Getting Rid of Bugs in Your Garden

If you read my previous posts you know that I had pesky bugs, more specifically rollie pollies eating my plants. I didn't want to spray any chemicals on them to keep the organic element. So, after some googling I found an interesting method and decided to give it a try.
All you need is:

• A shallow container (Like yogurt cup, sour cream style containers are ideal)
• A can of any beer (I used Bud and it worked great!)

Yep, thats it! They are called beer traps. Bugs are attracted to the fermented yeast in the beer. You dig a hole in your problem area, large enough to fit the cup/your container. It needs to be deep enough so that the brim of the cup is even with the ground. Then just fill it with beer. The next day you will have some dead drunk slugs and rollie pollies with an occasional spider or cricket. 

The cup isn't full because I would water over it with a heavy spray
so a lot splashed out as the days  progressed. Bugs fell in anyway.

Clean out your containers every three days and "VOILA"! Problem solved.

Life and Turning 27

So my 27th birthday was a few weeks ago, and it came with a shocking revelation. It got me to thinking about all the seasons/lessons in my life that came with growing up.

     18- I looked forward to 18. It meant I was able to go to 18 & over clubs (yes that was exciting at the time now those places are just awkward) and I could buy lotto tickets. At that age I felt as though the world was mine and I was finally considered an adult. I pretty much did what I wanted without thinking of the possible dangers or repercussions. Oh yea, college!

     20- At 20 I just felt confused I was no longer a teen but not a "real" adult. Yet I had to make decisions about my future without totally knowing what the heck I wanted.

     21-Then I turned 21. You are allowed to drink legally and I guess the country thinks we are "mature" enough to drink. I often question that. When I was 21 I thought I was mature but some of my decisions were not.

     Early 20's - I went to concerts, parties, I traveled, hangout with friends (a lot) and still managed to graduate college. It's the time in your life when you have the time of your life and through that journey begin to see what is truly important in life. This was a time when I noticed that life is short, love hurts, true friendships are rare and God is real (how about I pay attention). A huge part of life where you begin to find yourself.

THE TURNING POINT
     25- At this point I had graduated college and still no career, stressed about what I was going to be when I grew up. Hahahaha. I got married and found that you naturally start taking your significant other into consideration, and know its not just about yourself.
     I also noticed I wasn't much of a dare devil anymore, not as willing to take risks and get into trouble. Being in bed by 9 on Friday or Saturday night became the norm. Having a nice relaxing day was just as fun as "going out".
     Along with priority changes came some physical changes. This is when I started realizing that I got tired faster. My knees started hurting if I stood too long, or if it was too cold or just because. I also became familiar with random white hairs and dreaded chin hairs! I should probably be embarrassed to admit this but thats life. I think if your 25 and haven't found chin hairs or at least one white hair on your head then your not looking hard enough!

     26- Learning to do life with my husband.

     27- Now I think, "I'M 27!!". I am rounded to the practically 30 age group. At 26 I still felt as though I could get away with things by claiming ignorance. That absolutely wont fly at 27. Most of my friends are either getting married or having kids. How did that happen?!
     I am much calmer. Don't get me wrong, I am still an adventurer but just with a different approach from when I was 18-24. I watch what I eat (most of the time) for health reasons. Life is about family, my few close friends, and enjoying life in a not YOLO kinda way. Oh yea still no career, just jobs, but I am enjoying the ride.

All the things I have listed are not complaints as much as they are refections. Refections of how life moves from one phase to the next providing God gifts us another day to live it. I still have quite a few phases of life to go, this is just a reminder for me to savor each moment because it comes and goes so quickly.

Celebrating turing 27 has been wonderful.  I will be sharing what I did to celebrate my birthday that might be good ideas for your next celebration.

Beerster Egg Hunt

My family has lots of young adults and Easter could become boring if we can't get involved. My previous Easter Sunday post shows all the activities us adult do along with the children's activities in order to make it fun for everyone. 

