Say Yellow to Spring

Monday, March 19th, 2012 by Tobi Fairley, 79 comments

Congratulations to Alice McMillan and Christine Czarnecki! Your comments are my picks for the book giveaway. Alice I loved all the ways your grandmother used yellow in the garden, especially the traces of yellow on the river rock. Christine, your blue and yellow toile dining rooms sounds so lovely. Hope your search for forsythia was a success!

There were so many amazing comments! Thank you to everyone for participating and for all the fab ideas for using yellow.

A recent visit with The Collected Tabletop author Kathryn Greeley inspired me to get reacquainted with my tableware collection. I'm hopelessly addicted to collecting cream ware, porcelain and transferware. An ardent collector herself, Kathryn showed me some clever ways to set a table with my pieces. With spring's official arrival tomorrow I'm eager to use some of her tips to create a new tablescape to celebrate the season.

And since it is spring what better color to work with than yellow! Now I'll admit, yellow isn't the easiest color for me to work with so I went to designer Tobi Fairley for advice. She sent along this post with a few ideas for incorporating it into a tabletop.

Thanks so much to my good friend Allen for inviting me to be his guest today! Allen is always so kind to share his wisdom on my blog, and it's such a treat to be here to share with you today!

Speaking of treats, this early summer weather has certainly brought us a few -- like lush green landscapes and early blooms. Allen's beautiful daffodils are always one of the highlights of an Arkansas spring and this year is no different.

The rolling hills of yellow have inspired me to share a few ideas for bringing this vibrant hue to a table setting indoors.
Here are a few of my favorite finds inspired by the daffodils at Moss Mountain Farm.

Aegean Dinner Plate /Yellow and White "Firenze" Fabric for a Tablecloth / White & Yellow Cake Stand /Lacquered Box / Linen Cocktail Napkins / Glass Decanter Set

Choose one of these or mix a few together to create a look that's fresh as a daffodil!

Happy Decorating!

–Tobi

Soil Prep for Edibles

Monday, March 12th, 2012 by P. Allen Smith, 31 comments

The first week of March definitely came in like a lamb this year with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. It was beautiful weather for working in the staff garden at the City Garden Home.

The soil needed some TLC after working hard all fall and winter. Vegetables are needy when it comes to soil. They require fertile, well draining ground for optimal growth. I like to refresh the soil after each growing season to replenish nutrients. Gardening is raised beds makes it easy. I take the existing soil and mix in well rotted manure and compost or humus. A good ratio is 2 parts soil to 1 part manure and 1 part compost.

As a final step Jobe’s Organics All Purpose fertilizer was added. This stuff is powerfully good at breaking down nutrients in the soil for plants to absorb.

This year is going to be the best yet for the staff garden.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Comes Early

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 by P. Allen Smith, 1 comment