

We chose:

Pebble Plant, Haworthia Coarctata (Zebra Plant), and Gasteria

The succulents were why the leather palms on the gloves were important. When we are not working with sharp and pointy plants we generally use a neoprene glove when gardening as they give protection as well as flexibility. But when potting or pruning, cactus, roses, or anything else like that there is really no substitute for thick leather gloves.

As with the other gardens, we gently pulled the succulents out of their pots and untangled the roots before planting them up to the base of the plant.

Once the plants were in place a little more sand was added to the unplanted sections to create the levels required for the diorama that was planned.

The ants were then added and we told the marketing department that they were not allowed little people to the ant’s mandibles.

The terrarium was then spritzed lightly. There is a myth that succulents don’t need a lot of water, and that is true once established, but when you are first transplanting them they will need more water than normal to help them establish. It’s recommended to do a cup of water the first week and gradually decrease the amount of water given.

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We are proud to offer a large line of products including the Yeti Portable Power Stations. All power stations can be recharged either by plugging them into a standard electrical port or with a compatible solar panel.

The largest generator can power:

-Fridge for up to 50 hours

-32” LCD TV for up to 30 hours.

-over 50 full laptop charges or

-over 150 smartphone charges.

As we have all learned from previous fire/PSPS seasons the ability to keep a fridge running, or a T.V. on can make all the difference especially with kids at home. And now with SIP and online school, it’s even more important to have the ability to stay connected no matter what PG&E’s next move is. Check out their website for more information here.

Yep, in honor of this month of horror, we will be talking about that ever-popular Victorian poison, Digitalis.  AKA Foxglove.

What is Foxglove?

                Foxglove is the common name for Digitalis. Digitalis is a genus of plants that is native to Europe, Central Asia, and Northern Africa. It is called digitalis because the flowers are perfectly shaped in such a way that you can put your fingers in them! For once we did not make that up, the whole genus of over 20 species is named after the fact that you can stick your fingers in them.  (Side note, that though Digitalis has only been known as a medicine since the mid 1700’s it has long been known as a poison and as such is sometimes called “Witch’s Glove” which we like a lot and are going to change all the labels in the nursery when our boss isn’t looking)

You have probably seen Foxglove as we sell it in our nursery, and most people have a plant or two. It is a very popular plant.

Is it really poisonous?

Yes, it really is poisonous. It is very poisonous. We have to admit that our interest in botany began because we read too many Agatha Christie books as a child. Dame Christie loved using poison, and digitalis came up a few times (check it out here). However, she usually had the poisoner administer it by adding someone’s heart medicine to something as Digitalis, while being a poison to a normal heart, is actually medicinal.

Digitalis is used for Congestive heart failure and when your heart is beating too slowly. So like a lot of poisonous plants, it all depends on the context.

However, yes, your dog, child, rooster, husband can get sick and die if they decide to eat any part of the digitalis plant.

But before there is too much hue and cry, the same thing can be said for poppies, Rhubarb, Daffodils, and peaches (plus many more).  The thing to remember with anything is to be aware of what is safe and what is not. For example Rhubarb and peach pie is amazingly delicious (and appropriate for this time of the year), but if you were to eat the leaves of the Rhubarb the Oxalic Acid in them would make you sick, and if you were to prepare the peach pit a certain way, you would produce a poison much worse than digitalis (no we won’t tell you more).

Why do people grow it?

Digitalis is a very pretty plant. It grows tall and produces the perfect (finger-shaped) flowers on the stalks in pretty bells formations.  It adds great color above lower growing plants and is often used at the back of flower beds for height.  It is also a good pollinator plant, and as before mentioned it is used medically to some degree.  But really people grow it, for the same reason that they grow Belladonna, Oleander, Delphinium, Rhododendrons, Hydrangeas, and Lily of the Valley. These are beautiful plants, and because of their toxicity deer and most other garden vermin are not going to eat them.

How can I grow it?

Foxgloves do well in well-drained loamy soil and prefer partial sun or shade. Some Foxglove originated along the Mediterranean and so is well adjusted to our climate here.  You can start Foxglove from seeds.  We prefer using seeds from local nurseries like Living Seed Company in Pt. Reyes as we know the seeds will be able to grow in our area.  You can also but foxglove plants in 4” pots from our nursery.  If you are unsure about whether your soil is suitable or not be sure to touch base with our Garden Guru Owen about whether or not you will need to feed the Foxglove plant.

What if, I buy some and then someone knows I have it, and somehow figures out how to use it, and poisons someone, will I go to jail?