Here is an idea! Want to go easter egg hunting the adult way? Play this at your easter celebration, it will likely be added to your Easter traditions.

Rules:

1. Spin around 10 times before hunting. 
2. No bags or baskets to collect beers, must use your body to hold them.
3. If you set down or drop a beer, it's fair game to be stolen by another player
4. You MUST look at the bottom of each can you pick up. If it has an "X" marked on he bottom you MUST drink it before collecting any other beers.
5. Person with most beers wins. Then again, everyone wins!

Start my decorating your beer cans. You can either spray paint them, or just tape colorful construction paper around them. 

Scatter/hide the beers as if it were an Easter egg hunt. READY, SET, GO!

Easter Sunday Activities

This easter was one of my favorites so far. In 2012, I was baptized on Easter Sunday as a personal redevotion to my faith. This sunday my husband decided he wanted to do it as well. It was such a happy moment for me and him.

After church, we headed over to our lovely little park where my family was all set up.

We started with the kids activities. They had a potato sack race, played horse shoes, they pleyed a hula hoop game and then the easter egg hunt of course. It's not much of a hunt with us because there are so many eggs! Parents usually pitch in to put dollars in some of the eggs. Talk about motivation!

After the kids games we played the adult games. We have a hula hoop chain race, an egg toss and my cousin introduced the Beester egg hunt!

Girls vs Boys. Ladies won per usual. Next was the adult potato sack race, the girls decided to stay out of this one. It got competitive!

Then the egg toss. Same amount of people play as in the hula hoop game. We sell the raw eggs (usually painted) per team, this year it was $4 an egg, and the winners split the pot. Rules are simple. Toss the egg, once everyone on one side tosses, one side takes a step back. This goes on until there is only one team left with an unbroken egg.

My husband and I made it to the final 3, then I thew it too short and it broke in his hands. Two of my cousins won with a toss and a catch at the distance in the left photo. INCREDIBLE! Their egg was one of my emoji eggs! The teeth grinning one on the top. 

Then the new addition to easter tradition. BEERSTER EGG HUNT! Pretty much you wrap beers in pastel construction paper to make them look more festive. You scatter/hide the beer eggs. On the count of three everyone spins 10 times to get a good "buzz" going. Then you start collecting beers (no baskets, only with your hands). As you start collecting you must look at the bottom of your beer, if it has an "X" you can't keep collecting until you finish drinking that beer. Person with most Beerster eggs wins. I must say we had lots of fun with this one. (Specific Beerster egg hunt rules on seperate post).

I hope you had a great holiday with your family. And I also hope this sparked a few ideas for new traditions of your own.

Easter Egg DIY

I don't know about you guys, but as for my family we have some easter traditions that we have done for years. We always celebrate at a small park that our family has been going to since my cousins and I were a babies. Now some of us (not me but my cousins) have babies and we still continue to go there. We always grill,  someone makes easter bunny shaped rice krispies, we play volleyball, have an easter egg hunt, a potato sack race, a three legged race and our favorite an easter egg toss! 

Thank you to StudioDIY for the inspiration!

The eggs of course are raw, and every toss you take a step back. People start breaking eggs and it's hilarious! The last team to have an unbroken egg wins. We usually just use the eggs the kids decorate earlier in the day as toss eggs, but I decided to make a winning batch. Plus, it has been years since I've actually decorated eggs so why not now?! 

Whether it's just for egg decorating, maybe a family egg decorating competition or maybe you want to start an easter egg toss tradition for yourselves, these emoji eggs will be a hit!! 

What you need:

• Paint- yellow, red, blue, white
• Sharpie
• Thin brush
• Eggs- as many as you want to make

How to:

I used acrylic paint I had from previous projects. I layered 2 coats half of the egg at a time, letting it dry in between (I used a fan).   Then I used a pencil to make the faces, eraser only takes off a little of the pencil so do your best to get it right on the first try. I then used the color paint and a think paintbrush for the colors. I didn't have white so I just used whiteout (work with what you have). Then once the color portions was dry I just used a black sharpie for the outline. Give it a try!

