why i'm glad i forget my reusable bags sometimes

after putting it off for months, i decided i was ready to tackle weeding my overgrown, neglected garden and backyard.

you like those weeds don't you? this is after having cleared the entire area out twice. once to lay newspaper down and when that didn't work, again to lay down 2 layers of weed cloth. a lot of good it did me! so, after months of watching them all grow back, i started round 3.

i began with a small rake and was careful not to pull up the weed cloth underneath as i went. i picked up what weeds i could and then sprayed the whole area with vinegar, being extra careful not to get any on any of the plants i wanted to keep.

making progress!

and check out the root on this guy. that one felt good to muscle out of the ground!

next, i thought since i can actually get to the garden, i'll harvest what has continued to grow with no help from me. i got quite a haul.

including a beet almost as big as my head!

a couple of days after the vinegar soaked in (and my muscles had a chance to calm down and stop screaming at me every time i moved) i went back to it.

now that all the weeds were dead and picked up...

 

(this is why i'm glad i sometimes forget my reusable bags!)

...it was time for the fun part! i decided i didn't want everything to go back where it was before because i had learned a little about placement from last time. last time i went more for how it looked than actually being able to reach things in my above-ground garden. this time, i was going to leave plenty of room around it so that i could get back there to do things like weed and spread coffee grounds (fertilizer) and egg shells (slug repellent) without having to contort myself around another potted plant i had in the way. i also wanted to put my pepper plants into cages to get them up off the ground. i didn't realize just how big those suckers would get and they are trailing all over the ground inviting every ground crawling bug to munch away at them.

so, now i have potted plants and extra pots, what shall i do with them? stack them! i put the extra pots in the corners with the plants on top. now i don't have to look at empty pots laying around and it raises my plants up off the ground.

one of the things i'm happiest about is i'm finally getting my mandevilla to grow up the pallet i nabbed out of the dumpster. i realized it was twisting around the tomato plant i had next to it, so i carefully unwound it from there and wound it around some string i attached to the pallet. i'm hoping to get lots of beautiful, red flowers on it this summer. the humming birds will love it!

so, after a few days and a lot of hard work, i have a nice clean garden again. my pepper plants are in cages and thriving, my succulents look healthy and my mandevilla is climbing. oh happy day!

(the surfboard is there to deter our garden loving cat from squeezing under the fence)

as i was working, i had a funny realization. i talk to my garden and the spiders and other insects that live there. out loud. i told my tomato plant not to take it personally that i was ripping him out of his planter. i told him, it's me, it's not you, i didn't take care of you properly. i think i broke up with my tomato plant! later i put my head through a spider web and apologized to the spider for destroying his home. maybe i'm a little too close to nature, lol.

things i'd like you to take away from this post:

1. vinegar is a great weed killer and it won't hurt the environment, pets or wildlife

2. coffee grounds make a great fertilizer. i think with my peppers, it may have been too good!

3. egg shells sprinkled around the base of your plants will keep slugs away

4. don't be afraid to get dirty and try things. you'll never learn which plants work well in your garden if you're not willing to make a few mistakes along the way.

happy gardening!

reduce, reuse, recycle

this seems to be a theme with me...

a couple of things from today that made me happy: 1. i went to the bank to get quarters for laundry and they actually came in the old paper sleeves! i was so happy not to have the extra plastic to throw away. i think next time i go in, i'll specifically request paper instead of plastic if they have it. 2. i took our cans and bottles to the local CRV (california redemption value) recycling center and found out that they will recycle things even without a CRV code on them. they have to be drink containers, have a recycle symbol and you won't get money back, but they'll take them. i was thrilled! milk jugs and wine bottles were saved from the landfill (actually from my in-laws recycle bin) but happy day none-the-less.

now, here are a couple of ideas for the rest of the stuff i'm unable to recycle at our apartment complex.

1. you know those plastic nets that potatoes and things come in? my mother-in-law gave me the great idea of cutting them up and using them to scrub dishes! brilliant! they work so well and they don't get stinky like some dish scrubbers can.

the yellow one on the left has been cut and i've used the top part. if it gets grungy, toss it out and cut off another piece. these two bags are going to last me forever! 

2. my husband and i love sandwiches. we eat them almost every day for lunch. we've found these lunch meats that we enjoy by oscar meyer called carving board. they are chunks of meat, not puny little slices. they make delicious sandwiches and nice chunks for salads. cool thing is, they come in plastic containers that work perfectly for storing, what else? sandwiches! i've found that i can make my husband a sandwich, wrap it in a select-a-size paper towel, plop it right in there, snap the lid on and put it in his lunch. that way, i don't have to use a ziplock, the sandwich maintains it's shape and there's no danger of it getting moist from the ice packs he uses. really, you could use these to hold lots of different things: chips, cookies, left-overs to send home with someone and not worry about getting your tupperware back, crayons, markers, crafty bits, etc.

3. i'm always trying to come up with uses for the keurig machine k-cups. i'll admit, i still don't have the perfect solution. but, what i do have is fertilizer for my garden and a bunch of cute little rinsed out cups waiting to be turned into something fabulous.

have you ever opened one of these up? here are the guts:

 you have your coffee

 and under that a filter

(this one has been partially ripped out)

i have been taking the foil tops off and emptying the coffee grounds into a coffee creamer container that i cut the top off of. once i get a good amount of grounds, i will use them in my garden. (google "coffee grounds as fertilizer" for more detailed instructions.)

i then take out the paper filter, rince my cups out and stack them nicely in a counter wipe container that i've saved. i'm thinking since the cups already have a hole punched in them, i'd like to try making a string of patio lights. maybe cut them into daisies? i'm not sure yet. i need to find some little christmas type strand of lights and give it a try. whatever i end up doing with them, i'll post it... granted it turns out worth a damn.

anywho, those are my tips for the day. hope i've inspired you to get creative to keep a few more items out of our landfills. let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions or have any items you'd like help thinking of an alternative use for.