Tag Archives: netting

My New Green Greenhouse

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I had to take down and store my small greenhouse. We had it anchored inside with some heavy concrete blocks. Unfortunately, the greenhouse had no way to anchor it on the outside. The wind proved to be mightier than the anchor blocks and toppled it over.
I’m fortunate that the only plants in it was the lettuce and chard. They were bounced around but didn’t get broken or smashed. They’re living happily in our garden now.
I had been planning to replace my small greenhouse with a larger greenhouse with more shelves. I had a new one ordered and was waiting for it to arrive, so it was kind of a help the wind toppling my small one.
We had fun putting the new one together. There’s nothing much more amusing than two old folks figuring out directions on how to assemble a project. lol
The new greenhouse has anchors on each outer corner to tie it down. We’re using concrete blocks on the lowest shelves and around the bottom edge of the cover as extra anchor weight.
I guess I should add in here that meaning of the red ribbons on the tie-downs is that a ‘clumsy old lady owns the greenhouse’ and needs the ribbons to highlight the tie-downs, (so I won’t trip over them whilst going to open/close the windows. lol)
The new greenhouse has 3 windows with hook & loop tape flap closures. You can see them in the different pictures. The windows are blessing to circulate fresh air when needed.
The 3 windows were a defining factor in my choosing this green mesh greenhouse.  Also, the green mesh cover will hopefully help to shade me a bit more than the clear cover would. It might protect the plants by shading them a bit more from the hot rays of the sun.
When I’m going to be in the greenhouse any length of time, I have to have the main door flap open. It presents a problem because of wasps and bugs. I’ve pretty much solved that problem by hanging a curtain I fashioned out of netting. The netting also helps keep more air circulating too.
I’ve got a few trays of seeds planted and hopefully they’ll begin to grow soon.

Wishing you all good things this Spring.

Rose cutting update & Basil Babies

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My accidental rose cutting is thriving in the herb bed. I planted it close to the birdbath in hopes of giving it a bit of protection through the winter. I plan to transplant it next Spring to a more open spot. ~*~

I noticed some baby basil plants growing on the ground by the adult ones. I decided to try and get a couple to grow indoors for the winter. I have my doubts as to how long I can get them to survive in the house, but it’s worth a try. I found two nice size basil seedlings snuggled down between the rocks and stems of the adult plants. They’ve been quite well protected. I transplanted them in a small pot.I put netting over the pot to keep the bugs out. Our nights are quite cool now and since the babies don’t have the same protection around them, I bring them in at night and set them outside during the day.Hopefully they’ll continue to thrive and I’ll have fresh basil for a while.

~*~

My herb bed is full with the matured plants. It’s quite crowded and messy.
I’ve enjoyed my herb bed. I’m sad to know that soon it’ll go to sleep for winter.

~*~

My plans for next season are already in the making.
Just 5 to 6 months and
I’ll be back out there starting the gardening season again.

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Time to bring the herbs in

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Our area finally got a break on the hot weather. It’s been quite cool here during the night and really nice during the day. I decided it was time to bring my herbs in the house.
20160929_060609I put the netting back on my rosemary a couple weeks ago. I’ve kept it trimmed and it’s grown thick and pretty. So far there hasn’t been any critters appear on it. I’m going to keep the netting on it for a quite a while just to be sure.

p1070459Since my basil is in 5 gallon buckets and way too large to bring in the house, A month ago, I started a few basil plant from cuttings. I want to try and grow basil indoors during the winter. The basil rooted really easily in about a week. When I transplanted them, I made nettings for their pots and kept them covered.
They look pretty neat in my kitchen window. My husband made me a wider window shelf just so I could set the herbs there. He’s a such a good fellow about helping me with stuff like that.

I hope my herbs live and grow here in the house. I plan to take them outside when the temps are warm enough and then bring them in at night.

I’ve been sidetracked this week, I’ll be around catching up on my blog visiting.

I hope you all are enjoying pleasant temps and having a pleasant week.

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Rosemary won’t bug me anymore

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rosemary1My husband and I have been busy shopping for garden plants. We decided to keep it fairly simple this year. A few tomato plants and too many marigolds, too many petunias and some hostas.

