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I've made no secret about the fact that I am loving my little urban garden this year. It has produced well and I have been having so much fun with it and dreaming and planning how I will make it even better next year.
Anything that anyone pursues is always much more enjoyable if you have the right tools for the job. One thing that I have already shared this year is my harvest apron that I sewed up to wear to keep my hands free as I harvest the food from my garden. You can see how I did it on this post. Today, I am going to share with you a few more tools that will make gardening more enjoyable and just a bit easier on your hands.
My husband picked me up these Fiskars Garden Shears at Lowe's the other day! You can also order them on Amazon. (the link is to Amazon) They are so nice to have when I'm reaching deep into a plant to harvest a zucchini or to prune some damaged leaves. Clipping is much better for the plant than just ripping something off of it. Just be sure to watch what you are cutting. (I accidentally snipped off some green strawberries the first time I used them! Oops!) I've been needing and wanting these for awhile. I'm so glad to have them!
My Wells Lamont Garden Gloves are just the thing to protect my hand from the prickly leaves and stems of some plants. Squash plants especially tend to poke my hands and there is no getting around lifting those big leaves to find the zucchini and yellow squash. These gloves were easy to work in and not clumsy feeling at all. I was able to used my shears while wearing them with no problem.
I just ordered myself these terra cotta watering spikes to use in my garden while we go on vacation for a week. Alicia tells me that they work great and so do the reviews on line. A week in Phoenix heat will give them a true test!
I picked up this watering timer at Walmart for my front flower/vegetable bed early this year. It has been a life saver. I should get one for my back garden, but I haven't yet. That is why I ordered the watering spikes. You can find similar ones on Amazon.
Going along with my timer, is my soaker hose. The great thing about the soaker hose is that I can move it around as I take out and put in new plants. It is very easy to do and I can place it right at the base of the plants where the water is needed. This one is from Walmart. Walmart has the best price on these that I have found.
Finally, don't forget to feed your plants once a month! Lindsey and I have found that Miracle Gro does such a great job! My plants have never been healthier than they are this year and I have been using Miracle Gro religiously!
Two more favs that are less about products and more about DIYs that work against pests:
There you have it! Our current garden favs! If you have anything to add, please let us know and we will add it to our list of things to try! Happy Gardening!
Other Gardening Posts:
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We hope you all had a wonderful Easter! But, remember, Easter came a little late this year. Don't get caught by surprise because Mother's Day falls on May 8th this year! That seems very early, but the 8th is the second Sunday of May.
I'm always on the lookout for good Mother's Day gifts because my 99 year old mother is the best mother of them all. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more difficult to find her the perfect gift. What does a 99 year old need or want that she doesn't A-buy for herself or B-not know that she even wants it. Plus, she lives at my sister's house and her room is already pretty full of stuff!
I don't know if I have found the perfect gift for her yet, but in my search, I have found some amazing gifts that I would definitely love to receive! (hint, hint) Ha ha! Anyway, I thought I would share them with you in the hopes that if you are on the lookout for good Mother's Day Gifts, this list may help you out.
This puzzle table would be perfect for my mom because she loves doing jigsaw puzzles! Unfortunately, she already has one. I think it is the coolest thing for puzzle lovers. You can use the little drawers to sort the colors or pieces that you are pretty sure go together. You can store it under the couch when you aren't working on it. It comes with a cove to protect the work you have already done from the dust bunnies!
If your mom is a gardener, I love the idea of this harvest apron. Yesterday I was picking peas and holding up the bottom of my shirt to collect them in. Sometimes they fall out the side, plus that gives me only one hand to work with since I have to hold up the bottom of my shirt. The great thing is that this particular apron comes as a 2 pack, so you could keep one or give away 2 to your favorite moms. My mom doesn't do much gardening now, but I know plenty of moms and grandmas who do. You could sew up this apron pretty easily as well if you would rather make it yourself!
