Our garden Journey season 2 week 11 and 12

April 9, 2022April 13, 2022 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Ok so I know that I haven’t been giving very many blog updates lately. It’s not that I don’t want to but it’s that things around here have been touch and go with the weather here. Georgia weather doesn’t want to make up its mind weather to be hot or cold around here. I do have a few updates though when it comes to our garden area/ space and also what plants have made it this far with the wacky weather that we have in the south.

The first update that I have for you all is that I have finally built our second raised garden bed. I’m going to have so much more space now for my transplant crops this year! Im going to start transplanting more crops in this next week. I’ve also have to order more supplies for my drip irrigation system. Those drip irrigation kits that they sell on Amazon are kinda a rip off because then you will realize that you actually don’t have the right sized tubing that you actually need for the system to actually work. So then you end up spending more money than you were anticipating. I think I will do a future post of how I set up my drip irrigation system.

The second thing that I wanted to talk about is the fact that I’ve kinda lost a few more plants from the freeze that we had this past week. I’m so bummed about it but hey you can’t control everything. I might have to replant some winter squash outside. I’ve tried to record some short clips of the garden to show you all too. I do think however learning about the weather in your area and the frost dates is a great way to learn from your mistakes and to either not plant so early or try to find other methods of covering your crops for those freezing nights. Now I know for next year to start my indoor seedings in March rather than February too.

So as a recap of everything that has happened I think I’ve learned these past two weeks some pretty important things on how to not kill your plants faster. Im all about learning from my past mistakes because I’m only human. If you would like to join me on my journey and learn a little bit about growing your own food then please subscribe to my blog down below or follow my YouTube channel!

Our Garden Journey season 2 week 9 and 10

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’m kind of excited to update you guys on what has been happening around here in our garden this week and last week! We have got some changes going on that I think will be very beneficial in helping especially while we are away. I also will be able to update you guys on if my seedlings have survived or not because of last weeks frost and why I decided to combine weeks in this post. Also, last but not least update you all about new seedlings that I’ve planted this week and show you where I am at with my indoor plants.

So while I took that little mini break from blogging and gardening this past fall I started to do a lot of research into ways that I can improve my garden. One way that I read up on was installing a drip irrigation system. I read that installing this system is helpful in watering your plants in more ways than one. For one thing it sits on top of the soil and helps get the water right where it needs to be and that is at the base of the plant. For another thing that I read up on the drip irrigation is that it eliminates watering your plants from above which can not be a great thing to do when you have a plant where getting mildew on the leaves can literally kill it. I still have some tweaks to do to my system but I’m going to get it up and running soon. Also, on top of the system I bought a timer to water my plants so that my plants can get the water that they need while we are away.

The second thing that I want to share with you guys are the seedlings that have survived and so far have sprouted. So I did make a mini video down below one night after work to show you all everything that has so far sprouted. I honestly didn’t think that anything would have survived other than what had already sprouted. So here is what has so far sprouted of both my vegetables and flowers from that deep frost that we had recently. So far I’ve had Danver carrots, lupine, both marigold mixed and red knight and also painted daisies emerge.

The third thing that I wanted to update you all on is why we haven’t been able to update the blog lately and that is because we have all been sick yet again. This time with the stomach bug. It’s has not been fun getting sick with the little guy. However, I’m glad to say that we are now on the mend.

The last thing that I wanted to update you all on the seedlings that I planted in week 9 and also give you guys an update on the plants that I already have already started indoors as well. So first off I wanted to say that I’ve already planted new seedlings for my cauliflower and cabbage outside in the same spots. Fingers crossed that they sprout and survive this time. However, inside you could say that I’m doing early trial run of growing pumpkins. Am I crazy for starting this early? Maybe?? However, if I do really well with them then I will start new seedlings in the summer. Boy oh boy do I have a lot of them too. I have jack o lantern, Halloween blend, sugar pie, little October, and Cinderella. My house will probably be known as the pumpkin house this fall. As of week 10 I have a few pumpkins that have sprouted and a few cauliflowers and cabbages too. and That’s not all that I’m growing though. I still have to update you all where I’m at with my other transplants that are growing. So far I have jalapeños, sweet Williams, Johnny jump up, sweet peppers, bell peppers, supper sweet tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, basil, sage, cantaloupe, Georgia rattlesnake watermelon, straight 8 cucumbers, garden sweet cucumbers and bush variety cucumbers. I know that is a lot and that is what I have so far. I still have more seeds to start in the next few weeks too.

Week 9 In this photo I have a lot of plants growing here. I have watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, plum pear trees and tomatoes.

I have more pear plum trees and Johnny jump ups.

I have jalapeño’s, sweet pepper, bell peppers, purple cone flowers and Johnny jump up.

I have sage and basil growing here.

I’m so excited to have more plants growing outside. Make sure to follow and subscribe below to our latest updates on our blog! Wait until you see what I have on next weeks blog!

