The Changing Seasons

WOW! How fast does time go! Its already heading towards the end of August. And for me that means its almost Spring! But no matter where you are in the world, you will be preparing your garden for the end of one season, and the beginning of another. Even if you still have a few beauties producing in your garden, chances are it won't be anywhere near as impressive as it was a few weeks ago! So this is the perfect time to give your garden the love that it needs!

For us heading into Spring now is the ideal time to pack your soil full of nutrients so that when it comes time to plant in the ground in a few weeks time, your soil will be bursting with goodness! I pack heaps of organic compost and organic fertilizers into my soil at this time of year, and it can be as simple as that! If you want to read up on it more, here is a great post about how to love your soil. Don't forget to keep on loving your soil! Cos what goes into your soil, goes into your yummy veggies!!

Adding the right things to your soil can make a huge difference!

Another super important thing to get started on at this changing seasons time is getting your seeds started sprouting! No matter where you are, if you are planting from seed, now is the ideal time to get some seeds germinating in a warm place! If you have never grown from seed before, heading into Spring is the perfect time to overcome your fear! For a fuller guide on how to get your seeds started, check out this post I wrote about how to grow seeds! I have my seeds growing in little jiffy pots in a warm place in my house! Its important to make sure that these seeds get enough water and warmth so that they can reach their full potential!

I also like to plan ahead the times when I will sow more seeds, so that over Spring and Summer I can have lots of vegetables growing! I get my slower growing things started first (carrots, pumpkins and chillis), as well as a few fast growing things (lettuces and radishes), and then plan in for more fast growing things later on as well. This helps me to make sure that I will have a steady flow of veggies during the warmer months! Planning out what I am going to plant also helps me to get an idea of how many plants of each variety I should grow, so that there is enough for not just me and my hubby, but also that we could share or sell some of produce!

Planning out seed planting can really help to get your head around growing times

And if you are anything like me (a gardening obsessive compulsive) you will have so many seed packets that you almost don't know what to do with them all! Well I have a simple solution! Organize them! I did this the other day again, as I keep adding more seeds to my collection as I see new and exciting vegetables I want to grow (Wow! Gone are the days as a kid where I used to think veggies were boring!). I laid out all my seeds (this made me super excited) and then alphabetized them! You can organize them however you like though! Whether its season, vegetable family or colour, growing time, I don't know! Whatever makes your life easier! And then I put them into my seed album (which secretly is just an old photo album that never ended up being used for photos!). But seed boxes work also! Just so long as you have a safe, dry place for storing your seeds! Is it weird that I am super excited for more of my seeds to arrive in the mail this week so that I can not only plant but also organize too?? Probably! But hey! Whatever makes you happy right?!

Organizing seed packets helps to make sure you don't lose or miss out on any potential veggies!

The changing of seasons is always exciting as it means you have new things to look forward to! Just make sure that it doesn't just creep up on you, but that you are super prepared and waiting for it! 

HAPPY GARDENING!

How to build a TERRARIUM

Terrariums are such a cool way to to bring plants inside, but also get people who might not be so keen on gardening, doing a little gardening! The terrarium trend is really sweeping florists at the moment, but you could pay a lot for something that is so much fun and so easy to make! They make great gifts and cool weekend projects. So here is my guide on how to make a terrarium!

To create your terrarium masterpiece, you will need:

-a glass bowl or container (can have a lid or be open)

-potting mix

-stones

-sand (if using a closed container)

-moss (can be sheet moss but I used sphagnum moss)

-small plants or succulents

-little plastic toys or decorative things

Having little plants is an important part of growing a terrarium. Plants can be trimmed and pruned while growing, but you don't want to have like a normal sized house plant being crammed into your small terrarium! You should be able to find small plants at your local garden centre or you can use succulents. But collect a variety of different colors and shapes. Having around two or three plants will be the most striking in your terrarium, but if you have a bigger one, then go crazy!

