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| This is the beautiful spread of items I received in October's My Fairy Crate subscription box. So festive! |
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Monday, October 29, 2018
My Fairy Crate - October 2018
Unboxing - Seed Bank Box - October 2018
Bull's Blood Beet - I'm not the biggest fan of beets, but this particular type has bright, purple leaves that are great for salads. I'm willing to try it once, of course, but it's good that I know a few family members that enjoy beets more than I do.
Garlic Chives - This unique onion will fit right in with the new area of my garden. It's used often in Asian dishes but in the garden, the small flowers that bloom help to attract pollinators and keep my garden looking beautiful and alive.
Giant Prague Celeriac - This unique looking vegetable can be identified by it knobby roots and is popular in Europe. This relative of celery is commonly feature in mashed potatoes, soup or simply fried. Interesting!
Salt and Pepper Cucumber - They taste similar to most cucumbers but what sets this type apart from the rest is it's pale complexion. The tiny black spikes on this white cucumber is where the name is derived and is great for pickling.
Spring Tower Greens - The leafy greens of this lettuce can be good for salads, but the bitter stalks of this Chinese specialty is great in soups and stir fry!
Black Magic Kale - This dark-leafed beauty will add some contrast to my garden, nutrients to my dinner table and is suggested for making a healthy snack - kale chips.
Cherry Belle Radish - These round, spicy roots are great in salads and quick to grow!
Early Frosty Pea - These babies are frost tolerant so they can tolerate being grown in the cooler seasons. They're also great for freezing once harvested so you can save them for a later date.
As mentioned in my video, this will be my last Seed Bank Box delivery. I have so many seeds to be planted next season and I don't think I have much more room in my garden for any more deliveries. This service has been wonderful and I hope to be able to return to it in the future, but I need to cut down on what I'm spending on my garden.
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Sunday, October 21, 2018
Fall Challenge to my Readers
This Fall scene is created with autumn-inspired decor such as the stacked pumpkin house, a hay bale and a wheel barrel full of a fall harvest. Send me photos of your fall gardens and I'll feature them on my blog. I'd like to put together a slideshow of all the seasonal gardens and decor sent my way and share them on Instagram. I will choose one entrant at random and share something of their choice (blog, YouTube or other social media)
Pumpkin (middle) and Susie-Q always work together to during harvest season.
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Illuminate - Autumn Spirits
This month's featured light post is for this interesting strand of lights that I purchased over the summer on sale at Walgreens. It was $3.95 for this one strand which is battery operated. I am calling them "ghost pumpkins" to be festive.
The scarecrow in the rear is lit up by a well positioned lighted orb - I mean, a pumpkin spirit!
This Farmer's Market stand and bundle of wheat in the rear came from My Fairy Crate subscription box this month. With a closer look at the light, they are entwined in a twisted wire which make for a unique look. I might even be able to use these in a western themed garden and call them tumble weeds.
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Sunday, October 14, 2018
Fairy Garden Class - Strawberry Patch
I recovered this plastic container (with drainage holes, small rocks on the bottom and some leftover soil) from a previous garden that died out. I cleared the top level of soil and added some fresh soil mixed with worm casting. I'm really liking the results I've been having since using worm casting.
These three transplanted strawberry plants were purchased at Lowe's for $3 each.
Purple Orach and Gold Mighty Mustard seeds are also planted in this container. For now, there is a lot of empty space. Once these plants begin to thrive, they will fill in the entire container. For now, we have an opportunity to fill the empty space with a fairy garden.
Grass clippings cover the soil to keep in moisture. A bright red strawberry house will soon enough be surrounded by budding fruits. A few more miniature decorative pieces and a fairy complete this scene and the container has been moved to the food garden area of my yard, nestled amidst young tomatoes. I plan to start doing more fairy scenes in my food garden.
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Plant and Decor Haul - October 2018
My most recent haul from Jo-Ann came out to around $40 total. I used a 20% off entire purchase coupon to add to my savings. Don't be ashamed to work those coupons!
All of this Fall harvest decor was on sale at 50% off.
This decorative yet simple pumpkin was on sale at 40% off.
A home for a gnome. This was the only item I purchased at regular price which allowed me to use a 50% off coupon.
This is my most recent Lowe's haul. Three strawberry plants were $3 each and the reason for this shopping trip. The rest of the haul was an impulse buy. I don't always know what I want to purchase prior to entering the doors - most of my decision is based on deals and sales (and the colors).
I picked up some yellow and red snapdragons for $1.38 each.
This Marigold came in a 4 pack at $2.49.
This is an Evening glow mirror plant, originally $16, purchased on super sale for $5. I plan to use it as a tree in one of my fairy gardens.
