Monday, February 25, 2008

sun and lavender.




spring is beginning to affect me. the warmer weather motivates me to open the windows, pull open the blinds and to remember the smell of budding plants in the breeze. it motivates me to haul out my planting soil, rinse my dormant pots and to nurse baby seedlings.

i've been talking to my friend lacey lately, and she is just the best go-to as far as gardening. she has the most adorable home up in oregon and i just can't wait for the day that i have a little home myself. i have many ideas for flower and vegetable gardens, my two main ideas being lavender and tomato plants. i would love to plant the lavender by windows so the breeze can bring in their scent, and i would love to make homegrown sun-dried tomatoes as a side dish for BBQs and sun tea.

we're going to be moving to a new place in may, so it's about time i started my spring cleaning. always nice to declutter the place and shoo out the old smells of winter. a few weeks ago i bought an eco-friendly multi-purpose cleaner from trader joe's and it works so well. plus, you don't have that harmful chemical smell afterwards. i know clorox has just come out with a line of greenworks natural cleaners that i'm also eager to try out.

9 comments:

Lauren S. said...

OK, if you want go green and clean on the cheap do this:

spray bottle
half water
half white distilled vinegar
a couple drops of tea tree oil

you can use it on anything. it totally works. need some scouring oomph? pour a little baking soda directly on the surface to be cleaned and scrub away. awesome on the stove and tub.

btw, we are hoping to start our little garden soon. jason is almost done with a garden fence he built so that our dog can't get at our plants. (he eats everything. killed our morning glory, a sago palm and just about every other plant we've put back there. aaargh!)

jenny baker said...

thanks for the tips lauren! i've also heard about mixing vinegar and baking soda to use on clogged sinks/tubs, which will come in handy after the next time i wash our hairy dog. :)

i hope you put up some pictures of your future garden when it's planted!

Val. said...

"Method" at Target is good, that's what i use usually. and also it's too bad you don't get BBC America because you'd just love-love-love Kim & Aggie on "How Clean Is Your House?" :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHIZ2PR_1wk

erin* said...

I love that Trader Joe's stuff. It's what my mom buys, and it smells the best and works very well. I like your ideas for a garden. There are few things more satisfying, I think, than eating produce that you've grown yourself. Or that your dad has grown for you. :D

I am missing the change of season in California. I was thinking about it today, about how amazing it is. There is just something different in the air, and it's not quite the same here. I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying it. :)

Anonymous said...

Awwww, thanks for the compliment. You're so nice :)

I just switched from my regular cleaner to the new Greenworks stuff. I love it. I looooove it. I know I could make good cleaner myself, and my mom keeps telling me to, but in the meantime I love this stuff. They put all the ingredients on the bottle and you know what? I can pronounce all the names because they are things like 'lemon extract.'

The best part is it smells like cookie sprinkles instead of eye-burning chemicals. Cookie sprinkles! Mmmmm.

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Mrs. Ham said...

My favorite is simple green! It is simply wonderful and will leave your house smelling lovely and your lungs feeling not burned.

I admire your gardening aspirations but I think that you should know that this post has given me great guilt and shame as I have been neglecting my flowers for quite some time. So I think that I need either some cute galoshes or you need to delete this blog.

What will it be....

jenny baker said...

cute galoshes it is! and maybe an adorable sunhat. :)