Stay tuned for pictures from my families easter Sunday shenanigans!

Beginner Gardening Mistakes to Avoid

As you know I started a garden oh a whim, although most of my results were great there are a few things I learned through my first experience. Here are a few mistakes I made that you should avoid when starting your garden.

Mistake #1 - Sprinkling the seeds because they were so small. Read the label! Seeds need room to grow and depending on the type of plant. Spacing can be vital. Overcrowding leads to underdeveloped plants.

Mistake #2- You don't need the whole pack. I could have produced a lot more and better quality radishes if I had just used the amount of seeds needed based on my planter size.

Mistake #3- Don't forget there are bugs and animals out there! I wasn't too worried, then the rollie pollies started eating my radishes and where reproducing rapidly. I was told rollie pollies only eat stuff thats dead, but thats not true they liked my radishes and the green bean leaves. They pretty much killed most of my green bean sprouts. I also had a street cat jump down from the wall and into my planter so some seeds might have been dug out because nothing grew there.

Mistake #4- Letting weeds grow too big. I have these little vine weeds that grow between my plants, and I did not bother to take them out until there were lots! It was a lot of work when I did get to pulling them. The roots were long making it hard not to break and leave a part of the root underground.  I also read the weeds take nutrients your plants could be absorbing. So weed as you see them.

Mistake #5- Watering without a spray hose. I had quite a few seeds not grow and I think part of the reason is that I didn't use the spray hose.  Seeds are often planted very shallow and when using the water pressure and your thumb to spray, you risk uprooting the seeds. I think the softer spray would be more effective for freshly planted seeds.

Mistake #6- Avoiding sun exposure directions. Like I said before, I had quite a few seeds never sprout leaving me wondering what happened. Turns out some seeds don't grow in continuous direct sunlight. My garden gets sun all day making it difficult for seeds with less light requirements to grow.

Mistake #7- Not preparing the soil. This is the only thing I actually did do, but I'm including it because it is a mistake that is often made. Plants need loose dirt/soil to thrive, it allows them to establish a root system. Doing this will help up your chances in getting more seeds to sprout.

Mistake #8- Know harvesting times. I am growing carrots, sweet peas, and mixed lettuce among other things. You should research when is the right time to harvest. My mom saw a decent size stalk on one of my carrots and she decided to pull it. The carrot wasn't ready and replanting it does not make it keep growing. The left shows how my mom tried to replant it.

I hope these tips help! Don't make the same mistakes I did!!

Plant a Garden, It's Possible!

A month ago I decided to take on trying to grow my own vegetable garden without any real knowledge on how to go about it. I started by purchasing seeds with the shortest harvest time, in my case radishes and cilantro; I also got carrots which take longer. I then cleaned up the planter from all the weeds. I am lucky enough to have good dirt already there, except for some rocks. After I cleaned it out I loosened the dirt and I went ahead and just planted the seeds in rows. The seeds were so small I just took a pinch and sprinkled them all the way down each line. I used most of the seeds in the pack (don't do this).

After a few weeks plants started sprouting. I then decided I was going to plant more and use a larger portion of my raised planter. I went out to Costco and purchased a variety pack of vegetable seeds for only $20 (you don't need to buy this one, I'll admit it was an impulse buy). I was super excited about it!

I decided to get more organized so I built dividers and added small labels to know what was growing in each section. This time I actually read the directions and left the correct space between seeds no matter how big or small the seed was (I was noticing my radishes were crowded).

After a week or so, some of my new seeds started sprouting as well and of course I was ecstatic. There is something about planting seeds and watching them actually grow due to your care that feels so good!

I harvested all the radish, and have been using the other plants like cilantro and mixed lettuce as I need it.

Stay tuned for my next post Friday! Beginner gardening mistakes to avoid. AKA What I learned...