Flower Gardening

I don't know about where you live, but this past weekend was absolutely wonderful here in Wisconsin.

We had sun, we had warmth, we had birds chirping, and we had green grass! It had been far too long since it had been warm enough to wear short sleeves because our winter crept into the middle of April. It seemed anywhere you went, the cold was all people could talk about. It was depressing. But it's over now!

Maybe that's why this weekend felt so glorious? Heck, I even worked a long shift at work on Saturday and had one of the worst days yet and I still count this weekend as a huge success - now that's sayin' something!

Because of the nice weather, I've been itching to get some flowers planted and this year's vegetable garden planted {remember last year's garden?!}. We rent and can't plant our garden directly in the ground, so I'm thankful we got that all figured out last year {see our renter's garden solution!}. This weekend I finally gathered everything together and planted a few flowers.

I wish I had some pretty photos of the flowers to show you, but I decided I wanted to try planting flower seeds this year in an attempt to save money... so they're pretty darn boring looking for now.

Growing up on an organic farm and being raised by two garden-crazy parents, I've spent a good amount of time planting. I've also gathered a couple tricks here and there... one of which I know everyone who plants in pots can use.

So here's what you need to do...
When you're ready to being planting in pots, grab a few coffee filters - if you don't have some already, a pack is only about a dollar or so at the grocery store or local dollar store. Then simply place a single coffee filter in the bottom of each pot before you add the potting mix. Plant as usual. This will eliminate any soil that would otherwise fall through the drainage hole in the bottom and doesn't add any weight {like adding stones or gravel would}. Plus, any excess water will seep through and drain away easily. It's a quick and easy way to keep your planting area clean and make sure that your pot doesn't lose the soil it needs to grow!

Get out there, enjoy the Spring, grab a handful of coffee filters, and beautify your yard!

check this out!

High Five For Friday

Crazy that it's August already, right?! Anyone else feel like summer just started?

I wouldn't mind if the heat backed off a little because, man, I feel like a lazy bump on a log... it's so hot out that I sweat anytime I move. So I just opt not to move, generally. It's been great for blogging {and watching the Olympics} but not so great for the dishes all over my kitchen counters that are currently waiting to be washed.

Anyway, here's another High Five For Friday comin' right atcha!

1) We harvested these little beauties from our garden this week. I love growing our own food!

2) Despite the hot temperatures, we had a cooler day on Monday so we ate outside. Who doesn't love hot dogs, corn on the cob, and a Summer Shandy? If you're not familiar with Leinies, 1) you should be and 2) Summer Shandy is a seasonal beer {for summer, obviously} that is one of the most delicious beers you'll find out there. It has lemonade mixed in it so it's pretty refreshing!

3) My dear mom brought me these flowers this week - for no reason other to say that she loves me. Isn't that sweet?! I love having such gorgeous flowers around the house - they make everything seem happier.

4) We went to a Minor League baseball game this past week with Trevor's brother and his girlfriend. It was fun to spend time with them especially because my brother-in-law is moving almost three hours away in the next couple of weeks to start his first teaching job. Very bittersweet, but we're so excited for him!
Note: Got #8 checked off the Summer Bucket List! Woohoo!


5) I am a little obsessed with school supplies. I was the kid who wanted to go shopping in mid-July and pick everything out right away... and then when I got the supplies home I rearranged them in my backpack at least once a day until school started. Believe me, folks, when I say that I get excited about school supplies, I ain't lyin'. Why did you need to know this? Well, I went to Target this week {ok, actually I went to Target THREE times this week, don't hate} and perused the aisles. I am so happy and proud to tell you I only came out with two folders {and birthday cards, shampoo, tampons, body wash, mascara, and about sixty dollars worth of other stuff}!

Happy Friday, friends! Don't forget to 'like' You.And.Me.Are.We on Facebook!

The Secret to Happy Plants

July 22 - What's your best gardening tip?

Well, you've seen the beginning of my garden here but it's grown quite a bit since then. We've had some Roma tomatoes, some peas, beans, and lots of lettuce already; all which were delicious!

Recently a little cucumber has started growing and I'm already looking forward to making pickles once I have enough cucs to keep me busy in the kitchen for an afternoon!

I can't say I'm a professional gardener but I do think I have a little bit of green on my thumb ;) It hasn't always been that way, but it's getting there!

The best tip I can give you {and I'm not joking here} is to water your plants.

Ok, I'll wait for you to stop laughing.

Better? Great. As I was saying, you want to make sure your plants aren't drying out!

When I first started trying to keep something alive {other than myself}, I couldn't figure out why my plants weren't thriving. They weren't dying but they sure as heck weren't really growing much!

