STARTING VEGETABLE SEEDS INSIDE

By starting vegetables indoors, you gain 4 to 6 weeks over crops started by seed in the ground.

If you live in an area where your summer heat up really fast, or you have a short growing season, this can mean the difference between getting a good crop of spring vegetables that like cooler temperatures, like peas, head lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, and not getting a good crop. The same is true if where you live has short summers. Heat-loving plants like tomatoes will get in the ground sooner, and you can harvest and enjoy them before the cool weather returns. Your plants will have established themselves before the warmer weather hits and will better be able to withstand it. You also have many more varieties to choose from, because you are not limited to only what is available locally as young plants.

It is also less expensive to grow your own plants from seeds rather than buying the plant. I also use it as a way to teach my little ones about the seed growing process. They are loving it right now. They get so excited to see how much our plants have grown.

Supplies
The great news is that you don’t need expensive or fancy supplies to start your vegetable plants from seed indoors.

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This will build you a 10 ft. by 5 ft. raised garden bed.

Adapted from sunset.com here

Materials Needed:

• One 6-foot-long 4-by-4 (becomes corner posts)
• Six 10-foot-long 2-by-6
• 32 3½-inch long wood screws
• 32 cubic feet (1 1/5 cu. yd.) soil mix ( look for combination of topsoil, compost, and potting soil).or buy seperate and mix once in garden.
• newspapers, card board or garden mesh to line the bottom of the bed to help prevent weeds coming up from the bottom
• Paint (optional) We had some extra lying around the house, so we used it.

Time to Build:

1. With a table or power saw, cut the 4-by-4 into four 16-inch-tall corner posts.

2. Cut two of the 2-by-6s in half.  Assemble pieces on a hard, flat surface.

3. Build bed upside down. Set a 4-foot 2-by-6 on its thin edge on pavement, and place a 16-inch post at one end. Secure post with two 3½-inch screws. Repeat at other end of board. Repeat with other short board.

4. Join short sides with an 10-foot board; and secure with two screws. Add other long board. Lay  aside. Add second layer of 2-by-6s.

5. With help from somebody, flip the bed right side up. Move it into position in the yard, marking each corner post’s location. Move the bed aside; dig a 5- to 6-inch-deep hole for each post.

6. Put the bed back into place, with posts in holes; fill around posts with soil.

7. Lay your lining and fill with dirt mixture.

It took us about an hour to build and that was only because we had 4 kids helping us drill and screw.

Here are some recent pictures, now that we have some vegetables growing.

We currently have raddish, zucchini, bush beans, basil, lettuce, sweet corn, onions  green peppers, cucumbers, and tomato plants growing.

We are in Central Florida, so we get a jump start on our planting.  If you are further north, you can start your seeds inside now for your spring garden. (More to come on that soon)

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Here is a quick fix for anyone who has a clogged or slower running shower head.  Perfect timing for all those out of town guests this holiday season.

All you do is fill a sandwich baggie or ziploc with white vinegar. Place your entire shower head in the bag so it is completely submerged in the vinegar and secure it in place with a rubber band around the neck of the shower head. Leave it overnight. The vinegar will break down the build up and in the morning your shower head should be running much better!

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Head over to Kaboose to make this Puzzle Wreath Ornament.

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Head over to Creativity my Passion to make these adorable Glitter Salt Dough Ornaments.

This would make for a great craft to do with the kids.

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Here is a great post on Money Saving Mom about decluttering before the holidays.

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J.M. Smucker Co. is recalling thousands of 16-ounce jars of its Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter Chunky because of possible salmonella contamination.

The Ohio-based company said the jars covered in the recall would have been purchased in the last week or so. They have “Best if Used By” dates of Aug. 3, 2012 and Aug. 4, 2012, plus the production codes 1307004 and 1308004.

Thanks Together We Save!

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Well, we finally got around to making our own Laundry Detergent on Thursday. We have done a couple of loads now of laundry and are very happy with the outcome. The clothes are clean, they smelll fresh. That is all I can ask for.  I am not sure that I will ever buy detergent again. (unless it’s dirt cheap of course)

Here is how we did it :

What you need:

• 1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (found in laubdry section of store)
• 1 cup Borax (found in laundry section of store)
• 1 Bar of Soap (We used Dove)

1. Grate the bar of soap into a bowl.

2. Add 1 cup Borax

3. Add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

4. Mix it up.

5. We store it in a large Rubbermaid container with a lid.

It took my 3 year old daughter and I less than 10 minutes to make.

You will only need to use 1 to 2 Tbsp. per load.
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Yesterday I postedabout a really cute Halloween wreath that I found on Homemade Mamas. We made ours this morning. We changed it up a little bit. Here is our finished product.

My 9, 7, and 3 year old made it. I was pretty impressed with the outcome. Thankfully, my 9 year old has practically grown up with a hot glue gun strapped to her so she is fantastic with it. My 3 year old now thinks that hot glue will fix EVERYTHING!!!

We found some twigs in the yard, cut out our cardboard circle. Hot glued the twigs to the cardboard. Used some orange paint to add some color. Then we added some Halloween foam stickers using hot glue. Then added a black ribbon to hang it. Total Cost=$0. We had all the supplies on hand.

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