Along the same lines as the harvest apron, there is this adorable apron for gathering eggs! More and more people are becoming micro farmers and chickens are in people's backyards even in the city. If this describes your mom, this apron would be a cute and unexpected gift!
I have actually been considering a nice water bottle for my mother. Older people can easily forget to drink and become dehydrated. I like the encouraging goal setting theme of this water bottle and the easy flip up top.
If you do go with the water bottle idea, here is an adorable sticker to decorate it with! (Obviously on the opposite side from the measuring lines.) StickerBStudio on Etsy makes amazing waterproof stickers for water bottles and phones! I've never outgrown my love of stickers. They are a great way to personalize a gift! Bronwyn's stickers are made in the USA by her in Round Rock, TX! The prices are perfect. If you are on a limited budget, one of these stickers slipped into a card would be a sweet gesture as well!
This is the perfect sweatshirt for a young, awesome mom. DiamondTeeDesign has a ton of great choices of Tee Shirts and Sweat Shirts that would work for your mom or grandma! You'll want to check them all out. A tee for my mom might not be a bad idea.
This sign would be a touching gift for a mom or a grandma! You can get it made with up to 27 names! I am currently counting on my fingers and toes to figure out how many grandkids my mom has, but the 27 might work for her. This beautiful plaque is made by Haunt&Home, an Etsy shop.
This necklace from Lymgifts is just so beautiful. It doesn't hold enough names for my mom, but it does for me! You can get it with 2, 3, 4 or 5 rings intertwined. I love it!
So, those are my favorites so far. Do you have any suggestions for my 99 year old mom? If so, please let me know pronto! Thanks! Here are some past posts that may also give you some idea!
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support.
With Valentine's Day coming, can we talk about a different kind of love? Sometimes you have something that you are loving so much that you just have to share what it is with everyone. The funny thing is that right now the 4 of us each have a thing like that, so we thought we would share our current favorite four things with you right now.
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support.
Our family was so blessed this Christmas to have all of us together for a little over a week. Lindsey and her family and my son Tyler and his family hosted everyone. It was chaotic, but wonderful.
One of the things we love to do as a family when we get together is play games! Every year, there are new games given as gifts and then we have a ton of fun trying them all out. Here is a list of our favorites this year:
*Azul: This was a gift from Alicia and her husband, who are really good at choosing good games, to my husband and I. Azul is a beautiful game with pieces based on Portuguese tiles. It requires strategy to win and seems a little complicated at first, but once you catch on, you will love it!
*Blokus: Blokus is another addictive strategy game that even the youngest players can catch on to. My 4 year old granddaughter did great at it. (Of course, she is unusually intelligent, if I do say so myself!) Young ones may need a little guidance towards the end of the round when the board becomes more crowded. Unlike Azul, this game seems at first to be quite simple, but you soon find out that you must be strategic about placing those blocks on the board!
*Blockbuster: At first glance, this game looks kind of lame with its plastic VHS case and old Blockbuster Video Store logo. But, we hade more fun with this game as we tested how many movies we could name in certain genres or categories, such as "Movies With Snakes." There are opportunities to give clues to your team using just one word, a catch phrase from the movie or to act it out. Blockbuster is a great party game for a large group of all ages. This game was a gift to Alicia's family from some friends and I am going to miss it until I see them again! Maybe I will have to get my own!
*Chameleon: Another great group game! It is no wonder that this is an award winning game because it is really a lot of fun! In this game, one person is the chameleon who has to pretend to know the secret word in order not to be found out by the rest of the players. If he can really guess the secret word in the end, he can save himself. The trick to being successful in this game is to give good clues that are just vague enough to keep the Chameleon from figuring out the word but not so vague that you sound suspicious. And, if you are the Chameleon, you have to be able to fake out your opponents by blending in.
If you have a party coming up or any kind of gathering where games are in order, these games are for you!
If you have missed any of our other game suggestion posts, click on these links for more ideas for family/friends fun! |
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
May 2024
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