If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Being as bad at keeping plants alive as I am, I’ve always paid attention to devices to make my (and their) life easier, and have featured some in the past.

The latest in this series doesn’t work in an intricate way: it simply drips water in the pot little by little, while capturing oxygen. But the Aqua Globes look cool: they’re made from hand blown glass, with a beautiful design, and each pack gets you two globes.

As far as unusual gardening tools go, this wins brownie points for design.

How much under $29.99?
Some: $10.50 on Amazon.com
Via ubergizmo

If you are a good son or daughter, you bought your Mother’s Day present weeks ago. But, hm, let’s admit some of us are busy or forgetful and we find ourselved looking for gifts at the last moment. Or maybe you’re just looking for an extra something to add to your mother’s pack of goodies. So we put together this handy top 7 affordable gifts for Mother’s Day to help you out.

7. How to Traumatize your Children. Doesn’t sound like the right present for a mother, but if she has a sense of humor she’ll love it. Plus you can read it with her, make fun of childhood “traumas” (the infamous naked-baby-on-blankie photo?) and share good memories.

6. Automatic Needle Threader. My mum likes to sew, but her eyesight is not good enough anymore and threading needles is nearly impossible for her without help. An automatic tool to do that would be a great gift for any woman who likes to sew (even without eye problems, threading needles is no fun).

5. Solar Car Air Purifier. A gift for smoking mothers. Bad habit, but hey, she’s an adult and she can choose for herself. What you can do is make it a little better for her: cleaner air in the car will mean a more pleasant ride (for her and the passengers).

4. Grobal Self-Watering Pots. This one is for mothers who like potted plants, but are too busy to spend a lot of time with them. These special pots have to be refilled once in a while and they will “water” the flowers without any input. You mother will be able to do gardening in her own free time without worrying that her plants will wither if she is not around for a couple of days.

3. Equal measure. If your mum is a bit of a geek, but also spends time in the kitchen, she’ll love the combination of useful and useless. What other kitchen utensil can help you bake cookies and teach you what size was the brain of a T-Rex?

2. Binary Mom t-shirt. Is your mum even geekier? Well then she needs a t-shirt to proclaim that. In binary. Chances are a mum who knows binary will have friends who do and who’ll appreciate the t-shirt.

1. Egg-and-Muffin 2-Slice Toaster and Egg Poacher. We all know our mums work hard to keep us happy, so they should be allowed to indulge themselves a little. Two pieces of toast, one egg, instant breakfast with no effort!

A happy Mother’s Day to mums everywhere and hope this little guide was helpful!

One of the things I haven’t inherited from my mother is her passion for plants. She loves taking care of them: watering, spraying, cleaning the leaves, changing the soil… I have a hard time watering them every 2 days when she’s not home. I’d like to have my own pots of pretty flowers but past experience has taught me that it’s cruel to torture the poor plants like that: I never remember to water them.

People’s inventivity never ceases to amaze me: there is a solution for people like me. The Grobal Self-Watering Pots reduce owner input to a mininum: you just fill the reservoir from time to time and the pot takes care of “watering” the plant. Yes, you still have to do a bit of work, but it’s much easier to remember to pour some water once a week than once a day. It’s also very helpful if you have to leave for a couple of days: instead of asking the neighbour or your friend to come by and water your plants, you just have to refill the container and go merrily on your way.

Of course, there are still people who just can’t keep a plant alive, but this at least gives it a fighting chance.

How much under $29.99?
Some: $19.95 on GrobalWorld.com.

Via Coolest Gadgets

Sturgeon’s Law says that ninety percent of everything is crap, so it’s no wonder that so much of the stuff you can find on the internet is of… dubious quality. Some things are so bad they’re funny. Some are just disturbing.

Example: a Baby Head Planter. A planter. Shaped like a baby’s head. Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this? It’s handmade and it’s very realistic, so I have to agree the artist did a good job. But… a planter?! Flowers growing out of a ceramic baby’s head? I’m sorry, but that’s way too weird for me.

How much under $29.99?
A little: $25.00 on Etsy.com.

Via cribcandy

It beats me how you can remember to water a plant every day, but my mother seems to do it with no problem and there’s millions of plant lovers all over the world. And we all know what pots look like. There’s some nice painted ones, but most are just… well, boring.

Now, do you know what an egg-plant is? No, not eggplant. An Egg Plant is a baby cactus in a pot shaped like an egg. To plant just follow these instructions:
- gently tap with a spoon to break open the top of the egg
- water the enclosed soil (in which the seeds are already embedded)
- place the egg in the sun.

After a while, you’ll have your own miniature cactus, and the cool “egg shell” will definitely attract attention.

How much under $29.99?
A lot: $12 on branch.com.