blooms

Over the past few weeks we've been making new flower discoveries all around our garden!  We first saw our house last September so we had no idea what spring blooms would appear.  So far we've spotted daffodils, irises (5 or 6 varieties), alliums (one of our new favorites), tulips, rhododendron and azaleas. 

Next up we're expecting black eyed susans, hydrangeas and lilies!  And the vegetables are coming along swimmingly, I'll share photos of them soon too.

earth day

Happy earth day!  I'm doing a little giveaway this week in honor of one of my favorite days.  To enter take a photo of how you bring greenery into your home, and post it on twitter, instagram or facebook.  Make sure to tag me in your post (I'm @glassandsnacks on twitter and instagram, and my page on facebook is ABJ Glassworks).  Winner will be selected by random on Friday, and I will send them a new terrarium design that will be available in my shop late summer!

may the sunshine be with you this week and always

spring planting

We spent this past weekend doing a lot of work in our new little garden, and I've spent a bit of each day since with my hands in the soil.  Our biggest change over the weekend was getting a few little fruit trees in the soil.  We have two apple saplings in the back (Braeburn and Gala) and a Stanley Plum sapling in the middle of our little square front garden.  We also planted a little Leon Gambetta Lilac bush in the back (3rd photo) and I'm psyched to have these blossoms in my backyard!

The wooden frames you can see around our vegetable beds will soon be permanent cages with hinged doors, to keep out our local foraging animals but allow us to get inside.  I was inspired by this photo I found last week.  We actually have a surprising amount of wildlife in our backyard considering its little size!  Lots of birds, including a cardinal couple, the usual squirrels, worms under every inch of soil, and a family of little garter snakes! 

Even though I only took these photos a few days ago the yard already looks different!

Spring 2013 : Atlas Planter

Atlas Planter : a multi-use planter for varying plant types 

Planter comes with geodes, pebbles, activated charcoal and planting/care tips

Handmade in Philadelphia using glass and a lead-free silver alloy solder

$150

building with willow

Eesh, I've been really bad at updating here recently!  I promise to be better, which should be easier as I really want to use this space to share some of my gardening adventures.  Now that we own a house we finally have a bit of land to get all green thumbed!  I'm so excited to plant vegetables and figure out what plants to cultivate.  We're in Northwest Philly now, and our tiny bit of yard didn't come with much landscaping, which is pretty neat since we have a blank slate.  I want to learn more about native plants to our area and more natural and organic ways to garden.  Luckily, both my mother and grandmother are incredibly green thumbed and volunteer loads of advice.

Over this winter I've become interested in willow structures, both alive and dried.  I really like the idea of natural borders and I think willow could be a good use for tiny spaces.  So when I saw that Terrain was offering a class on willow garden structures I thought that it would be a good introduction for me.  Some key things I learned were:

• You can cultivate willow clippings.  Anything you cut, from the long branches to the tiny off-shoots along the branch, will root.  If you're not planting them immediately after cutting, just place them cut-end-down in a bucket of water and leave them there to keep them alive and supple, and to allow them to develop roots.
• There are tons of varieties you can use, like pussy willows, red and yellow twig dogwood, willow bush, etc.  Just keep in mind its future size and voraciousness, they're not all suited for smaller spaces.
• Willow is naturally very supple, but can remember sharp bends, so if you are creating a shape, gently manipulate the willow branch before bending.

You can see my willow structure in the last two photos.  I didn't have a plan of attack when making it, but I think it's funny how it ended up having a stained glass resemblance.  All of the willow sticking into the soil will continue to grow.  The mini "wreaths" and woven sections will just dry in place.  For now I'm going to put it outside (once it stops snowing...) and let it develop more roots before choosing somewhere to plant it for real.

One day I'd love to build a willow hut like the ones Kelly makes as Cheeriup!

summer!

