Velcrow Plant Ties

What will they think of next? I was in the gardening section and found Velcro plant ties. At first I though - nah, but then I wondered would they be reusable? I had been using little twist ties that I found around the house but sometimes they were just sort of a pain. So I purchased the Velcro ties. It looks like this...

It is actually quite convenient and it sticks to its self well. Its softer than the usual Velcro and it has been doing well outside. Here is a picture of it on one of the tomato plants. Its nice because as the plant grows I can take it off and reposition it and it isn't a funky mess like the twist ties.

I had read an article in Better Homes and gardens on planting edibles in pots for showy fall arrangements. I was so taken with it I decided to try planting lettuce in pots for myself. So far so good. But because our weather here in California is so wonky they do better then worse as we get heat here in the 90's, on and off, till the end of October. Here are some pictures of the pots.

Right now they are up with the strawberry plants on our outdoor bar. But I'm hoping to eventually have them next to the back door to have accessible while making dinner.

Planter update

It has definitely been a while since my last blog post. Our camera was broken so I had to purchase a new one. Definitely not a purchase I wanted to make right now since we just started saving for a DSLR camera. To top it off after we purchased the new camera we figured out there was smutz stuck in the lens of the old camera so it was unable to open fully. Lesson learned, keep your camera away from tiny fingers (our children). So now we have a backup in case the old one fails again.
Planter one has had a bug infestation that I have been diligent at working on. Since we have desperately been trying to only use organic products to fight the bugs eating the plants in our planters it has proven to be a long road to recovery. Planter 2 on the other hand has been doing gangbusters! Here is a picture...

The tall bushes are the tomato plants. They have just about taken over the planter! A helpful hint I learned from one of my mothers friends, is to pinch off the ends of the buds. This will help the tomato plant use its energy to produce tomatoes, instead of using all of its energy to produce long lanky lengths. The same friend also said that sometimes pumpkins will take a year to develop fruit. We definitely haven't seen any this year and our vines keep getting eaten by green caterpillars that we keep removing. As you can see in the right hand bottom of the photo. So it seems that the food is still in growing mode. Gardening is not for the faint of hear, for sure!

Strawberry Plants in Pots

I just love Saturdays, with the whole weekend ahead to enjoy. It really puts me in good spirits. I love spending the morning in the garden, or attempting to spend the morning in the garden. This usually never works out the way I think it is going to, and I get sidetracked with the boys. But I still just adore walking amongst my little green 'children' planted outside.
A few months back at the begging of summer I had purchased strawberry seeds and if you remember they took forever to bud. So in mid-August I went to my local garden store and proceeded to purchase (break down and purchase) a couple of strawberry plants. Since I, as a new gardener, know nothing about strawberry plants, I just decided to purchase one of each type they carried (they carried three types). I figured worst case secenero, I kill them ... right?

Fast forward to October and they are all still alive! The seeds are finally growing but the little leaves are only the size of a pen cap. One of the varieties I at the store very well the Quinalt. All the plants I purchased at the store are by Bonnie Plants. But the Quinalt put out offshoots, and one of the offshoots took. Apparently the secret is if you lay the offshoot in dirt it will grow roots, and grow roots it did. It is still small but it is growing as well. So now I have 7 strawberry plants that are still alive!

The Quinalt has been blooming and has even produced flowers and teeny-tiny strawberries. Just big enough to keep me going back to adore the little guy. Here is a picture...

I decided to plant them in pots only because they shouldn't be planted were potatoes, tomotoes peppers, or eggplant have been planted becasue they can contract Verticillium Rot. So I decided to keep them out of the planters. We have a big bar area that I keep the pots up on in attempts to keep the bugs away. So far this has worked.

X-mans 4th Knight Birthday

Shortly after Logan's 1st birthday party Xavier immediately came up to me and asked for a Knight and Princess party. Since I had six months to plan the party I was able to come up with so many ideas. So first the invitations. Xavier decided on the below invite and the little pennant banner at the top really inspired me and got the ball rolling.

The entrance to our house was decked out with a fabric drape and royal banners with Xavier's initial.

We created a 'stone' (from cardboard) for each royal knight to pick their sword from. They were also able to choose their own armor.

We set up a workstation on our dining room table for the children to create their own shield. Stickers and jewels were available to decorate with. We fashioned the shields from cardboard boxes and installed a handle on the back. Each was painted silver.

The girls were able to choose skirts and princess hats from a variety of girly colors. They received wands instead of swords and had the option to dress up with earrings, necklaces, rings, and jewels.

The beverage table was covered with a simple black table cloth. We covered water bottles with a knight and princess theme label that my dear husband created. We also had royal gobblets available to drink out of. We had Lemonade, Ice tea, Capri Sun's, and water to drink. We also had M&M's and Ring Pop's to subdue the sweet tooth untill cake time.