Our Garden Journey season 2 week 8

March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week might be a week where I don’t know if all my crops out side will survive. If your wondering why my blog this week is written a little weird then it’s because I’m trying to write it day by day at least for this week. We have had some pretty weird weather happen this week in the good old south!

So if you guys don’t already know I live in Georgia. Not the country the state that is in the USA. If you are from Georgia then you know that the weather is bipolar. One day it’s warm and in the 60’s then the next day it’s in the 30’s and you see sleet in the forecast. Let’s just say that no farmer, homesteader or hobby gardener liked that little surprise in the forecast. Now I did do some preparation to kinda help it. I don’t think I did enough but something is better than nothing right? Well, I did put a covering on my plants outside with what I could find in my garage. I did find a thin blanket sheet that was super long and I put that on my raised garden bed outside. I also extended a ground cover that was already on the hill over to where my plants are. If I would have been more prepared then I would have bought some plastic wrap from the grocery store like this one guy did in my neighborhood. Yes he literally wrapped his whole front garden in it. Last but not least I just covered my smaller raised bed with the plastic from my garden soil. That last one flew off the bed already. As you can see from the pictures below that I got a little creative with pinning everything down. Also, I should mention that my husband and I tried moving that smaller raised bed but it is too heavy.

Now I usually do my gardening on the weekends because I work a normal 9-5 kind of job during the week. I decided to do my gardening on Sunday this time around because on Saturday as you all know at this point we had a freeze. I decided to video document my experience of the morning after. I’ve got to say that I’m not sure that everything will survive but I’m hoping so. The top soil was fine but digging deeper into the soil it was a little bit rock hard. For this week, I planted flowers, herbs and vegetables outside. I planted red knight marigolds, mixed marigolds, winter and summer squash, and parsley. I also transplanted cauliflower and cabbage too. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will still get a good harvest this year.

The last thing that I did was I also planted some new seedlings indoors. I’m supper excited about these because these are the fruits that we eat the most in my house during the summer. We planted Georgia rattlesnake watermelon and cantaloupe. I also planted some varieties of cucumbers as well. I know I sucked at growing them last year but I wanted to give them another chance this year.

So far this year I’m still hopeful that it will be a great harvest year despite the little set back of the below freezing weather we had this past weekend. I’m hoping a lot of the seeds that I’ve planted outside will pull through. My goal for this year is to not only grow as much food as I can but also eat healthier and also to save on some costs and lower our grocery bill too. Please like share and subscribe to my blog. Comment down below if you guys think I should start a YouTube channel!

Our Garden Journey week 4

February 17, 2022February 17, 2022 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So this week I’ve been having some changes in my garden that I really want to tell you guys about. I wanted to tell you guys about a few changes that I have made to the hill that I’m going to put my garden on as well as seeds that I’ve planted and also how I’m keeping track of my garden too. I’m so excited to tell you guys about some of my future plans.

My biggest project to date with my garden is prepping our hill/slope to grow fruits and vegetables. We have already cleared off a lot of the over grown weeds and kudzu. However, we still have a lot of ground weeds that are left over. So far I’ve already got a little area started for my lettuce at the bottom. This past weekend I started to hack away at some of the weeds at the top. My goal is to do it section by section until the whole slope is weed free so that I can start putting my compost soil on. This will really give me time to figure out the best spots that are flat enough on my slope to actually put some plants in. While walking on the slope I noticed that it has some parts that are curved into the slope where I could potentially put a plant or two in because apart of the curve is a little bit flat and in pushed into the hill so I don’t think those areas will have much erosion. One thing is for sure though I that clearing all the weeds out is making me work out a lot that’s for sure! Sorry that I don’t have any updated pictures of the progress that I’ve made so far but my goal is to work at it every weekend so next weekend I will make sure to take some pictures for next weeks post.

This week is also another round of seed planting! This week I planted different types of tomatoes, cabbage, two types of basil, cauliflower and more lettuce! The types of tomorrows that I have are super sweet hybrid 100, red cherry tomatoes, beef steak tomatoes, tomato sweetie and cloudy day tomatoes! I think what I am the most excited to grow this year are tomatoes especially the little varieties. It brings me back many fond memories of eating tomatoes from my grandpas garden in the summer. I’m also excited about growing cabbage and cauliflower because those are new plants to me and I feel like I’m ready for a challenge to have and grow them in my garden.

So to wrap up this weeks post I hope you will join me in subscribing to my newsletter which will let you know when I post a new blog! Please let me know what you are growing in your garden down below!

Our Garden Journey week 2

February 3, 2022February 3, 2022 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So for this weeks post I’m going to update you guys on what items I bought to prepare for this garden season, what I started to seed this week and what problems that I’m having with my plants that I’m trying to fix. I bought some new items that I figured out that I needed to have a successful garden season this year. I not only took pictures but I took some short video clips as well.

