Suzi blogs about home life, work, and play

Caring For Floral Arrangements

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Posted by :SuziQ On : May 15, 2012

Category: Gardening, Home and Yard

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It’s always nice to get flowers delivered to you. I love getting a big bouquet with a nice vase and a little card.  I usually always get a bunch on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. If I’m lucky I also get some flowers on my birthday. This year, for Mother’s Day, I got a lovely bouquet from the kids and my husband. I found a similar bouquet from serenata florist online. It’s called Sugar Hill.  I love the arrangement. It has gorgeous yellow lilies and violet and lavender additions to compliment the yellow.

I want to make sure that my flowers last for awhile so I’m taking special precautions as I care for them. I’ve given them plant food and fresh water. Once the water gets dirty I’ll change it and refill the vase with clean water. I’m making sure to keep the arrangement away from any heat source as well. So even though they might look great above my television set, I don’t want the heat to age the flowers prematurely. I sprayed the flowers with a floral preservative to help keep them as fresh as possible.

I know that if I follow these precautions, my floral arrangement should last awhile and I’ll be able to enjoy them for a few weeks.

 

Ideas for Re-purposing Pallets in Your Garden

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Posted by :SuziQ On : May 7, 2012

Category: Gardening, Home and Yard

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As we enjoyed our fruit harvest this week from our upside down planters, I discussed with the kids and my husband what we wanted to plant next year.  I also looked into ideas about how we could implement them into our existing garden.  I found some neat ways to re-purpose pallets in our garden and grow our own food.

I found that I can stack some pallets together and make a vertical planter.  Vertical planters help to maximize space both vertically and horizontally, which would be great for people with limited space to plant a garden but still want to enjoy a bountiful harvest.  It’s important to plant shallow rooted veggies and herbs in these planters.  I think this solution could be great for us so we don’t lose too much room of the play space for the kids but still get to have a  nice sized garden.

I even found a creative solution to use the pallets to make a green house with sheets of glass layered on top of each section of the pallet.  This could be neat to grow different kinds of plants.  I’m really excited to try these ideas out in the garden.

 

Harvesting Our Home Grown Fruit

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Posted by :SuziQ On : May 3, 2012

Category: Gardening, Home and Yard, Outdoors

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Our upside down planters have really done wonders with the fruit plants we have.  I spent the afternoon harvesting our strawberries, tomatoes, and even a bunch of peppers.  We ended up getting a huge crop of peppers.  I’m excited to try all of the recipes I’ve collected for all of these peppers.  We do seem to have more than we need though so I plan to give some away to our neighbors and friends.

Our plants also produced a nice few baskets of tomatoes and strawberries.  Of course we’ll be gobbling most of the strawberries up before I have much time to do anything with them, but I told the kids and my husband that I really want to save some to make some jam and a nice strawberry rhubarb pie.  I know it will be hard for them to resist the temptation of eating the fresh and delicious berries but I promised them it would be worth their sacrifice.

I love seeing my family enjoy the work that I put into the garden.  I know exactly what they are eating when I grow it for them myself.  Next year I think I want plant more food for us to enjoy together.  I’m not sure if I want to do planter boxes or if I want to dig up some of the garden for vegetables.  Maybe I’ll have the kids help me pick out what we should grow together.

Waiting for My Fruit to Grow

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Posted by :SuziQ On : April 3, 2012

Category: Gardening, Home and Yard, Outdoors

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It’s been about a month and a half since I’ve put up the upside down planters in the garden. We are starting to see some growth. I can’t wait for the plants to start producing yummy fruits. I’m excited to be able to eat some of the strawberries this time around. Every other time we plant strawberries they are gone before I get any. This year we planted two strawberry plants. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get some this time. I’m also anxious to try out all of those tomato recipes that I have stockpiled over the past month.

I don’t think I have anything to worry about when it comes to getting my share of the peppers. It’s just me and my husband who will be eating those. I haven’t thought about finding recipes for all of the peppers. Maybe I need to start working on pepper recipes now too!

Easter Bunnies in the Garden

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Posted by :SuziQ On : March 26, 2012

Category: Decorating, Gardening, Holidays, Home and Yard

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With Easter just around the corner I’ve pulled out the cute little wooden bunnies that I got at the discount store a few weeks ago.  They look great nestled among the flowers our garden.  I also added some giant sized carrots and baby chicks.  It always brings a smile to my face when I decorate for the holidays.

The little Easter Bunnies I found are a soft pink with a bright pink nose. They have pale blue eyes and a cute pink ribbon tied in a  bow around their necks. In each hand is an Easter basket filled with grass and eggs decorated in many colors. They really look fabulous in the garden.  I wish I would have gotten a few more to place in the front yard as well.  Who knows, maybe I’ll snag a few for the front yard too.