To begin with, make sure your container is clean and dry. You can use a recycled or repurposed container. But ensure it is cleaned with a mild soap and warm water first. Put a small layer of stones at the bottom. This will help with drainage, but also looks really nice. You can use any kind of stones that you like! Then on top of the stones, put your mixture of damp soil and sand (if you are using sand) and pat down gently.

Put the soil in carefully so as to keep the glass clean and not to mess up your pretty stones! Once your soil is in, just like as you do in the big garden create a small hole to put your plants in. Terrariums are about being creative, so just make it look however you want to! Once the plants are in pat the soil down firmly around the plant bases. I found that I needed to add a bit more soil, but you don't need to if you don't think you need to!

Once the your plants are in, put the moss down around the plants. This helps to maintain the moisture in the soil. As your terrarium grows the plants should be misted with water, rather than typical old fashioned water-can watering. If you terrarium has a lid, condensation will form on the sides of the glass. This creates a humid environment for the plants to grow in. If you are using succulents however, you may want to have an open terrarium as the conditions are better when they are open and the plants will have better lives! Sphagnum moss starts out browner when it is bought, but as it is kept moist, it changes to a green color which looks great in the environment.

The final stage of terrarium creation is putting in decorations. This stage can be skipped, but really anything can be put in. Shells, toys, beach glass. Whatever you like! We used dinosaurs, as this is the only way I could convince my husband to mini garden with me!

And voila! Your terrarium is complete! Keep an eye out for yellowing leaves, as this will mean something is wrong in your terrarium environment. If you have a closed terrarium, you won't need to water the plants as frequently, but the terrarium will occasionally need to be aired out. Water plants gently with a mister or spray bottle and enjoy your beautiful creation!

WIFE 101: Frozen Cookie Dough Balls

Its official. Your life has just changed. And lets be honest, you're welcome.

Frozen cookie dough balls. Your partner, your children, your friends, and you will all thank, well you.

So to do this, just 

1. Make your favourite cookie dough. 

2. Roll the cookie dough into balls.

3. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

4. Place the dough balls onto the tray.

5. Put in the freezer for two hours (this will stop the dough balls from sticking together into one massive dough ball).

6. Then transfer to a bag or container to keep in the freezer. So simple!

And then when you want to eat the cookies just

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C.

2. Line a tray with baking paper.

3. Put the dough balls onto the baking tray with enough room between each cookie for it to spread as it bakes.

4. Put the tray in the oven.

5. After 10 - 15 minutes enjoy freshly baked cookies without any hard work.

You're welcome.

WIFE 101: Chores and Blackboards

Sometimes in life you need some friendly competition. I have found this especially to be true when it comes to chores. After a year of asking and then begging for my husband to do some chores (when he does them, he does a good job, he just has other priorities, like TV and 9gag) I think I have discovered a way to get him to do chores without asking!

Yes! Without asking!

All it has taken is a blackboard, some friendly competition and a sweet prize for the winner.

So here is how it works:

-The chores are listed as daily, weekly or monthly chores.

-The daily chores are worth 1 point, the weekly points worth 2, and the monthly worth 3.

-Daily and monthly chores are up for grabs for anyone, but weekly chores are divided equally between us (easier for him).

-Every chore that you do, earns a certain amount of points that you add to your weekly tally.

-At the end of the week, the winner gets a star.

-Then at the end of the month, the person with the most stars wins a prize! This prize could be a box of beer, a manicure, a massage etc. Something that is special that we wouldn't normally do!

And I have put this amazing competition board up on the blackboard painted in our kitchen. Its amazing! The trick to these blackboards is wiping as much dry chalk of as possible, then using vinegar diluted in water to clean the remaining chalk off. Then when it comes to writing on it, wait until the board is completely dry, then using chalk that has been sharpened with a pencil sharpener, and wet with some water, write on the board. The chalk will go on dull, but then dry to be bright and vibrant! Its so much easier to use that way!

