Avoseedo - Grow Your Own Avocado Tree 20% OFF!

Did you know there are a lot of things in your kitchen that you can grow or root?
An avocado is one of those things. We try to grow an avocado seed once before but we didn't have a fun little Gadget like this. I had a friend who had grown one without a gadget like this but she said it wasn't easy to do and not all of them were successful so I am really hoping that this little Avoseedo floating boat that the avocado seed rest in well help us start growing our own avocado tree.

A couple of things that I have noted on the packaging is that it says it will take 1 to 4 months for the avocado pit to germinate and start growing. It says this is dependent on the breed of the avocado and the temperature. And I have to make sure to change the water every 2 to 3 weeks.

If you want to give this type of project a shot with your kids you can buy one of these at Avoseedo.com and use code sp22 get 20% off.

Right now all of their bestsellers including the single Avoseedo and the Avoseedo 3 pack are discounted as well. These items are also available on Amazon.

Check back with me in March to see how this is going. I live in MN, so my growing temperature during the winter is only room temperature and we have less sunlight this time of the year, so it may take a while.

Pottery Plant Tray

I made this pottery plant try via slab rolling to act as a base for these three potted aloe vera plants. I actually rooted these three baby aloe vera plants from my mother plant before potting them up for this gift that I gave to a friend for her birthday (which happens to be today).

Be sure to check back on other Tuesday and Thursdays this month as I am going to be sharing a variety of past pottery projects including soap dishes, cow platter, butter dish, baptismal gift, wind chime, and tea holder.

Easy to Root Spider Plants

How about a Spider Plant for Halloween!

Want an easy to grow plant that gives you baby plants that can easily root and grow more.....then you definitely need to check out growing spider plants. They are great for helping cleanse the air in your home and are very tolerant of many growing conditions, as long you give them some sunlight and remember to water them at least occasionally.

This is a container filled with about 6 babies. I put them in water (about 1/4 way up the plants) and set it in the window and after 2 weeks you see they have rooted and are ready to be transplanted in to their own pots.

Growing a Three Sisters Garden

I recently went to a Companion Gardening class at an area library. (It was actually a library I had not been to, but I saw the free class on FB and thought I would go check it out and was glad I did.)

There were a lot of interesting take-aways from that class, but I was particularly drawn to the handout about a Three Sisters Garden, which is corn, beans and squash/pumpkins/melons all planted together. The instructions are for a 4 sq ft area, which is the size of my raised beds.

I usually grow beans as well as squash and pumpkins and I might decide to grow corn but I usually grow it for decoration in the fall or to add visual interest in my gardens and food for animals that come to our yard, so I am thinking this year I will grow multi-colored corn as something different to grow. I think the kids will enjoy seeing the colors they develop.

I am trying not to hold on to papers that just add more clutter, so I thought if I put them on my blog then I have a digital version that I can reference and can share with others.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! I am excited to see that some of my Gardens are growing. Rhubarb is up and it won't be long before I can make my first dessert with that. Raspberry bushes are growing and strawberries are starting to come up and the first asparagus is peeking through. More of that to come. I can't wait to have my first asparagus omelette..

12 - 4th & 5th Grade Accelerated Reader Books about the Garden

4.3
Your Backyard by Sally Hewitt

4.5
First Peas to the Table: How Thomas Jefferson Inspired a School Garden by Susan Grigsby
Vegetable Gardens by Lori Pupeza

4.7
Grandpa's Garden by Stella Fry

4.8 
In Enzo's Splendid Gardens by Patricia Polacco
Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

5.1 
It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona
Yard Monsters by Karen Leet

5.2
A Backyard Flower Garden for Kids by Amie Leavitt

5.4
Yucky Animals in the Yard by Alix Wood

5.5
A Kid's Guide to Perennial Gardens by Tamra Orr

5.6
Isabella's Garden by Glenda Millard

15 - 3rd grade Accelerated Readers Books about the Garden

3.0
Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou

3.2
Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin

3.3
Little Sweet Potato by Amy Bloom
The Boy in the Garden by Allen Say
Tiny Green Thumbs by C Z Guest

3.4
Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam
Plant a Little Seed by Bonnie Christensen

