Ok so since I kinda missed last weeks update I’ve decided to combine this weeks and last weeks updates. A lot has happened since I’ve last blogged. I’ve learned that I’m good in some areas and I kinda suck in others.
Onto the good parts. Well, let’s just say that my green bean plant came back from the dead and now it’s thriving! I’m having so many green beans growing it’s crazy. It’s fuller and thicker. Also a very shocking surprise that I had today was that I had my first cucumber grow! I checked it out the other day and I must have missed it. I do have lots of little ones towards the top but they aren’t growing as well. It tasted very sweet and my husband agrees that it was a very good cucumber. My other plants are growing very well outside too. I have a small variety growing outside that has grown a lot this week. I thinned them out last week so I think that helped a lot.
Even though I had some positives happen this week I also had a major blow happen. I ended up losing my remaining basil plants. I think it had something to do with the fertilizer. It was a good run while I had them but I still have more seeds for more basil plants in the future.
Overall, this has been so much fun for me to do as a hobby. Slowly I’m learning more and more about gardening. It feels great to know that That at least I know what I’m putting into my own body food wise. I think I’ve come a long way with gardening and this is something that I’m going to continue doing.
I have so many things to update you guys on. I have had both good and bad things happen over the course of the week. This week has been a whirl wind of things going on.
So to start off with the bad. I think that I may not be using the fertilizer right or maybe my plants just don’t like it. Every time I fertilize my plants die a few days after. I’ve already lost a basil plant. My plants outside are doing fine but it’s my indoor plants. Not only did that happen but I accidentally killed my large tomato’s. I made the mistake of not putting them in a pot with drainage holes. All the rain last week killed them. I’m so mad at myself for doing that. Also, if your probably wondering why I didn’t post anything last Wednesday it’s because I was sick for a couple of days. No it wasn’t covid and I know this because I was tested. Now I’m okay and almost feeling 100% myself.
Ok so onto the good. Where to start is the question. Well, let’s see my cucumber plant is doing really good so far. No cucumbers but is it growing like crazy. It’s flowering like crazy now. The next awesome thing that is happening is that I’ve got more green beans growing. I’ve seen a difference with those ever since I put the netting on. The new leaves are not as eaten up as the others. I think it took literally a few days for the leaves to be eaten up without the netting on at the beginning. Literally my mouth dropped this week when I saw the green bean plants. The leaves have come back to life and they aren’t half eaten. I don’t think that I will get a lot of green beans this year so I’m probably going to use the seeds for next years harvest.
So what is new around here you ask? You can kinda say that I got bit by this thing called the gardening bug. I ended up also sowing some new vegetables and herbs into my garden this past weekend. I’ve also become inspired by watching some YouTube videos of people who grow everything in their garden and have become somewhat self sustainable. My goal is to cut down on grocery costs. I’m also trying to get my husband, the accountant, into it as well. For one thing I think once he sees that it will make a difference in the long term then he will be more involved. Plus I think it’s a good hobby for us to do both together and eventually with our son. However, I also like the fact that it gets me focused on something other than just being a working mom. I don’t have to think about work and it is relaxing for me after putting my son down for bed. Plus it counts as a workout for me too.
So what new crops am I growing? Well, since our first frost date is for the end of October I’ve sowed crops that I will be able to harvest in about 75 days or so. I mostly tried to put out crops that we eat like cauliflower, lettuce and carrots and more tomatoes. Yes we have a obsession with tomatoes. We have to have them every Tuesday night for taco Tuesday. However, I did try to plant some crops that we also don’t normally eat as well like radishes. I also put in some new herbs such as oregano as well.
Also, last but not least I’m trying out a little experiment of using sandwich bags as a mini green house to make my super sweet 100 hybrid tomato seeds grow. I’m also thinking of maybe trying this on my basil as well. I still have my jiffy plastic container box started but I ran out of starter pods. I figured hey I have soil and I have all these pots why not do a little experiment.
Overall, I learned some new things this week that are both good and bad. I may not be the best gardener but I do have room to improve. I am determined to get my grocery costs low and to eat a over all healthier diet.
So as a new gardener I came to this bump in the road and questioning what is the right way to harvest basil? So I’ve scoured the internet and also asked my father on what’s the proper way to harvest and store basil. These are the steps that I’ve learned on how to do just that.
Materials:
Paper towels
Ice water in a bowl or plastic container is fine
Scissors
Gallon size bag
Basil plants
Step 1: Go through your plant and take out all the dead leaves that have fallen on the soil.