The eating area was set for a king, or in this case a few knights and princesses. We were given the covered canopy from a cousin who was getting rid of it. We used leftover fabric to create the curtain effect. I'm planning to use this fabric again for a ship mast for Logan's Pirate party (coming in February)! The pennant banners were made from fabric and double bias tape. We rented the table and chairs at a local party rental and I used leftover red fabric to create the table runners. The carpet is an old one we regularly put outside to create an outdoor living space in the summer.

The chandelier a friend found on free-cycle. It was a little dusty and needed different light bulbs. It wasn't anything a trip to Home Depot couldn't fix. I found a string of beads from Joann's for a dollar and draped them over. The centerpieces were made from take out boxes and plastic plates from targets dollar bin. The dragons were purchased from Joann's for Xavier a couple of months back.

There was also an area for the adults to hang out at. It was covered with pennant banners as well.

The castle bounce house is the largest we have ever rented. To give you a size comparison the step stool in front of it is a normal size step stool you get at Target. This thing was huge, but it had a slide and a basketball hoop inside.

The dragon pinata was filled with candy, stickers, and small toys. The children played 'battle the dragon' with real practice swords (wood covered foam) also given to us at some point in time from a cousin.


The cake was homemade from scratch.Vanilla buttercream icing, vanilla cake, & rasberry filling. The towers were made of ice cream cones held together by icing. The little pennant banners were made of fabric and lolipop sticks.

Xavier enjoying himself with some of his best friends.

Shortly after Logan's 1st birthday party Xavier immediately came up to me and asked for a Knight and Princess party. Since I had six months to plan the party I was able to come up with so many ideas. So first the invitations. Xavier decided on the below invite and the little pennant banner at the top really inspired me and got the ball rolling.

The entrance to our house was decked out with a fabric drape and royal banners with Xavier's initial.

We created a 'stone' (from cardboard) for each royal knight to pick their sword from. They were also able to choose their own armor.

We set up a workstation on our dining room table for the children to create their own shield. Stickers and jewels were available to decorate with. We fashioned the shields from cardboard boxes and installed a handle on the back. Each was painted silver.

The girls were able to choose skirts and princess hats from a variety of girly colors. They received wands instead of swords and had the option to dress up with earrings, necklaces, rings, and jewels.

The beverage table was covered with a simple black table cloth. We covered water bottles with a knight and princess theme label that my dear husband created. We also had royal gobblets available to drink out of. We had Lemonade, Ice tea, Capri Sun's, and water to drink. We also had M&M's and Ring Pop's to subdue the sweet tooth untill cake time.



The eating area was set for a king, or in this case a few knights and princesses. We were given the covered canopy from a cousin who was getting rid of it. We used leftover fabric to create the curtain effect. I'm planning to use this fabric again for a ship mast for Logan's Pirate party (coming in February)! The pennant banners were made from fabric and double bias tape. We rented the table and chairs at a local party rental and I used leftover red fabric to create the table runners. The carpet is an old one we regularly put outside to create an outdoor living space in the summer.

The chandelier a friend found on free-cycle. It was a little dusty and needed different light bulbs. It wasn't anything a trip to Home Depot couldn't fix. I found a string of beads from Joann's for a dollar and draped them over. The centerpieces were made from take out boxes and plastic plates from targets dollar bin. The dragons were purchased from Joann's for Xavier a couple of months back.

There was also an area for the adults to hang out at. It was covered with pennant banners as well.

The castle bounce house is the largest we have ever rented. To give you a size comparison the step stool in front of it is a normal size step stool you get at Target. This thing was huge, but it had a slide and a basketball hoop inside.

The dragon pinata was filled with candy, stickers, and small toys. The children played 'battle the dragon' with real practice swords (wood covered foam) also given to us at some point in time from a cousin.


The cake was homemade from scratch.Vanilla buttercream icing, vanilla cake, & rasberry filling. The towers were made of ice cream cones held together by icing. The little pennant banners were made of fabric and lolipop sticks.

Xavier enjoying himself with some of his best friends.

Garden Update

The garden is doing well. The tomatoes and pumpkin plants are doing best. The watermelon and cantaloupe are also doing well. The bell pepper plants and strawberry plants have started growing (finally!). The only issue we have run into is a crop of Cabbage Loopers. They have been crazy hard to get rid of. I've tried all sorts of organic sprays but the only thing that has really worked is finding them and getting rid of them via trash can. They don't eat the fruit or crop but they eat all the leaves and its pretty darn unsightly. We started using fish emulsion and it has really helped the growth of the plants. I would completely recommend it. We purchased ours at our local Lowes.