March | 2011 | married to a bmw

The cutest thing ever.

30. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Sewing

Bunnies on selvage. Love it.

My Favorite (Gardening) Things

22. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Gardening

image by epSos.de via Flickr Creative Commons

It can be hard to find good veggie gardening resources, especially if you don't know very many people who have experience with growing vegetables. I thought I'd share with you my collection of favorite gardening things that has taken me three years to gather. Hopefully this list will save you some time and trouble!

image by jspatchwork via Flickr Creative Commons

Websites (local)

Travis County Planting Calendar from the county webpage
Vegetable Varieties and more from Texas A&M Horticulture

Websites (non-local)

How to avoid Monsanto seeds by Garden of Eatin'
Seed Organization by I Wet My Plants
Planting Guide by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Build a DIY Lighting System by You Grow Girl

image by maureen lunn via Flickr Creative Commons

Online seed stores

image by Carl E Lewis via Flickr Creative Commons

Local nurseries

Books

Neil Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening - a great guide to local gardening; not exclusive to vegetables
Grow Great Grub - barely looked through this but I love it already; great resource for veggie growing with gorgeous pictures
Rodale's Vegetable Garden Problem Solver - my absolute go-to book when something isn't right in the garden
Seed To Seed - seed saving how-to book

image by Abby Lanes via Flickr Creative Commons

Tools

Jiffy Self-Watering Greenhouse and Jiffy peat pellets - my favorite seed starting method. DO NOT buy these online; go to Walmart or Home Depot and get them for half the price.
Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Soil - Don't get me started on cheap potting soil! My old soil ended up not wetting. At. All. And nearly killing my tomato seedlings. This stuff is great and has been moist in an open bag on my patio for a month.
Mater Magic - great fertilizer for tomatoes and other veggies such as peppers.
Soaker hose of any kind with a faucet timer/programmer. Makes watering the garden effortless and consistent.

Ways to share your garden

Flickr - picture sharing
Folia - log and track your garden, ask questions, and follow other gardeners (follow my garden here)

And here is what is on my gardening wish list:

Soil test kit - can you believe I've never tested my soil? I really need to do this!
Rooting hormone - so that I can take clippings from friends' plants and start my own
Siphon mixer - for easy mixing of fertilizer while watering in one. Would this work with a soaker hose? Not sure.
Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening
Grocery Gardening
Square Foot Gardening - yes, I am doing square foot gardening and have yet to buy the book. Oops.
Alaska Fish Fertilizer - have heard great things about this; once my bottle of fertilizer runs out, I'll get this one next

What gardening favorites do you have?

Final Report

19. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Gardening

Doesn't it look great? The second bed is planted as much as it can be at the moment. I have thirteen tomato plants and 5 bell pepper plants in it right now. I'm waiting for the squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins to get a little bigger before I bring them out. I also have three more tomato and three more bell pepper plants that need some more growing. Now we have to get some sort of support in there for everything, especially since I'm doing square foot gardening - everything has to grow up! I'm going to do this style of support for everything; I found some cheap wire fencing at Home Depot, so I just need to find some free bamboo.

1. Black Krim Flower, 2. Squash & Cucumbers, 3. Jalapenos, 4. Boxwood Basil, 5. Tomatoes, 6. Potted Jalapenos

One of the tomato plants that I transplanted is already flowering. Woohoo! Grow little plants, grow!

Books, books, books

18. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Gardening, Sewing

Hubby and I took a trip to our local Borders yesterday. Our store is closing and everything was at least 40% off. I'm so excited about what I found! I got the last one of each of these. (Can you tell I still have gardening on the brain?)

Progress Report

14. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Gardening

So far, so good. The second garden bed is weeded and full of dirt. Next up is putting in the soaker hose, and then I'll get to start planting.

This is what our seed station looks like right now. Lots and lots of plants growing (some are Sarah's). This is by far my most successful time seed starting ever, so I'm pretty excited.

1. General Lee Cucumber, 2. Purple Beauty Bell Pepper, 3. Cherokee Purple Tomato, 4. Canteloupe, 5. Emerald Giant Bell Pepper, 6. Pumpkin, 7. Ananas Noir Tomato, 8. Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber, 9. Red Bell Pepper, 10. Royal Chico Tomato, 11. Hazelfield Tomato, 12. Basil, 13. Green Grape Tomato, 14. Poona Kheera Cucumber, 15. Poona Kheera Cucumber

Everything that sprouted has grown extremely well. I've definitely learned the hard way that a windowsill is not enough light. (Those grew too leggy and all died.) Shop lights do the trick!

Spring Break

13. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Gardening

1. Cilantro, 2. Carrots, 3. Peach Blossoms, 4. Pear Blossoms, 5. Pear Blossoms, 6. Lettuce, 7. Spinach, 8. Spinach, 9. Peas

It's spring break! And that means it's time to start the spring garden. Woohoo! The seeds I planted back in mid-January are growing after the bit of snow we had in February. The peas are doing especially well. The peach and pear trees we planted last year are flowering as well. I'm not sure how many fruits I'll let them keep since they're so young and need to concentrate on growing the trees themselves, but I doubt I'll remove every single one. That would be no fun. :)

It's going to be a busy week of gardening; I'll be back once everything is planted to show you how it looks!

Oh Cherry Oh Table Runner

07. March 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Bias Tape Projects, Quilting, Sewing

A very, very long time ago I bought a Moda Oh Cherry Oh charm pack on sale. It sat in my stash for a long time until I finally figured out what to use it for - a fun table runner! I originally planned for this to be done for Valentine's Day, but I didn't end up making that deadline. Now I'll just think of it as a spring table runner. As per usual, the quilting tape that I used is on sale in the store.