I was a busy college student and didn't exactly put "watering the plants" at the top of my to-do list everyday. Heck, the plants were lucky if they got watered once a week! It wasn't that I was thinking plants only needed water on Sundays, it was more because I just plain didn't have time between taking classes for two degrees, working a paid job, an unpaid internship, and trying to do homework.

When life settled down and I was able to bust out my watering can more frequently, I noticed the plants perked up and actually grew. {Huh, who knew, you water plants and they grow!}

Now I water my outdoor plants depending on the weather. If it's going to rain, I hold off. But if it's supposed to be sunny I try and water my plants before work. I usually water them about 5 times a week.

My indoor plants are mostly outdoors for the summer but I do have two low-water, low-light plants that stay in. They get watered once a week, sometimes once every two weeks. It just depends on how moist the soil is.

If you're anything like I was and didn't realize just how much water plants need to thrive try adding another day or two to your watering schedule every week. You may be surprised just how nice they grow!
{and if all else fails just add some Miracle Gro to that baby and watch it go!}

What are your gardening tips?


This post is part of the Summer Blog Challenge. 
To see more posts inspired by the challenge visit my Summer Blog Challenge page!

Favorite Blog Post

Today's Summer Blogging Challenge prompt is pretty self explanatory:

June 23 - Favorite blog post you've written before this challenge

Because I don't have a heck of a lot of posts to draw from to answer this question, my options are limited. However, I have chosen my Green Thumb post as my favorite! It is a post about a fun summer project that my mom helped me with and I'm pretty proud of it! The post itself has gotten the most views out of all of my posts and I've shared it at a bunch of link parties.

Also, it's completely crazy to look at those pictures and see just how much my garden has grown in a few weeks! We've picked a bunch of the lettuce, the carrots are taking over their entire container, and I think we're going to have some beans and peas to eat very soon!


This post is part of the Summer Blog Challenge. To see more posts inspired by the challenge visit my Summer Blog Challenge page!

Making Strawberry Freezer Jam

Last week, I spent a couple of hours at a local pick-your-own strawberry place. It was a relaxing way to spend a morning alone.

So I hopped on a wagon that takes you out to the field...

And I started picking along with a bunch of other people. We were each given our own rows and picked to our little heart's content.

My berries soon started to pile up...

There were a lot of these...

And a few of these prickly little fellas...

Eventually, I decided I had enough berries. I was having a hard time not eating them while I was still picking!

I knew that I wanted to make freezer jam with some of the berries because I had done it last summer and the jam turned out so delicious! I ran to the store and got the low/no sugar version of SureJell. Sorry I didn't get a picture, but it's the only one in a pink box!

Making the jam was really simple. I smashed up a bunch of washed strawberries to get 4 cups of mush. It looked somethin' like this:

Then, in a separate pot, I mixed the SureJell and 3 cups of sugar (yes, this is the low sugar version!) then added 1 cup of water and mixed it all up.

On medium heat, I brought the mixture to a boil for one minute making sure that I was stirring the whole time. Once my 60 seconds were up, I removed it from the heat and added the strawberry mush to the sugar/pectin liquid and stirred that for a minute. Once that was well mixed up, I poured the goo into the containers that I had pre-washed.

Once the jam is poured into the containers, you let it sit for 24 hours and then you put it in the freezer. It will stay good for up to a year frozen and up to a month refrigerated.

It's an easy and quick recipe that makes scrumptious jam for toast. You'll thank yourself when you use it in the middle of January and haven't had fresh strawberries for months, trust me.

You know what else is pretty awesome? I was able to check this off my summer bucket list! Yeah!

Here's a link to Kraft's SureJell recipe, but it's the same method that I used and posted about.

Have you ever made freezer jam? How'd it turn out? Are there any pick-your-own places near you so you can enjoy fresh berries like I have been doing?

Linking up to Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Mandy's Recipe Box, and Natasha in Oz!

High Five For Friday!

Friday always sneaks up on me so quickly! Monday and Tuesday crawl slowly by but by the time Thursday afternoon hits I don't know if it's still Wednesday or if Friday is right around the corner... that's what I get for working long hours.

Anyway, it's Friday! That means it's time for another H54F post. Here are the top 5 happenings this week:

1) Got a little something checked off my summer bucket list this week. I'll post more on it in the coming days, but here's a little sneak peek:

2) I was able to fit some me-time in last weekend while my husband was out of town. Life usually gets too busy and I put other people before myself. Finally, I got to take care of me for a little bit!

3) It's official: I have fallen in love with LaCroix Sparkling Grapefruit flavored water. Again. *sigh* I can't get enough of that pamplemousse! (Side note: I hear they have a new peach-pear flavor that's only at Target. I must find it!)

