~What's Growing on in your garden~

There are moments in one's life where you take small breaks from the extra's you add in to your life.

I took a few months off from blogging to catch my bearings on how busy my life had become! 

I am glad to say I am back!!!

New beginnings deserve new blog headers. Change is good. Enjoy! 

I have lots growing in the greenhouse. In about a week most things will find sweet spots through out the backyard and front yard gardens.

Here is whats growing!

~Tomato's~

Black Krim

Hillbilly

Yellow Pear

Rutgers

Mama Mia

Pineapple

Black Plum

Mr.Stripey

Black Zebra

Cherokee Purple

Pink Brandywine

Prudens Purple

Green Zebra

Black Cherry

Orange Banana

~Peppers~

Jalapeno

Serrano

Gypsy

Thai

Hot Banana

Red Cherry Bomb

Scotch Bonnet

Bell Peppers

~Eggplant~

Long Purple

Rosa Bianca

~Basil~

Purple Opal

Thai

Sweet

Lemon

Cinnamon

~Beans~

Ramano Pole

Black Valentine Bush

Rattlesnake

Black Eyed Peas

~Corn~

Lucious

Jewel Sweet

Strawberry Corn (ornamental)

~Herbs~

Tarragon

Oregano

Dill

Chives

Savory

Borage

Rosemary

Sage

Pineapple Sage

Thyme

~Cucumbers~

Boston Pickling

Bush Cucumbers

Diva

~Onions~

Walla Walla

Torpedo

Sweet Onions

Italian Red

Scallions

~Squash~

Yellow Crookneck

Romanesco Zuchinni

Butternut

~Melons~

Jenny Lind

Moons & Stars

Delicate

Honeydew

Cantaloupe

This is what I can remember off the top of my head.

What are you growing this year?

What are you most excited to grow?

I'm so excited for fresh homegrown Tomato's. 

Happy Gardening Friends, I have missed you all!

Welcome to my garden!

I have not posted much about my garden. I thought I would share a few pictures of how things are growing!

The above picture is the welcome sign made on a piece of old barn wood. I used old springs to spell Welcome. A fun recycling project.

These are my Costalvo heirloom tomato's! My four plants are loaded. Cant wait to try them.

These Tomato's are Black Krim! My favorite! My plants are pretty loaded with these babies too. I make marinara and pizza sauce with these. Soon they will turn almost a burgundy color.

This here is what I call my Tomato jungle! I have 12 plants in here. Giant Smooth, Costalvo and German Green with a pepper plant in the right hand corner.

In this garden bed I have Green beans in the back growing on a trellis. Peppers on the sides and Cucumbers in the middle. My Cucumbers are just getting started.

These are the beans in the garden bed with the Peppers and Cucumbers. I made this trellis from the wire mesh of a bed frame.

Basil, yum! One of my favorite herbs. Lots of Basil throughout my garden.

This is my Squash area. Some Tomato's to the right and Tomitillo's on the left. The walking steps are made by my kids.

A better view of the Tomitillo's. My bean trellis's. I just planted Christmas Lima beans. Can't wait to see how the trellis works out. Also made from recycled bed frames.

My Strawberry bed. Not many Strawberry's yet! I did start these plants from seed. Mixed in I have Garlic and Chard. The Chard is starting to look old. I will probably pull it soon and toss it in the compost.

This is my experimental flower bed. I planted Love Lies Bleeding, Sunflowers, Sweet William and a bunch of other flowers. Just tossed in the seeds. Exciting to see what will pop up!

Last but not least, this was my edible/flower garden. Tomato's, Chard, Fennyl, Nasturtiums, Oriental Poppy's, and Zinnias should be popping out soon.

Well there it is, most of my garden. I will post pictures of my edible front yard soon!

Whats growing in your garden?

Happy Gardening!!!

Recycling in the garden! Plastic Make it Possible and a Recycling contest!

Do you Recycle?

Are you a garden recycle enthusiast? 

When it comes to gardening "being green" is not only about producing beautiful flowers, vegetables and shrubs. It's about being conscious about the products and tools we use around our home and garden space. Recycled plastics can be used for so many things such as, decking, verticle gardens, garden containers and even bird houses. Great ways of giving used products a new, second life!

Picture from google pictures

Recycling Plastics to re-use in your garden is a good idea! I love to recycle items and make them work for me! Plastics are to valuable to waste! There are many ways to reuse and recycle plastics in the garden and we can help close the "recycling loop" by purchasing products made from recycled plastics!

I love creating trellis's, planters and cloches from things I find around the house or even in junk piles on the side of the road.

Recently, I turned the dresser part of a captain's bed into raised garden beds. I have also used dresser drawers as planter box's and even milk crates for growing potato's. I use 2-liter soda bottles as cloches and devices for watering plants. The possibilities are endless when it comes to recycling in the garden.

A couple months ago I started following an Initiative called Plastic Make it Possible. 

Plastics Make it Possible®, an initiative sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council, highlights the many ways plastics inspire innovations that improve our lives, solve big problems and help us design a safer, more promising future.

As I am always looking for company's that are trying to make a difference for our planet! This Initiative is a perfect match for me!