3.5
Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow by Sarah Garland
What on Earth is a Green Garden? by Oona Gardner-Juntti

3.7 
How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry
Pomelo Begins to Grow by Ramona Badescu
The Vegetable Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

3.8 
Digging up Trouble by Kim Wayans

3.9
Examining Backyard Habitats by Zelda King
Mossy by Jan Brett

#ad Review: Ezy Pruners Ratchet Pruning Shears

My Thoughts:

I was excited to accept this review since we bought a cabin last fall and I have a need to have lawn and garden care items other than what we have to use at our home. I do have to say that they cost a little more than I would typically spend on a pair of shears, but maybe the ratcheting feature adds more expense to the production cost, I don't know. Right now they are listed on Amazon for $23.95, but have a list price higher than that.

I haven't had much of a chance to use these on thicker plants yet to see how they work, but I have used them on my indoor plants to do some pruning. I only used them on a potted fern, but the ratcheting did work nice to just keep on pruning more efficiently.I am looking forward to trying it out with thicker items, as it says it can cut through things up to 1" thick.

I am looking forward to using them when I cut some flowers that might ooze on to the blades. I am hoping that the teflon coating will keep them from sticking together and from rusting.

Buy Ezy Ratchet Pruning Shears on Amazon!!!

Product Description from EZY Pruners:

A great solution to allow gardeners to enjoy greater cuts with less effort, while getting more pruning done!

This magnificent ratchet mechanism saves you time in the garden, while providing increased leverage with it's 3-stage ratchet system for anything you cut up to an inch in diameter. From branches, flower stems, etc...

The non-stick, teflon coated, Sk-5 blade slices through just about anything in it's way! Many gardeners will be able to benefit from using this and will love it as a gift to use almost anytime of the year. Particularly as spring approaches!

I was sent this product for review but all thoughts, opinions, and photographs are my own. No monetary compensation was received.

Wordless Wednesday: Growing Mushrooms at Home

Wordless Wednesday: Cabin Plants

I took these pictures with my phone, so they aren't the best quality. I just wanted to share some pictures of the beautiful plants at our new cabin. It's fall now and everything is going to die back, but I can come back this winter and spring and see what is going to pup up all around us.

Thrifty Thursday: Birdhouse Gourd Crafts

This project was a year in the making, so plan ahead this year and see if you can come up with some seeds from a friend. My daughter and I first saw some birdhouse gourds made in to fairy houses at the MN Renaissance Festival and we knew we wanted to try it. We weren't interested in purchasing on that was already made for $35+ and we didn't feel like spending $12 on an already grown and dried birdhouse gourd. So, last year I bought a seed packet (couldn't find anyone that had grown these to share seeds with) and we planted them. Over the winter, spring and most of the summer we let then dry. We started out with 4 gourds that we were saving but one didn't dry well and ended up rotting and another ended up getting broken by my son before we could do anything with it, so we were left with two. One for each of my kids to make something with.

We decided to use up spray paint we had to paint them and would embellish them afterwards. My daughter was excited for another reason to try out spray paint.

You can see the finished products above, but my son decided to make a "Dinosaur Cave" out of his gourd and I made him a needle felted dinosaur to play with in his dinosaur cave. Also be sure to check out my Felted Soap tutorial.

My daughter made a fairy house and I made her a needle felted fairy to go along with it, check out the other needle felted fairy I have made her in the past.

Review: Ark Survival Gear Seeds

I got this mega pack of seeds from ARK Survival about a month ago and promptly went through them and figured out which ones I could plant yet this season. The rest of my gardens were planted a month earlier and in Minnesota we don't have a long growing season and have a small window to get in seeds that take longer, so I had to figure out what items could be planted that grow quickly and will do ok trying to start in the heat and still be harvested yet before fall. I have pictures of 2 packets I got in the ground and the sprouts that I have so far.

