OK, so Mom and I set out very early to Maas Nursery to look for some cutesy plants. Yes… the Gnome came too! LOL! Mom came out with tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, squash, bell peppers, and some other things. I came out with a 6pk. of watermelon plants, and a single Habanero to finish out my long planter. He’s officially a Garden Gnome now that he was frolicking in our plants LOL!
From Maas, it was off to the Houston Garden Center to cash in on coupons and free gift cards. We went to a different location than I had been going and OMG the selection was so much better than the one closer to me. Fruits, veggies, herbs, you name it… as far as the eye can see! I came home with bush cucumbers, corn, buttercrunch lettuce, 2 Apache blackberry plants, a red bell pepper (to replace the one the cats destroyed), and sugar snap peas. I need to build another planter and fast! LMAO! Mom, on the other hand, came out with crates of fruits, veggies, and herbs. We didn’t even get to look at the fruit trees!
Here you can see me with the Gnome LOL! Do you know how many crazy looks you get when you are standing in a parking lot hunched over a cart of plants holding a ceramic gnome?! LMAO but we didn’t care… we were having fun! The wind was blowing something fierce, so I am looking pretty windblown!
Remember I told you that I had a Giant pumpkin that sprouted… well it went bananas today while I was gone LMAO! It’s got 2 leaves already! I am sooo excited! Ain’t it the cutest little thing!? Even if that is the ONLY one that sprouts, I will be happy if the pumpkin gets like twice the size of a normal pumpkin! BUT my goal is to have that 500 pound they talked about on the seed packet!
Now it was dark outside by the time I finished, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to fix things in the morning. In the small planter I put my corns and my bush cucumbers. Using the high and low technique my mom taught me. And where I put the planter, if the corn takes and does well and grows high, I will have a good view of it outside one of my kitchen window!
I put the lettuce in the empty space in the BIG planter… so it is officially full now! YAY! But in the same sense, it’s a boohoo moment cause that means I can’t buy anymore plants. I think I will build one more small planter and put my peas and melons in… again high and low. I will have a large variety of foods through the summer providing they all produce and thrive like I am hoping. I will see what seeds prevail and that is it. If I buy anymore plants… they will be berry vines or trees LOL! I would still like to get some lemon trees though. So anyway, that was our adventures in veggie-ville. LOL! Tomorrow we set our course for the Galveston Home & Garden Show!
Ok, craft time! Its another egg project but I thought it was so cute when I saw it!
Craft Idea of the Day: Easter Egg Dove
With this project, kids blow an egg, then turn it into a flying wonder. All you need is a raw egg, paint, craft supplies, and fishing line for hanging the egg. The best part? This blown-egg creature will keep indefinitely.
Materials:
Eggs
newsprint
egg dye
paper towels
birthday candles or crayons
pipe cleaners
fishing line
black acrylic or tempera paint
brushes
orange paper
glue
Instructions
1. Blow the Egg: Wash and dry the raw egg. Cover your table with newsprint and set out bowls, pushpins, and paper towels. Shake the egg to break up the yolk. Next, the kids can pierce the top and bottom with a pushpin, making the hole on the wider end a bit larger. Position the egg over the bowl and blow through the small hole, allowing the inside of the egg to seep into the bowl. Set the empty egg, with the large hole down, in an egg carton to dry. Be sure children wash her hands after handling raw egg.
2. Degg-orate the Egg: Let the kids paint half of the egg, stand it atop a bottle cap to dry (use a hair dryer to speed things up), then paint the other half. Centering the face on either hole, paint on features with contrasting colors. Start with a plain white egg. Paint on black eyes. Glue on an orange paper beak and white feathers underneath the egg.
3. Take Flight: Tape a long length of fishing line to the end of an unfolded paper clip. Starting at the small hole, thread the line through the decorated egg and out the large hole. To keep your flying critter upright, tape the fishing line just above the hole in the critter's back. Hang it from the ceiling or an egg tree.
Ok and now you are looking for some scrumptious treats right? Well, as my mother mentioned yesterday, what would Easter be without a traditional Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing? So here ya go…
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.
Alrighty children I am outta here for another exciting adventure in plants, gardens, etc. I have printed up address and phone labels for the convention for things like giveaways and free stuff forms. Save time and writer’s cramp LOL! So I’m set and I will see you tomorrow with more lovely pictures from our exciting adventures! HUGS!
are you gardens then above ground so to speak? i know you have said, at least i think you did, that you rent, so your landlord is ok with you planting? i've never had a lenient landlord to let us and have wanted to for a while...i tried last year for our apartment complex to have a community garden but the idea was shot down...would LOVE to grow my own, what would good and easy to have in a container garden? (anything BUT tomatoes!!!)
ReplyDeleteexcited to hear about the Disney gardens!!! it looks like you guys came out with some really good buys!
Thanks again for all your awesome ideas!
Good Morning.
ReplyDeleteTo Susan - all of the gardens are container gardens, both hers and mine. Her landlord doesn't want the ground dug so she does the container gardening. If you plan right you can double your yield by planting plants that comnpliment each other and do what I call verticle gardening. I do it for 2 reasons. First, I have a bad back but love to garden so my husband built me above ground platform containers. Second, our property got inundated with flood water during Hurricane Ike and it left the ground polluted.(something they dont tell you in the news). We lost most of our trees and plants. But thats not stopping us! I say do you some container gardens. It will make you feel great!