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Tuesday, October 9, 2018
A Pop of Yellow
This lawn decor was purchased from 99 cent store. I bought it as a pair but did not like the black finish it came with. I decided it would look better in my garden with a coat of yellow, the same way I did my garden path a while back.
This photo shows the most recent appearance of them in the blog. They've been reused many times and remain in the garden without needing to be repainted.
They've been seen in my garden as far back as February.
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My Fairy Folks - Unexpected Harvest
A few months ago I received some pictures from one of My Fairy Folks that I knew would be perfect to share this month. This first photo is a jack-o-lantern that Gus from Riverside carved and decorated her porch with last Halloween. Very creative. After the festivities had ended, Gus hosed off the porch and called it a day. By June of this year, some interesting development had begun to happen near the front porch. A personal pumpkin patch had grown!
In July, the plant had grown significantly. "It's tripled in size over the past week" Gus wrote.
A beautiful bloom.
Mid August is when the first pumpkin showed up.
In September, I got this update:
"I had to cut most of the pumpkin plant off because it was dying. The only one that grew is still going strong though so I left him some leaves for shade and a plate to rest on so his pumpkin butt doesn't rot in the wet grass. We named him Ichabod."
"I had to cut most of the pumpkin plant off because it was dying. The only one that grew is still going strong though so I left him some leaves for shade and a plate to rest on so his pumpkin butt doesn't rot in the wet grass. We named him Ichabod."
And here is the most recent picture. What a wonderful story! I'm eager to hear what becomes of Ichabod. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful garden adventure.
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Monday, October 8, 2018
Food Garden - Fall/Winter 2018
(L-R) Dragon Tongue beans, Green Arrow peas, Blue Lake beans, Oregon Sugar Pod peas.
Blue Lake bean being planted.
Left: Dragon Tongue began to sprout a week later. I also planted Royal Burgundy beans to the right of them but they weren't showing signs of growth. I decided to pop in a few more seeds, this time I disregarded the instructions that said to soak them before planting. Whether that was the factor that caused them to grow, I do not know, but they finally showed growth a week later.
You can see a bean sprout popping up on the bottom here. These popped up in less than a week and I didn't soak these beans before planting, so I think I'm not going to worry about that step with beans in the future.
And here is the newest photo of the Burgundy bean sprout taken this morning. Quite a start.
Oregon Sugar Pod peas have done quite well. They look very similar to snow peas in the photo on the seed package so I'm hoping they taste similar because I love those.
Top row: Bibb lettuce, looseleaf lettuce blend, red and green Romain blend. Bottom row: Brussel sprouts, Black Seeded Simpson lettuce and Buttercrunch. I also purchased some garden labels to help keep track of what is where and they've proven to be very helpful.
I planted my Gold Mighty Mustard in this container which was already housing a sweet Lilac bell pepper which I purchased as a tiny plant at the Green Scene Expo back in April.
This is how the purple bell pepper looked in April. I've read on the internet that many people have had problems with bell peppers coming through this year, so at least I know I'm not alone.
Not long after planting the mustard, I noticed tons of plants popping up. I was so surprised and confused until I thought on it a bit and realized these are not all mustard sprouts. After a little more time (and a bit of a taste), I could tell the difference between the mustard seedlings and what I've determined are radish sprouts, reviving themselves from Spring. A tiny snail managed to sneak into this photo, on the right rim of the container.
I've also put these seeds in a container but they're slow to grow, so no progress pictures yet.
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Sunday, October 7, 2018
My Fairy Folks - Ladder as Shelving
I love receiving photos from My Fairy Folks that invite me into their garden and expose me to their DIY projects. Recently I received an email from a reader who was inspired by some of my DIY projects to repurpose this ladder that used to be attached to an above ground pool. It now acts as shelving for her outdoor succulents.
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My Fairy Crate - September 2018
September's delivery of My Fairy Crate came with quite a few adorable items. I was so excited to see another glossy tarot card (which is what I'm referring to them as) which is one step closer to a whole set. I'm not sure what I will do with them yet, but the prospect of collecting more cards is strong encouragement for me to continue with this subscription box!
This elf and owl are so adorable! His facial expression is too cute and the design is lovely. Of course I'm in love with the fact that there are mushrooms on it! The rest of the items could work for a cute fishing scene - lantern, tackle box, fishing pole, log bench and a frog.
The frog on the left is the new one. The larger of the two frogs I currently have, I've decided to name him Hermitt. And because I've never got around to naming the frog on the right, today's the day. Say hello to Charlene.
Thermin the elf echoes the hoots of Oswald the owl.
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