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An Intimate Summer Dinner Party in our Patio Herb Garden with the Home Depot

An Intimate Summer Dinner Party in our Patio Herb Garden with the Home Depot

Cultivating community through homegrown food around the table has always been a long held passion of mine. I love the connection and celebration that summer gardening, cooking, and gathering friends around the grill brings. It’s a ritual I’ve deeply missed since the pandemic began. Nothing brings me more pleasure than crafting a freshly harvested meal after a day spent tending the garden, then sitting down to a seasonal table scape to enjoy the evening with family and friends. I am thrilled to welcome that winning trifecta back into my life this summer with special thanks to The Home Depot, Traeger Grills, and Bonnie Plants.

Gardening, Seasonal Living, Outdoor CookingBrianne Dela CruzJuly 19, 2021An Intimate Summer Dinner Party in our Patio Herb Garden with the Home Depot, Intimate summer dinner party, summer dinner party, patio herb garden, home depot, patio herb garden transformation, garden build out, patio garden, patio herbs, building a patio garden, building a container herb garden, growing herbs in containers, garden to grill, garden to table dinner, summer dinner party tablescape, dining al fresco in the garden, garden party, grilling and gardening, garden fresh dinner, patio garden dinner party, patio garden transformation, transforming the patio with home depot, bonnie herbs, Treager Grill, grilling on a treager, grilling a garden-to-table dinner with treager, growing bonnie herbs Comments

Re-landscaping Phase II: Irrigation + Building a Kitchen Garden

Re-landscaping Phase II: Irrigation + Building a Kitchen Garden

We’re well into the growing season and while swoon-worthy photos of lush veggie plots saturate my social media feed, I can’t help but feel a little left out as my garden looks a bit… unconventional this year. I’m not letting it get the best of me because deep down I know I’m making magic. When it comes to cultivating a garden from scratch, or rather, fully regenerating a soil ecosystem from dead to thriving, it’s a slow process.

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14 Ways to Conserve Water in the Garden

14 Ways to Conserve Water in the Garden

As record drought grips the western US, yards and gardens everywhere are suffering. I cannot underscore enough that as our planet continues to warm and endure extreme conditions, water-wise farming and gardening is essential. The truth is that we often don’t need to water our yards and gardens as much as we think, we just need to implement water-wise gardening methods. Here are some ideas to help you conserve water in the garden.

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5 Refreshing Herbal Waters to try this summer

5 Refreshing Herbal Waters to try this summer

On a blazing day in the garden there are few things more revitalizing than sipping an ice cold herbal water. Crafting hydrating waters infused with freshly clipped herbs, flowers, juicy berries, and spritzes of citrus quenches thirst and invigorates the senses. Floral and herb infused water can also offer medicinal benefits.

GardeningBrianne Dela CruzJune 2, 20215 Refreshing Herb Infused Waters, Herbal Infused Water, herb infused water, herb water combinations, DIY flavorful water, solarized herb water, Lemon and thyme water, strawberry basil water, lime and mint water, DIY flavored water, refreshing herb infused water to try this summer, lemonbalm infused water, lemon balm blueberry water, lavender lemon water, lavender infused lemon waterComment

Re-landscaping Phase 1: Demolition

Re-landscaping Phase 1: Demolition

I’ve been going through a phase of intense deconstruction; both in my yard and in the landscape of my personal life. I’m learning that healing old wounds in relationships is not all that different from re-landscaping. Resources like sun, healthy soil and water (or vulnerability, understanding and acceptance) need to be present. In both regards, one must be willing to do the work. Bottom line is that it’s hard manual labor - literally and figuratively. It is possible, though, to regenerate the land so things can grow once again. But until then, this is the place I find myself in - a phase of deconstruction.

Garden Flora Soothing Bath Soak & Body Oil

Garden Flora Soothing Bath Soak & Body Oil

I just spent the day working in the garden. It creates a certain sort of soreness in all the large and small muscles that is most gratifying. As I dust off my knees, hang up my tools for the day and rub my allergy itchy eyes, the only thing I want to do is take a long hot soak in the tub. It’s my favorite way to nurse my body after a hard day in the yard. So I turn to a few of my favorite floral plant allies to quickly craft up a nourishing and soothing blend of bath soak and body oil. As a bath soak and body oil blend, chamomile and rose is divinely aromatic and calming. As I soak the day away at golden hour and watch the buds of rose and chamomile swirl in the steaming waters around my knees and hair I dream of the flowers that will soon burst to life in my freshly prepped garden.

How to Prepare your Garden Beds for Spring

How to Prepare your Garden Beds for Spring

I know it will take heaps of muscle and a generous amount of care to revive this old plot for spring planting, but there’s no other work I’d rather be doing. I am a gardener. I carry the energy, the vision, and the heart to cultivate magic. Here’s my best master gardener tips for amending soil and preparing your garden beds for spring using the no-till method.

How & When to Shop for Seeds

How & When to Shop for Seeds

For those that aren’t obsessed with gardening, it may come as a shock to learn that it is absolutely necessary to shop for seeds in January. However, January is truly the best time to shop for seeds preceding any spring gardening activities. Purchasing seeds early helps us plan our kitchen gardens appropriately and schedule out the best days to sow seeds before seed-starting season arrives in March.

Gardening with the Moon

Gardening with the Moon

Gardening by the phases of the moon may seem like a mystical or superstitious way to cultivate plants, but in fact it’s a biodynamic gardening method that farmers and gardeners have practiced throughout the ages. Sowing and harvesting with the moon has turned many of my mundane garden tasks into magical rituals that strengthen my awareness of the cycles of nature. It has helped me cultivate a thriving and beautifully productive garden landscape that nourishes both my body and soul.

