Gardening In West Texas-Thank God For The Rain!

Yep you read right we got a little bit of rain! The last 3 days have been simply beautiful here in West Texas. Lots of clouds and even a small shower. Yep for once we got a day time shower, no lightening and winds just some nice sky water. This week we did some MASSIVE work in the garden. Most everything is planted and I couldn't be more thrilled. All that needs to be planted this coming Mother's Day weekend is some regular cucumbers, watermelons and some more beans! I have decided to read up more of survival gardening and how to maximize everything, plus I wanted to reuse some of the stuff that was headed for the trash can here. So here are some great pictures for the week with some words about each :)

One of my new dove friends :) they are two small babies who love the garden

My little corn :) planting in the ground seems to be much better for us!

My happy little tomatoes :) this is what is under all those water bottles!

The start of my herb garden! AKA the doves favorite place to sit.lol

LETTUCE!

My far row so far I hope to fit another wide row and one narrow row!
This is corn, okra and pickling cucumbers!

Middle row is FULL corn, sunflowers, peas, radishes,carrots, bell peppers
and something else I wrote down but can't remember right now :p

The white pieces are a drawer set up!! They will be used to support my
tomatoes as they grow big and strong. While little I can cover to provide shade
from the West Texas sun!

FINALLY OPEN BLACKBERRY FLOWERS!

Some new flowers to attract more bees! Big problem here is a shortage of bees :(

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Homemade Fly Traps

We all love summer but as the weather gets warmer the flies get worse and worse. We have a bush out front of our house that I swear just attracts every fly in town! I wanted to get rid of them but I didn't want to kill all the wonderful butterflies it also attracts. So I went about finding a new way to kill them all. I had some empty Tazo tea bottles I simply poked a pen sized whole in the top, added 1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of dish soap, and 1 tablespoon of syrup.Now I do find that these work better if you place them in the sun :O) If you want to use a bigger container simply multiply the ingredients. Make sure your hole is only about the size of a pen cap! Then they can't seem to get back out.lol

Jello Hard Candy

Most hard candies call for corn syrup, but since I was out and I have 3 children home I decided to experiment and make something fun! Here is what you need:
2 Cups of Sugar
2 Cups of Water
1 Package Sugar Free Jello
A candy Thermometer

Making candy is a pretty tricky process and trust me I messed up a batch or two getting this to work right.lol Put the sugar and water into the pot and turn on medium whisking well till the sugar is dissolved. Stirring pretty regularly to help the sugar from burning. As the sugar begin to boil turn the heat up to high. Watch your thermometer when the candy reaches 230 pour in the jello continuing to mix. Pour this mixture immediately into a cake pan that is lined with parchment paper of you can rub a little veggie oil in it. The candy will continue to cook as it melts anything over 230 you will be left with a burnt candy that tastes like licorice.lol After you candy is cooled completely turn it out onto a cookie sheet and break apart :O) I like to dust mine …

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Killing Ants Safely

June 14, 2012

LOL okay I know the title seems a bit silly. Here is West Texas ants are a BIG problem. Not only do they bite, but well they are really annoying! They sneak into every crack in your house no matter how hard you try. With pets though you are very limited to the products you can safely use to kill ants. As time goes on more and more I am concerned about the products I keep in this house and the effect they have on not only me and my children, but my pets. When looking for ways to rid myself of these pests I found a simple, cheap, and effective means to do so. CORNMEAL! Yep it is very simple, for about $2 a bag I can treat weekly for an entire year! While it doesn't kill them all it has certainly brought down the population so that now it isn't even noticeable. All you do it sprinkle it on top of their mounds and watch the greedy little ants drag it all inside! When eaten it expands and POOF! ;O) You get the picture.

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