Look, we are bloggers, not criminal defense attorneys. You would have to ask one of them.  However, we will give you this advice: If your friends are that sketchy maybe give planting poisons a pass, or you know get less scary friends.

We have all been there. Maybe, it’s at work and you only have one bathroom but that new coffee was so good, you had to have a third cup. Maybe it’s at your new S/O’s house and you had a little too much of the margarita and taco combo at dinner. Maybe you are at a party, and it turns out that the cheese spread really was too much lactose. Regardless of the situation, we have all been in a situation where we have to answer the call of nature in a most odiferous way. Enter, PottyMints! Instead of the “other” products that require you to spray before you go, and to carry around a liquid spray bottle with you, these guys come wrapped individually like a mint. You can easily stick one in your purse or pocket to take “just in case” and as opposed to the other product, you don’t use it until after that final flush.

They are so powerful that they will last up to 3 flushes after use, and no oily liquid as the mint dissolves completely in the bowl.  So no matter what, the bathroom will always smell better after you use it. The best part is since these are an “after” use product, it doesn’t matter if you were not the one who needed to use them, it’s not too late to make that one work bathroom usable again, no matter who had the extra coffee this morning!

At the evil mosquito convention…on your hand!

Okay, we don’t really think that Mosquitoes have complex evil plans that they discuss over a fresh lunch of us, but they really are a hazard to our health and the health of our pets. This is especially so with invasive species like the Aedes aegypti which though its name translates to the Egyptian unpleasantness (roughly) it does not spread West Nile.  However, it does spread such interesting diseases as Dengue fever, Yellow fever, and the Zika virus.  It is also likely to attack during the day, and won’t land on your arm or hand like civilized Malaria or plague carrying mosquito where you can see it and smash it, nope, the Aedes aegypti are ankle-biters, literally!  So what are we to do about these omnipresent summertime pests? Don’t worry, as your local #HelpfulHardware store, we’ve got the tips, tricks, and products to keep you mosquito-free.

An Ounce of prevention…

There are a few sure-fire ways to prevent mosquitoes.  We have rounded up the top tips from both the CDC and the Marin/Sonoma mosquito and vector control district.

1. Eliminate the egg-laying habitat. One female mosquito can lay up to 100 eggs at a time. They also need as little as one teaspoon full of water to do so!

-Turn over buckets, old tires, pie dishes, pet dishes, anything that has standing water in it.

-For things like pet dishes, or fountains, make sure the water is moving and/or replace the water at minimum every two days.

– Don’t overlook areas like clogged gutters, or holes in tree trunks. If it can hold water, it can hold mosquitoes.

2. Make water that can’t be emptied unfriendly to mosquitoes and mosquito larvae.

– If you have a pond or water trough you can introduce mosquitofish (gambusia affinis) into the body of water.

How many fish do I need?

(A word of warning: do not put fish in water bodies that drain into streams or rivers, or in water bodies that contain endangered species! We like our native species and want them to continue.)

   3. Use Mosquito Dunks.  We have been selling these for a long time and they work. The active ingredient is a naturally occurring bacteria that only kills insects, due to the insect’s stomach being alkaline (ours are acidic). They are pet safe which is great, and we try to have them in stock year-round. (If you want more info about the mosquito dunks, check out their website here.)

We carry the multi-pack Sku# 7092935

Too Late, They’re Here!

Don’t panic. These are not the good old days where you would walk outside for a BBQ and walk back in looking like a wiffle ball. There are products to eliminate mosquitoes that are already established and ways to keep yourself safe when you go beyond your mosquito-proofed yard.

1. Mosquito-proof your patio.  We know that you have tried everything to do this, from expensive electronic bug zappers to those magnetic mosquito net door things.  We also know that you ended up with a lot of half-burnt citronella candles (but at least they smelled nice) and lots of mosquito bites. However, there really is a product that will eliminate up to 95% of mosquitoes for 90 days at a time. It’s called the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator.
   

   Get rid of mosquitoes! Our sku #7826761

    

   Here is just a quick glance at the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator: 

   Developed in Mississipi where they know mosquitoes, this product, does not deter mosquitoes like citronella, and it does not indiscriminately kill all flying insects like the bug zappers.

   Is it hard to use?

   This product is easy to prepare and install. You just fill it to the line with water, shake it, and hang it up.

   How does it work?

   Essentially it tricks the adult female mosquitoes into thinking that it is you. It does this by giving off a specific scent that makes the mosquitoes feed on it. The mosquito once fed will die and not be able to lay her eggs.

   How many will I need?

   One box will cover one acre as long as you place them correctly (don’t worry they come with instructions on where to put them).  However, if you already have an infestation then you will want to double up and use two boxes per acre to help cut the heavier population.

