From the category archives:

gardening

How Does Your Garden Grow?

by Carrie on August 12, 2009

I hope your garden is doing better than mine because I’m at the point where I have to admit defeat. I don’t think I’d call myself a black thumb but I’m clearly not a green thumb, maybe I can be dark blue.

I’ve been trying to water two or three times a week but it’s been hot and a) I’m not getting around to every scheduled watering and b) I think even if I was it still wouldn’t be enough.

Mistakes made and lessons learned. I plan to do more research on what plants take how much water, particularly in my climate, and I hope to find some sort of automatic timer I can hook up to my hose/sprinkler set up so I don’t have to worry so much about the watering.

How’s your garden doing this year? Do you have any watering advice for me for next year?

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Make It from Scratch Carnival

by Carrie on May 19, 2009

Welcome to the May 19, 2009 edition of the Make It from Scratch carnival. Be sure to submit your favorite posts from the carnival to any social bookmarking sites you use so we can promote each other and the carnival.

Editor’s Pick

p1070598

Kristia presents When Your Garden Hands you Mint, Make Ice Cream posted at Family Balance Sheet. I’m planning to get an ice cream maker sometime this summer and mint ice cream is in my top five things I want to make with it. After seeing Kristia’s post I can hardly wait.

Cooking

Alexandra presents Homemade Ketchup posted at Happy Hearts At Home. I’m not a ketchup fan myself but someday I might tell you about my ketchup at the root of global warming theory, homemade ketchup would solve my issues with it.

Chief Family Officer presents White Bean Dip posted at Chief Family Officer. Very simple and much cheaper than buying hummus.

Jim presents Frugal and Convenient Breakfast Recipes posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. I usually make and freeze homemade muffins or breads but Jim’s waffles and pancakes are great ideas too.

Liss presents Easiest and Laziest Chocolate Cake on the Planet posted at Frills in the Hills. I’d reduce the cleanup even further by mixing this cake straight in the pan.

Rani presents Mom’s Best Meat Loaf posted at Christ’s Bridge. Rani’s mom’s recipe looks suspiciously similar to my mom’s recipe.

Susanna presents Waste Not: Soup, Schmaltz and Chicken “Chicharron” posted at Cheap Like Me. A great way to make the most of your chicken.

The Austerity Kitchen presents From the Colonial Hearth: Indian Pudding posted at The Austerity Kitchen. Molasses sweetened pudding, right up my alley.

Crafting

Alex presents Printable Birthday Invitations posted at Home Life Weekly. A lot of cute options.

Flea presents Make a “Bucket Light” posted at Be A Survivor. I bet most people could make this completely out of things they already have.

RecycleCindy presents Recycled Plarn Net Market Bag posted at My Recycled Bags.com. I’m not a crocheter myself, however my mother has authored many books on the subject. She’s forever been searching for recycling/crochet ideas so I think I’ll be sending Cindy’s pattern her way.

Gardening

Greenstylemom presents Hummingbirds posted at GreenStyleMom. My cat would love if I set up a hummingbird feeder so she could entertain herself watching it.

Mrs. Accountability presents Finally: A Use For Hay Twine posted at Out of Debt Again. If I did have 25 miles of twine lying around, I’d be using this method for my bougainvillea and peas.

Next Issue

Next week’s carnival will be held at Ginger Won’t Snap. You can submit your post at the Make It from Scratch carnival website.

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Hosting Make it from Scratch Next Week

by Carrie on May 12, 2009

I’ll be hosting the Make It from Scratch carnival next Tuesday.

Be sure to check out the Make It from Scratch carnival website to submit your favorite recent post that fits the theme: homemade, recipes, crafts, sewing, from scratch, cooking, baking, do it yourself, frugal.

Here are some of my past entries to the carnival to help inspire you:

Entries for my issue of the carnival are due by Sunday May 17, 2009 at 11:59 PM eastern. The carnival will be posted Tuesday May 19, 2009 at 5:30 AM pacific.

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What I’m Reading 5/8

by Carrie on May 8, 2009

Here’s a wrap up of what I’m reading lately. To get daily updates on this check the sidebar at www.itsfrugalbeinggreen.com.

Finance

Food

Green

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Planted and Sprouting

by Carrie on May 7, 2009

squarefootgarden

My square foot garden is planted and sprouting. It’s not marked out in squares like most other peoples’ are because I didn’t have anything on hand to mark it and wasn’t going to buy something I didn’t really need.

I’m using a 6×2 foot area which makes 11 squares since I’m leaving one square open for the drain pipe off my roof (don’t want the plants drowning).

I’ve planted red bell pepper, compact butternut squash, mini pumpkins, spinach, lettuce, mesclun, onions, carrots, peas, cilantro, and basil.

One thing I picked up at the hardware store that is really going to make my gardening tasks a lot less time consuming this year is a sprinkler attachment for the end of my hose.

What did you plant this year?

Shared in Food Roots.
Shared in Frugal Friday.
Shared in Make-Do Monday.
Shared in Tackle it Tuesday.

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