Gardening… what a way to Live wise and Spend wise!

I guess this is just an update on my gardening project more that anything else and I must admit, gardening is one of the best things I do that completely matches up with the title of my blog.

My last Garden update was May 10th and although I am posting today, please note I took these pictures June 29th.  It has been 7 weeks since the last posted pictures and these I am posting today and boy oh boy what I difference we have!

PEPPERS!  If you remember, in my last post I mentioned I was having trouble with something eating the leaves of all my peppers plants. I picked up some Captain Jack, which is an organic spray, and it seemed to have helped a little.  Overall however, my peppers are the slowest plant I am growing.

Jalapenos – They are coming along. The plant hasn’t taken off like it did last year, but I have peppers! I assume by August I will have a ton more.

Bell Peppers – Last year I did a green bell pepper. This year I went with a green bell and a red bell. They are still showing no signs of peppers or blooms. Last year they took forever as well so I’m just being super patient.  Fingers crossed.

Hot Banana peppers – This guy has been a slow grower as well.  I got one tiny pepper so far and that’s it.  Over all I think I need patience with all the peppers.

I’m hoping throughout July, they will go nuts! Any advice?

Tomatoes – My tomatoes are booming, but they are slow turning red.  Just look at all the grape tomatoes I have!  They are just so green. I want red!  Even the roma hybrids are green.  Again, I need patience, or advice.

Zucchini – WOW, do these plants get insanely huge.  This thing has not been shy about growing enormous. Just look at it! It’s neat to see the blooms open up wide like this in the morning hours, but then in the heat of the day they will close back up.  As big as the plant is, I have been waiting and waiting to see a zucchini. Finally, this past weekend as I was working in the garden I did a double, almost triple take and noticed two of the biggest zucchini hiding way up under the plant.  I had them this past Sunday and man were they yummy!

Cucumber – It’s a good thing I gave my cucumber room to crawl and fencing to climb. This by far, has been my most productive plant. I have had a cucumber almost everyday for nearly two weeks now.  I’ve even given some away and they aren’t stopping. I just plucked all the ready ones before this picture, but look at the blooms still coming! I’m about to have to make some pickles and ask for recipes 🙂 Anyone had cucumber slices in their water??? YUM!!

The watermelon is looking pretty healthy thus far. I forgot to take a picture but there isn’t much to show other than a vine going crazy. She gets the least amount of sun, so we will have to wait and see if anything is to come from her. I saw a few blooms the other day, but that is it.

So there you have it.  So far I feel like I’m doing ok for only my second year at this hobby.  In addition to growing the plants, I also have had to fend off weeds. I spent last Friday in the 104 degree weather (yes I’m nuts) doing major weed control. I got tired of pulling weeds so I went with plan B. Time to smother them! I put down 2 rows of newspaper and lots and lots of mulch.  It actually made a huge difference and even looks prettier 🙂 Im just back from my parents lake house and Im already anxious to head to my BF’s house to check on the garden. I wrote this post a few days ago and saved it as a draft. Now I’m posting it a few days later and ready to see what has changed….Here’s to hoping for more produce after the storms from the week!

Mom, please don’t make me eat the green stuff!

So I have to give props to a fellow blogger for finally giving me a push to make this delightful treat a few weeks ago.  I’ve seen this new snack be quite popular on TV, in Magazines, and now here on WordPress. I’ve been curious about giving it a try, but lets be honest, judging from this picture alone, this to me looks a bit scary and yet people are calling it tasty?  YUCK!

Nevertheless, I gave Kale Chips a shot…

I followed my fellow blogger’s direction in her post first. Check her’s post at the link below.
“Cheers to Well Being”

She talks about making baby potatoes with hers, but I just wanted to try out the Kale on it’s own. So here was my attempt.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of Kale
Olive oil – 2-3 tablespoons
Sea Salt to taste
**My fellow blogger also said “other spices if you prefer” This came in handy later 🙂

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Wash Kale and pat VERY dry. This is important to help with crispiness

3. Slice or tear kale into bite sized pieces.Toss with oil and spices of your choosing and place on cookie sheet.

4. Bake 10-15 minutes.

**Keep a close eye because they will burn quite easy.

The first batch I made I WAY overdid it on the salt and oil. The second time I used spray Olive oil to keep it lighter, but still managed to overdo the salt. The third time happened to be yesterday with my mother and I was a bit nervous to try again.  I had not yet mastered the recipe and how can you disappoint Mom on Mommy’s Day!?

Nevertheless, this batch turned out to be quite close to perfect-o!

