Something 2 Offer

email subscription instagram linked purple icon FB icon pinterest icon twitter

Garden

What We Did ALL Week: July 29-August 4

By Leave a Comment

How bad is it that I cannot remember everything that we did this week? Good thing I have some pictures! We celebrated Princess’ birthday on Sunday with an AG Craft party. She had 4 friends, 2 cousins, and 2 brothers in attendance for the kids. She got some nice gifts and money. She loves getting cash to figure out what deals she can get and how much she can buy:)

The kids spent so much time out front playing with neighbor kids that our next door neighbor asked if we needed to borrow his mower:) Oops, our backyard grass and weeds grew suddenly and needed mowed. I got inside our fence mowed one day and outside the fence mowed another. I took hedge clipper and chopped some way overgrown weeds and tress to fence level. Hoping that using round-up full force (after all these storms/rain are gone) will kill them so we can dig them up by the roots! I had the revelation that if I dig some of the small trees and weeds up by the roots they cannot grow back so quickly. I set to work to create more places to plant something more beautiful in our backyard. It is still a work in progress, but I want to be able to enjoy out back yard and not dread it. After all, that is where our climbing toys, garden swing, and picnic tables are.

We met up with more cousins at Newport Aquarium and quickly I realized why we like the zoo SO MUCH better. Not just because its way cheaper, but much more kid/family friendly! It was very packed and we had to just stand in wait to get through with our umbrella strollers so we didn’t run flip-flop feet over (zoos have ample space even in busy season to roam and enjoy the views)! The kids were getting restless ’cause we were late for lunch. We chose to follow the rules and leave our cooler checked before entering and did not have any snacks! (usually at the zoo we can eat whenever and wherever we want so no whiny kids!) Both Princess and Eldest took pics and videos which they turned into collages to share with you:


She fancied her collage up!


He kept his plain and simple!

We also worked on tweaking our calendar pieces a little more. (See post about replacement calendar parts.)

Frugal Ways to Stake Tomatoes

By Leave a Comment

Some may say “redneck”, but I claim Frugal! I was given 20 plants from my mom. (We kept 8, gave 8 to the neighbor, and 4 to a friend.) These were volunteer plants that grew up in a garden bed she did not want tomatoes in. I planted these in our front-side yard. They are watered daily sometimes twice a day, but have been neglected to be staked! UNTIL TODAY.

I saw some really nice orange to small grapefruit sized tomatoes that were very pale green. The sun has not been able to reach them due to the stalks, vines, and leaves blocking them. I also found another cantaloupe that was hiding under the tomatoes! So I decided today was the day to get them exposed to the sun so they can ripen before they rot.

Here’s what I did:

Found 2 free wooden stakes & 3 torches (from MIL’s garage), 3 large sticks, and large plastic coated twist ties left over from toys.

Used rubber mallet to pound the stakes into ground.

Used twist ties to attach various vines to stakes making sure that the tomatoes would be exposed to the sun and ripen. Our tomatoes are the low-acidic yellow and orange kind-yummy.

What have you done in your garden today? Do your children help? What are your favorite veggies that you grow? I would love to hear what you are growing.