So may your house be cleaner and your chalkboards neater.

Iced Green Tea

Everybody loves ice tea. And I especially like it. And here is my recipe for Iced Green Tea made with organic tea! Yum! And so good!!

Iced Green Tea (makes 2L)

Ingredients:

-3/4 cup of sugar (I used brown sugar)

-4 cups of cold water

-4 cups of hot (just boiled) water

-8 organic green tea bags

Method:

1. Put the sugar into a pitcher large enough to hold 2L, and then add in the 4 cups of water.

2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

3. Put the 4 cups of hot water into a container (jug or saucepan) and put the tea bags in. Only leave the tea bags to steep for 2 minutes at most.

4. Remove the tea bags from the water and squeeze slightly.

5. Pour the tea into the sugar water slowly and stir to combine.

6. Leave the tea to cool at room temperature and then serve over ice!

7. Enjoy on a beautiful sunny day! YAY!

My "Making Use of a Small Space" Garden

You're not always going to be able to live at a house that has land for you to establish your vegetable garden presence. So sometimes you just have to get creative, and use whatever space you can. Although I do have space for a vegetable garden, I do also have my patio/kitchen garden that I love.

I love it because I can look at it all the time if I want. I can easily pop out and get some vegetables, pick a couple of herbs to add to dinner, or even just easily water and tend it (as my main veggie garden is up a little hill). There is something so beautiful and creative about turning any little space you have into a garden. 

Have you heard of Guerilla Gardening? Google it. But basically, do it to your own place.

And I have some handy little tips to help you turn whatever dull, small, empty space into a thriving GARDEN.

Tip #1

Try to get some sunshine, (or light and warmth) onto your precious babies. This will help them to be the plants you dream they could be. Without getting technical, pretty much all plants need some light and warmth, so if you don't have the real stuff, then fake it some how!

Tip #2

Use whatever you can to plant in. This isn't really a tip, but I'm pretty much saying, you can make everything uniform in matching pots (very pretty), or you can mix and match whatever you have and whatever you can AFFORD. You may have heard the fancy term "repurposing". Its very fashionable and you can do it! I use mixes of old planter boxes, big plastic pots, little pots that some seedlings came in, as well as glass jars, little buckets, empty soup cans. You name it. If you can put soil in it, you can grow something in it. Go wild. And have fun. Just make sure there is some drainage (holes in the bottom).

Tip #3

Nourish your plants. As you will be planting in boxes or pots, your plants don't have the opportunity to gather nutrients from the surrounding soil as much as their counterparts out in the big wide world of the ground. This nourishment factor is so easy to over look, as we are so used to house plants, that you just water and leave, then water every so often. But your vegetables need your love. When you are planting your plants, use a really good quality organic soil or compost. As this will be the foundation for your plants long and healthy life. And make sure that they are being watered adequately, as often water can drain straight out the bottom of the plant, and not reach all the soil it needs to. And this leads to the next tip...

Tip #4

Feed your plants! Plant food, compost, whatever you want! BUT JUST FEED YOUR PLANTS! There isn't a lot of soil in those pots, and the plants need a lot of nutrients to grow! I like to use and organic (liquid) plant food, that I treat my plants to every one or two weeks depending on how well they are growing, or what they are (heavy fruiting plants need more than leafy plants). I grow strawberries on my patio, and I make sure that they get strawberry food (its a real thing!), as this helps them to grow, even in the small pots.

Tip #5

Plant things that you wouldn't plant in your big garden. For example, in my kitchen garden, I grow wheatgrass, because it works better in a tray, and its good for it to be nice and easy on hand. Get creative and think outside the (planter) box.

Tip #6

Plant "cut and come again" plants. These are plants that you literally take a couple of leaves off, and then you can come back to them again later and take a few more leaves off. You don't have to harvest the whole thing at once. In my small garden, I like to plant lettuces, spinach, kale and swiss chard, as they are fast growing, but they are also very handy and useful plants in terms of eating. 