The ARK Survival Seed Pack contain all heirloom, non GMO seeds and offers a variety of seeds so that you could plant enough seeds be prepared for every aspect of a potential natural disaster.

These are all 30 seed packets. I took a close up picture that you can click on to see some of labels. There is supposed to be over 3500 total seeds inside this bag of seed packets.

I planted Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans, Beets (these didn't come up at all, which make me wonder if the birds got them) and Leaf Lettuce. I might try planting the beets again because I only need 35 days to harvest the greens (55 days for the roots, which I might have time for too). I still have that space in the garden bed where I attempted to grow them.

Product Description from ARK 


100% USA, Heirloom Vegetable Garden Survival Seeds, 30 Varieties With Over 7500+ High Quality Heirloom Seeds NON GMO Organic, NON Hybrid Seeds. All Seeds Are Proudly USA Sourced and Come with LIFETIME GUARANTEE and Bonus Survival Guide. Extended Life Breathable Paper Storage NOT Plastic!

These are the Kentucky Wonder Bush Beans (the smaller plants) that were planted a month after the other beans I had planted. My other beans have been prolific this season and are starting to wrap up, so it was nice to have more beans to plant. I try to do a second crop of beans anyways, to have some in the early fall.

I hadn't actually planted any lettuce this season up until now. Leaf lettuce grows pretty quickly, so you can plant it in the spring, early summer and late summer and have 3 harvests.

I need to pull out my radishes that I let go to seed and then I will try out the cherry belle radish seeds they sent me as well. And it is time to get some peas in the ground for fall harvest.

The tomato & pepper seeds will have to wait until next year when I start seeds indoors in the winter. The alfalfa seeds I will grow indoors in the winter for alfalfa sprouts and the cat nip we will start this fall in a pot for the cats. Everything else I will hold off on and try next year.

There are herbs and spies and medicinal plant seeds included as well. A couple things included I have never tried that I am looking forwards to are yarrow buttercup squash.

YOU CAN BUY YOUR OWN ARK SURVIVAL SEEDS ON AMAZON.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Thrifty Thursday: Sharing Seeds and Using Past "Use By" Date

This is what I am doing today!! Sharing seeds with a friend. By planting seeds indoors I get a jump start on my garden and can pick out varieties that normally are not available as seedlings.Sure, a packet of seeds might cost me about the same as buying a 4 pack of flowers or vegetables, so I am not really saving any money until the next year. I know that seeds have an "Use By" date on them but that is for the seed company so that they can guarantee their viability of their seeds to a certain time. The viability may go down after that date, but you can still try planting them. In fact, I started some tomato seeds last month that I bought 4 years ago. So, next year I will save money by not having to buy as many seeds. Although, I like to take my kids to pick out seeds and they pick out a few new things we are going to try. Check out some of the fun things are are trying out this year.

Also, I like to have a planting playdate or playgroup (or do it with one of my kids' classes) so that I can encourage others to garden and so I share my seeds with them and hope they will be providing their families with fresh food in a few months and hope to create a positive experience for them that they will want to garden more in the future.

Thrifty Thursday: Pop Your Own Popping Corn

Sure, you probably don't have cobs of corn you grew and dried over the winter right now, if you did you were probably already popping your popcorn. But if not, why not plant some popping corn in your garden this spring. Allow your corn to dry in a dry location (it may take a month depending upon your humidity level to be dried all the way) and then pop it in a paper bag in the microwave.

Yes, on the cob! Just put the cob in a paper bag and press the popcorn button but be sure to hang around and listen for sounds that it has stopped popping. Only pop one cob at a time. 

So, who is excited to grow your own popcorn this summer!

