Bug Protection For Newly Sprouted Seedlings

Today I want to show you what I came up with for keeping the bugs -- whatever they may be; I haven't actually caught them at it -- from chewing up newly emerging seedlings.  I had this trouble last year, and never did get any cucumber plants to grow because of it.  I think I planted four different times with the same results, no cucumber plants!  The thing is, once the plant gets past that first critical stage of getting the second to third set of true leaves the bugs usually leave them alone for some reason, and if there are a few bites taken out the plant seems to survive and continue to grow.  I play it safe and leave these contraptions on until the plant grows enough to reach the opening at the top. 

What You Will Need:

• Institution-size food cans.  In our area the local pizza parlor leaves them at their back door and are free for the taking
• Milk jugs, one gallon size
• Pair of old scissors  (I think the plastic would ruin a good pair, but use your own judgement)

What You Will Do:

Remove the bottom of the can.  The top will already have been removed from whoever you got it from, of course, and it will most likely be clean.  You end up with a short fat tube, open on both ends.  Place this tube around your newly planted seed, and push it down into the soil an inch or two. .  OR plant the seed let it sprout, then plan on covering it.  Either way works.

Next take a milk jug and poke holes in it around the top and sides (a screwdriver heated over the flame on your kitchen stove works great). Remove the bottom of the milk jug so you are left with the top, straight sides, and no bottom. Now, using those old scissors again, cut a slit at two or more of the corners of the jug so it will fit over the outside of the can.  It needs to be snug enough so the wind or watering will not knock it off, so don't cut too deep at first go.  Take your time and keep checking the fit until you get it just right.

Do NOT leave the cap on. You want to give your seedlings protection, but they will need good air flow, too. If you leave the cap on you will cook your little plants when they sprout.  Take the milk jug portion back off and water your newly planted seed thoroughly.  Check on it every few days to make sure it doesn't dry out. 

Leave this contraption on your plants until the seed has sprouted and grown large enough that the can/jug combo becomes too small, and you see the plant will soon be growing out of the top. By the time the plants are filling up your can/jug they should be past that tasty stage the bugs like so well and they can be removed. 

It isn't pretty, but it works very well. 

The plant on the right grew up in the can/jug contraption.  You will need to look closely, but there's a plant on the left that was on its own.  Quite a difference!!!   Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.

Laundry Soap II

Hello there!  I know I have posted a recipe for laundry detergent, and it was good.  Saved money and did the job.  BUT..... to me it was kind of labor intensive and I only made it once.  Being a woman I can change my mind, right?  Well, I am changing my mind.  This recipe is SO much easier and I think does the job just as well.  And I have to tell you I LOVE THE SMELL OF MY CLOTHES after using this stuff.  There is NO laundry soap smell, just wonderful, clean, fresh smelling fabric.  I didn't even want to use fabric softener (I have a recipe for that I will share at a later time) on subsequent loads.  I actually stood by my air dried sheets and comforter breathing in the freshness.  I kid you not. To any of you who do not suffer from allergies and/or sinus problems this may not be a big deal to you, but it's huge to me.  I swear I have actually been sleeping better!

So here's the recipe:

3 Tablespoons Borax
3 Tablespoons Washing Soda (washing soda, not baking soda)
2 Tablespoons Dawn Ultra Dish Detergent

Add ingredients to a 1 gallon jug.  Pour in 4 cups of very hot water and swish around to mix.  Once it is mixed up, top off the jug with cold water.  Tighten the cap and shake it up.  How easy is that?  No grating, no cooking, no mess.  I love it!

Now keep in mind this stuff is THIN, it is not going to be like the store bought laundry soap. It's going to be like water.  And you most likely will need to use 1 cup of it, but hey, at 20 CENTS a GALLON to make, who cares. 

Use it like you would store bought:  If you pretreat stains, pretreat, if you need to use a laundry booster for a really dirty load, use a laundry booster with this, if you use Oxiclean (that's another recipe coming up), use Oxiclean with this. I had one blouse that I had to pretreat before washing and the stain came right out.  Most of our clothing isn't dirty, it's been worn and is mildly smelly or just needs freshening.  If I don't have to, I don't want to use anything with this laundry soap ---- I don't want to ruin that fresh, clean, sans artificial scent smell! 

I put my ingredients in empty coffee containers because once the weather warms up and the swamp cooler comes on I don't want the stuff to take up moisture and get hard.  I also cut a small square with the product name from the chipboard containers the Borax and Washing Soda came in to add to the INSIDE of the container.  Believe me, you won't be sorry you have done this.  If you are anything like me and open both containers at once to begin mixing, you may not remember which is which.  Not that it would make any difference in this recipe because you use the same amount of each, but laundry soap won't be the only thing you use this stuff for.... stay tuned.   So don't say I didn't warn ya!  *SMILE*

The milk jug is only temporary; I intend to save an old laundry detergent container to use for mixing and storing.  But wait..... that means I have to finish using it up.  Well, considering how frugal I am, I simply can't throw it out, and I do need the jug.  Shoot.  I will just have to endure until I can use my good stuff exclusively.  :-)  

 

Thank you so much for stopping by Two Dogs.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your week. 

