the beauty of sharing: garden

Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts

Sunday, June 14, 2015

DIY Mini Magnet Terrarium

Happy Friday friends! I wish I could say that I have the weekend off but alas I'm headed in to work tomorrow to save lives one icky gallbladder at a time. Not a very glamorous job but at least it's near freezing in the operating room. Next week I have 5 days off starting on Wednesday and we are headed up to Northern Arizona to stay in my in-laws cabin. I can't wait to get out of this stinking heat! I seriously don't think I can make it to August, actually it doesn't really cool down until the very end of October here, ughh.

I wanted to share this lovely DIY mini magnet terrarium with you. Easy to put together and a super cute and unique accent on your fridge. I know I would love to have these arranged on my fridge instead of clippings and doodles for a change. Not that I don't love the kids doodles ;)

DIY Mini Magnet Terrarium (via http://cladandcloth.com/)

I’ve got some cool news! I’ve been selected to create a DIY kit for Darby Smart! I’m still working with them to create the kit but I’ll let you know as soon as it’s available. In the meantime, I got a box just to see how it felt to open…

Friday, June 12, 2015

Recycled Indoor Herb Garden

It's getting pretty hot here in the Arizona desert. Actually, it's been pretty hot for over a month already! My poor little garden is shriveling in this heat. My tomatoes are looking more like sun-dried tomatoes. My strawberries look like tiny dehydrated strawberries. I thought I would rescue my herb garden before I had a ton of dried up herbs. I have always wanted a nice indoor herb garden in my kitchen. One with a good variety of herbs so that I would always have several choices when preparing meals.

Now, what to put all of these herbs into? I certainly didn't want to go out and buy a bunch of little pots. So I threw around a few ideas and then it hit me. I have a ton of formula cans lying around and they would be perfect! I hate throwing things like that away. Especially jars, bottles, boxes etc. I try to re-use them for craft storage, screws and nails, crayons, beans, grains, pasta, snacks etc. As it turns out, they ended up being perfect for my little indoor herb garden. The formula cans are the perfect size to simply slip the herbs into. I used my bigger cans to transplant my basil and thyme which grow rapidly and I use frequently. The small cans will contain the herbs so they don't take over my kitchen. I bought a few new herbs to add to the family

and the little pots slip perfectly into the cans leaving an inch on the bottom for drainage.

So, I painted 2 coats of paint, let dry, labeled with stickers and sprayed with a non-toxic gloss sealer, let dry outside then transplanted my herbs. For the big cans I cut scrapbook paper and used MOD PODGE to adhese it to the cans. Then I aplied a second layer of MOD PODGE over the top of the paper to give it a pretty matte look and protective sealant. I love my MOD PODGE! ;-)

Herbs need to have WELL DRAINED SOIL! So for the herbs I bought I left in the pots they came in which already had drainage holes and they fit right into my cans. When I water them, I empty any water which has dripped into the bottom of the can. This was perfect since it eliminated any water damage to my curio. The big cans needed drainage holes so I punched several into the bottom with a screwdriver, added a bit of gravel so the soil wouldn't flow out then transplanted my herbs.

LOOK WHAT THE BOYS AND I FOUND HIDING IN OUR ROSEMARY! CAN YOU SEE HIM?

Herbs need AT LEAST SIX HOURS OF SUNLIGHT A DAY!! So place close to a window that gets a lot of sun. Preferably in your kitchen for easy access at meal times. These little pots will dry out quickly so remember to water frequently, but let dry out in between waterings.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Ready. Set. Sprout! Sprouting beans and seeds is fun, simple and delicious.

How To Grow

Many of you have probably eaten sprouts and come across tutorials on growing your own.

How many of you have ever actually grown sprouts?

Did you know that it's really, really ridiculously easy to do?

My 4 and 6 year old's made their own jars of sprouts.

Did you know that sprouts are a fabulous source of vitamins and minerals? They are a true super food.

They taste wonderful and you can put them on sandwhiches, salads, seafood, hummus, stir fry's and soups.

So what are you waiting for? First, here are a few things you need to know about sprouting.

First, find yourself some beans, seeds or legumes. Most any will do, however seeds for sprouting differ from the seeds you normally plant in your garden since garden seeds may be pre-treated with chemicals.

The most common seeds used for sprouting are alfalfa, mung {beans} radish, sunflower, cabbage and broccoli seeds.

I used mung beans for this tutorial that I purchased at Sprouts no less. ;)

Rinse and sort your beans/seeds. Remove any rotten or damaged looking ones so they don't spoil the bunch.
Using a sieve, rinse again under cool water.

Some smaller seeds can be sprouted on a moist paper towel but it's usually best to use a wide mouth jar like this one.

Sprouts will grow up to 8 times in size so start with a tablespoon if you're using larger beans like these. I totally over did it and ended up with 4 jars jam packed with sprouts! Oops.
Cover well with purified water and let sit in a cool, dark place for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Do not use a lid. Cover with cheese cloth or a new/un-used, cloth diaper. Wrap a rubber band tightly around the cheescloth to hold in place.

Drain the water, rinse again with cool water. You can leave them in the jar to rinse.
Tip the jar so any remaining water can drip out.
Let sit in a cool, dark place
Rinse with purified water 2 times a day.
Do Not let them sit in water, they will rot!