Pottery Time: Hand Building a Fairy House and Furniture

I have been back in the studio at the art center for both a hand building pottery class with my daughter as well as open studio time to make some new creations. I thought I would share with you some of the things I have been making.

This fairy house was made by hand building. I made it with my daughter during a class we took. She designed the fairy house herself with minimal guidance from me. I actually went in to this class with her thinking we were going to make a very different looking house, but her vision had changed. 

She chose to made a fairy house that looked like a tree stump.

This is the view from the top or the veranda with the furniture she hand built herself. 

Another view of the top without the furniture to see the rings in the stump and you can see how she designed the sides to provide a railiing around the veranda that looks like the bark that was broken off. 

This is just a close up of the furniture she made. She still wants to make some pretend food to go on the table.

These next 5 pictures are all close ups of the sides so that you can see all the details from all sides.

This is the front and we have a vine with flower going up the side. There is a door that is open and a window hole. You can also see she made a snail and mushroom at the bottom of the steps.

On this side you can see a couple more window holes and a small window with panes, as well as a couple more mushrooms.

This is the backside and you can see the large window with panes. You can also see how we carved out detail to make it look more like bark. Many of the window and doorway we glazed with a color (not browns) to add some color for interest.

Another side view with a couple more window holes and a mushroom (different color than the others) and you can see the door is open.

Just another close up of the front and here it is easier to see the glaze painted in the windows and doorway.

This is what the bottom looks like so that you can see how it was constructed and is hollow inside. The base was created by slab rolling out some clay and then draping it over a mold. From there the rest was created by making coils and forming the body of the body of the fairy house. Next the body was stuffed with newspaper and we slab rolled out the top of the fairy house. So, that is the basic construction of this piece.

Gardening is On My Mind

It's March and I have been thinking about this year's garden and decided to write a post for Northern Cheapskate called "Time to Start Planning Your Garden", so please go check out that post and leave some comments about when you typically start your garden.

I also wanted to share the other gardening posts I have written in case you are looking for something else or have a little more planning to do. Please enjoy reading through the 15 posts about gardening that I have written about in this post.

• Create Your Own Raised Garden Bed (using cinderblocks)
• Make a Wood Raised Garden Bed
• Start Seeds Indoors (Round 1) and (Round 2)
• Make Homemade Recycled Plant Markers
• Save Your Own Seeds
• No Stress Guide to Composting
• What To Do With Kitchen Scraps
• Grow Your Own Sprouts
• Starting Seeds Indoors on a Budget 
• Updating Paint/Stain on Planters
• Installing Our Rain Barrel 
• Re-Seeding
• Good Books to Read to Kids to Encourage Gardening

Or check out all my posts on Save Green Being Green with the Label "Gardening" or "Plants".

Make It Monday: Easy Refrigerator Pickles

These refrigerator pickles are super simple to make! All you need is cucumbers & you choice of vinegar(s) and any optional spices, chilies or garlic that you want to add. And they are ready to eat in 24 hours. And what's even more fantastic is that when you eat the pickles, you can just keep adding more cucumbers to your brine and make more pickles. Just add more vinegar if it is getting low and you have non-stop pickles!

Easy Refrigerator Pickles
Cucumber
Vinegar(s)
Herbs/Seasonings/Chilies/Garlic

Directions:
Simply slice cucumbers in rounds or spears and put into to a dish. Add in the optional herbs/seasonings/chilies/garlic. Pour vinegar over everything until it is submerged. Cover & refrigerate for 24 hours. The tanginess will increase the longer they are in the brine. Add fresh cucumbers when there is room and additional vinegar to make sure it is covered each time.

* I seasoned mine with dill fronds (from my garden) and garlic because they are the most appealing to my family over time.

** Since I have a variety of vinegars, I chose to make a blend of white, red, balsamic & rice wine vinegars for half of the container and fill ed the other half with plain white vinegar. I wanted to add some extra flavors that those other vinegars offer.