Look how big our plants from seed are now. They are really taking off and I'm stoked about getting our garden setup this weekend!
Showing posts with label weekend fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weekend fun. Show all posts
Gardening 102: Seed Starting
We are really excited to start our garden this year because we thoroughly enjoyed planting, weeding, picking, and eating everything in our inaugural garden last year. This time around we are going to try to start a few things from seeds instead of just buying all plants this year. Since I work at Park Seed, I have access to lots of seed varieties, seed starting accessories, and tons of horticulture knowledge that I find invaluable in our quest to lessen our grocery bills and become just a little bit greener.
To start things off, I've thrown together a few seed starting systems, thanks to one of my coworkers' help. We combined a Park Seed Windowsill Bio-Dome Seed Starter with just a few plain ol' six-packs...nothing too glamorous. I have three six-packs started right now. Two of the six-packs are filled with tomatoes, but they aren't the same variety of tomatoes. One of the varieties of tomatoes I have is an Organic seed certified by Clemson which is named 'Mater Sandwich Hybrid'. This variety is an indeterminate tomato, which produces fruit throughout the season; most of your normal tomatoes are indeterminate. The other tomato variety is a determinate, which means it will produce all of it's fruit at once. This type of tomato is great for canning, juicing, or saucing, which is why we are trying both "type" of tomatoes. The name of that tomato is 'Fabulous Hybrid'. And to round out my first run of seeds is a sweet banana pepper.
Like I said earlier, the wealth of horticulture knowledge that roams around Park Seed is crazy! I've been working here for nearly four years now and I have only gained a small grain of sands' worth. Hopefully I will be picking up more and more now that spring is here and I want us to grow as many veggies and herbs as we can. I will keep you posted on my seed starting trials and any more tidbits of gardening info that I learn.
Cook-ay Slots
I wanted to share with you a fun little game that I found back in 2003...wow, has it been that long? Anyway, Odd Todd made this game and it is so addicting. Cook-ay Slots is a classic Vegas style slot game, but with loads of hilarious twists. You'll have to play it to really get the entire effect. I love almost everything about this little gem. Especially the sound effects. They are hilarious! Another great easter egg is when you click on the little cook-ay that the guy is holding located on the top of the slot machine. Just listen...it's awesome! Oh, and you have to play until you get three lobsters. That is my favorite part. 'You got the lobster!' Classic.
Have fun playing Cook-ay Slots!
Do I Need New Tires?
What do you think? Do I need new tires?
That's what I thought...nah, they're good for a few thousand more miles. Not really. I felt like I was driving a race car with my street slicks. Don't worry though, I got some better tires yesterday.
Musical Monday - 6/15/09
Saturday was my 26th birthday and Heather took me to Carowinds for Sonfest for my bday present. It was amazing. We saw great bands that we hadn't seen before with great worship time. My two favorite bands we saw were Fireflight and Third Day. I have to say that both sound even better live compared to their albums. Third Day was rocking the house in their set. So for this edition of Musical Monday, let's take a listen to 'Revelation' by Third Day. So just sit back, relax, jam, and worship God.
Gardening 101 - Growing a Healthy Lifestyle
A few weekends ago Heather and I set out to start a vegetable garden and a herb garden in our back yard. Of course with the country in it's "economic crisis", having a garden saves you money and it also makes you healthier and happier. As many of you know I work at Park Seed and I have access to one of the best selection of plants in Greenwood. Since that is the case, it was a given that I got most of our plants from them. The plants we chose for our vegetable garden were: Tomatoes, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Bell Pepper, and Cucumber. For the herb garden we chose: Flat leaf parsley, Basil, Mint, Chives, Rosemary, and Oregano.
The easy part was done...we bought the plants. The hard part was in front of us...actually turn a plot of land into a great garden. Luckily, we had the help of my parents and their tiller. At first Heather and I decided on a 5x5 square-foot garden, but once started reading the spacing suggestions on the plants' tags we realized it needed to be much bigger (the squash and zucchini plants are supposed to get to be 6 feet across). So we finally came up with a 10x10 square-foot garden. The tiller made quick work of chewing up the grass and compacted dirt, but of course we had to sift through all the tilled up land to get out as much of the grass as we could so we wouldn't have to weed as much throughout the season. Our next step was to plant the plants and make sure they were settled into their new home for the season.