   No chemicals, smoke, or hard work?

   No. This really is the product we have been waiting for.  It’s safe around pets and kids.

(If you want more information about the Eradicator, check out their website here.)

     2. Protect yourself when you are away from the house.  We know that we are in the North Bay and there is a word here that we all hate with a passion: chemicals!  But, there are words that we should hate more: Plague, West Nile, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever…just to name a few. Not to mention that California is home to the Western black-legged tick, which is linked to Lyme-disease.  For proven protection from both, the CDC, The EPA, The Marin/Sonoma Vector Control, and the World Health Organization all agree on one ingredient:

DEET. 

                                            Yes, there are other ingredients on all their lists, but DEET is the one present on all of them.  We won’t preach about this as we know our community but please protect yourselves, whatever you use.  We offer a large array of DEET based insecticides that will give you the protection that you are looking for. We also offer non-DEET based pesticides for those who want to try their luck with something else.

So to sum up, to make your outdoor life better, make life worse for mosquitoes.

 If you have any questions feel free to stop by the store and we will do our best to give you the answers you need and the products you want because that is what being a #HelpfulHardwareStore is all about.

CONTENTS: Easy-to-Open Magnetized Case● Lid with Built-in Sorting Tray● 150 mm Flex Extension● 4 mm Aluminum Bit Driver● 4 mm Screwdriver Bits● Phillips – 000, 00, 0, 1, 2● Flathead – 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4 mm● Torx – T2, T3, T4, T5● Torx Security – TR6, TR7, TR8, TR9, TR10, TR15, TR20, TR25● Pentalobe – P2, P5, P6● JIS – J000, J00, J0, J1● Hex – 0.7, 0.9, 1.3, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 mm● Tri-point – Y000, Y00, Y0, Y1● Nut Driver – 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 5, 5.5 mm● Square – 1, 2● Gamebit – 3.8, 4.5 mm● Spanner – 6, 8● Triangle – 2, 3 mm● iPhone Standoff Bit● Oval Drive● SIM Eject Bit● Magnetic Pickup Bit● 1/4″ to 4 mm Driver Adapter

sku#2815082

A diagram of the wrong way to display the flag

Most people learn how to hang the flag in the scouts or in the military.  We, (the person writing this blog) learned it in an Encyclopedia Brown book when the answer to the mystery was “American Flags cannot be flown in the rain at night”.  Okay, so that wasn’t totally accurate, but hey it was a book for children, and it stuck with us enough to have us look up the actual rules for displaying the flag. While there are loads of websites with full details (including the one for the U.S. Government) here is your quick cheat sheet:

American Flags are not to be flown in inclement weather unless they are all-weather flags (Like this one)

All weather flag.

American Flags are not to be flown after sunset unless they are properly illuminated. (Yeah, properly is a little vague, but they mean that you can see the stars and stripes)  The below solar light fills the bill and since it’s solar and clips right onto the pole you don’t have to worry about recharging or changing batteries to keep in line with this rule.

This Solar Flag light is available to purchase in-store or on Acehardware.com

When flown with another flag, the flag is to be the top flag on the pole.

When displayed crossed it is to be the flag on the left.

When hung from a window or ledge without a pole, the blue part is to be at the top to your left (the flags’ right).

The correct way to hang an American Flag

During a national day of mourning the flag is to be flown at half staff.

If the flag is displayed not hung, but on a shelf, it is to be folded in a triangle with the blue part on the outside.

Really that’s all you have to know. Well except that if the flag gets worn out, or if it falls on the ground you are supposed to dispose of it respectfully.  We know that a lot of people might not know how to do that so we have a solution. Bring in the flag that needs to be retired, we collect them all in a special flag retiring box and take them to our local Boy Scouts for proper disposal. Oh, did we mention that our recycling service is free?  Now you know the basics of flag display and disposal, so you too like Encyclopedia Brown can now know that the scout was riding into a trap because the flag was flying un-illuminated in the rain.

The Flag hangs correctly at Marin Ace

We know that everyone says they are going to start growing their own garden to have fresh fruit and veggies, but really what are you going to do with all those tomatoes?  Well, with a little forethought and some garden planning you can actually grow a garden that has a purpose together. So what do we want in a spaghetti sauce garden? Here are our plant suggestions:

Tomatoes-

 Hold up there. Yes, you know what tomatoes are, but if you are newer to this growing your own food thing, then you might not realize that not all tomatoes taste the same, they also don’t all have the same texture or do as well in red sauce as others.  For our sauce garden, we are going with Roma. Roma tomatoes have variety in and of themselves, we like to grow our tomatoes in containers, as we have mixed sun and that lets us move them to follow the sun. So we use a Roma tomato meant for container planting.  However, if you are growing in-ground or in a planting box, you can choose a plant that is going to grow a little bigger. Roma tomatoes are meaty and have fewer seeds than a tomato that you might use for a sandwich (like a beefsteak tomato). The other great thing about Roma is that you get bunches of tomatoes, which you will need, as you need about 3.5 pounds of tomatoes to make a jar of sauce.

