Garden 2026
Update - April 8, 2026
Banana Peppers
Beets
Cantaloupe
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Green Beans
Bell Peppers
Pumpkin
Radish
(nothing yet - just planted 4/4/26)
Strawberries
Watermelon
Onions
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
GARDEN 2026
GETTING EVERYTHING READY
March 20 - Let the planting begin!
Recycling: using old laundry baskets lined with fabric to hold the dirt but allow drainage. The zucchini plants are in the laundry baskets.
March 21 - planted the marigolds
March 21 - also planted the seeds for green beans, watermelon, beets, cantaloupe, pumpkin, corn and cucumber. And planted bulbs for white onions and yellow onions. Had a few mint plants from last year that are doing well so I placed them around the garden to help deter bugs in addition to placing the marigolds around the garden.
April 4 - added another raised bin (old laundry hamper) and planted radishes.
Now we wait . . .
Friday, February 20, 2026
BIG NEWS!!
I am going to be closing my Etsy shop - but first I need to sell the inventory!
Click here: NeedleLittleLoveByRC
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Garden 2025
I started planting the garden on March 29th and I am still using the "topless" greenhouse - it has really been working out very well for me. The above photo shows what it looks like today. Everything is growing like crazy. This is what is planted:
Corn - 16 plants (in the ground in the greenhouse area)
Cucumbers - planted numerous seeds in the 2 bins (fenced garden area)
Eggplant - 6 plants in raised wooden planter (in fenced garden area)
Green beans - 16 plants (in the ground in the greenhouse area)
Onions - 7 baskets with lots of bulbs (2 baskets in the greenhouse, 5 in the fenced garden area)
Bell Peppers - 6 plants (in a bin in the greenhouse area)
Pumpkins - bunch of seeds in bin (in a bin in the fenced garden area)
Tomatoes - 18 plants (12 in the ground, 6 in bins) - in the greenhouse area
Watermelon - bunch of seeds in the bin (in fenced garden area)
Marigolds and mint plants in various pots around the greenhouse and fenced garden area (to help deter bugs)
I am using lots of plastic bins this year - mainly so that I can sit on my garden stool instead of bending down or being on the ground. My hubby drilled holes in the bottom of all the bins and then I loaded them up with a dirt/compost mix. I am very pleased with how they are working out.
On June 1st, I started picking some veggies. Not much so far, but there are a lot on the plants. As of today, here is what I have:
5 cucumbers
5 tomatoes
5 green beans
Looking forward to a "fruitful" summer!
Friday, September 13, 2024
Garden 2024
Final Update
The gardening season has ended for
me. All the plants have been pulled up
except for the marigolds. I have started
burying compost in the garden and then covering that section with
cardboard. Eventually, the whole garden
area will have compost buried in it and cardboard covering it. Why cardboard? It helps to keep the weeds down. When fall arrives and the leaves fall, I will
have the raked up leaves scattered on top of the cardboard.
This section has compost buried in it and the cardboard on top helps me to remember where I buried the compost.
So pretty!
Here's how the garden did this
year:
Kale – harvested it 4 times
Red Leaf Lettuce – harvested it 9
times
Romaine – harvested it 7 times
Just a sample of the different lettuces that were picked in a single harvest. Enjoyed quite a few salads!
Onions – 4 small onions plus a few
that were more like scallions or leeks
Corn – 5 small deformed ears (but
the chickens loved them)
Cucumbers – 1
Eggplant – none
Green beans – 721 – it was a
banner year for green beans!
Bell Peppers – 36
Potatoes – 2 very tiny (not
edible)
Pumpkins – none
Tomatoes (beefsteak) – 28
Cherry Tomatoes – 706 – a banner
year for cherry tomatoes too!
Watermelon – 2 medium sized and 5
small (the chickens didn’t care!)
I have learned some things along
the way:
Corn – plant 4 or 5 rows instead
of 2 (I had them planted in 2 rows) – this will make for better pollination
Cucumbers – add nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium to soil
Eggplant – put mint planters all
around the plants to help deter aphids and ants
Onions – find a better quality of
bulbs and plant them a little bit deeper
Bug issues: I did have a problem with the tomato hornworm
but I was able to keep it under control.
I also discovered that bugs don’t like mint plants and I plan to get a
lot more to put around the garden. They
will be in planters, otherwise the mint will take over the garden. I will be researching on how to eliminate
aphids and ants so that I don’t have that problem again. I did have stink bugs on the tomato plants
but I was able to keep them under control.
Using the jar filled with soapy water and knocking them into it really
worked. I saw less and less stink bugs
and eventually did not see any more. I
also kept any eye out for bug eggs and got rid of any leaves that had them on
it. I put those leaves on the burn pile
so that none could survive. Every day, I
walked around the garden to inspect for bugs and the only bugs that beat me were
the aphids and ants. I am determined to
win against them!
All in all, I am happy with the veggies I got. My freezer has green beans, bell peppers and cherry tomatoes to use in the future.
So, now, I am planning next year’s
garden. I might stick with the veggies
that do really well . . . or not . . .😂
Monday, July 29, 2024
Do You Coupon?
I belong to several frugal groups
on Facebook and the one comment that I see over and over is “how do I start
couponing”. I hope this will help you
get started.
