Hanging Fruit Baskets

Hardy yarrow can color your world

•As the weather heats up this month, pay attention to your garden’s water needs. Check potted plants every few days, especially hanging baskets and those in unglazed ceramics as they lose water faster than glazed and plastic pots. Make sure all bare soil is covered in at least 3 inches of mulch (just keep it from touching plants). Mulch holds water and reduces the need to water. It also keeps the soil cool and weeds down.

•With water-wise plants, less is more. This time of year, its best to be hands-off. Don’t prune, don’t over-water, don’t fertilize. Just keep plants mulched.

•Plant South African bulbs like white, coral or pink flowering Watsonia, deep purple or intense pink Babiana, red, orange, and yellow flowered Sparaxis. These water-wise bulbs go dormant to survive the long, hot, dry summer. They poke their new leaves up out of the ground in early fall, then bloom through spring.

•Continue planting seedlings of tomato, pepper, eggplant, melons and other summer edibles through the end of the month for late summer/early fall harvest.

•Feed citrus, avocado, mango and other more tropical fruiting plants.

•When you’ve picked the last fruit off your tree, prune it. Summer pruning (rather than winter pruning) helps keep trees small so fruit stays within easy reach.

•Ready to get rid of your lawn? Summertime is the best time. Solarizing kills the grass by cooking it — literally. First, mow the lawn as short as possible. Water well, then cover with 1.5 to 4 mil clear (not black) plastic. Spread the plastic 6 inches beyond the edge of the lawn edges and overlap sheets if you use more than one. Use rock, brick or soil to weigh down the plastic. Turn your irrigation system off, then wait. The sun’s rays will superheat the soil and kill the grass, along with weed seeds in the upper few inches of soil. The entire process takes six to eight weeks in the sunniest months of the year.

Nan Sterman

Yarrows take little water once established but grow more lush and “flowerful” with a bit more. They aren’t picky about soil; they even tolerate clay. These versatile little perennials make nectar that attracts butterflies and pollen that attracts beneficial bees.

Perennial beds and grassy meadows are both brightened by yarrow’s broad, flat clusters of tiny flowers in white, yellow, pink, pale lavender or red. Native yarrow grows densely enough to serve as a lawn replacement in areas that get light foot traffic.

Dining in Disneyland: An Apple A Day Keeps the Dirt Away? | the ...

Let me introduce you to Downtown Disney’s newest retail cart: The Fruitful Soap Garden.  That’s right folks, fruit shaped SOAP.  What a let down that my dreams of fresh fruit were shattered in the name of cleanliness.  The Fruitful Soap Garden is an entire cart filled with fruit soap doppelgangers.  Lookalikes so close to the real thing that

I did spend some time sniffing around, and I am sad to report that the soaps do not have individual fruit scents.  They sort of all smelled the same: a bland glycerin soap type smell.  This, I think, is a deal breaker.  If I’m going to bathe with my favorite fruits, I want to smell like them.  Fresh apple, sweet strawberry, watermelon, or peach would be fantastic.  Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

I love Basin but they don’t last very long. One good sized bar lasts me 4 to 5 days only. =/ Same thing with lush. Did they have an ingredient list on what they’re made of? I rather stick with etsy stuff and basin too. Man there was this etsy shop that would make her soap out of tea and goat milk and as much natural ingredients as possible. THEY SMELLED AMAZING and felt good on the skin. She sadly hasn’t made any soaps for a long time. http://www.etsy.com/shop/heartanddart

I wonder if these are local or shipped from overseas.

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