We saw a lot of potted herbs. My husband’s suggested I buy some basil since I grow it every year in pots on our back porch. It has a nice aroma when the wind blows or I trim it to cook with it.
I told him no, that I prefer to grow my own since I already bought 3 different varieties of basil seeds: sweet, cinnamon and lemon. I’ve never heard of lemon or cinnamon basil until this year. I’m looking forward to tasting them.

We saw pots of rosemary at a few different places setting outside in the open air. My husband asked me if I knew anything about rosemary? I told him that I’d heard of rosemary chicken recipes but that’s the extent of my knowledge. He said that we should buy some rosemary and try it.

rosemary2I agreed, but I chose to buy a potted rosemary plant in the produce department of our local grocery store so I wouldn’t have to worry about hidden bugs that might get loose in my kitchen. The directions on it’s packaging said to set the potted rosemary in a sunny window. My kitchen doesn’t have a very sunny window, so I decided to it needs to spend days on the back porch. The pot it was in was quite small so I re-potted it in a little blue pot that my son gave me many years ago.

rosemary3I wanted to set the rosemary outside, but once again I ran into the same bug phobia issue as the nursery open air potted ones. Unlike basil which has large leaves that you can see bugs, Rosemary has small tines brush type leaves/stems and it’d be easy for bugs to hide in it. I decided to make a cover for the rosemary out of netting. I took some netting and folded it in half and hand-stitched the sides together making it into a bag. I carefully slipped in over the plant and pot. Now It can sit in on the porch to get sun and be protected from most bugs.

I’m going to wait until the rosemary grows some before I use it. I’ve ran a search to see what rosemary taste like, Most sites say it taste like pine. It doesn’t sound appetizing, but it might be quite good. After we try it, if we don’t like it, I won’t cook with it anymore. I’ll plant it outside by-the-gate and let it grow.

Have you ever tried the herb rosemary?
Do you have a favorite recipe using the herb rosemary?

Here’s wishing you all a lovely week!
gardening

edited in:
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 I added 4 shish-kabob sticks to my rosemary pot because it needs a bit of protection from the netting rubbing up against it when the wind blows.
🙂
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Round Squash Fun

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IMG_3911Normally when I start posting about our squash harvest, I would begin with recipes, but this time I’ve decided to start with a bit of fun with my squash.

Since the larger round squash can keep for a few weeks on the counter, I enjoy using them for decorating.
IMG_3943A bit of netting wrapped around a squash and a bit of shiny ribbon makes the squash a bit fancy or a bit slutty. I haven’t decided yet. lol
I think it makes a cheerful and different piece of decor.
IMG_3927In honor of 4th of July coming soon, I set a squash on a mason jar and dressed it as an Uncle Sam character. I drew his eyes and mouth on sticker paper so i could remove them easily from the squash. I put a hat on it and then put a bit of polyfil under each side of the hat for sideburns. I glued some polyfil to a piece of sticker paper and then stuck it on the squash for a beard. The patriotic bow pulls it all together nicely, I think.
IMG_3913I thought I’d go ahead and waste a squash since I have so many. I made a light out of it. It looks really pretty in real life.  I cut out the top of the squash to use as a cap for it.  I hollowed out the squash and drilled holes in it. I put a piece of plastic on the inside on the bottom so the moisture won’t get in the tea light and short it out. I then put a battery operated tea light in the squash and put the cap on it. It looks charming.
To store it when not in use: I remove the tea light from the squash, then wrapped the squash in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator.  When I’m done with it, after a couple of days, I’ll throw it away.

If you use squash or pumpkins as decor, Be sure to check them every day so you can dispose of them when they go bad.

Why is it with squash, it’s either feast or famine. Just look at the big pile of squash we have picked over the past week and a half.
6-22-2014-weeksharvestWe’ve already given the neighbors so much they won’t take anymore. lol  It’s been a good year for squash so far. Sadly, It could end any day because of weather or pests. So, I’m enjoying them while I can.

Remember to have some fun and play with your food every now and then.

Wishing you all a terrific Tuesday.
🙂


🙂
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