Again, I sprayed lightly with olive oil and as I thought about flavoring I remembered what I consider “old faithful”.  LEMON!  To me, lemon goes great on everything and over the years has become my substitute for salt and at times even butter.  I squeezed a fresh lemon over the batch and added fresh ground pepper.  All I can say is, who needs potato chips!?

This batch was less expensive, better tasting, and super healthy. The verdict is in…..YUM!

Now lets compare cost and overall wiser decision making for our lives 🙂

1 bunch of Kale = $1.59 at my grocery (now I plan to grow some this fall)

1  Lemon = $.50

Olive oil = the amount I used probably works out to pennies…

Total = $2.59

A bag of potato chips costs this much and lacks all those vitamins and goodness for you that’s in the kale.

**This recipe makes enough for about 2-3 people as a side dish or appetizer. When I make it for myself it will last me two or three meals.  When I feel the need to splurge and eat them all, I can do so quite guilt free!

Garden update….

So it’s been three weeks since my last garden post, but it hasn’t been three weeks since I have tended to the project. I just slacked a little on my updates…..oops.

I last left off with a post showing my bed ready for planting. This was April 18th. The following day I headed off to the store to purchase my summer produce! I thought about what I grew last year. Some things worked well. Some needed a better gardener (me!), and some items just weren’t for me. I picked a variety a plants and went to play in the dirt for the day.  Three weeks later, here is what we have going on this year compared to last year.

 

 

 

Jalapenos – They did awesome last year! I love my spicy foods! Deciding to plant these again was simple. I’ve got a bud coming already!

 

 

 

 

Bell Peppers – Last year I did a green bell pepper. This year I went with a green bell and a red bell.

Sweet Banana peppers – This was another easy plant to tend to and just would not stop producing. I actually had to give away and throw out some of these because they went crazy! I switched it up and planted a hot banana pepper this year.

Help me please!  Of all my plants, my peppers seem to attract pests. I already have holes in my leaves 😦 Any tips? I’m trying to stay as organic as possible.

 

 

 

 

Tomatoes – These are my favorite. Nothing taste better than a fresh grown garden tomato! This seemed to be my most versatile plant last year. I had so much fun creating recipes in order to use my tomatoes. At one point I thought I was going to turn into a tomato I was eating so many! This year I went with a variety in my sizes. I planted cherry, grape and a hybrid Roma. Look! I already have a cherry tomato!  Thanks you May showers!

 

 

 

Zucchini – Last year I meant to plant zucchini and accidentally bought a squash. The squash did mediocre and it isn’t my favorite anyway. This year I made sure to get the right plant. I love zucchini and can’t wait to see how well it does.

Cucumber – Last year my cucumber did mediocre, just like my squash. I didn’t realize how much the 2 would spread. Because I expanded my garden this year I was able to spread my vine plants out and give them more room to creep and crawl as they wish.

This just in! I only planted veggies last year.  This year I thought I would try my hand at fruit too! I know, I know….tomatoes are technically a fruit.  I also added cantaloupe and watermelon.

 

Alas, my cantaloupe has already disappeared so I have one man down. I have no clue what happened. Literally, it disappeared. I didn’t go out to find it brown and dying, but completely gone. Poof! So weird!

 

 

The watermelon is looking pretty

healthy thus far.

 

 

 

So there you have it.  So far I feel like I’m doing ok for only my second year at this hobby.  Bad news..I’ve had one casualty. I also  still a few holes to fill (hee hee) with my pepper problem. Good news, I’ve got tomatoes popping and flowers blooming on my jalapenos.  My watermelon, cucumber, and zucchini look rather healthy as well!

 

For a kind little addition and gift to my boyfriend, I also spruced up his deck with some marigolds… 🙂

 

Litter Bug, Litter Bug, Why do you?

I’m back!  It’s been a week and I’ve been busy and had a bit of writers block.  I don’t want to blog for the sake of blogging.  I’d rather write when I feel inspired.

Anyhoo….I went for one of my regular jogs a few days ago and in mid-stride of mile 1, I had to make a quick leap over a bag of dog doo.

ARGHHHH! Seriously?  Someone took the time to take a bag with them on their dog walk, pick up the poop, yet still couldn’t find a way to get the poop in a trash can.  I was flummoxed?!?! Street litter was getting to me lately.

