Dirt Scoopers

I'm already looking forward to spring, and when planting season comes around, I have some new (well, new for gardening) tools to add to my gardening arsenal. We have a few faded, heavy-duty plastic cups (of varying sizes) that I'll use to scoop dirt from bags when transferring to pots. Those top soil bags are always heavy to carry around (and I don't need so much to just dump it), and the mini shovels are too small to do a quick job. Plus, I end up spilling more dirt than moving. I've used plastic cups before and they work well. They allow you to get a decent amount of dirt in one pass, which you can then easily pour into a pot.

Growing My Own Produce

I was recently chopping some red and green peppers recently and thought, "Wonder if I could root some of these seeds and grow some bell pepper plants?" After all, bell peppers can be pricey--especially the red, yellow and orange varieties.

Right after I cut the peppers in half, I put the seeds in a cup of water. They started rooting within a week (to my amazement!). Once the roots were fairly well established, I transferred the best-looking ones (with a hint of green to them) to a pot of soil. Two took...we'll see how they do.I'm hoping I'll have a couple bell pepper plants come summer!

Speaking of, I'm determined to have a vegetable garden next year. To be continued...

Get Your (Styrofoam) Peanuts!

You know all those annoying Styrofoam peanuts that get all over the house once you open that package? Gather them up and keep them in a box or plastic bag. Then, whenever you are planting flowers in a pot, stuff the bottom with the peanuts. Then cover with dirt (make sure you include enough dirt to get the plant in deep enough). This not only uses up the peanuts, it creates drainage for the plant in the pot and makes the pot MUCH lighter to carry around your yard or patio (not to mention that's less topsoil to buy!). Now that I regularly do this, I never seem to have enough of those peanuts around. Never thought I'd feel that way...

But to combat that problem, if I have other blocks of Styrofoam around, I'll break them up and use them the same way.