Gardening Tips

At last....Spring has sprung!!! And with it comes the refreshing ardor of gardening.  I have always loved gardening, growing up I was fascinated that such a big plant can sprout from such a little seed, and I was the one who loved planting flowers to put in the window during spring.  Now I am fortunate enough to have a backyard with a garden about 70'x50' I can plant whatever I want in!  I thought I would share some tips that I have discovered throughout the years in order to make your gardening experience more pleasurable:

1. Preen is a miracle weed-killer.  Last year I converted a thick lawn into plantable gardening soil with the sole help of a tiller.  I was not happy to find that just a month or so later, even though I had planted vegetables and fruit, it was basically a lawn again.  Then I thought to use Preen, which kills grass seeds without harming fruit and vegetable seeds, and the weeds have become SO much more manageable.

2.  Start your seeds indoors.  Many people know this, but especially tomatoes, peppers, and onions, its always best to start your seeds indoors about a month and a half before the last expected frost, and transplant them when danger of frost has passed.  As I have learned, this is NOT true for carrots and corn.  BAD idea, unless you want a twisty ball carrot that is uneatable..

3.  You will always have to weed, at least a little.  My elderly neighbor that has been gardening in the same garden for the last 140 years still has to weed some, no matter what weed killer she uses.  The key is to keep it manageable by going out there for a few minutes every other day.  If you neglect to weed for a month or two they will quickly become unmanageable and you (if you're like me) will give up.

4. Water deeply about every 4 days.  Its always better to get a really good soaking every few days rather than a light sprinkling every day.

5.  Fertilize and pesticides.  I know everyone is all about the organic crap, but fact is your plants grow so much better, so much faster, and are so much tastier if you use plant food.  That's just the way it is.

I am planning to plant corn, tomatoes, onions, red and jalapeno peppers, peas, strawberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe this season.  So far I have the strawberries from last year and have just planted peas (which are resistant to frost and best if planted early), and have started onions, the peppers, and tomatoes indoors.  I will let you know how things go!!

How to make an arrow toothpick.

My new favorite cookie recipe.

One of my favorite things about living in Southern Oregon is having the historical Butte Creek Mill near by. You can find locally milled grains, flours and mixes at near by retailers; order online or visit the historical millhouse in Eagle Point and see the stone mill in action. My favorite BCM product is there pancake and waffle mix. Inside the package is a list of great ways to ues the mix. I've made the chocolate chip cookies many times and sometimes tweek it a bit. I think I've perfected it, atleast to my taste. The great thing about cookies made with this mix is that because of the whole grains, you don't get that tummy acke that comes with eating empty carbs and you never want to stop eating them. Wait... that could be a bad thing. So here is my recipe for my new favorite cookies.

1/2 cup partially melted butter
1/2 sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
2 cups BCM pancake and waffle mix
1/2 cup oats
1 cups chocolate chips
1 cups dryed sweetened cranberries

  Level cookie dough into icecream scoop and drop onto cookie sheet 3 inches apart.
Flatten dough with a fork.
Bake at 350○ for 10-12 minutes.

Happy baking!

What I do with those left-over Christmas M&M's

Christmas is over now and I still had half a bag full of red and green M&M's. My first plan was to keep them stashed and eat them whenever I want. Now that's a great way to start of the new year. So here's what I did. Valentine's day is next month, right? And st Patrick's is the month after that. So I simply separated the red from the green. Now I have the red to decorate sweets in February and green for sweets in March. Now maybe I can loose some of those holiday pounds.

A Simple Holiday Breakfast.

Try adding eggnog coffee mate to your oatmeal. Your kids will love it. I originally did this because I had run out of milk so I used what I had. Luckily, what I had was holiday eggnog coffee mate. My family loves it. Try it with cream of wheat. Sometimes I put a little in my raisin bran. It makes any casual breakfast a holiday treat. Hey, I should be getting paid for all this free advertising. : )

Ciders to Smoothies

I love to drink green smoothies and if you like smoothies of any kind you might like to try this.  After a holiday get together refrigerate your leftover non-alcoholic mulled cider. In the morning simply make it a part of your smoothie to give it that festive flare that marks the season. I love it.

Bookshelves!!! AKA; weird things that make me super happy!

If you can get your hands on some of these shelves I highly recommend that you get them. The kiddos went from asking to watch movies all day, to asking me to read to them. They almost always are "reading" a book these days. I love it.

 P.S. Part of being a Mom is getting ridiculously happy and excited over the weirdest things. Seriously, I couldn't stop staring at them all night long (at least I'm hoping it's a Mom thing and not that I'm just weird--maybe a little of both?).