Step 2: Start cutting the stems right after the first node of the mature basil. The mature basil will have two big leaves and two small leaves on it like the one in this picture. You want to make sure you harvest the basil before those two little leaves form seeds. Once it starts forming seeds it will die. Doing this will also help encourage new and more growth. You will see more stems growing and sprouting.
The node is right above my thumb. So you want to cut between where my thumb and where the two stems shoot off of the main stem.
Step 3: once you have harvested your basil go through them and take out any leaves that are starting to become diseased. You don’t want to eat those.
Step 4: cut off and discard the stems of your basil.
Step 5: take your leaves and run them under water to take off any soil or critters that may still be on them. Pat them as dry as you can get them with paper towels
After I harvested one of my two basil pots
Step 6: Put them in the ice cold water for 15 seconds. This will shock them and help stop them from going bad.
Step 7 pat them dry with a paper towel and fold the paper towel with the basil in it and store in a gallon sized bag.
The ones on the left is right after the ice bath and the ones on the right are about to be put into ziplock bags.
Step 8: repeat steps 6 and 7 if necessary.
Step 9 date and freeze your bags for future use.
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So this week I’ve made some changes in my garden that have both were positives and negatives. You can say that I’m still learning from my mistakes. I do have a lot to tell you guys so let get on to it.
The first thing is that I’ve made a few changes. The first thing that I did was I fertilized my plants so much so that some of the are dying. I know now that I over fertilized them. I literally killed my smallest basil plants. I also repotted my bell pepper and tomotes. I have two types of tomotes growing. One of them is a small type of tomato and the other is a larger type of tomato. I had one small tomato plant left inside and so I added that one to the black container outside that I already had of the same kind. However, the larger tomato I put in a pot that I had outside. I also bought these nettings to put over them. You can buy these nettings here. I love them so much I have already seen a difference in my other plants outside and the amount of vegetables that are coming in. The best part about these netting is that they keep out those pesky bugs. They aren’t just good to keep out pesky bugs but also animals like birds, squirrels and dogs too. The best part is that you get a set of 3 for under $10.00. I also have so many green beans that are growing now it’s insane. I’ve also cleaned up my cucumbers and green bean plants from the dead leaves.
My small tomato plant. My large tomato plant that I transplanted outside. These were getting too big for this container.
The second thing that my husband and I are working on is getting rid of the vines that are growing on our hill. Ok so it’s just my husband working on it. In Georgia we have what is called kudzo that grows here. If you know what kudzo is then you know that it grows back fast. Like really insanely fast. That is what is mostly growing on our hill. We have cut down a lot of the shrubs that were growing but now he is tackling killing the roots. We have found a solution mixture that has been killing it. So make sure you sign up for my email news letter and watch out for a new post on that.
The last thing that I did was I cut back some of the dead leaves on my green bean and cucumber plants. I saw a lot more green beans budding out and I didn’t want any more of my green bean plants to get sick. My cucumbers plant had a lot of dead leaves so I wanted to clean that up as well. I also tied some of the vines to the trellises with some special wiring that I got with the purchase of the trellises.
My green bean plantMy cucumber plant.
Overall, this week has been a crazy week over in our garden. I’m excited to be expanding our garden. I still cannot decide whether I want to grow my vegetables above ground or make a in ground garden. I do know that I really am enjoying doing this. Make sure you subscribe to our email for more weekly updates!
So your a new mom or maybe this is your second or third child and you keep on seeing ads for a subscription service called lovevery everywhere. You see it on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. You may have heard about it from a friend, family member or neighbor. As mom to mom or parent to parent I wouldn’t be writing this if I didn’t think that this was and is a great product. You probably have heard of the Montessori Philosophy by now and that lovevery is started by Montessori parents and lead guides. Well, I am a certified Montessori infant and toddler guide and a parent to a 1 year old and this subscription service is awesome!
I know you probably are thinking that this thing is really expensive or that Montessori lessons are really expensive. While yes this will set you back $40 a month, however, it is well worth it. For one thing it is not as expensive as buying Montessori materials on your own. Which is way more expensive then buying this subscription service. For another thing is that these materials that loverevery uses are really durable. They have literally survived a dog accidentally chewing on them. The Montessori guide in me also loves that it has a book that teaches parents how to use the materials with their child and what activities they can do to help shape their child’s mind and body.
My son loved going after the wobble ball!
