Category: Gardening

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Quick Trip for Garden Decor

On my way home from work today I stopped off at one of my favorite discount stores. They have a great section filled with all sorts of outdoor items. I found some upside down hanging planters for only $0.99. I was really excited because they are normally between $15 and $20. I got three and plan to use them for peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries. We already had one with strawberries at home, but the strawberries seem to disappear the second they are ripe so I figured an extra one couldn’t hurt.

In addition to the planters, I got some soil, plant food, and some seeds. I kept walking through the various aisles in search for some cute, kid friendly, garden decorations. I found a pretty wind chime with butterflies that I know he girls will love. I also found some pink and purple bunnies on little wooden posts that will be great for Easter time.

Speaking of holidays, I also found a couple giant four leaf clover window clings that I can hang up on the sliding glass door for St. Patrick’s Day. I think they will look great accompanied by homemade rainbow light catcher ornaments I plan make with the girls.

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Pumpkin Patch Hunting

Today I went to the local Pumpkin Patch and hunting the most perfectly round big pumpkin I could find. I had a large one last year that was taller than it was round and it carved really nice. But I wanted something different this year.

The pumpkin patch had the pumpkins grouped by size. The really big ones were $40! Wow! I couldn’t believe that people are willing to spend $40 on a pumpkin that they don’t even eat – they just carve it and set it outside to decorate their porch.

The one I decided to buy was beautiful and I only paid $25. I think I could have found one cheaper, but this is a charity sale for the church youth group. I figured that since Halloween is supposed to be a holiday for the kids anyway, that supporting a youth group with my money was the right thing to do.

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Critters Getting Into My Garden

I have a garden that I planted this year. It’s in the only spot of my whole yard that gets enough sun to grow anything. My neighbor lady is mad at me for planting the garden there – she says that I should have put it in my back yard instead of the side yard, because “no one wants to look at that!” I have to tell you – I was actually offended that she told me that. I don’t see anything wrong with having a small vegetable garden in the side yard, and there are so many trees in my back yard that nothing will grow back there – not even grass!

For the past several mornings when I go to check the garden and water it, I have found one of the bean plants broken off and ruined. I suspect that some kind of critter is getting into my garden at night and breaking off the bean plants. We have skunks, foxes, rabbits, raccoons and deer in my neighborhood. Do you think any of them are interested in beans?

I have no idea what kind of critter it would be – and I sure hope that it is not my neighbor doing it to spite me!

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Summer Squash Recipe

I found a great summer squash recipe that has become a favorite here too.  It’s a New England Summer Squash casserole type dish.  I thought you might like to give it a try.

  • 2 pounds (about 6 cups) of Yellow Squash
  • 1/4 cup chopped Sweet Vidalia Onion
  • 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 1 cup Sour Cream
  • 1 cup shredded Carrots
  • 1 8 oz Herb Seasoned Stove Top Stuffing mix
  • 1 cup melted butter

Boil Squash and onion for 5 minutes and drain. Combine chicken soup and sour cream. Stir in shredded carrots. Fold in squash and onions. Combine stuffing mix and melted butter. Use a 12 x 7 casserole dish. Put half of stuffing on the bottom of the pan, then the squash mixture and top with remaining stuffing.  Bake at 350 degree for 25 – 30 minutes or until heated through.  Serves 6 unless they really like it and then it only serves about 4.

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Lots of Summer Vegetables Available

Guest post by Louise Stratham

I wish there was a Farmer’s Market close to my house. I don’t know of any except the one downtown, and I hate to drive downtown. I end up spending an extra $10 in gas to go all the way downtown and an extra $10 to the trip for paid parking. So the cost of fresh vegetables is already $20 before I even pick out the first one.

The last time I went to the Farmer’s Market, the price of vegetables was not any cheaper than what I can buy at Kroger grocery stores. I’m not sure there is much advantage to shopping at Nashville’s Farmer’s Market other than you are supporting local farmers and local businesses rather than a big grocery store chain like Kroger and whatever farms they decide at a corporate level to buy from.

There is a little place on the side of the road that sells fresh vegetables and fresh flowers on Lebanon Road. I don’t usually take Lebanon Road to go anywhere, but when I know I am going that way, I usually stop and buy a few things. I went by there yesterday and found lots of summer vegetables. They are a little cheaper than Kroger and the owner tells me that all the produce is grown locally. So I don’t mind supporting this guy and his wife.