Now what's a garden without a border? A big dirt pile with a few plants thrown in, right? So of course we had to construct a border for the garden out of 10 ft. 1 in. x 6 in. pieces of wood with 2 in. x 2 in. stakes in the corners and along the middle of each board. Now that's a good looking vegetable garden, if I do say so myself. :-)
Now it's on to our herb garden. We knew we needed it to be close to the house so we could jump out there and grab whatever we need when we are cooking. So we made a little spot right next to our deck that was perfect. Again we constructed a border out of the lumber and stakes, but this time we didn't till any of the ground up. We made this garden into a raised bed. We set up our 3 ft. x 3 ft. border and filled it with a variety of soils and manure. The mixture contained a dash of potting mix, a pinch of vegetable garden soil, and a handful of Black Cow manure (best stuff on the planet! Who knew that people would pay for cow dung?!?). Anyway, our raised bed has the blackest of black soil mixture and the herbs couldn't be happier. They have exploded since we first planted them and we've already used some parsley and chives.
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A little disclaimer about the pictures, the herb garden hadn't been filled out with the mint and oregano yet, because Heather's mom gave us those a few days after I took the picture. Along with the missing cucumber in the vegetable garden picture.
The great thing about having your very own garden is that you save money at the grocery store and you know exactly what is in your veggies and herbs. I'm super excited about picking our very first tomato and slicing it up. We might have to make a little home-made pesto from our basil as well.
If you haven't tried growing your own garden, I say go for it! It's really not that hard and if you don't have the space for a large garden, you can try out container gardening. That's how we got started and it's progressed into this. What happens next year should be even bigger and better since we will be more experienced gardeners.
The easy part was done...we bought the plants. The hard part was in front of us...actually turn a plot of land into a great garden. Luckily, we had the help of my parents and their tiller. At first Heather and I decided on a 5x5 square-foot garden, but once started reading the spacing suggestions on the plants' tags we realized it needed to be much bigger (the squash and zucchini plants are supposed to get to be 6 feet across). So we finally came up with a 10x10 square-foot garden. The tiller made quick work of chewing up the grass and compacted dirt, but of course we had to sift through all the tilled up land to get out as much of the grass as we could so we wouldn't have to weed as much throughout the season. Our next step was to plant the plants and make sure they were settled into their new home for the season.
Now what's a garden without a border? A big dirt pile with a few plants thrown in, right? So of course we had to construct a border for the garden out of 10 ft. 1 in. x 6 in. pieces of wood with 2 in. x 2 in. stakes in the corners and along the middle of each board. Now that's a good looking vegetable garden, if I do say so myself. :-)
Now it's on to our herb garden. We knew we needed it to be close to the house so we could jump out there and grab whatever we need when we are cooking. So we made a little spot right next to our deck that was perfect. Again we constructed a border out of the lumber and stakes, but this time we didn't till any of the ground up. We made this garden into a raised bed. We set up our 3 ft. x 3 ft. border and filled it with a variety of soils and manure. The mixture contained a dash of potting mix, a pinch of vegetable garden soil, and a handful of Black Cow manure (best stuff on the planet! Who knew that people would pay for cow dung?!?). Anyway, our raised bed has the blackest of black soil mixture and the herbs couldn't be happier. They have exploded since we first planted them and we've already used some parsley and chives..jpg)
A little disclaimer about the pictures, the herb garden hadn't been filled out with the mint and oregano yet, because Heather's mom gave us those a few days after I took the picture. Along with the missing cucumber in the vegetable garden picture.The great thing about having your very own garden is that you save money at the grocery store and you know exactly what is in your veggies and herbs. I'm super excited about picking our very first tomato and slicing it up. We might have to make a little home-made pesto from our basil as well.