Another reason that I love this subscription service is that it breaks up your child’s monthly milestone ages. This is partly so that parents don’t get overwhelmed with each of the products and that they can learn where their child is at developmentally. This really benefits first time parents. They will send you a new box with the next level of materials every 2 months for your child’s first year of life. You may think that the first box isn’t worth it but it really is. My son loved looking at the back and white cards and the back and white ring and ball set. The black and white cards in the first box helps the child with their focus the first few weeks of life as their eyes are adjusting to their environment. It may not seem like a big deal to first time parents but it is a lot of work to learn to focus to a small infant.
My son is focusing on a black and white spiral image.
The one thing that I really love is that it feels like I can bring a part of my classroom materials home. I have used many of these items in my own classroom. So if you can’t afford to have your child in a Montessori class then this is the next best thing. Seriously as a Montessori guide this is a awesome product. Their are specific lessons that give your child the sensory experience of feeling different textures and doing different tasks that use their hand/ eye and hand to hand coordination. One lesson that I love that they have and that I’ve always loved having in my own classroom is the object permanence box. It not only teaches them cause and effect but that an object will continue to exist even when it can no longer be seen. Another lesson that my son really loved when we got our first suscription box was the crinkle paper book. He absolutely loved looking at all the colored fabrics and feeling and hearing the crinkle paper.
The last reason that I love this subscription service is that many parents including myself don’t always really like loud plastic toys. My son is more so engaged with the lessons that lovevery provides than with the electronic toys that he received at his first birthday party. In fact he has a bunny that sings songs when you press its hands or feet that he absolutely hates. Montessori and the lovevery lessons provide opportunities where the child can play and learn independently.
I really do think that this is a great company! This is my honest review of this company. I and many other of my fellow Montessori teacher friends love this product. Montessori should be available to everyone. In fact the children that Maria Montessori first taught were children that came from the poorest parts of Italy. Also, if you still find that this subscription service is expensive for you then you can always put this on your baby registry.
Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.
So this week is going to be a short but exciting post. I’ve made a few changes that have helped the growth of my plants. Keep on reading to find out what is new around here.
The first thing that has changed is that I bought more self watering plants. I ended up finding these pots that are below. I think they are a great value. You can get a lot more pots for the price. The total number of pots that I received is 6. It’s been a couple of days since I’ve transplanted my tomatoes into them and I can tell that they are making a difference. I can see more growth and my plants look more livelier. I didn’t want to buy pots that were expensive. I wanted something where I don’t have to worry about watering them everyday. A plus side to these compared to the other ones that I have is that if you place them near a window you can see through them and see how much water the plant has.
The light part of the pot in this picture is the water.
The second thing that I’ve done was Ive transplanted my small cherry tomatoes from a white pot to my trellis pots outside. I’ve also added these netting’s as well. All I can say is that wow I’ve seen a huge difference in the over all health of my vegetables outside. It has kept a lot of bugs off the plants. So much so that a green bean popped out! I’m so excited that I’ve already had a vegetable come out. My cucumbers are also flowering like crazy too. In fact I had to tie more of the stems onto the trellis because they were hanging over each other. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t get these any earlier. I 100% recommend these to anyone that has trellises outside.
Look at that little great bean! I actually had two green beans pop out this week! Can you spot the green bean in this picture?
The last thing that I did was I harvested my basil. I had to do this because I have a ton that is over growing in my pots. So much so that the roots are coming out the bottom of my self watering pot. Make sure you subscribe to my email list and watch out for a post in the near future of how I saved my basil harvest.
My cucumbers My cucumbers are flowering!
Overall, I’m really ecstatic about how far my plants have come along. The next thing that my husband and I are going to try and tackle are the flies because we have a bunch of them that we’re trying to eat my plants outside and they are coming inside as well.
This week I’ve decided to combine week 7 and 8 because of a few different reasons. One of them is because every day for the last 2 to 3 weeks it has been raining. So we do have a lot of growth but also parts of my plants are dying. The other reason is that I wasn’t feeling too well after my second covid shot. My body is still recovering from that. Overall, I’m excited to show and tell you some things that I have done this week.
Gardening is very calm and exciting to me. I love knowing that I can grow something that started off from a seed. These past few weeks I have transplanted my tomatoes into a bigger pot. I think I’m actually starting to run out of pots. I found an old pot that I had from our last house and transplanted tomatoes into because I noticed that it needed room to grow.