I tried to grow some tomato plants on my patio, but they did not produce much. The tomatoes are so small and colored funny that I ended up throwing them out. It was nice to find a fresh picked, field grown tomato at the vegetable stand. One slice of their tomato covers the entire piece of bread! So I enjoyed a fabulous tomato and mayo sandwich last night. And I’ll have another one tonight for dinner, with a couple pieces of bacon and some lettuce on top.

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Caring For Floral Arrangements

It’s always nice to get flowers delivered to you. I love getting a big bouquet with a nice vase and a little card. I usually always get a bunch on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If I’m lucky I also get some flowers on my birthday. This year, for Mother’s Day, I got a lovely bouquet from the kids and my husband. I love the arrangement. It has gorgeous yellow lilies and violet and lavender additions to compliment the yellow.

I want to make sure that my flowers last for awhile so I’m taking special precautions as I care for them. I’ve given them plant food and fresh water. Once the water gets dirty I’ll change it and refill the vase with clean water. I’m making sure to keep the arrangement away from any heat source as well. So even though they might look great above my television set, I don’t want the heat to age the flowers prematurely. I sprayed the flowers with a floral preservative to help keep them as fresh as possible.

I know that if I follow these precautions, my floral arrangement should last awhile and I’ll be able to enjoy them for a few weeks.

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Ideas for Re-purposing Pallets in Your Garden

As we enjoyed our fruit harvest this week from our upside down planters, I discussed with the kids and my husband what we wanted to plant next year.  I also looked into ideas about how we could implement them into our existing garden.  I found some neat ways to re-purpose pallets in our garden and grow our own food.

I found that I can stack some pallets together and make a vertical planter.  Vertical planters help to maximize space both vertically and horizontally, which would be great for people with limited space to plant a garden but still want to enjoy a bountiful harvest.  It’s important to plant shallow rooted veggies and herbs in these planters.  I think this solution could be great for us so we don’t lose too much room of the play space for the kids but still get to have a  nice sized garden.

I even found a creative solution to use the pallets to make a green house with sheets of glass layered on top of each section of the pallet.  This could be neat to grow different kinds of plants.  I’m really excited to try these ideas out in the garden.

 

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Harvesting Our Home Grown Fruit

Our upside down planters have really done wonders with the fruit plants we have.  I spent the afternoon harvesting our strawberries, tomatoes, and even a bunch of peppers.  We ended up getting a huge crop of peppers.  I’m excited to try all of the recipes I’ve collected for all of these peppers.  We do seem to have more than we need though so I plan to give some away to our neighbors and friends.

Our plants also produced a nice few baskets of tomatoes and strawberries.  Of course we’ll be gobbling most of the strawberries up before I have much time to do anything with them, but I told the kids and my husband that I really want to save some to make some jam and a nice strawberry rhubarb pie.  I know it will be hard for them to resist the temptation of eating the fresh and delicious berries but I promised them it would be worth their sacrifice.

I love seeing my family enjoy the work that I put into the garden.  I know exactly what they are eating when I grow it for them myself.  Next year I think I want plant more food for us to enjoy together.  I’m not sure if I want to do planter boxes or if I want to dig up some of the garden for vegetables.  Maybe I’ll have the kids help me pick out what we should grow together.

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Waiting for My Fruit to Grow

It’s been about a month and a half since I’ve put up the upside down planters in the garden. We are starting to see some growth. I can’t wait for the plants to start producing yummy fruits. I’m excited to be able to eat some of the strawberries this time around. Every other time we plant strawberries they are gone before I get any. This year we planted two strawberry plants. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get some this time. I’m also anxious to try out all of those tomato recipes that I have stockpiled over the past month.

I don’t think I have anything to worry about when it comes to getting my share of the peppers. It’s just me and my husband who will be eating those. I haven’t thought about finding recipes for all of the peppers. Maybe I need to start working on pepper recipes now too!

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Easter Bunnies in the Garden

With Easter just around the corner I’ve pulled out the cute little wooden bunnies that I got at the discount store a few weeks ago.  They look great nestled among the flowers our garden.  I also added some giant sized carrots and baby chicks.  It always brings a smile to my face when I decorate for the holidays.

The little Easter Bunnies I found are a soft pink with a bright pink nose. They have pale blue eyes and a cute pink ribbon tied in a  bow around their necks. In each hand is an Easter basket filled with grass and eggs decorated in many colors. They really look fabulous in the garden.  I wish I would have gotten a few more to place in the front yard as well.  Who knows, maybe I’ll snag a few for the front yard too.