If you haven't tried growing your own garden, I say go for it! It's really not that hard and if you don't have the space for a large garden, you can try out container gardening. That's how we got started and it's progressed into this. What happens next year should be even bigger and better since we will be more experienced gardeners.
Dog-Sitting Made Easy
This past weekend we had a chance to dog-sit for our good friends, Walt and Kimberly. They have a standard size dachshund named Oscar. Our lovely mini dachshund's name is Maggie and she thinks Oscar is her "boyfriend".It's so funny to see them interact together. Maggie is a young hyperactive 10 lb dog that wants to play, play, play all the time while Oscar is an older 20 lb easy-going dog who is content in just laying around and staring into space. Maggie wants to fight with Oscar and run around the house like a crazy maniac, but Oscar is always reluctant to join in. He'll just sit there and let Maggie run around him barking her head off and nipping at his legs. Eventually he'll give in and take off running; when that happens I imagine Maggie screaming "YES, FINALLY!" in her head.
After awhile they both are dead tired from the 30 minutes of strenuous activity and they both crash. That's the best part of dog-sitting, when they both collapse in their respective corners and sleep. This is how they normally end up.
Maggie pressed as close as she can get to me...while Oscar curls up (with a good book) in his blanket...
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Once the sitting is over, both mope around their respective house looking around for the other one. They both sleep for around 2-3 days and catch back up on energy. It's so great for the both of them. I wish I could experience what it is like to be a dog for a day. Being able to lay around all day, run around the yard, playing with balls and bones, getting treats for doing "tricks" or just being cute.
It would be great to be a dog....actually...that sounds eerily close to a few Saturdays/Sundays that I've had. :-)
Do we need tickets??
To the Gun Show!
Actually, to the gun auction. There was a gun auction in Hodges yesterday and we had a blast! Allen, his son Jordan, Walt, and myself were on a mission. A mission of great magnitude...have fun, try to find some great deals on a few guns, and people watch.
I don't own a gun, but I'm in the market for a handgun. Preferably a small to medium sized gun since I'm not that large of a person. Anyway, more on that in another post. I'll try to share my little knowledge of guns and my list of guns that I will be selecting from.
This was my first gun auction and I was definitely blown away by all the people and artillery that filled the metal building. After registering I milled around the multitude of guns and a few caught my eye - a Walther PPK/S, a Kimber Custom 1911, and a Kimber Ultra Carry II. Of course my budget for the day didn't allow me to purchase my first gun, but I'll keep my eye out for something soon. Allen did purchase a revolver for his wife, Denine, as a home defense method. Which was a very awesome buy.
Hopefully this weekend some guys from church will have a chance to go out to the range and shoot a few different guns. I'm stoked since I've never actually shot a gun...unless you count a BB gun or paintball gun...I don't. I'll definitely keep you posted on if we get to the range and I'll let you know how it goes.
Actually, to the gun auction. There was a gun auction in Hodges yesterday and we had a blast! Allen, his son Jordan, Walt, and myself were on a mission. A mission of great magnitude...have fun, try to find some great deals on a few guns, and people watch.I don't own a gun, but I'm in the market for a handgun. Preferably a small to medium sized gun since I'm not that large of a person. Anyway, more on that in another post. I'll try to share my little knowledge of guns and my list of guns that I will be selecting from.
This was my first gun auction and I was definitely blown away by all the people and artillery that filled the metal building. After registering I milled around the multitude of guns and a few caught my eye - a Walther PPK/S, a Kimber Custom 1911, and a Kimber Ultra Carry II. Of course my budget for the day didn't allow me to purchase my first gun, but I'll keep my eye out for something soon. Allen did purchase a revolver for his wife, Denine, as a home defense method. Which was a very awesome buy.
Hopefully this weekend some guys from church will have a chance to go out to the range and shoot a few different guns. I'm stoked since I've never actually shot a gun...unless you count a BB gun or paintball gun...I don't. I'll definitely keep you posted on if we get to the range and I'll let you know how it goes.
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