Gardening Edition: Pruning your tomato plants

At best, I’m a gardening rookie; a novice; a wanna-be.  I’m trying to always learn new stuff, but I’ve never been a great studier, so I get overwhelmed learning too much at once.  That’s why a recent “field trip” was perfect for me!  The kids and I went with my mom to her friend C.P.’s  house – she has many, many chickens and huge gardens.  That morning C.P. and her husband had planted 150 tomato plants in their garden…and still had a TON of plants {that they had grown under grow lights in their basement} that they were now selling off.  I was excited to try some of their many varieties like green sausage, black krim, black plum, 2 kinds of romas, big beef hybrid, yellow pear, large red cherry, delicious, gardener’s delight, triple crop climber {the plant can grow 10-25 FEET tall and grows tomatoes as big as your face!}, and one other that I can’t remember right now.  While picking out my tomatoes, C.P. gave me a quick lesson in pruning tomato plants.  Pruning?  Who knew??  Anyway, whenever you see a little leaf shooting out of the crook like this:

{Sucker!}

you need to pick off the “sucker branch” below it.  The sucker will not bear fruit and will essentiall suck all the nutrients from the fruit-bearing “branches”.  Don’t want that now, do we?

{pick that sucker}

I did this with all my tomato plants.  At first they looked tall, skinny, and funny. 

{A little topheavy...}

 But have no fear!  Those fruit-bearing “branches” will grow and fill out.  And the best part is, you’ll get lots of tomatoes!

{filling out nicely}

 Maybe this is all Gardening 101, but I grew several tomato plants {semi-successfully} last season without having a clue about pruning them.  Now I’m hoping for a large crop that’ll give me plenty to can and make salsa with.  I saw the first sign of produce progress with some bright yellow blossoms today – yay!

{I see lycopene in my future}

 And, just for fun, here are a few other photos from the garden…

{my newly constructed pea trellis}

{emerging fiesta - black beans!}{tiny little carrot sprouts}{doesn't look much like spinach yet, does it?}{itty bitty bells - peppers, that is}

A lip smackin’ good time

I found a few recipes online recently for tinted lip balm/gloss.  My absolute “must have” makeup item would have to be, hands down, lip gloss/lipstick.  I’ve already mastered {ha!} chapstick, so tinted lip gloss sounded like a perfect next project!  I tried the gloss recipe first and the results were just right for this blog: {un}perfect.  Since I have a ton of empty chapstick tubes, I poured the gloss into the tubes.  While it holds up decently, as soon as the gloss hits a pair of lips, it melts into super gloss.  A little too much gloss, if you ask me.  So, I tried a tinted lip balm recipe today.  This recipe fared much better, but this time not quite enough gloss for my liking.  Maybe later I’ll try for a happy medium.  Once I get the {in my opinion} perfect recipe, I’ll post.  In the meantime, my friends’ lips will be getting all kinds of glossy, balmy spoiling going on

Bedtime

I’m not sure I would’ve ever said that Spring is my favorite season.  Truthfully, I still wouldn’t say it – fall will always hold that place in my heart.  Living in the midwest we get lots of rain and can go from 80 degrees one day to 50 degrees the next.  Oh, and don’t forget that for about half of our official spring we still have the icky white stuff lingering around.  But I have recently developed a love for primavera – all the big box garden centers are open, roadside flower/vegetable stands spring up, the smell of freshly cut grass, hostas spike up out of the ground, we can finally start putting away our winter gear, porch chats with my neighbor K.N. don’t require mittens and hats, the kids start playing more outside than inside, I get to see my all neighbors again for more than a few minutes at the bus stop, we pull out the hammock, and…I can start planting my vegetable garden!  After fizzling out a bit last year {largely due to the flooding  that made overwhelming amounts of grass/weeds pop up}, I came up with a new and improved plan.  The Hubs {with the help of ”A”} built me 8 raised beds and brought in soil to fill them. 

