Martha Moments - The Martha Stewart Blog» Martha Stewart Gardens & Flowers

Martha Stewart Herb Garden- Delicious Summer Herb Garden

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:49:38 +0000

Fresh herbs from your garden can really kick your food up a notch! When I lived in the suburbs, I had the most delightful rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, peas… you name the fruit or vegetable and I probably grew it (or at least tried)! For quite some time I have been living in an apartment like other New Yorkers, so a Container Herb Garden like Martha Stewart suggested is the best way to bring a little bit of suburbia into my Manhattan apartment. The exciting news is that I now have a home in Greenwich, CT (YAY suburbia!!), so this spring I will be working on a new, full-blown, fruit and veggie garden. But I digress, even in the suburbs a herb garden is perfect for on your windowsill! What I would love for Martha to do a segment on is how to take one of those rectangular plastic windowsill plant boxes (the ones you can get for about $5 at any store in the spring) and how to craft them into something much more beautiful. Maybe I will just have to use my own creativity for now, I will keep you posted!

Martha Stewart’s Container Herb Garden:

What You Need:

- windowsill plant box

- organic potting soil

- herb plants like the ones that Martha used: dill, cilantro, basil ‘pesto perpetuo,’ Italian oregano, French tarragon, Italian/plain/flat leaf parsley, curled parsley, sage, English thyme, lemon thyme, mint, spearmint ‘Kentucky colonel,’ and rosemary. If you live in New York, definitely check out the farmer’s market at union square for some great fresh herb plants at a very reasonable price.

What to Do:

1. Cover the drainage holes at the bottom of your windowsill plant box with pottery shards (a great use for your broken flower pots!)

2. Fill your windowsill plant box half of the way with organic potting soil. You can also add time-release fertilizer (although the truth is that I never have, and it has been just fine).

3. Take your fresh herb plants out of their pots. Loosen the roots a little bit with your fingers and put it into your windowsill plant box.

4. Fill with more organic potting soil to hold in your plants firmly.

5. Water frequently (around once a day or every other day) and find a nice sunny windowsill for your plant box!

Miguel Nelson’s Living Walls with Woolly Pockets

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:52:59 +0000

Miguel Nelson was on the Martha Stewart Show to give a demonstration on how to use Woolly Pockets to make a “Living Wall.” I must say that I have not seen a new innovation in gardening that I have been this excited about it quite some time! You can cover an entire wall with greenery and not have to wait for the seedlings to sprout… just like Martha said, it is fabulous for instant gratification.

: Fern Background from Crestock Images

I cannot wait to get one of these for one of my friend’s with a cute Manhattan apartment… this will be perfect for hanging on a South facing wall and for growing an edible garden (totally taking Martha’s advice for her daughter’s apartment in new york!). Miguel Nelson claims that Woolly Pockets are waterproof and won’t stain your walls either. He says that in the worst case, if you over water your plants, you will get a little water that drips off of the front of your Woolly Pocket, but it won’t drip down the wall. With names like Wally, Tina, Lana, Steve, and Brian … how can you resist?

Seibert & Rice’s Terra-Cotta Pots from Impruneta, Italy

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:29:44 +0000

Lenore Rice, from Seibert and Rice, was on the Martha Stewart show to show us some of the magnificent terra cotta pots that Seibert & Rice import from Impruneta, Italy. The terra-cotta pots come in all shapes and sizes such as the classic urn, the faux-bois planter, the rolled rim planter, the agresti vase, the lemon box and the poetry pot.

: Pretty young female with a potted plant at a greenhouse from Yuri Arcurs Website

My favorite, if I had to pick a favorite, would be the lemon box shape, which would even work nicely in apartments or on a porch. It was wonderful to hear that these terra cotta pots do not need to be brought inside during the winter months, although honestly, I am with Martha on this one and will still be bringing my pots inside when it is winter time.

Florist Oscar Mora & Matha Stewart’s Tropical Flower Arrangements

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:42:28 +0000

Oscar Mora, a fabulous florist, was on the Martha Stewart Show to demonstrate how to make beautiful tropical flower arrangements. A few great tips that Oscar Mora gave were to add flower food to your vase of flowers along with a few drops of bleach, to help keep bacteria and fungus from growing in your vase full of water.

: Palm leaf from Crestock Stock Images

Some of the tropical flowers Oscar Mora used include:

- Sago Palm Leaves: sago palm leaves grow very large and are originally from India.

- Marantha Leaves: marantha leaves are purple on the back and have white and green stripes on the other side.

- Pink, Red & Yellow Ginger: these flowers looked very interesting, like a waxy pineapple structure… and apparently they smell like pineapple too!

- Lady’s Slipper Orchids: Most orchids are from Thailand, where they are amazing and cheap. Lady Slipper Orchids are from the South Pacific and are one of the favorite orchids for collectors.

- She Kong: The She Kong flower was a very long stalk with a long furry or fuzzy looking flower that draped off of it, very interesting looking!

- Bird’s Next Fern

- Monstera Leaves

- Cymbidium Orchids

- Cordyline

- Croton

- Dendrobium Orchids

- Calathea

- Vanda Orchids

My favorite “Martha Moment” … or really it was a “Oscar Mora” moment… was the idea to cut a large leaf, like a Bird’s Next Fern leaf, and line the inside of a glass vase with the leaf. It makes it look like all of your flowers are growing out of a leaf… really nice touch! If you are having a tropical wedding or want tropical centerpieces for a wedding or other event, this is SUCH a fabulous idea. Oscar Mora also slipped a contrasting leaf or two in-between the glass vase and the Bird’s Next Fern leaf that lined the base for added interest.