5 Edible Garden Maintenance Tips for Beginners

5 Edible Garden Maintenance Tips for Beginners

So you’ve planted your edible garden (perhaps for the first time), and now it’s summer and your plants are starting to grow. What an exciting time it is to be in this stage of the growing season! If you are new to gardening or lack confidence in growing a bountiful and nutrient rich kitchen garden, then these summer garden maintenance tips will not only help you keep your garden healthy, but make sure it thrives and produces a delicious harvest all summer long.

The Meditation of Weeding + Vegan Dandelion Honey

The Meditation of Weeding + Vegan Dandelion Honey

Weeding has become an essential self-soothing routine these weeks at home lately. On the worst of days it’s a task to distract me. Other days it feels more like a sacred meditation, or an intimate dialog between me and Her. In this therapy session with nature, she reminds me that things are not always as they seem. Labels are deceiving. A “weed”, after all, is only a flower growing in a place where someone doesn’t want it.

What to Plant in Spring & When

What to Plant in Spring & When

Growing our own food to be more self-sustaining has never been more important than it is right now. During these fearful times of this evolving economic and pandemic crisis, knowing that I could grow all of my household’s food if necessary gives me great comfort. If you are anything like me, you are dying to get seeds into the ground in as soon as possible so your family can be that much closer to eating delicious home-grown veggies. Knowing what to plant and when can be overwhelming as a beginner gardener, but I’m here to demystify this process, share my best tips as a master gardener, and help you get your dream kitchen garden started.

My Essential Gardening & Foraging Tools

My Essential Gardening & Foraging Tools

When I add a new tool to my collection, I’m not just buying a tool to get the job done, I’m buying an extension to my hands that will garden and forage with me for the rest of my life. These tools will become my allies and comrades in all my ventures, and so I regard tool buying as one of my most important gardening and foraging tasks. Nevertheless the sheer amount of tools on the market can be overwhelming. Knowing what tool is best for what job, or learning what tool can help make many tasks easier takes time and experience. So I’ve compiled a guide to share the gardening and foraging tools that I cannot work without. And I’ve shared what tasks I use them for, too.

How to Plan A Kitchen Garden

How to Plan A Kitchen Garden

Whether it is your first time growing a kitchen garden or you’ve grown crops before, putting plans on paper is a good way to start. This time of year (when my green thumb is really aching for work) is when I do my best garden dreaming. And this eventually evolves into creating a kitchen garden that feeds me well and brings me joy. While dreaming up a garden is a lovely indulgence, I have to admit that when first beginning gardening it can be an overwhelming task to make plans that will actually work. So, I’ve decided to help you in this process.

Gardening, Seasonal LivingBrianne Dela CruzFebruary 4, 2020how to plan a kitchen garden, kitchen garden, kitchen gardening, how to plan a garden, garden planning tips, top tips to plan a garden, how to plan a vegetable garden, vegetable gardening, plan an organic garden, how to plan an organic gardening, organic gardening, self sustaining, self sustaining garden, urban gardening Comment

How to Make a Kokedama Garden

How to Make a Kokedama Garden

In an effort to put a little pep in my step during these mid-winter blues, I decided to do a small project that might satiate my green thumb. And it’s true, I have learned that making a kokedama garden, while sipping on a cheery sunshine latte, is the best help for these mid-winter blues. Plus, a mood-lifting playlist while crafting only made this project that much better. I’m glad to admit that before long I found myself grooving to the music and wiggling out the grouch inside of me.

Gardening, Seasonal LivingBrianne Dela CruzJanuary 28, 2020How to make a kokedama garden, kokedama garden, DIY kokedama, DIY kokedama garden, Seasonal Living Practices, Seasonal liviing, seasonal gardening, January gardening, winter gardening, kokedama, japanese garden, japanese gardening, gardening tips, winter gardening tips, winter bluesComment

Autumn Sustainable Gardening Tips

Autumn Sustainable Gardening Tips

The primordial pull to gather, preserve, stock up, and nest before the first Winter storm is very strong. Autumn, with it’s cooler temperatures, presents the perfect time to do our best gardening work. It is the work that prepares our garden for the following growing season. Here are my fall gardening tips:

Gardening, SustainabilityBrianne Dela CruzSeptember 2, 2019fall gardening, fall gardening practices, Autumn living, Seasonal Living Practices, seasonal living, fall gardening tips, Fall gardening, inner gardening, internal gardening, gardening tips, gardening, Gardening Blog, garden, cultivatedComment

Spring Sustainable Gardening Tips

Spring Sustainable Gardening Tips

In springtime, the sound of trickling water signals the snow melting in the warmth of a brighter sun. The smell of damp earth indicates the thawing of the ground. The first fuzzy buds begin to form and shoots of green peek through the soil. The energy of life, and possibility, is palpable. Here are my spring gardening tips…

Gardening, SustainabilityBrianne Dela CruzSeptember 2, 2019spring gardening tips, spring season, Spring gardening, best spring gardening tips, gardening, planning your garden, Gardening Blog, gardening tips, expert gardening tips, garden, cultivated, cultivate, inner gardening, internal gardeningComment

A Midsummer Harvest

A Midsummer Harvest

As we stride into high summer, I look forward to reveling in all the abundance that comes with a summer harvest. I’ll fill my basket until it’s heavy laden with ready garden ingredients. Then, I’ll dine al fresco on all of this delicious organic goodness. Here’s my midsummer garden harvest (and how I’ve grown them) that will soon be adorning my plates for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

GardeningBrianne Dela CruzJune 19, 2019midsummer, midsummer garden, midsummer harvest, early summer harvest, midsummer garden tips, starting a garden, gardening tips, expert gardening tips, gardening Comments