Ethel Gloves Revisited--And a Glove Giveaway!

Eight months ago I posted about trying out a new pair of garden gloves called Ethel Gloves. I gave the gloves a favorable review, but that was only after a week or so of intensive gardening in them.

I'm happy to report that the gloves are still going strong and they remain my favorite gloves to garden in. After eight months there are no tears or holes, no shrinkage in spite of several machine washings, and except for a few small sap stains, they clean up well.

It's good when a product lives up to one's initial impressions and it's also good to be able to try out a product for free. And one lucky reader will get the chance to do just that. The folks at Ethel Gloves will give away one pair of gloves (winner's choice of style and size) to a reader of An Alameda Garden. Just post a comment to this post. Your comment can be about anything garden- or garden blog-related. Be sure to include an e-mail address. The contest will remain open until next Friday, March 20--coincidentally, the first day of spring. At noon on Friday I'll randomly choose one winner from all the commenters and, once the winner has provided a mailing address, the folks at Ethel Gloves will ship out the new gloves.

And, just in case you can't wait for the end of the contest or aren't feeling particularly lucky, you can order gloves directly from the Ethel Gloves website and get a 10% discount as a reader of An Alameda Garden. Just enter the discount code ALAMEDA and you'll get 10% off your entire order. I think they'd make a perfect gift for Easter or Mother's Day! This discount offer is good until Friday, April 3.

Going Green and Off the Grid

Check out this video report from the NY Times on a woman who left the rat race behind to farm in upstate New York. Yes, it's a more extreme (and more rural) life than I would want to live, but I still find it fascinating and inspiring. At a time when most of us seem to be revising our lifestyles, examining the choices that others have made can really open up the range of possibilities.

The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

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Yes, We Need the Water, But...

There hasn't been a whole lot happening here in terms of gardening because we seem to be having one rainstorm after another and when we had a brief break from the storms a couple weeks ago, I had a cold and was too miserable to do anything. My one big accomplishment was that I bought 50 bare-root strawberry plants (Ranier) on sale at Berkeley Hort and actually managed to get them in the ground before they died. That happened yesterday, in a rush, during another short respite from the rain. The ground was still really too wet, but the plants couldn't wait any longer. So I weeded out the bed (probably losing way too much damp soil with the weeds) and stuck the plants in. Finally, I can feel like I got something actually done in the garden! Except that it's not really done because I still need to mulch the bed.

The forecast is for rain and more rain throughout the next ten days at least. And still they say we are in a drought and can look forward to more water rationing this year. You'd never know there's a drought by looking at my garden. The weeds are positively thriving!

Oh, and check back here soon--I expect to have another giveaway happening in a week or so. Details to come.

Thought for the Day

Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden.  -- Orson Scott Card

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Beginnings (Again)

I've been wondering what it was going to take to wake me from my gardening coma. Mild weather with blue skies and whole stretches of days without rain wasn't enough to do it. The cats luring me out to play didn't do it. And god knows, the burgeoning weed population hasn't done it either. But yesterday a large envelope arrived in the mail--a promotional package from Renee's Garden--and today it did the trick.

The package announced Renee's new seed varieties for 2009, including a couple of beautiful new sweet peas ("Zinfandel" and "Painted Lady"), a honey-scented alyssum ("Summer Peaches"), and two lettuce mixes ("Asian Baby Leaf" and "Ruby & Emerald Duet"). There's more--those were just what caught my eye at first glance. And to entice me further the package contained a complementary pack of the Asian Baby Leaf seed mix.

Renee's Garden is my favorite seed company. Their seeds are reliable germinators and they provide so much more information on their seed packets than most other seed companies. One thing in particular that I love is that they actually provide detailed information about how to harvest--exactly when to cut, how much to cut, and how to get a second growth. Sometimes they even provide information about how to cook the veggies. And if you're not a fan of their pretty seed packet illustrations, you can always go their web site to check out the real-life photos of each variety.

So with my new packet of Renee's Garden seeds in hand, I stumbled bleary-eyed out to the garden today, freshened up a couple of containers with an addition of new compost, and sprinkled Asian Baby Leaf seed mix over the top. Come early spring, these will make easy salad pickings right outside my back door. And while I was at it, I also planted another container with some of the sweet pea seeds from my last year's crop.

It wasn't much of a dent in all the gardening that needs to be done, and I'm not sure the funk I've been in is entirely lifted. But I defy anyone to plant seeds without feeling just a little bit better.

They Should Have Just Asked a Gardener

The LA Times has an article today about a study done at Kansas State University showing that yes, gardening can be strenuous enough to count as a moderate workout and to help keep people, particular seniors, fit.

I'm all for scientific research, but this seems like another one of those cases where a study was done to prove something that should be fairly obvious. Anyone who's ever raked a lawn, dug holes for planting, or pulled a significant amount of weeds can tell you that of course regular gardening activities are equivalent to a workout. While not every activity will get your heart rate up enough to count as a cardio activity, some, such as vigorous raking, will. Add to that the bending and reaching that comes with pruning, planting, and weeding, and you've got a pretty good all-over routine.

For those who need quantifiable proof of things, I hope this study, published in HortTechnology, will put the issue to rest. But honestly, I think it could have been settled just as conclusively by picking up a shovel.

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Happy New Year! Time to Have Some Fun Again!

It's a new year and time to turn my attention back to both my garden and this blog. It's shameful the way I've been neglecting both in the past couple months but work and life have conspired to steal my time and drain my energy. I've realized though that there's another, even bigger reason why I've haven't been spending time either gardening or blogging: Neither has seemed very fun lately. And that is a shame, because both have given me a lot of pleasure in the past.

So as I was thinking about new year's resolutions and goals for 2009, it occurred to me that the best resolution I could make is to find the fun again--to make a point of enjoying my time in the garden and blogging about it. 2008 was for me personally and perhaps for the world at large somewhat of a soul-sucking experience. I'm ready for a fresh start and more than ready for some fun.

Happy new year and best wishes for my fellow gardeners, bloggers, and readers in 2009!