Just thought I’d take a minute to check on my plant babies! My mosquito plant has grown twice as big and is doing wonders at keeping the pesky mosquitoes away.
My flowers are also flourishing and doing amazing! Having a lot of rain these past few weeks has really helped.
So originally this was cat grass. Now I have no idea what it is. It actually kinda smells like cat nip.
My Sweet Yellow Pepper plant just decided to sprout within the last week or so!
And my Hot Red Pepper Plants are thriving and surviving! Can’t wait to find some good recipes where I can use my peppers!
And last but certainly not least… my avocado plants! One is just chilling and enjoying being a shorty. The other has grown so tall it’s about a foot and a half away from touching the ceiling!
It’s official! I started my balcony garden for the year! Fingers crossed that I’m able to keep my plants surviving and thriving!
The day before Easter, I went out and bought all kinds of seeds… a variety of fruits, veggies and flowers.
This year I am using a few tips and tricks from last year, and using them to improve my gardening skills.
For example, I decided to keep the packets to all my seeds, tape them to popsicle sticks and place them in the pots so I can remember what I plant and where.
I also have been very observant of the weather/temperature and pull in my plants when it gets below 34° outside. I’m hoping this will help my plants not to freeze or get damaged.
I am understanding when and how much to water my plants. I water my plants the most when I first plant them and on really hot days.
A huge game changer that I have learned this go around is Miracle Grow. They don’t call it a miracle for nothing. That stuff does wonders!
Lastly, I formed a habit when taking care of my plants. For instance, I remember to water my plants in the evening when I feed Rocky, clean his liter and pack my lunch.
This is my balcony garden and I’m hopeful that it is going to grow, grow, Grow!
About three weeks ago, I was on Pinterest, and I stumbled across a video about how to grow an avocado tree from an avocado pit. It looked easy, so I decided to give it a try.
First, I gathered up a few avocado pits I had from an avocado and tuna fish sandwich the day before.
Then I peeled the skin off each pit.
Next, I got a paper towel for each pit and made them very damp. Then I wrapped the paper towel around each pit.
Once they were all wrapped, I placed each pit in a ziplock bag and sealed them tight.
Then, I taped each bag to my sliding door. At this point in the planting process the avocado pits don’t need sunlight. But I still hung them up just so I wouldn’t forget about them and they’d be near my other plants.
Fast forward to 2 and a half weeks later and I checked on my avocado pits.
One pit had finally cracked and sprouted a root! I was beyond excited. It was then time to place it in a full vase of water.
At first I used tooth picks to support my pit, but the tooth pics just ended up sliding, causing the pit to sink to the bottom of the vase. I then tried a rubber band, and plastic wrap.
About three days later I checked on my other avocado pits. One avocado pit has also opened and sprouted a root. The last pit had shown no growth so I figured it was a dud.
Progress on first avocado pit First avocado pit and how I keep it securely above the waterI placed plastic wrap over the opening and pulled a rubber band around the sides. Then I poked a small hole in the middle with scissors. This helps the pit to stay secure but allows the root to get water.
And there ya go, two successful avocado pits have sprouted and have successfully been transferred into water. Stayed tuned for more updates on my planting this season. I will be giving more updates in the coming weeks!
It is time again for another blog post round up! The following are a list of recent blog posts that were not only popular but also a favorite to myself and many of my readers.
My Kitchen Reveal!
In late March, my husband and I moved to our new apartment right at the beginning of the Corona virus Pandemic. It was crazy, quick and overwhelming. Regardless of how we got here, we absolutely love our new home. Check out my kitchen reveal post to see how I decorated our kitchen.
New Edition to the Family!
As many of you know, we did add a new edition to our family this year, and his name is Rocky. He is a gray, long haired domestic tabby. He is super smart, hilarious, and sassy. We love him so much and are so glad we adopted him.
Deep Fried Pickles Recipe
Since graduating from college, I have found myself in the kitchen more often. Part of this is because I have more time to cook, and it is also because I no longer have the luxury of eating meals at the dining hall. Check out my Deep Fried Pickles recipe, and other recipes I will be sharing this month.
What’s My Why?
