the hanging garden (weekend update)

so i finished my hanging garden! i'm tickled with it, so let's just hope that everything grows like i have envisioned it will...

i am already craving some homemade salsa!

here are the step-by-step pics of my garden.

i planted the tomato plants out the bottom hole, then drilled 4 holes around the side and planted banana peppers, green bell peppers, cayenne peppers and jalapenos in them. then on top, i planted basil, greek oregano and cilantro. all like full sun, so it was a great combination.

the holes are drilled, and the coffee filters are taped over the holes:

i labeled all of the holes with what i had planted in that particular hole:

hanging and ready to grow!

the herbs on top:

martha moments: hangin' tough (how to plant a hanging tomato garden)

since i didn't have time to plant a garden this year, i am going to try my hand at something one of my clients did last year that was really, really cool. you may have seen these on TV and they do sell a commercial "planter" but these instructions work just the same, and cost less.

it's a hanging tomato planter! it's GENIUS--you have no worries of staking the plant so that it grow up like it should, there are NO WEEDS and fewer critters and bugs to mess it up, and there is no risk of overwatering it either. in other words, pretty easy (so i hope!)

i got a couple of "homer buckets" at the home depot tonight that i'm going to spray paint (they're orrrrrrrange) and am going to start mine either tomorrow or friday. i'll be sure to post pics of the progress.

i just thought i would share with you all the easy steps on how to do this.

you'll need:
large bucket
a coffee filter or piece of old, thin fabric
drill
potting soil
tomato plant(s)
herbs (optional)

1. turn bucket upside down and drill large hole (2"-4") in center.
2. turn bucket back upright and tape a coffee filter or thin piece of old fabric on top of hole. (this
helps keep the soil from falling out of the bottom.)
3. with knife or scissors, cut an "x" in the coffee filter.
4. thread the tomato plant into the hole (thru the X you just made) so that the plant is hanging
out the bottom, root ball is inside at bottom of bucket.
5. fill with soil.
6. you can also plant your herbs on top once all soil is in (i'm going to plant oregano, cilantro and
basil.)
7. hang on large, sturdy hook in a sunny spot and let her grow! make sure to water every day.

once i get mine going, i'll post pics with these steps for you "visual" peeps out there.

side note: i hear you can also drill more holes and plant peppers alongside the tomatoes as well!

happy birthday, beulah!

happy birthday, miss beulah grace crissinger!

beulah was born this morning and is the daughter of two of my dear, dear friends from college, andy and michelle. these are two of the most beautiful people i have ever known, inside and out. this baby girl is such a blessing and they have waited for her patiently and have been such an inspiration throughout the whole process.

michelle is a great blogger--i would encourage you to read her blog. you will, no doubt, be blessed. (and they have a pic up, too!)

so here's to giving thanks to God for precious people like andy and michelle, for sweet baby beulah and for miracles.

yes we can.

yeah, so, the hubs and i have decided to put down hardwood floors. are we crazy, you ask? why yes, yes we are.

we, to this point, have had what came in the house, which were parquet floors. pretty, but we really, really wanted nice, long smooth oak hardwood floors and not the square look that parquet gives.

we got several estimates on the floors and the installation and were flabbergasted by the costs to have someone come out and put them down.

jeff called me one day from work...conversation goes as follows:

J: "we're doing it. we are going to put down the floors."

L: "um, we are not professionals. why do you think we can do this?"

J: "i've been watching videos on youtube of how to install hardwood floors and there's nothing to it. we're doing it ourselves."

L: "so watching youtube makes us experts, huh?"

J: "yes. we can do it."

so, apparently we are in following with our new president's "theme" for 2009 because we decided YES WE CAN.

and we did!

we got a little overwhelmed at first trying to get the first row going because if the first row is not completely 100% straight, it screws up the rest of the room. but now that we've gotten going, it really isn't that bad. the worst part is the toll that it is taking on me physically. i can hardly touch my knees because they're so sore. i have knee pads, but they only help so much. and my poor, poor hands are a wreck. but you know what? as much as i doubted our abilities in the beginning, we have done a dang good job and we'll know that everytime we walk across those floors that we did it all by ourselves.

so today is not a "martha moment" post---it's more like a "bob vila moment." :-)

happy weekend!

here are some pics of the progress:

day 1, about 4:30 p.m. floor is cleared of old floor, subfloor is ready


day 1, about 6:00 p.m., all of the rosin paper is stapled down and we have finally got the boards going.

jeff the handyman on day 1...

end of day 1, about 11:00 p.m.
end of day 2, only worked on it from about 7:30-10 p.m. not bad!