           Hugs, Shawna                                                                                                                               

 

 

 

These Boots Are Made For

Planting!  Hello --- thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.  Summer is here and I am fully enjoying my yard.  In 2003 I opened my nail salon and in the fall of that year I got an old pair of boots and planted, of all things, two chrysanthemums.  They did ok in those boots except the plants grew too tall and didn't look very nice at all.  I have been wanting to try again, but it was just one of those things that never came about.

Every time I saw a guy wearing an old pair of boots that had seen better days I would think of those boots I had at the salon and want to try again.  I finally remembered to ask my son if he would save me his work boots when he wore them out.... and he remembered.  So last fall he stopped by and brought me a wonderful old pair of boots and a couple of weeks ago I got them planted! What do you think?  Cute, no?    I am thrilled with how they turned out and the allyssum planted in them will, hopefully, cascade over the sides a.bit..

I also have a pair of old high heels that I planted a couple of years ago but I simply could not get the sedum and hen & chicks to grow.  I finally replanted last fall and I propped them up on a low step so they would be more horizontal and the water would get to all of the soil instead of running into the toe and the rest of the shoe cavity be dry.  That's what worked and here are the results.

 

 

I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with family and friends remembering those past and present who have served and are serving to keep America free.    Hugs, Shawna

 

Happy New Year --- Let's Get Organized

Hello and Happy New Year!  I hope 2014 is kind to you.

My goal for this new year is to be a tad more consistent with my posts. Uummmm, let's see how that works out *BIG GRIN*............ and to get more organized.  I am making small inroads starting with Christmas stuff.

As I was working on getting all the Christmas decorations down and put away in between the birth of my new granddaughter, Patton Lea, a bout with the flu and becoming very frustrated with it all, I decided that one of my goals (not a resolution, just a goal) is to get more organized.

I began the process  with my Christmas decorations, and I put together a fairly good sized box and gave it away to a family just starting out. Remember just starting out and buying a thing here and there year after year?  And then one day you look around and say to yourself "Good grief, where did all this stuff come from?"  That's how it starts. The "stuff" that consumes Christmas joy.  I loved giving this sweet family a head start on their own "Good grief moment years down the road! 

So I made a bit of  progress --- but it isn't nearly enough.  The biggest problem is I rarely have time to deal with it before Christmas and after Christmas I just want it all put away.  Out of site, out of mind, I'll deal with it next year.  And it never happens.  But I did make a bit of progress:

• Took all my gift wrapping supplies (which is mostly Christmas) out of one of those gift wrap organizer bags and put it all in a box.  For me, it's easier to deal with and it actually takes up less room. Not as pretty as the cloth organizer, but it just works so much better.
•  The gift wrap tubes of paper are now secured with empty toilet paper rolls cut down the middle lengthwise and placed over the tube of paper to keep it from coming unrolled.  This sounds a bit tacky, but it's recycling at its basic best and believe me, it is so much easier to deal with than a piece of tape that is more often than not a bugger to remove.  This has been all over the internet and it's quite ingenious.
• I took the recycling a bit further and dug some of the large plastic blueberry boxes I had in my plastics-to-recycle bin and used them for a couple of storage solutions. 
• A coffee container also came to good use and I plan on using more of these as I get them.

The large plastic containers, 3.5 quarts I think they are, that I buy blueberries in to freeze for winter use were perfect to store gift bows in.  I can see what is inside and they do not become crushed. 





 Previously I had my strings of glass and plastic bead garlands in a flimsy gift box that over the years has never kept the beads contained nor protected.  There's that "I'll deal with it next year" mentality rearing it's ugly head.  I do know I want to keep my bead garlands, but a better storage solution had to come about.  The empty coffee "can" was my solution. They all fit inside and once the lid is snapped on, they are completely protected.  The fact that the container is square is a plus as it will take up less space than a round one. 

An empty Cinnamon Bun container was the perfect size for another item I know I will be keeping.  The mini red silk poinsettia plant and the little red elves have always been displayed together.  The elves belonged to my mother, and I bought the silk plant to go with them when the elves were passed on to me.  I hope to pass these on to one of my granddaughters.  The little breath mint tin holds ornament hooks; this was another item that had previously been stored in a box that had seen better days.  I will probably use another of these tins for storing the suction hooks that I use quite frequently.

So.  It's not a lot of progress, but it IS progress.  Now that I have an idea of what I can do to store my Christmas decorations better  I will be saving these containers from the recycling bin and will continue the organization process for this glorious holiday next year.  A little bit at a time, my friends, a little bit at a time.

Long time no see

Hello there!  Long time no see, right?  I am not going to go over where I have been or what has happened, as I know most of you subscribe to my other blog which is now More Paper Kisses and Inky Wishes, and if you want the skinny please go HERE and you can check it out.

I will, however, post a pic of the newest member of the household.  Small Fry, AKA FRIES. Now Burger has a companion and I have BURGER and FRIES!  LOL.  Nine months old and full of energy, chews on everything, and does everything Burger does.  He's the cutest little chiweenie ever!