4) We ate some of the lettuce out of our garden this week. It was our first picking of the season and it did not disappoint! Not only was it delicious, it was only 5 steps from our kitchen! Can't beat that :)

5) This video  made me smile and tear up at the same time (the good stuff starts at 0:32). So cute, so innocent, so heartwarming! And, because of my hearing loss it is especially touching.

What are you planning on doing this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope you make it a great weekend!

Linking up to Lauren @ From My Grey Desk!

Happy Monday, Friends!

This weekend went by way too quickly! Trevor was busy for most of it hangin' out in the 90 degree weather at Road America. He and my father-in-law share a love of motorcycles so they have a great time bonding when events like this come up.

Anyways, since I was essentially widowed for the weekend, I decided I wanted to get caught up on stuff for me. I...

- painted my toenails a gorgeous shade of red/coral (Essie's Ole Caliente)

- planted a geranium that my mom brought over last week. It was planted last year in a pot as decoration at our wedding reception and my mom managed to successfully winter a whole bunch of them and saved one for us. I'm happy to have the geranium on our front stoop - it's a great reminder of our love for each other and it takes me back to our wedding day (so timely, because our anniversary is coming up quickly!).

I was going to fill you in on a tip or two that I use when planting but as I was planting this little guy I decided I'll wait and make an entire blog post about my planting methods soon. So stay tuned!

- started getting gifts together and wrapped for Trevor for said wedding anniversary. I'm expecting a few boxes in the mail this week ;) Here's a sneak peek at what I've been up to, but when I get it all put together I'll post some more pictures!

- did some homework for my accelerated summer online class. Let me just tell you that it's hard to focus on the integumentary system when it's so uncomfortably warm outside - I'd rather have been at the beach!

Otherwise, I spent my weekend with my loved ones and living life... I'm so thankful for weekends like these!

What did you do this weekend? Was it as hot out where you are as it was in Wisconsin? 

Green Thumb

Growing up on an organic vegetable farm, I used to be able to eat veggies immediately after picking them. Then, we moved away, I went to college, got married, blah blah blah, and here I am finally getting myself a garden growing again.

A few months ago I knew that I wanted to have some sort of patio garden this summer but I wasn't too sure how to make that happen. Because we're renting, I'm not about to dig up the backyard to plant flowers and veggies - I just put everything in some sort of container so it's easier to move when the time comes. My mom happens to be a Master Gardener so I picked her brain for some ideas on the best ways to grow vegetables myself. 

We took an afternoon to buy some large containers and she also lent me longer flower pots. We picked out a galvanized trough and a black rubbery container that I think is meant to go into fields and barnyards for food and water for animals. They look a little out of place next to each other but I was more going for 'useful' than I was 'cute'.  After drilling holes in the bottom of the large containers for drainage we filled 'em up with soil and planted the seeds (we used whatever my mom had on hand from her own garden, but I recommend Johnny Seeds or [if you're in Wisconsin] Jung Seeds - they both have quality seeds and have a TON of variety!).

I chose to plant a container each of carrots, onions, bush cucumbers, and lettuce. Plus, we committed the black tub to bush peas and beans. Also, the galvanized container got a couple of tomato plants that my mom had started from seed in her greenhouse.

After just a couple of days things started popping up and now a few weeks later it looks like this:

Wanna know what's where in the picture on the left?! 

Back to front, left to right: tomatoes, bush cucumbers, bush beans and peas,

carrots, lettuce, onions 

(and a spider plant that I took from the kitchen to the patio to get some fresh air)

Trevor built me a simple wood and chicken wire structure to go around the plants because I was afraid the neighborhood bunnies would enjoy my lettuce before I would! It's pretty awesome because I can open up any of the sides if I want to get in and water/harvest/weed but they latch shut when I'm done.

I can't wait for my tomatoes to be ready to pick. The lettuce is going to be ready soon and I'm excited to have a few salads straight from the back patio! More than anything else, I am PUMPED to eat some of those peas off the vine. It'll totally take me back to my childhood - spending hours in the field eating sugar snap peas as fast as I could pick them.

What about you? Do you have a garden this year or wish you did?

Linking up to Funky Junk's SNS, TaterTots & Jello's Weekend Wrap Up, 504 Main's Tickled Pink Friday, You Are Talking Too Much's Linky Party, Nifty Thrifty Things, Family Ever After, DIY Showoff's Project Parade, Simply Creations Link Party, Homemaker in Heels' Weekend Craft Soiree, My 1929 Charmer, Serendipity and Spice, DIY Home Sweet Home, Sweet Little Gals, A Pinch of Joy, and I {heart} naptime's Sunday Scoop Party!

Update: This post is featured here at TaterTots & Jello!