 Did you know plastics play a role in building a sustainable future by helping conserve resources for energy? One of the things I learned from their website. This website is jam packed with information for a newbie recycler to an experienced recycler! There are so many wonderful resources for learning on their website!

Here comes the fun part! A CONTEST!

Plastic Make it Possible and I have teamed up to see how creative you all can be with recycling plastic items in your garden! We want to see how creative you can be when it comes to turning recycled projects into amazing garden products. This is going to be so FUN!

Picture from google pictures

Here are the contest rules:

Submit pictures of your recycled Plastic project/ Recycled project to me at 4bratz2luv@gmail.com If you have written a blog post about your project, send me the link so I can link it with your picture! Also send me simple directions of your project to be featured with your photo! Contest ends on the last day of June 2011 and winners will be announced July 1, 2011

I will also be making some of the projects you submit for fun and to incorporate in to my own garden!

10 winners will be chosen for the most creative ideas and best use of recycling plastics in the garden!

What you will win, A free T-shirt! A shirt made from Recycled Plastic, pretty cool!

The T-shirt says, Don't be Trashy....Recycle!

Also their will be a grand prize winner!

 The prize will remain a secret until the winners are announced! Trust me the prize will be amazing!

I hope you will check out Plastic Make it Possible they are a wonderful resource for recycling!

You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook 

I hope you will join in on some of the fun and submit your pictures on re-using plastics in your garden! 

Good Luck!

Picture from google pictures

Happy Recycling Friends!!! 

~Vegtable Lasagna~

Dinner was very YUMMY! I used alot of Vegtables from my Garden! I first roasted 6 cloves of Garlic in the paper with sliced Mushrooms, Red Onion, sliced Carrots, Zuchinni, Yellow Squash and some Brocolli! Drizzled a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper. Once that was done i took the paper off the Garlic and chopped it up! Then I took the Ricotta and mixed with half a cup of Parmesan and half a cup of Mozerrela, Kosher Salt, Cracked Black Pepper And about 10 fresh Basil leaves. Added a little Marinara sauce to bottom of the baking dish, added a layer of Lasagna noodles. Spread some of the Ricotta, added half the Roasted Veggies. Add another layer of noodles then sauce, ricotta, and veggies. One last layer of noodles, sauce and 1 pound mozerrella with half a cup of parmesan. Bake for 30 min. We had a nice Spinach and Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with fresh tomatoes,Cucumber and Scallions. All in all it was an AWESOME dinner! My kids loved it and they didt even miss having meat in the Lasagna.

Veggie Stir Fry!

My Garden has been phenominal! Tons of veggies, and more Zuchinni then my family can eat! Tonights dinner was a Pork and Veggie Stir Fry, Fried Rice and Homemade Spring Rolls! Its so Awesome incorperating fresh veggies into home cooked meals! It amazes me all the wonderful recipes that are out there for veggies! My Pork and Veggie Stir Fry Had sliced Pork, Yellow Squash, Zuchinni, Baby Bella Mushrooms, Carrot slivers, Bell Pepper & Scallions! The only thing not from the Garden were the mushrooms, pork and scallions! My fried Rice had Brocoli, chopped Carrots, Scallions, Mushroom stems and Fresh Shelled Peas, oh yeah and rice and some soy sauce! It was a great dinner and the Family loved it!

Harvesting My Veggies!

Ive been getting so much wonderful Yummy stuff from the Garden! I just wanted to share some of this pics of what I have Harvested! Enjoy! I know I am~

My first mini Harvest!

I had a nice lil afternoon in my Garden today! Lots of lil suprises! I decided to go through my garden and see if I had anything more to harvest beside Zuchinni and I was in luck! I had 4 Yellow Pear Tomatoes, 1 Bell Pepper, A handful of Sugar Snap Peas, Zuchinni and some baby Carrots! I know its not much, but I was very excitied! Its nice to see all the hard work ive been doing, pay off! Im looking forward to getting lots more. I know soon I wont be able to keep up with everything. I will be harvesting everything at once. I also have an almost red tomato, should be ready in a few days! First red one of the season. As of now, this is wahts growing in the garden! Carrots, Fennyl, Zuchinni, Yellow Squash, Peter Pan Sqaush, Cukes, Okra, Peas (3 varities) Green beans (2 varieties) Yellow wax Beans, Lima Beans. Im also growing 6 differnt Peppers and multiple Tomatoes! Lots of differnt herbs, such as cilantro,Dill, parsley, sage, rosemary, chives and thyme. Im also growing Walla Walla Onions, Red torpedo onions and Scallions. In another part of my yard im growing Pumpkins, Gourds, Butternut Squash and Table Queen. I even have re-sowed aLettuce bed, next to my Baby Spinach. I think thats all ive got going on. Although I keep adding stuff along the way. I dont have a huge backyard, but I am coming up with invintive ways to use every sqaure inch I do have! Next year, I think I will just do the whole backyard! Im excitied to see how this years garden will turn out! I will keep Yall posted, as new things grow and come out of the garden. In pictures from time to time you will see my recycled items throught the garden! I hope you enjoy my newest post. Sorry if I rambled, im just so EXCITIED!