Had a great time at the Trenton Ave Arts Fest this weekend, if you didn't get to go, I'd highly recommend putting it on the calendar for next year.  On Sunday I had a belated Mother's Day with my Mom (since I was on my stand on the real day).  We had brunch at Hank's (my Mom loves scrapple) and then I spent the rest of the afternoon at my parents.  Everything in their garden has grown so much!  The peas are over waist-height, the herbs are bushy, the mint is taking over as usual, and the gooseberries are on their way to being huge.  I left with a big bag of lettuces, spinach, asparagus, radishes and herbs.  Summer is here!

how does your garden grow

My Mom's grows with a lot of hard graft.  But it's so worth it.  On Sunday I went out to help plant the tomatoes and pepper.  As soon as I got there I smelled that sweet rural air and couldn't wait to get digging and get my hands dirty.  To me there's nothing like country air for the senses.  I also got to see how everything is growing.  Heavy lilac blossoms that can't hold up their heads, yellow scotch broom with loads of honey bees buzzing happily, radishes pushing their way out of the ground, the first asparagus heads peeking through and the herbs coming alive again.  She also recommended that I start cultivating the moss in my terrariums as it's growing so happily and will spread if I take some out and re-pot.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Later today I'll do a post on where you can find me this month.  I figure that even though surprises are fun, everyone likes a little advance warning.  In the meantime you can always check the sidebar <---

grow little one grow

 

I wanted to share these photos of one of my littlest succulents.  The other day I took this photo and then glanced at a photo from when I first planted him, and lo and behold, his little arms have grown!  I felt so proud :)

he also now has some little pebbles to keep him company

a new (green) range

I've been holding back on this new line for so long now that I feel like I'm going to burst! This past weekend I finally felt ready to take some photos and introduce you to my terrariums...

There are four general styles: Air, Earth, Teardrop, and Universe.  I named all but the Teardrop after the elements the ancient Greeks assigned to each shape.  And I think that they are very fitting names for their new uses!

Each style can be made in two sizes and in two colors: silver or copper.  The terrariums are made with lead-free solder and environmentally friendly stained glass methods, and every terrarium comes as a kit (see the second to last photo).  Your order will arrive with the terrarium and a muslin pouch inside, which holds some helpful instructions and tips for getting started, pebbles, activated charcoal, and rubber feet for sitting terrariums.  You get the fun part of collecting some sweet little succulents, cacti, or moss to house inside. 

Find all my terrariums and more info now online.  Or see them in person as a debut them at the first Clover Market of the season this Sunday, April 15th in Ardmore!

it's beginning to feel like spring

It's beginning to feel like spring!  In the past I have never had trouble with seasonal allergies, but this year the early pollen seems to be getting to me.  I will never tutt at anyone's allergies ever again!  This sucks!  Luckily it didn't effect the weekend.  On Saturday we went for an 8 mile walk all over the city and along the river.  We couldn't figure out why we were so exhausted when we got back, until we mapped out a similar distance walk in London and realized that would be the equivalent of walking from our old flat in northwest London all the way to Leicester Square.  I think we're still getting used to American distances.  Then on Sunday I got to help my Mom clean up her garden for planting.  We stripped out last year's crop and weeds, composted, added more soil where needed, and planted some seeds, including some multicolored carrots.  I'm looking forward to the next gardening day.

The photo is of a terrarium I made recently.  This one is a dodecahedron, made entirely of clear glass and lead-free solder (I'm actually using lead-free solder exclusively these days).  I finally got it planted last week, and I like the results so much that I am going to start making terrarium kits to sell! The kits will include all the foundation to get your terrarium started and some helpful suggestions for plants.  I'm excited to get started on these.  You'll probably start to see them in my shop and on my stands mid-May.

Talking about stands, I have my first show of the season this Saturday in Doylestown, PA!  I've lined up lots of other shows, in PA, Delaware and New York, so check here for the current line-up.  I'll make sure to post at the beginning of each month where you can find me.  And there's always my Etsy shop in the meantime!

green thumb

Over the weekend I finished the frame for a dodecahedron terrarium.  Two of the sides are open to allow access inside.  This will be an open terrarium, perfect for some succulents that I've been wanting to get!  After dinner on Saturday we ended up watching bits from Bruce Springsteen playing in London in 1975.  Ever since then I've been on a young Bruce kick.  At least I have my soundtrack to this week figured out :)