Back in the “old days”, coupons
were plentiful, and stores were in competition with each other to get your
business. Unfortunately, those days are
gone. But there are still ways to get
coupons. Each grocery store typically
has a website where you can create an account and choose coupons to use. When you are ready to check out at the
grocery store, you enter your account information, and the coupons will be
deducted from your total (as long as you bought the right products that match
up to the coupons). Below is a list of
some grocery stores (your area may have different stores) along with their web
address. For other stores not listed below, do a google search to find that particular store and sign up. Stores like Costco and Sam’s do
not have an option for "clipping" online coupons. But they do have
flyers each month to show what is on sale – they call them "coupons", but you do not need coupons to get the
sale price.
Here are the stores in my area with their website links and screen shots. Not all stores have digital coupons, but they will have their weekly sales ads listed. This gives you the opportunity to compare prices before you head out to the store.
Create an account and choose the digital coupons that you want.
Create an account and choose the digital coupons that you want.
But what about coupons that I can hold in my hand? The paper kind? There was a time when the Sunday and Wednesday editions of the newspaper has lots of coupons. That is no longer the case. The Sunday newspaper will have a few coupons but if you compare the cost of the newspaper to the value of the coupons that you might use, it is not very cost efficient. If you buy the Sunday newspaper anyway, then the coupons will be an added bonus (if there are any that you can use).
Here are a couple of websites where you can print out the coupons and take with you to the store. Note: Publix allows coupons on their
BOGO deals, but I am not sure if the other stores allow it.
Print out the ones you want. There is usually a limit of 2 print outs per coupon.
Proctor & Gamble have their own coupons that you can print out.
You are not done yet! After you have done the grocery shopping, there are still ways to save money! There are various apps that will give you cash and/or gift cards when you upload your receipts.
With the
Ibotta app, you accrue cash for various items that they have listed. You check the items that you buy and then
upload the register receipt that has those items on it.
You can use the same register
receipts for Fetch and you do not need to choose items first. They allow all receipts, and you accrue points
towards a gift card.
You can also use the same register
receipts for MyPoints Magic Receipts, but they need to have specific items on
it that you have chosen.
Rakuten
But wait, there's more! There are many blogs that will
alert you to savings. One of the ones
that I use is Southern Savers. I can get
a “heads up” on what the Publix flyer will be ahead of time. The sales at my Publix start on a
Thursday. On the Monday before, I can
see what will be going on sale and then plan accordingly for when I do my
shopping on Thursday. They also have the
sales flyers for stores all over the country including online.
Another good resource is Facebook. There are a lot of groups on Facebook that share frugal ideas. One of my favorites is BUDGETING, SAVING, FRUGAL WAYS, GROCERY HAULS AND HOMEMAKING. I also like Frugal Living/Ideas/Tips
There are also Facebook groups for various stores that will alert you to deals.
Lastly, there are “Buy Nothing” groups on
Facebook. These groups give away various
items for free. You can get furniture,
clothes, household goods and even food.
If you want to see if your area has one, do a search for Buy Nothing
City (include your city/town’s name). It
is also a good way to get rid of items that you no longer want and have no
interest in selling.
If you are interested in reading more about saving money:
How To Save On Groceries (part 1 of 6 parts): How to Save on Groceries
Rising Prices – Yikes!: Rising Prices-Yikes
The Good Ole Days: Good Ole Days
Do You Buy Food?: Do You Buy Food
Sunday, July 28, 2024
Things are winding down in the
garden. The onions are done – they never
got very big – not sure what was going on with them. I gave up on the eggplants. First it was aphids. I killed the aphids and ended up killing the
eggplants as well. Planted more
eggplants. Then the ants moved in. No matter what I did – cinnamon, diatomaceous
earth, soapy water spray, etc – nothing worked so I just pulled them all up.
Finally put down some ant killer (I don’t like using pesticides in the
garden – this was a last resort).
The fungus got the pumpkin and
cucumber leaves. I bought some stuff to
get rid of it but it didn’t seem to do much.
The plants ended up dying. I
planted more cucumber and pumpkin seeds – not sure if they will do well or not.
The watermelons did not get very
big. There were 2 that were nice and
round – a nice size. The chickens loved
them! The rest were very small but the
chickens didn’t mind.
We are still getting green beans, tomatoes and bell peppers. So far, I have harvested approximately 520 green beans, 27 regular tomatoes, 656 cherry tomatoes, 8 small onions, 20 bell peppers and 7 watermelons. I also harvested a bunch of basil and made 3 batches of pesto.
The green beans filled 10 containers – 9 of them are in the freezer (1 container has been eaten). I have crushed up a lot of the cherry tomatoes and they are in 4 containers in the freezer. I also made a jar of pickled cherry tomatoes – something new – not too bad. Some of the cherry tomatoes went into salads. For the regular tomatoes, I have enjoyed tomato & mayo sandwiches and BLTs. Even the chickens have gotten to enjoy some of the tomatoes! I have 4 containers of bell peppers in the freezer (plus some that have been eaten).
The tomato plants got attacked by
hornworms. Every day I needed to go and
pull them off the tomato stems. I have a
mason jar filled with soapy water and the hornworms, caterpillars, stink bugs
and bug eggs get dunked into the jar. I
also saw a very unusual bug – the Eastern Leaf Footed bug. The rest of the garden does not seem to have
any bug problems.
The marigolds are so pretty!! I moved some into the raised planter and one side is doing really well.
As of today (July 27), I trimmed
all the dead and bug eaten stems of the tomatoes. I don’t think the tomatoes will last much
longer – although there are still quite a few cherry tomatoes still on the
plants. The regular tomato plants do not
have any tomatoes left.
I have started burying compost
into the vacant areas of the garden. I found some info on the internet about
trench composting – it is what I do and didn’t know it had a name! In the spring my hubby will till it all
together.
Till the next update . . . happy
gardening!
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