The Polyvore Files | How Does Your Garden Grow

It's gardening season and I am pretty excited about it! I am starting earlier than I normally do and even getting the kids involved this year! I can't wait to share more about that with you soon!

I say I am starting earlier than I normally do, but technically, this is when I should actually be starting. Usually I start late and it's halfway through Summer before I start really getting any produce from my plants.

I am not typically a get down and dirty type of gal, but there is something so enjoyable about gardening! Getting your hands down in the dirt, taking care of your plants each day, and then harvesting your goodies when it is time. It's awesome!

Do you grow a garden? What are some of the fruits or vegetables that you grow every year? 

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gardening in the fall - bringing herbs indoors

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

did you spend a part of your summer growing all of your favorite herbs outdoors, but now you want to keep them growing throughout the colder months? fall will be here before we know it and if you want to keep those herbs growing, you need to start planning to bring them inside to keep them safe and readily available until spring.

earlier, while i was over at the scott's miracle-gro website, i found a few ideas about fall gardening, including some tips on keeping a container garden. the scott's miracle-gro website has made fall gardening fun by creating an easy to use fall gardening page. just choose the region of the country that you live in, and you will find great fall gardening projects and ideas, including how to add more color, planting trees and shrubs, feeding trees and shrubs, and planting fall edibles (my favorite)! scott's miracle-gro will help you find beauty in the fall.

during the summer, we planted delicious hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes, using the scott's miracle-gro potting mix, and we had lots of success with our garden. i honestly do contribute it's success to the miracle-gro that we used, as well the watering schedule we maintained, and enjoyed our little container gardens rewards all summer long.

i am looking forward to completing our indoor herb garden so we can now enjoy our fresh herbs during the upcoming holidays, when great tasting meals are a big deal around here. there's nothing like having fresh herbs to season your foods.

Source: notjustahousewife.net via Joni on Pinterest

i recently pinned this awesome project that the hubs and i will soon be working on and i have already been searching scott's miracle-gro for tips on the best soil for my indoor container garden. so far, i am thinking my best bet is the miracle-gro moisture control potting mix. 

 




"exclusive aquacoir formula absorbs 33% more water than ordinary potting soil and protects against over and underwatering!"

sounds perfect for the indoor dry air we get around here in the winter. i am looking forward to starting this project and now enjoying fresh herbs all year long. be sure to stay connected through the miracle-gro facebook page for more ideas and tips for your garden this fall, or to share your gardening stories.

are planning a garden this fall? what are your plans for a fall garden? 

 joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: sixcherries

Do-it-Yourself Garden Labels

My girls and I did these in no time for our new garden.  Those little labels that come with your plants when you purchase them will do the job, but they are small and hard to read.  Once your plants begin to get bigger and bigger , these make it nice to be able to look out into your garden and see where everything is.

We simply used materials we had around the house instead of buying any new materials.  For the background of each card, we used magazine pages.  The torn edges were done with a paper tearing tool.  I {love} how unique they look. The veggies were printed on card stock and cut out. Then the name of each veggie was printed on white paper and backed with the matching veggie color.

Lastly, I ran them through my laminator and attached a popsicle stick on the back of each one with clear heavy duty packing tape. The laminating paper will protect them in the rain and when we water our plants.

 

They turned out great and they really add some color to our garden as we patiently wait for it to give us fresh yummy food to eat!

Starting a Compost

Remember my overgrown wasteland of grass that I shared with you and my plan to change that space into a luscious garden of delectable veggies?

How could anyone forget it?

Several years ago, I lived in an older apartment complex that had very lax rules. We could pretty much do whatever we wanted to our apartment inside or out (and I certainly did). I loved that little apartment with the apple wallpaper in the kitchen, blue tiled bathroom, and the HUGE window that looked out to my flower garden in front!

One of my neighbors was an older gentleman Bill (I called him Farmer Bill) who kept a garden on the side of the apartment building. A no-kidding vegetable garden that Farmer Bill tended to every day as if it were a 10 acre farm. I admit to occasionally making fun of him (shame on me, he was such a nice man) because he spent so much time gardening that little plot, but he had some of the yummiest veggies EVER...SERIOUSLY!

Sadly, Bill did not have a lot of friends. In fact, in the five years I lived there, I saw only two people ever stop by. So, because I do try to be a nice person, I befriended him and, I learned a whole lot about gardening. More than I ever thought I would need to know.

Without getting completely off subject here with this story... let me get to the point and say that Farmer Bill taught me how to make a great compost.

I haven't had a garden in several years now and this year I am going to make time to start a great one that my children are going to help me with and, I have started the compost that is going to nourish my garden and help it to grow.

I don't have one of those fancy composting bins or tumblers that mixes everything, but I do have it on my wish list (and I certainly wouldn't be opposed to receiving one as a gift from any of the lawn and garden companies).

just like this one!

or this one!

I simply use a large plastic bin with a lid that I got at Target for less than $10.

Want to start your own compost?
Go for it! Go for it! Go for it!

You too can purchase an {inexpensive} plastic bin or if you can afford it, a nice compost tumbler to get started. There is a huge list of items that can be put into a compost.

Check out this list HERE of over 100 different items you can compost .

For a more in depth discussion of composting with lots of links, check out The Greenest Dollar's post on How to Start Composting.

My garden is going to LOVE me later this year...and I have lots of love to give back!

Can You Guess What This Is?

No! It's NOT Amber Waves of Grain!

It's the FUTURE site of my {vegetable garden}.

It is currently over taken by the incredibly tall grass that is growing there.

Yes, that is grass and, yes it is that tall!

See, what happened was this...

The mower broke!

plain and simple.

The riding mower died on us last summer and, we hired two boys to come cut it for us for a very reasonable price. But...we probably should have gotten them to come OOOONE more time.

It started to get chilly, growing slowed down. Then, it got warm for a few days and, it grew (right here is where I should have inserted a mow). It got chilly again and, it grew some more right before it turned brown and died. And now, we are stuck with a mess.

On the bright side, I was able to take those Valentine's Day photos of The Princess and the Pea using the grass as a backdrop for most of them.

Spring will be here soon enough and, I promise you that the golden grass will be gone before the garden goes in.

I DO know a thing or two about gardening so, this won't be a new adventure for me. See those pieces of wood? Those were the borders for my garden. It has been awhile but, I am excited.

Come on Spring, hurry up and get here!