Basil- The best thing about growing your own basil, is that you are using the leaves and it is usable year round.  You can dry it, but you don’t have to. We like to use a handful of fresh basil in our sauce.

Garlic- You have to have garlic in a good tomato sauce.  Did you know that the reason garlic is said to repel vampires is that vampires are supposed to smell bad, and don’t like that garlic smells just as bad?  You will need to dry garlic as you pull it up. Remember that garlic is actually a bulb, so it’s more like growing onions or potatoes than tomatoes or basil.

Sage- There are different types of sage, and while they are all technically edible some are going to be more known to you for food, and some are more commonly used for perfume or ritual purposes. We like a common sage in our spaghetti sauce garden.  We also, however, have a large container full of purple sage in our home garden, it’s edible and beautiful. We allow the purple sage to flower and pinch off the blooms on the common sage since we use it more for cooking.

Peppers- You may not think of peppers in spaghetti sauce, but it is one of our secret ingredients. We like to dry mild chile peppers and stir about a teaspoonful into our sauce.  However, this can also mean bell peppers, and bell peppers are amazing when fresh from your garden, sliced and sauteed in olive oil.

Onions- The best thing about onions that a lot of people don’t realize is that there is evidence that they can actually help you lose weight. Onions are actually a really cool plant historically as it is one of the few plants that might have been domesticated almost worldwide around the same time, we actually don’t know because onions have been domesticated and hybridized for so long that the “original” onions became extinct before written records.   For our sauce, we like to use yellow onions, but you can also use white onions or for a slightly sweeter taste purple onions.

Okay, we know you are going to say something like “Hey, we like to put (insert your secret ingredient here). But here is the secret to this particular sauce garden, all of these plants are companion plants.

What is a companion plant?

We are glad you asked, companion planting is as old as cultivation itself.  If you grew up in California at some point in elementary school you probably planted a “three sisters” “garden”. This trio of corn, squash, beans are both the three “main” plants from North America and companion plants (for a fun read on how this works check out this blog at Treehugger.).  What a companion plant means is that it can be grown with another plant with the same soil, light, and water conditions so that there is no need to separate them. Sometimes the companion gives an added protection to another of the plant. For example, you can grow leaf lettuce as a companion plant for tomatoes, the low growing lettuce provides a natural mulch that keeps the ground moist without having to water as much and rotting your tomatoes. The sun-loving taller tomatoes give the lettuce a little bit of shelter from direct hot sunlight.  This then is companion planting.

So back to our sauce garden, we already said we like to grow things in containers, and so we tend to divide up our garden, but you don’t have to.  Because they are companions you can grow all of those items in one planter box, one square foot garden, or even one half wine barrel (actually that is a really cool looking way to grow your sauce and it takes up less than a 2’ footprint).  So how do we do this?

Remember when we did the blog on drip irrigation?  We talked about doing a garden plan, that is where we start. We have an advantage if we know for sure what plants we want. Your tomatoes are going to need a trellis of some form.  The common way to do this is with a tomato cage. Because of this, we tend to put the tomatoes in the middle of our garden. We like to go by height out from there. Peppers can also benefit from trellis or support so we put them next.  This gives us the advantage of being able to make our tomato cage do double duty as a tomato and pepper trellis.

A note about trellis and supports.  You can use anything from string to zip ties to tie your plants.  We tend to want to use the branches and trellis as much as possible when we do tie we use a product that is made for this purpose. They are weather resistant and they won’t damage your plants like things with hard edges can. 

We like to put our basil and Sage at the edges near each other because as opposed to everything else in our garden they are perennial and so we will not need to replant them.  We put the bulbs on the opposite side from our herbs mainly because that’s the open spot.

Next, feed and water (remember that drip is going to be the best way to do this because tomatoes take very little water and a good drip system will free you from having to worry about water)

So a few weeks go by and you are starting to get produce, now what?  Well, now you make the sauce. No worries, we also carry everything you need to make and can your own spaghetti sauce, we will cover that later on n the year, so be on the lookout for our blog “taking produce, from the garden to the pantry”.