Tip #7

Have a few flowers in your small potted garden. Having some flowers will help to attract the good bugs, and may even help to keep the bad ones away (depending on what you plant). It is very important to make sure that your little garden (or big) is getting pollinated, and if no bees do it, make sure that you do it for the plant (depending on what plant it is!) because that is important in the growing stage for some plants!

Tip #8

Move your plants around. For two reasons. The first reason is to create companion planting. Putting some plants next to others is a good thing (for example tomatoes and basil), they enhance one anothers flavour while growing, whereas putting tomato and cabbage next to one another is bad and stunts growth. So move those babies around to get the best possible growing happening. Secondly, move them around to get the best sunshine for the plant. If you are like me, your planting area isn't in the sun all the time, so move those babies around a couple of days a week so that they can soak up some nice rays. They will thank you for it in beautiful vegetables.

Tip #9

Start small, and increase. You don't need to have 50 pots of varying varieties of vegetables the first day of your garden. I started with two pots, and slowly but surely I kept adding and collecting, and now I have many random containers, and some random plants. If you start small, its easier for you to manage, and make sure that those vegetables are getting the love they deserve. Add a few more to your collection every couple of weeks or so. This leads to the final tip...

Tip #10

You can increase the container size if you want. Say you planted a tomato plant in a small pot, but now it seems that it is just getting too big for that pot, well never fear, buy a slightly bigger (or much bigger if you are super keen) container, and just move your little friend into a bigger home. Plants will only grow until their roots can't grow no more, so the bigger the space for roots, the bigger your plant will be. And once you've moved that plant into a bigger container, you have a spare container to start something else in. Its like the circle of life. Only different.

But most importantly HAVE FUN!! And remember, you are only limited by your imagination, so get out there are get creating your own little piece of vegetable paradise.

Refreshing Mint Ice-cubes

Theres nothing like a nice, refreshing drink on a hot, sunny afternoon. A lemon ice tea with mint. Mmmm.

For those of you that grow mint, you will know that once it starts to get going, there is so much that you don't even know what to do with it all! Here is a nice way to preserve some of that mint, in a way that you will most definitely use!

So to start, pick your mint, and wash the leaves well. Get your ice tray.

Pull off the leaves, and if they are quite large, give them a quick chop. Then put the leaves into the ice tray. 

Fill it up as much as you like! Then fill the trays up with water and put them in the freezer!

Delicious!!!! Add these to amazing Homemade Lemon Ice Tea (recipe coming soon for all you lemon growers!), or even to cocktails, or just to water!

Another great combination is mint and lemon. So add some finely grated lemon zest to the mint before adding the water! AMAZING!!

And if you really wanna go crazy! Chopped strawberries and mint in ice-cubes! Super yummy! So go crazy with your not boring old ice recipes! :D

WIFE 101: Organizing Your Linen Closet

I really don't like folding washing. But its something that we all have to do! One of the worst things about folding washing, is folding the fitted sheet for my bed! I can just never seem to get it looking tidy! And this means that my linen cupboard looks messy! Does this look familiar??

So here is an AMAZING solution!

Lay out one of your pillow cases from your duvet set, and then fold up your duvet so that it will fit inside your pillow case. Then do the same thing with your fitted sheet, and if you have a top sheet, that too! It doesn't matter too much if your fitted sheet isn't the neatest you've ever folded it, so long as you've got it about the same size as the duvet etc. Put in any other pillow cases that you use in that set so that its all together!

Put all of the folded items into the pillowcase that is laid out. It'll be puffy, but everything in the set will be tidily away in the pillowcase! This fits easily in a linen closet, and when you go to change your bedding, its easy and quick to have your new set on hand! And thats what I like to hear! Clean, tidy, and easy! Perfect!