{Hubs and A making the beds. Now if I could only get them to make their real beds...}

 Another lesson I learned is that {for my situation}, buying plants works much better than starting from seed.  Last year I started seeds on my kitchen table {the only available area with enough light} and it was annoying at best.  Even worse, I ended up buying a whole bunch of plants to supplement anyway.  So yesterday I headed to a local nursery to purchase my precious veggies.  In very non-me fashion, I actually got all my plants planted the same day I bought them!  I’m usually such a procrastinator that half my plants get all wilted before I get them in the ground.  Not this time  

{Some of my little green babies}

 ”A” was very excited to help me.  “M” started out interested in helping, but quickly moved on to his bike and the trampoline.  Oh well…at least he had fun and stayed occupied!

{One little Monkey…}

Now that everything has been planted, the waiting game begins.  Gardening is a good lesson in patience for me.  I’m a “want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it” kinda girl {case in point - Hubs and I dated 2.5 months before getting engaged and were married 6.5 months later.  When you know, you know.  You know?}, so it’s tough to wait for the beautiful, bountiful fruits {or veggies, as they may be in this case} of my labor.  But wait I will, and I’m sure I’ll again be pleasantly overwhelmed with the produce my garden produces.  Like zucchini coming out my ears – YAY!  Chocolate chip zucchini muffins anyone??

Pucker up!

As promised, here are the pictures of my chapstick factory

{all my supplies}

{my new scent/flavor – tangerine!}

 

{filled tubes, waiting for caps}

{cute little teal caps}

{my helper was perfectly color-coordinated}

 

All 200 tubes have been shipped out and now I can’t wait to see them with their little labels.  Thanks, WhimWed, for the opportunity!

Mass production

I just received a big-time order for a few hundred tubes of chapstick – WOW!  The Nashville-based company WhimWed sells GOR-GEOUS whimsical handcrafted floral bouquets and they want to use my chapsticks as giveaways to their bridal clients.  How fun is that?!  I’m super excited for my supply shipment to come in so I can get started.  I also ordered some fun flavors {to be revealed soon } to experiment with.  I’ll be sure to take photos of my kitchen as it gets transformed into a chapstick factory.  But in the meantime, check out the whimsical wonderment that is WhimWed!

{Funky Shway}

{Regal Rose & Carnation - love it!}

{Vintage Brooch Bridal Bouquet - OMGorgeous!}

Holy craft! I’ve finally done it…

…restocked my Etsy store, that is   If you’re interested, check it out! 

HOLY CRAFT

{fabric rosette necklaces - for women and little girls}

I’m still hanging out, waiting for spring to fully arrive and making a TON of fabric rosettes whenever I have a few extra minutes.  I canNOT wait to get back into my garden and just play outside more.  Winter can GO now!

FREE 8×10 Canvas!

I have SO many photos of my kids…on my computer.  I need to get some of them printed!  This is a great opportunity to get a super deal on wrapped canvas prints.  Canvas People is offering {for a limited time, so hurry!} a free 8×10 canvas or $50 off a larger size.  Check it out here!  FREE 8×10 CANVAS

Tell me what you want, what you really really want…

{That reference to the Spice Girls was for you, CMTS!}

I’m feeling a little blah today–the rain yesterday made me think, “Ooh…maybe spring is coming!” but then there was snow again this morning.  Booo!  Also I’m majorly lacking in the sleep department and I’m congested and sinus-y.  What kinds of things do you all like reading about the most?  Crafts/tutorials, recipes, budget/financial helps, DIY projects, personal stuff about me/The Hubs/the Monkeys {mostly boring!}, something new?  I want to post things that people want to read about, so let me have it!    Enjoy your Saturday!

Who likes money??