My boyfriend and I have talked about this issue in the past. He has his own street litter due to living on a main road.  He always tells me how frustrated he gets that on almost as daily basis as he walks his own trash out to the street or checks the mail, he finds fast food wrappers, soda cans, and more just tossed into his front yard.  I didn’t think people still tossed trash out their car window anymore, but oooooooooo they do! In addition to noticing it more in his yard now that we had talked about it, I was noticing it everywhere I went.

Quickly I turned my emotions around and decided I could waste my energy being frustrated and angry at the laziness of humans around me, or I could take this opportunity to take action and multitask during my jog. Perhaps it was my endorphins flowing as I jogged that kept me positive, but nevertheless I found a lemon and started making lemonade right then and there.

As my feet bounced the rest of the way down the streets and sidewalks, I kept my eyes peeled for road side litter.  I would no longer jump over bags of poop, but take the time to pick up the trash and plop it in the next available bin along the way.

I was shocked at what I found. 

A sprite bottle

A Gatorade bottle

A Moe’s cup

A scratch off lottery ticket (yes I checked. It was a loser)

An energy drink

A few plastic drinking cups

Miscellaneous papers

and more…

I wondered what people thought as they drove by and saw me jogging with Sprite in my hand, but I didn’t care.  I knew I was keeping fit and helping clean up the streets for the day.  Who says you have to break the law and be slapped with community service in order to pick up trash on the streets? I did it for a day by choice and it wasn’t that bad.

The next time you are walking the streets, the parking lot of a store, or throughout the park, I dare you to stop and pick up at least one piece of trash instead of stepping over it. If it was your own yard would you leave it lying there?  Probably not. So why not take three seconds to pick up a piece of trash now and then? I applaud you if you do!

*Stay clean people.  I certainly don’t mean you have to pick up hazardous or unsanitary materials. Your health comes first 🙂

DIY – My Garden Project 2011 vs 2012

My boyfriend has this amazing area in his backyard. In addition to a swimming pool, large deck, and screened in porch area, there is also a plot of land that just sits there growing weeds.  Last year I finally got sick of looking at this wasted opportunity before me and I said to him about mid-April, “I think I’m going to make a vegetable garden in your yard over there”.

His response, “Alright”.

So I embarked on my biggest D.I.Y. project of 2011.  I should probably preface this with the fact that I have NO green thumb. I have never taken any gardening or horticulture classes.  I can recognize roses and tulips, but planting, growing, and caring for plants was foreign to me.  My parents gave me some rosemary a few years ago that I managed to kill in 3 months. Needless to say, this was a big challenge for me. Luckily I have some close people in my life to guide me along.  My mom and step-mom were quite the helpers for me.

I’m glad I documented my project last year. Now that we are back full circle and it’s time for me to start again, I’m already correcting mistakes I made from last year.  I think I might document my pictures and progress along the way comparing last year to this year. If anyone out there has any advice I’m all ears!

Here is my little project from last year…

Tilling the soil manually. UGH!

My tiny little area with not quite enough sun.

Gotta add the poop!!.... along with some top soil and Nature's Helper.

Ready for planting!

Plants in the ground 2011. Jalapenos, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers (green and banana)

Last years mistakes realized thus far –

Mistake 1 – Get a motorized tiller. Its so much faster. This year I rented a tiller from Home Depot for $35.  I was done in 2 hours AND I expanded the garden to three times its size from last year

Mistake 2 – Kill the weeds the right way. Last year I did a quick spray and started tilling too quickly only a few days after spraying. I should have spent a few weeks prior killing the weeds so the spray could get down to the roots. I struggled with returning weeds all summer. This year I have spent the last few weeks (starting in March) spraying the yard with Round Up when no rain was in the forecast. Here’s to hoping it got all the way down to the roots. **Keep in mind this was a new plot of land never touched and overgrown with weeds. Not every plot needs this much attention.

Mistake 3 – Know where the sun will fall.  I didn’t get quite enough sun in the plot I chose last year. This year I have extended the garden making it 3 times as large. This expansion will give me an area with almost all day sun.

This years changes.

Tiller needed and used this year!

Much larger area with sunshine galore!

Not much different here. Still the poop, helper, and soil!

So there you have my DIY phase 1 comparison from last year to this year.  How to get the land ready!

This weekend I plan to head down to the store and pick out my plants.  I already have in mind what to plant and what not to plant….

Any suggestions for the Atlanta, Ga area my little farming friends??

For the record, the reason I picked this hobby up….It’s a great outdoor activity. I get some exercise. Vitamin D is good. I get a chance to learn.  I save money on food. I eat healthier. It’s fun! It’s one of my priceless moments that last all summer long!