I found a really good, quick, and easy recipe for an autumn goodie that I know I will make again, again. Since it is the end of summer weekend and it's a rainy day what better way to usher in the start of fall than with a yummy little something?  Thanks Lorna for posting this!!!

MINI FALL PUMPKIN PIE CROISSANTS

These start with 2 tubes of Pillsbury refrigerated crescent rolls. Roll each crescent roll out and cut lengthwise in 2. This recipe will make 32 mini croissants. Each croissant will get a generous teaspoon of this luscious cream cheese pumpkin pie filling:

4 oz. (1/2 block) of softened cream cheese
1 cup of canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 – 2 T pumpkin pie spice (adjust to taste)
3 – 4 T sugar (granulated or powdered; adjust to taste if you want the filling sweeter)

Beat the above ingredients together until fluffy and creamy and spread about one teaspoon of filling over each triangle of dough.
Mix together 4 T sugar and 1 T pumpkin pie spice and roll each pumpkin pie croissant in it!Bake at 375* for about 13-15 minutes (this time is for on a baking stone) – you want them to be lightly                                                                                                                                browned and the dough baked through.

It's good to be back in the blogging world.  Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs!

Hello all!  I wanted to share the photos of the two-month anniversary of THE BIG SNOW STORM with you.  I am SO glad to see the snow retreat.  Today is sunny and there is a breeze blowing so that should aid in even more melting.  YIPPEE!!!!!!  I will make this brief as I have more cleaning to do in the sun room; trying to make room for repair work as soon as it dries out in there.  May take awhile, but I want to be ready to go when it does!

I am back to hauling fire wood to the house in the wheelbarrow, a relatively easy task with bare ground showing and what remains of the snow being frozen in the early a.m.   Spring will be here soon!  Sometimes it's hard to remember that, but it will be.

Thanks for stopping by Two Dogs.  Have a fabulous week!

Hello!  How's winter been treating ya?  I love summer but always look to winter as a time to snuggle in, catch up on crafty things, read, relax, and plan for the warmer months.  Whew, not this year.  It's been nothing but work, work, work just trying to keep things going around here. Chopping ice away from the garage door so I can get the car out, shoveling this dang white stuff, digging out the wood pile to get a few sticks to make a cozy fire.... it takes its toll and there's not much energy left to do fun stuff.  Besides who can work at fun stuff when the house always has a trail of wood chips to clean up from traipsing through with armloads of fire wood, no place to put away anything for fear of falling while packing it out to where it belongs.  I had to replace my old microwave that was taking about four minutes to heat a cup of water (capacitor is all but shot) and I am already sick of it hanging out in my kitchen and it's only been three days.  Am about to go redneck and just toss it out into the yard.  I swear.  I am.  But I know I won't..............  Lots are having problems with plumbing freezing so I am VERY thankful I have been spared that.  Here's some pics of the landscape 30 days post beginning of the snow storm from hell.

It is melting, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y.  Will probably still be some here by March.  Temps were very low at night (single digits/below zero for weeks) but last night it stayed in the 30s!  Downright balmy!!!. A slow melt is actually a blessing in disguise as a fast melt would bring more misery in the form of flooding, so this is actually a good thing.  Really.  I keep telling myself it is.  It is.  Really.  It is.  We got a bit of rain last night and above freezing temps, but it is a short reprieve as a colder storm is coming in for the weekend to keep that quick thaw at bay.

OK.  If you are still with me here, I want to share a tip with you.  Ants have been a problem for the past two years at pretty much this same time of the year.  I think it's too cold for them, too, and they are seeking better digs ;-) Ha Ha..Those little "piss ants" ( that's what we call 'em.  Squish one and they smell like, well......., they smell bad) They come up around my faucet in the bathroom.  Last year I sprayed them with hair spray, but that was messy to clean up (I don't like to use pesticides unless absolutely necessary, but hairspray is almost as bad).  Prevention was my goal.  When I first noticed them this year I smeared the faucet with Vicks and that held them at bay, but I needed to seek and destroy, too.  Believe it or not diatamaceous earth  is a perfect ant killer.  When they walk in it, it gets on their little exoskeletons and dries them out.  And they die.  And if they manage to get back to the nest with this stuff on them, others die.   And somewhere in their tiny little ant brains they must know this because they disappear after sprinkling that stuff around. We are fortunate here in northern California as we have a ready supply of diatamaceous earth; it is mined here for sale to food companies, pool supply businesses, and wineries. All that is needed are a few chunks of D-earth and a box grater (the thingy you use in the kitchen to grate carrots and such) and simply grate the stuff along the ant trail,  I always leave it for a couple of days, but really the ants disappear over night.  I am not so naive as to think they have all suddenly died, but they leave my house and that's really all that matters!  So here's to habitat, earth friendly ant killer.   Thanks for stopping by!!

P.S.  Someone mentioned they were glad I started posting again on the Two Dogs blog and that made me very happy to know someone is actually reading it!  THANK YOU!!!