Garden time...

I haven't planted or tended a garden since moving out of my parents home. This year we are jumping in with both feet.

First thing was to plant the seeds inside. I was very successful with the peas, watermelon, cucumber, spinach, yellow squash and the bell peppers inside, everything else I am hoping will sprout soon...

While they were growing inside I had to get the outside ready for them. I had heard about square foot gardening and what we did is mostly like that...without the exact square foot boxes. I found the boxes online that were made Amish style but figured we could make them cheaper (which we did). They are 4 feet by 4 feet and I mapped out the side yard so that they are all evenly spaced. I had a friend offer her husbands wood working skills whenever I needed, and he did an amazing job on the garden boxes. So lucky to know such a talented individual.

I didn't take a picture of the corner of the yard before hand, but I will say that I pulled weeds for 3 days. Before putting the boxes into place we put down weed protector so that the weeds wont' be able to grow into the garden, and eventually the rock path that will be going in. I stayed home from work one day in order to get everything ready for planting...otherwise I think that the peas would have latched onto one of the kitchen chairs. I have a wonderful sister-in-law who offered her (and her kids) services while they were on spring break. Without their help I don't know that I would have finished in one day. Mainly because the night before I was to finish the garden we decided that we needed to put in an underground watering system so that we weren't constantly dragging a hose around. Now that it is all out together I am so pleased.

Here is a picture of the side yard and how the boxes are all organized.


See the peas on the left...they were getting really long while on the table...hopefully they will latch onto the lattice and grow up (crossing my fingers). Also on the top right of the box (in the picture) you can see the water spout that is for this box. Then the soaker hose can be moved around inside the box to water where ever it is needed the most.


Several years ago a friend said I could pick blackberries from her yard. I had no idea that they grew here. I had also never before picked blackberries, I will never forget those thorns. Here are the thornless blackberry plants that we planted. They should grow to be 4x4x6, perfect size for the box.


I was given this blueberry plant...again I had no idea that you could grow them here...so far it is going fantastic, it is the best plant in the garden by far. And it should also grow to be the same height as the blackberry bush. I am not yet sure if this bush has thorns or not. Only time will tell.


Here is one of the new tomato plants, the last ones didn't survive the freeze. But we did have some delicious tomatoes off of them. This time I bought plants that already had flowers and now we get to watch them turn into beautiful red tomatoes.


Flowers that I planted last October, I planted some just like this at my last house, but they didn't last. The purple ones I really like are African daisies. Now right now when I looked outside all I can see when I look at this pot is purple blossoms...I think they are so pretty.


The orange tree blossoms, if only I could bottle the smell of these and somehow have everyone get to experience it. I love this time of year.


Lemon tree blossoms

The nightstands are finished

Yes, I am still working on this. If you could see me I was doing a fist pump of excitement. So...one thing that you may notice about this nightstand is that it looks exactly like the other one...even the way that the door opens. Some major oversight in the manufacturing if you ask me. Apparently the person doing assembly didn't think that you would need to open this one while laying in bed. I seriously had to get out of bed to see inside.



Now here is the finished one. I used wooden dowels to fill the holes of the old handle, and then wood putty to fill in the cracks. Then just had to use the drill to make a new hole on the correct side for the handle and a handy dandy drill to attach the new hinges. Now on to enjoying that it is opening the correct way :-)

New Year...New Project

Since the kitchen is now finished, I found a new project. One that I have been meaning to work on for about a year, maybe a little more. Here is what our nightstands looked like this morning.



There isn't anything wrong with them. However, when I started working on it this morning I pulled the sticker off of the back that said it was from 1986. That is the only thing that I had against them. That is that they look like 1986. And that we have a grey bedroom set. It just doesn't go with the dark brown and yellow flowers.

After a little work this is now what the nightstand (yes only one...not enough hours in the day to do more than one) looks like.



So much better in my opinion. A much more modern look, and it will go well with the grey, or any color for that matter...nothing wrong with a nice classy black.

Now...let's see, I have another nightstand, a headboard, a chest of draws with a matching mirror on top and a dresser. I am going to need many more Saturdays to accomplish the whole set. But one down and 5 more to go.

The finishing touches

I posted a few months ago about the finished kitchen (Oct 1 to be exact). Here are the last finishing touches.

The right side of the old sink...where do the drain stoppers go anyway when they are not in use?



The left side of the old sink...I am guessing almost everyone has soap somewhere near, we like the liquid soap and the bar soap but that means a tad bit cluttered...



...by the way the sink is clean. Just old, worn and well used.

The whole sink. Who out there is just like me and throws the dish rag over the faucet? I don't know where else to put it. If I throw it over the middle of the two sinks I don't feel like it gets enough air to dry properly and it smells of mildew too quickly.



Right side of the new sink...I left the drain stopper here for the photo's sake, but will now be storing it under the sink when not in use - looks better to me. Oh, and check out the new soap dispenser on the corner. ~Lovin it~ PS I also love the new disposal, it is so quiet!



Left side of the new sink...this has to be one of my new favorite features. This is the towel bar. Yes, the sole purpose of this nifty little bar is to hold the dish rag. And I must say that it stays dry longer since it is farther from the water source.



The whole sink. The new faucet is fantastic, it is a pull out and can also be changed to spray. The nice feature on it is that it as a magnet it in so that when you are done using it, the magnet will keep the faucet in place. I am so happy with it, it really finishes off the kitchen perfectly.

Apple-cranberry Crisp

This is delicious!



1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup plus 1 T whole-wheat flour
4 cups cubed Granny Smith apples (cored but not peeled)
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 T soft margarine (I like to use butter) melted
2 T honey

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch square baking dish with low-fat nonstick cooking spray. In a asmall bowl, combine the cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg with 1 T of whole-wheat flour. Combine apples and cranberries in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon mixture to the fruit and toss to coat. Place the fruit in the prepared baking dish.

Combine the remaining 1/3 cup of flour with the oats and brown sugar. In antoher bowl, mix the margarin with the honey. Slwoly pour the margarine mixure ober the dru ingredients and stir with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenlyover the fruit. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve warm. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Serves 9.

Nutrition analysis per serving: Calories 220, Fat 3g, Sarurated fat 0g, Trans fat 0g, Carbohydrate 47g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 30mg, Fiber 4g

Growing season continues...

For anyone who was wondering if I have been successful in growing in the back yard here is an update on where they plants are. Nothing edible...yet, but hopefully soon.

We currently have 18 tomatoes, and over a dozen blossoms. One of the tomatoes is finally starting so show color other than green. I have contemplated trying fried green tomatoes, but I have been holding out hoping that they will turn red.





We have had a rough time with the cucumbers. There was a freeze around Thanksgiving, and I am not sure this plant every fully jumped back. We have one plant left and as of today it has 3 cucumbers on it. There have been other cucumbers before these...but they didn't make it. Hopefully these 3 will.



I went out to water today and for the first time I found a flower on the strawberry plants. Make it 3 flowers I found today, YEAH! The plants still look very healthy we just haven't had any flowers until today. Super happy about that!