Over the years I’ve come across MANY programs that claim to earn you big bucks online.  Some of them are a bust, but some of them are legit and pretty darn cool!  Allow me to introduce you to a few of my tried-and-true faves

MYPOINTS
I’ve been using MyPoints for 6.5 years now.  They send emails daily and you can earn points by clicking on a link within the email.  Other ways to earn points include surveys, online searches using the MyPoints toolbar, online shopping and completing “deals”.  I typically stick to reading the emails and an occasional survey.  On average I’m able to rack up enough points to earn a gift card every 4-6 months {my go-to: $25 Macy’s gift card – sure helps take the sting out of paying for those pricey jeans I’m drawn to!}.
CON: The daily emails {sometimes up to 10/day} can get a bit overwhelming if you don’t keep up with them.  The plus side of that is that if you do stay on top of them, you can earn points pretty quickly.  Click here to check it out.

INBOX DOLLARS
Similar to MyPoints, Inbox Dollars pays you to read emails, take surveys, shop online and more.  The really cool thing about Inbox Dollars, though, is that they’ll actually send you a check!  Each email you read {make sure you click on the link inside the email} gives you $0.02.  Not a huge amount, but it adds up!  Once you earn $30, you can request a payout.  They’ll charge you $2 or $3 to cut the check, but hey–that’s $27 for just clicking on some emails!  And Inbox Dollars will send you an average of 2-3 emails/day.  Taking surveys will give between $0.50 and $2/survey.  You can get paid for referring friends as well and get this–you’ll get $5.00 right off the bat, just for signing up!
CON: With just 2-3 emails/day, it can take a while to earn the $30 necessary for a payout.  But at least you won’t get overrun with emails   Click here to check it out. **{I’m not sure why, but that link isn’t working.  Try copy/pasting this: http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref1832033}

SEND EARNINGS
See the above information.  As far as I can tell, the only difference between Inbox Dollars and Send  Earnings is the color scheme on their website.  Seriously.  Not sure what the deal is, but I tend to get identical emails sent from both programs.  Whatever–I’ll take it!  Click here to check it out.

SWAGBUCKS
Probably the quickest way to earn rewards.  You can earn ”bucks” by searching {tip: download the toolbar!}, playing games, shopping, surveys, daily polls, special offers and more.  I stick to searching almost exclusively and I’m able to earn enough bucks to get a $5 Amazon.com gift card {450 swagbucks} each week.  Although lately I’ve be holding out just a bit longer to earn $5 deposited into my Paypal account.  I love free money!  I was even featured on our local news for using SwagBucks
TIP: Download the toolbar and use it for ALL your searches.  I typically start each day “searching” for things like Yahoo {to get to my email}, Facebook, ebay, etc.  For every few searches {approximately every 6 searches or so} you’ll be rewarded with swagbucks.  Could be 6, could be 12…you never know.   Click here to check it out.

None of these programs are going to earn you a supplemental income, regardless what they claim, but they will give you a little financial boost every now and then.  All of these programs are free to join – don’t ever pay to join an online reward program! 

Do you use online rewards programs?  Feel free to share them in the comment section!

Sometimes I forget

This afternoon/evening, the boys are away, so it’s just A and me for dinner.  While at D&W, the cute little sushi rolls were calling to me.  A is such a great eater and will try most anything, so I asked if she was up for trying sushi and egg rolls for dinner.  As usual, she was game.  I bought the smallest “snack pack” I could find.  It had 4 each of avocado, cucumber, carrot and {imitation} crab.  Nothing too scary. 

{cute little snack pack. we'll just ignore the spicy stuff in front there}

Miss A tried the crab roll first and loved it.  She loved the avocado one, too.  Cucumber and carrot not so much.  I’m proud of her for giving it a shot–I even told her about the seaweed! 

{A gives her crab snack roll a thumb's up!}

Enter the {un}perfection… while I think little sushi rolls are super cute, and I love all the ingredients, the seaweed smell really grosses me out.  If I shove the whole thing in my mouth really quickly I’m ok, but if I linger too long or take more lady-like bite, I have to choke it down.  And sometimes I forget that.