http://www.dirtdujour.com/ en cindymcnatt@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-09T14:12:02+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/make_good_on_your_invention/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/make_good_on_your_invention/#When:14:12:02Z Edison Nation is the company (also a PBS television series Everyday Edisons) that partners with companies like Pet Smart and Bed Bath & Beyond to search the whole wide world for good ideas. Their current search partner is Ball Horticultural Company who is looking for innovative garden product ideas that lean green and make gardening easier for first timers. Think Topsy Turvy Tomato planter-type products. You got a great idea? You sign up, submit your idea, fork over $25 (for a cursory patent search), get your great idea accepted, (yiippeeee!) receive a $2500 advance plus whatever percent you agreed on as royalties. Read the fine print. whatever BBC —Rouge gardeners are forming gangs and causing horticultural mischief. Everybody panic. Organic products 2010-03-09T14:12:02+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/your_own_home_and_garden_in_pen_and_ink/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/your_own_home_and_garden_in_pen_and_ink/#When:04:46:30Z Stumbled across Savannah artist Heather L. Young on Etsy, the web marketplace for all things handmade. You submit the photo, she creates the rough sketch and once approved, delivers a final ink of your home or garden to frame, use for note cards, thank you cards, whatever.  Note to self: she does dogs, too. whatever SunSentinel.com—Tomato season is near - when picking other people’s tomatoes can land you in a neck brace. Oh yeah and this 2010-03-08T04:46:30+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/finally_figured_something_out/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/finally_figured_something_out/#When:14:21:09Z Maidenhair fern that I’ve tanked with more times than my pocketbook would like to remember….does not like living in wet conditions. Although with its black stems and delicate fronds you’d think this is a fern that would want it wet ALL the time. But no. I’ve spotted it growing as a ground cover in gardens that get very little water and thriving in partially-neglected pots. When I found it on a list of drought-tolerate shade plants, it confirmed what I suspected all along—I’ve killed it with kindness. Drat, but a definite do-over. whatever StandardLive.net—Threaten your girlfriend with a trowel, go to jail. California plants 2010-03-05T14:21:09+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/cottage_flowers_from_seed/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/cottage_flowers_from_seed/#When:14:40:42Z Just in case you haven’t already, but you’ve been meaning to, it is not too late to plant cottage flowers from seed—flowers you won’t usually find in your neighborhood nursery. Sprinkle Shirley poppies on top of the soil, ditto for California poppies. Time to get larger larkspur seed in the ground. Virginia stock is an easy annual to sprinkle in tight spots, nasturtium for larger gaps you want to fill, and don’t forget Feverfew, Clarkia and Cornflowers. whatever Telegraph.Uk—You never know what you’ll find in the rockery…like this priceless Plesiosaur fossil. 2010-03-04T14:40:42+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/wildflower_season_in_southern_california/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/wildflower_season_in_southern_california/#When:15:57:25Z Beginning Friday until May, anyone can call the Theodore Payne Wildflower Hotline 24/7 at 818-768-3533 or visit theodorepayne.org to find the best places to view wildflowers in Southern and Central California.  The hotline message is narrated by Emmy-winning actor Joe Spano of Hill Street Blues, Apollo 13 and NYPD Blue fame and is updated Thursdays with new information on more than 90 wildflower sites. whatever Mother Nature Network—Couple in Orange County face misdemeanor charges for going green in their front yard. California plants 2010-03-03T15:57:25+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/bringing_bulbs_inside/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/bringing_bulbs_inside/#When:06:54:32Z If you get your bulbs coming up around now in onsies and twosies and you find yourself walking right past them cause they don’t look like much in the garden, don’t forget to pick those stragglers and bring them inside. I do this a lot with flowers on the whole, especially when I’m working too much and not spending time outside. You can make a “garden” right there on your desktop. whatever Greenlaunches.com—Kitchen garden takes on a whole new meaning with this refrigerator that grows food.  California plants 2010-02-26T06:54:32+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/funky_fun_on_the_fruit_maven_blog/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/funky_fun_on_the_fruit_maven_blog/#When:02:51:41Z Adding to my ever growing garden blog list is the the Fruit Maven of San Diego with the tagline: because drinking the Kool-Aid is more fun when it’s made with kumquats. She doesn’t say she grows fruit, but buys by the ton and reviews it for you, complete with recipes. Vietnamese Guava—If you quote “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid. Merry Christmas! Ho, ho, ho!” every time you see a department store Santa, then this is the fruit for you! Dapple Dandy Pluot—If you tend to go for the quiet girl in the corner with a few too many freckles and slightly outdated clothes, but with captivating eyes and a strong sense of self, then this is the fruit for you! Don’t miss 10 ways to cook with lime. Some I never even thought of…..squeeze lime on corn on the cob….toss zest into shortbread cookie dough….mix with…. whatever My San Antonio—Only in the gun state. Tree trimmers shooting each other over territory. 2010-02-25T02:51:41+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/can_bloom_box_change_the_world/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/can_bloom_box_change_the_world/#When:15:14:49Z We interrupt our regular garden reporting to bring you this: Bloom Box, a tiny fuel cell no bigger than a box of Lipton’s Tea that will power your entire home grid-free. Developed in secret in Silicon Valley, the Bloom Box is already powering parts of Google, EBay, Fed-X and WalMart. EBay CEO John Donahoe told Leslie Stahl that “the Bloom Box puts out five times as much power that we can actually use.”  And, at a fraction of the cost of solar panels at just $3000 per box. Inventor K.R. Sridhar holds up two Bloom Boxes, saying that’s what an average American home would need compare to one for British homes. Sridhar would like to see one installed in the White House Rose Garden next. I guess that’s where the Bloom Box lives, in the garden or on the lawn. Fascinating store here. Oh yeah and this 2010-02-24T15:14:49+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/music_to_your_ears/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/music_to_your_ears/#When:14:44:01Z Alert reader Ava Torre-Bueno sent me a link to the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra. If you think you can’t make music with melons, beans, carrots and cucumbers, think again. Watch the group hit the local farmer’s market, choose their food, carve their instruments and play in front of a packed crowd, here. The YouTube video has got way over 2 million page views so far. whatever Los Angeles Times—Lock up your brugmansia people. Looks like teenagers are out to harvest our Angel’s Trumpets to get high! Course they get sick instead. Real sick. Oh yeah and this 2010-02-23T14:44:01+00:00 http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/love_is_in_the_air/ http://www.dirtdujour.com/item/love_is_in_the_air/#When:13:57:00Z Late February is skunk season, the time of year (interesting that it coincides with Valentine’s Day) when the guys are on the prowl for girlfriends. Mating season means males may not be in a good mood considering they’ve got to wander outside their hood to find the love of their life. Males are spraying other males who get in the way, females are spraying males that they don’t like and skunk perfume permeates spring. Don’tcha love it?  whatever Business Week—Home grown rhubarb may prevent cancer. Something about polyphenols. Two, four and eight-legged 2010-02-22T13:57:00+00:00