The second thing that I noticed was that I had some growth and my plants are somewhat dying outside. I know you are asking yourself how can your plants be growing and dying at the same time? Well, I think my plants are dying because of the insects eating it. I know is not from a lack of water because we have had rain for the past 3 weeks every afternoon. I’m trying to find the best netting that will keep out the bugs. I also have a lot of new growth as well. My cucumbers and green beans are starting to flower. I also may have accidentally not watered my indoor plants because I was sick these past couple of days. I hope the they will revive though.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with how my plants are doing. I was pretty sure I was going to kill them all when I first started doing this a few weeks ago. So far I think I’m doing okay. If you have gotten down this far then make sure to subscribe to my email list for more updates!
Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.
So when my son was born I thought I knew it all when he was a baby. I had ten years of experience of teaching infants and toddlers. I thought I was so ready and prepared. Little did I know that his first two months were also the hardest.
When you become pregnant as a new mom you get all sorts of different advise from everyone and you read tons of books and blogs and you might watch a ton of YouTube videos. I thought that I had it all planned out because of my background in education. Well, none of it prepared me for the first few months. Yes even if you are a teacher yourself nothing will prepare you for your own child.
Nothing prepared me for the first month when he had tummy and gas pains. Almost every child gets this the first month they are born. It’s like buying a brand new house that has just been built. You hear all sorts of new noises and are praying that you don’t have a blocked pipe or a over flowing one. You want everything to run smoothly.
The first few days he had jaundice and it took his little system a while to start moving. That was a contributing factor but when he started to wake up and cry randomly at night we realized that something was not right.
I went through every possible scenario. At first I thought it was my breast milk. Then I thought it was the supplemental milk, which we changed anyways, and then I thought it was the bottles. I was also even pumping(bicycling) his legs to different songs and rhythms after a while to keep it fun and interesting.
I knew it wasn’t my milk because he was fine during the day when I gave it to him. However, at night he would wake up and scream a few hours after drinking the supplemental milk. So then I changed him from similac to enfamil gentle ease. He seemed better but still was getting bad gas pains. If you are going to supplement or skip breast feeding altogether then get the premise bottles and not the powder. You have to be careful with the powder and adding in water because even though you can put in the right amounts you can still make more or less formula in the bottle. Down below is what I used for the pre-made formula.
So finally I thought it was the bottle. I noticed one night that he was literally putting air into the bottle. So I did my research and the first switch that I made was from advent bottles to the anti colic Philips bottles. I thought that it would be the end of that. Nope! I was wrong again! Those didn’t work either. So I then did more research and found dr browns bottles.
Finding those bottles was like the heavens opened up again! He cried a lot less and was so much calmer! I’m saying this because sometimes it can be so simple such as a bottle switch. I thought that buying philips was the way to go because it was a wide nipple and a better fit. Boy was I wrong!
I sure am glad that I switched. He became a happy little camper and to this day at 13 months old he now opens his mouth up wide for that bottle. Figuring these little guys out is like a jigsaw puzzle and once you find that one piece that fits then it all comes together.
Overall, if your baby has colic it might be that they need to switch formulas or to a different bottle or even both. Just remember momma you got this and this too shall pass!
Disclaimer: Their are affiliate links that I may or may not receive commission on at no cost to you.
So we had changed around somethings this week with our plants. The first thing that I did was I transplanted more plants into containers. The next thing that happened was that we had more seedlings grow. Lastly, I found some garden treasures at the dollar tree! At the end of this blog I have linked the items to where you can find them.
The first thing that I did this past week was we transplanted our flowers into containers outside. We already transplanted in week 6 our cucumbers and green beans but this time we transplanted our perennials. So far they seem to be doing fine. We just have to make one more adjustment to our hanging pots. I also combined my basil in my containers inside as well. So far the green bean plants are growing just fine. We even have some green beans starting to come out! However, it looks like our cucumber plant is struggling a bit. I don’t know if it’s from the shock of being outside or maybe bugs are harming it or what. I do think that it is having some new growth though. Here in the good old southern USA it does rain a lot during the month of July. Literally every afternoon for the past two weeks we have had rain.
The second thing that is exciting for is that my seedlings are starting to grow. So far the flowers and tomatoes are growing fast. However, peppers can take 10-21 days to germinate. I’m hoping to have lots of vegetables growing this year.
The last thing that I did this week was that I went to the dollar store and I found some cute items for my garden. I found some pretty cute garden decorations like this sun flower, butterfly and lady big. If you go anywhere else you will find them marked up to $10.00. I also found these cute little garden fairies to put in my containers. I found the same ones on Amazon for $5.00. I was sure glad that I bought mine at the dollar store though! You of course can’t have fairies with out a fairy door of course!
Overall, this week was was a overall good week! I love knowing that I can grow food for my family. I have some big plans coming up for my garden soon!
