So, this week – in a continuous effort to avoid doing my taxes – I got a little manic and emptied out… wait for it… “The Junk Drawer.” You know the one; five hundred elastic bands, twist ties, take-out menus, nails, bits of twine, every loose screw I’ve been accused of losing? well anyway, unless you are highly organized (unlike me) you know of what I speak. So, Candy the garden-writer girl, what does that have to do with gardening? Funny you should ask. Believe it or not, there’s an entire afternoon of gardening in that drawer!
- I have found my secret (from myself) stash of “Jobe’s” plant fertilizer sticks [query: Candy is it a good time to use them? It seems to me that you mentioned fertilizing in the Spring to keep with the plants natural cycles but I’m often wrong and it would be good to be able to say “use them now” if that’s true.]
- Lots of chopsticks (see previous article on how to keep squirrels at bay with skewers and chopsticks; you will never throw them away again).
- I’ve found all the bags of cut flower powder that I have saved in the event of receiving flowers that come without… and some tiny orchid “hair clips” and twisty wires for holding up the floppy cut flowers (especially useful for Gerbera daisies and Peonies).
- Popsicle sticks, sturdy lil’ Popsicle sticks. I use them to label all my seedlings (which I have just started today, due to inspiration – not by flashy seed packets but by a Sharpie and some deep rooted task-avoidance – go figure!).
- A tiny bell covered in elastic bands which means I’d successfully enlisted the cat into avoiding taxes… until we lost the bell under the couch, much to Fluffy Pants’ annoyance.
So… find inspiration where thou wilt but know there are many generic items that make gardening a lot easier. An old soup spoon is fabulous for planting annuals that come in cell packs (pansies, Nicotiana, Alyssum, Portulaca are among my faves). A twisted fork is perfect for winkling out tiny weeds between flagstones or along the driveway cracks. Wine corks (of which we have many) make a nice space-filler to balance a plastic pot inside an ornamental pot, and of course twist ties & bits of old string are perfect to put an unruly rose into the appropriate bondage position. Voila! Folks will be so impressed by my junk drawer they may even fail to see the stacks of paperwork on my desk.