Our gardening Journey weeks 17 and 18

October 6, 2021October 11, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This weeks post is going to be a little bit different. I’ve decided to combine my weekly posts because well not much is going on here in our garden. It’s almost the end of our growing season and right now I’m in sort of a planning stage of deciding what changes we want to make in our garden.

First off our plants are still doing great. Knock on wood I’m getting some great output from my tomato plant. I haven’t harvested them yet but I see lots of them growing. I recorded some short clips of my tomato plants. It’s starting to get a little bit colder here in the south. If you live in Georgia then you know that Georgia weather can be bipolar as I call it. Where it can be cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. As a result of it turning into fall my green bean plant has slowed down with growing and my cucumber plant has completely died on me. My plan for this week is to let my beans dry out so that I can use the seeds for the next growing season.

So what do you have planned next? Well, my husband and I already have a couple of projects planned out for this fall. The first three projects are putting up Halloween decorations, fixing up our plant bed in the front of our house and starting a compost pile. This is a brand new house so our front yard has a lot of crab grass and weeds because of the sod. It’s been kinda crazy around here with Halloween coming up. We haven’t been doing much to the garden this week because it has rained so much. As for the composter though, I found this outdoor duel one by for less than $100.00. It did take me a while to put it together but I think it will be well worth it.

Overall’ we are super excited to start planning out our garden for the spring. We hope that with adding in mulch it will give it a much cleaner look. I’m also hoping that my composting adventure will cut down on the cost of soil in our yard while also growing lots of food for us next year.

Our gardening Journey week 16

September 22, 2021September 26, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week has been a good week for our garden. It starting to cool down just a tiny bit here down south. I’m trying to let what I have grow and harvest until the end of October. Just a warning for you that this weeks post is going to be a bit short.

So let’s start off with the good. I’ve grown a ton of green beans that now my son and I eat it at lunch. My husband, however, likes them raw as a snack. He is weird I know. I literally thought this plant was going to die weeks ago and then all of a sudden it came back to life. The next awesome thing that is happening is that my tomatoes are growing and sprouting. I don’t have any to eat yet but I’m excited! Even if it doesn’t get ripe I won’t be mad. I just wish that I had planted them earlier However, despite the good things I think I’m going to let my cucumber plant die. I took off the mesh covering because the rope that was keeping it together broke. While I’m glad that it sprouted one good cucumber I think I’m going to let this plant die out and just replant it next season.

Over all I think I did okay for my first season of gardening. I’ve learned a lot of tips and tricks. I’m already starting to plan out our garden for next spring.

Our Gardening Journey week 11

August 16, 2021August 18, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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.

How to harvest and properly store basil?

August 15, 2021August 15, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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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Our Gardening Journey week 9 This is what I used to keep pesky bugs away.

August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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.

How to make a flower vase under $13.00

July 20, 2021August 2, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As a disclaimer I may also receive compensation at no extra cost to you.

One thing about me is that I love to make crafts myself. For one thing it is cheaper and for another I love creating things. In this post I’m going to show you how to make a flower vase under $20.00. This is a fun project to do if you are a college student on a budget, a mom on a budget or someone whom loves to brighten up their space!

The next thing that I did was I grabbed and bought my items. I found these two tea light jars and this tin vase. As a tip you can use the tea light jars for Halloween because they are kind of see though. The next item that I bought was the foam insert for the tin vase. This will help you with having the flowers stay in place. The next items that I bought were the fake flowers of course. I bought a variety of different ones in different shapes and sizes.

After I bought my items I then went home and went to work putting everything together. As you can see I cut the stems down to fit the flowers into the tea light jars. I will warn you that it does take a little bit of muscle and power to cut them. I always put the tallest flower in the middle and the shortest in the front. I also twisted the flowers around each other so that it covered gaps and so that the flowers we more spread out.

Overall, I really loved how it came out! This is a project that will not only brighten up your space but also on the plus side you don’t have to worry about killing plants.

Our Gardening Journey week 7

July 13, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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!

Links of what items I bought:

Sunflower stake

http://shrsl.com/32oia

Fairy Garden

http://shrsl.com/32oip

Our Gardening Journey week 6

July 7, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week I had made some major changes to our garden. I not only managed to repot some plants but I somehow ended up buying more seeds to grow more flowers and vegetables.

The first thing that I did was I repotted some of the vegetables and flowers. Weeks ago I bought some special trellises that came in a pack of 3 and can hold up to 40 quarts of soil. So far they are holding up really well. I desperately needed to replant the green beans and cucumbers. However, my tomatoes are taking some time to grow so those won’t be getting transplanted for a while. I also replanted the Jumping Junipers and Sweet Williams into two flower hanging pots. Every thing that I bought off of Amazon is linked below. If you click on the Amazon link you will be directed where I bought my items.

The second thing that I did was I somehow ended up back at home depo to buy more vegetable seeds. This time however I bought purple coneflowers, bell peppers, and a different kind of tomato called a cloudy day hybrid tomato.

Overall, I’m excited to see our little garden grow! You can certainly say that I caught the gardening bug! I’m hoping to make our backyard into our own little piece of heaven.

Our Gardening Journey week 5

June 30, 2021July 21, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this weeks post is going to be a little bit different. Instead of an update on our plants I thought that I would do a mini series of our yard. My husband has been working on this project for a few weeks and you can say that it is a work in progress.

So our yard is a pretty good size yard with a lot of room for our son and dog to run around. However, we have this huge problem that is an eyesore. We have a side hill with tall grass and poisonous plants. At the top of the side hill is what looks like brown vines. What is underneath those vines is a barb wired fence. we can’t take out this fence because the people that own the property behind us own it. However, my husband is week by week cleaning the hill.

The first thing my husband did was to kill a majority of the poisonous plants and to cut down the tall grass using a weed whacker. The next thing that he is planning to do is to plow the hill to get all the weeds up. In the fall we are going to put down a protective barrier so that weeds don’t come up. My plan is to hopefully plant my garden in that side hill because it does get the best sunlight.

Oh, did I also mention the iron metal pole that is sticking out on the hill as well? If I showed you in person you would easily be able to see it but in these pictures it is hard to find. The pole is so deep that he couldn’t get it up and so he had to use a saw to cut it down.

Overall, my husband has done a really good job with cleaning up the eyesore of a hill. Also, one thing to add is that the construction company added that tree on the hill where the pine straw is. Either it will come out completely or maybe it will stay. Even though we still have a long way of cleaning up the hill I’m excited to have a garden of our own.

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Tips for new mommas, having kids, gardening and life in general!

Tag: home improvement