The first thing that I bought was more planting cells. I decided to go with a pack of 5 containers that have 72 cells each. One advice that I will give you is if you are looking on Amazon to make sure that you are looking at suppliers that are not sketchy. I’ve noticed that the quality of sellers and product is going downhill. You want planters that have good reviews. The ones that I have are so far going ok with the seeds that I planted so far. I also bought a composter this year to make my own organic soil. I buy so much stuff from Amazon that I figured that I could compost some of those boxes. I think investing in a composter was a good investment. For one thing it will help keep down the cost of soil. I also bought a soil tester too. All I’ve got to say is that I’ve had it for two days and I really do think it’s going to help. If you keep on reading I will explain why later on.

I’ve started planting my seeds for my garden now. Mostly all of them are brand new seeds that I’ve never grown before. The seeds that I’ve started are:

Rosemary
Jalapeños
Oregano
Sweet peppers
Bell peppers
Spearmint
Snap dragon
Sweet William
Purple cone flower
Jonny jump up
Lavender
African daisy

I’m really excited to start growing flowers and food this year as you can tell. Every day when I get home one of the first things I will do is go check out the seedlings. Right now I only have one rosemary seeding that already seeded. I tried taking a picture of it for the blog but it didn’t come out too good. I also have a couple of pear plants growing too. One major problem that I’m trying to fix with the pear plants is trying to keep them from dying after I transplant them. I bought a soil tester probe to test out the soil and while I think it is a great product so far I, however, don’t think that I can save my pears from dying at this point. From the research that I’ve done is that pears love acidic soil and my PH balance in my soil is too high. I tried saving my pears from dying by putting vinegar in the soil. I think by doing that I either may have not done it right or I should have not put it in at all. If you have any suggestions on how I can save my pear transplants please let me know in the comments below! After all I think that whether your a beginner gardener or not you are constantly learning from your mistakes and learning how to improve.

Overall, I’m so excited on gardening this year! I know I have a lot to learn about gardening still but I’m hoping to somewhat sustain my family off of the food that I’m growing. Don’t forget to like share and subscribe to get weekly updates!

Using these tips saved me money as a new mom

October 3, 2021October 7, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So I just want to put a disclaimer that everything in this article is my own opinion and that I’m not getting paid to do this. These are purely tips that have helped my family save money as a new family of three. If you are a new mom, a new dad, a single mom or a new family of three you are probably freaking out about the expenses of having a child. Well, these are the best tips that I have when it comes to saving money on baby and toddler items.

1. Don’t buy newborn sizes. Don’t do it because they will grow out of them in a week or two. Only buy them if you have a premie. Buy the 0-3 to start off with. The 0-3 size will last longer on your child than the newborn. In the end you will end up with a bunch of newborn clothes that he/she cannot wear and you could be spending money on those unused clothes towards diapers.

2. Buy clothes that are a size bigger than what the tag says they should be wearing at their age. I’m saying this because if let’s say you are buying fall clothes now those clothes will need to last them till March and these little guys grow like weeds. This tip helps if you are already on a tight budget. For example my son just turned 16 months and I just bought him 24 month clothing because I do not want to keep on buying clothes throughout the winter for him. Especially with prices of every item going up.

3. Join baby products communities and rewards programs. Most baby products like enfamil, huggies or pampers send out coupons and have rewards when you sign up on their website. Enfamil will literally send you coupons to use. We all know that formula can get expensive. Huggies and pampers also have rewards programs too. Also, apps like Fetch is also great to use for baby products. You get points back to use on gift cards every time you upload a receipt or order anything from Amazon. Just as a side note Amazon is great to use to buy baby items on too especially during the newborn stage . You can use my promo code PDNQ27 to get 2,000 points right now when you sign up.

4. Buying baby and toddler clothes at consignment stores or using Amazon prime wardrobe. The best decision that I made was buying my son’s clothes as a newborn at a kids consignment store. I literally got many of his clothes brand new with tags at half the price that they would have been at the store. Now when they grow out of their clothes you can always sell them back to consignment stores and get some money back for them. You can also sell gently used baby toys, bouncers, pack in plays and swingers back to the consignment stores. I also use Amazon prime wardrobe to try and buy my son’s clothes. I like using it because I’m not getting charged until the 7th day and I know myself if I forget to return it then it will sit in my closet. That way if it doesn’t fit him then it’s gets sent back straight away. I also really don’t want to bring my child out at times. It feels like I’m going on a field trip with him. Also, Amazon prime wardrobe is also good to use if you are pregnant for maternity clothes. If you don’t feel comfortable going to the store then use prime wardrobe. For one it’s cheaper than many maternity stores and you won’t risk yourself going out to the stores.

5. If you are buying clothes or any items from a big name brand store then check out their clearance items first because you might be able to buy 0-3 months baby clothes for really cheap. For instance, I really liked Macy’s backstage when they first started because I could get a pack of 2-3 rompers for like $3.00. Also, TJ max also has a lot of cute baby items for 3 to 4 dollars. You can buy clothes, bath toys and toys from TJ max.

Please share this list with every new mom or soon to be new mom you know! Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter for more parenting tips!

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.

Our Gardening Journey week 10

August 8, 2021August 9, 2021 by alexa parisi ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

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 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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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