What’s my why? This is a question that many influencers ask themselves. What’s the reason I write a blog? What’s the reason I advocate for this important cause? What’s the reason I do what I do every single day? This blog post talks all about why I do what I do.
Another Plants Update
This past summer was the first summer I had a balcony. I took full advantage of this balcony by growing many different plants. Check out my different blog posts this summer of my progress and fails in growing plants.
It’s Been 19 Years Since the World Changed
It has been 19 years since 9/11 happened. As I mentioned in this blog post, it is one of the first tragic terrorist attacks that I can recall in my life time. In this post I discuss my memories of that fateful day.
Happy Fall Ya’ll
Having holidays in a new apartment, means I get to try some new decorating ideas. For example, I have never had my own fireplace that I have been able to decorate. But this year, I plan to decorate it for every season. Check out this post to see how I decorated for fall.
Expanding Our Family… What’s Next for Us
This unexpectedly, was a super popular post. This was the post where I shared our thoughts on expanding our family. I also share a tentative 2 year plan as we prepare for parenthood.
Taco Baked Potato Recipe
I am such a huge fan of potatoes and tacos. So I thought, why not combine the two? In this post I share my recipe of a Taco Baked Potato.
Christmas Decorating 2020
Yes, I know… another decorating post. But I can’t help it, I love decorating and home decor. Check out this post to see how I decorated this year for Christmas.
Hello friends! If you’ve been following me for awhile, it’s a safe bet that you’ve seen pretty much every part of my apartment since I moved in March. You’ve probably even seen parts of my balcony since I’ve shown you my many plants. However, I haven’t yet done a balcony reveal. So, without further or do, I welcome you to my balcony.
My balcony is full of plants, a lawn chair, a bike and storage. I love our balcony, as it is spacious and welcoming.
I can imagine I will be storing much of the items on my balcony, this winter. But for now, I am going to enjoy my current balcony set up.
Our balcony has a great view of the other buildings in our complex as well as the wide open sky. it’s so fun to see storms roll in, and beautiful sunrises early in the morning.
Recently, we bought a storage unit/bench we are able to store our pots and planting through the winter.
Last but not least, our balcony is accompanied by our large slider door. This door allows for gorgeous natural lighting into our living room and a wonderful view of our plants from the inside.
Thank you so much for checking out my balcony reveal! I only have two places in my home you haven’t seen… can you guess what room I’ll show you next?
Hello Friends! I just thought I would take a minute and give you a little update on my plants. If I were to be honest, I would have to say I think I’ve planted roughly 15 plants this year. And due to the weather, and my forgetting to water them sometimes I have had to start over and replant some. So, currently I have 7 plants!
Sandy is my palm tree that I bought on Palm Sunday. She is an indoor/outdoor plant. At the moment she is outdoors because I have a kitten that I don’t trust enough to leave her alone. Anyway, she’s grown at least 4 inches since I got her and is thriving.
Clive the Chive is huge and over grown. I’ve cut chives off him many times but I can’t seem to eat the chives as fast as he can grow them. But overall he is doing well.
Here’s the spice girls. To be honest I thought they were dead for the longest time. I didn’t see anything sprout and was super concerned. But she made it and is doing well.
This is the newest member to the plant family. This is a spinach plant that I guess I will name Ralph. I planted Ralph on Saturday and I am optimistic he will grow and thrive.
This is my green pepper plant. To be honest I thought this plant was dead too. When I first got this plant it was shriveled up and thirsty. It also didn’t help that I kept forgetting to plant it in a pot. None the less, when I finally planted this plant, she flourished. She currently has 4 green peppers growing on her. It also occurred to me that I haven’t given her a name yet. Let’s call her Penny.
Here’s Chester the mosquito plant. He’s huge and doing well. He’s does a great job at repelling mosquitoes.
And last but certainly not least, here is my tomato plant. I think it’s a cherry tomato plant but I can’t entirely remember. My Sunshine flowers didn’t make it, along Harry and Henry the tomato plants. So, I decided to try with this tomato plant instead. Let’s call this one Sylvester. Sylvester is doing super well. He has quite a few little green tomatoes on him. I can’t wait to eat them once they turn red.
Well there you go. That’s an update on my plants. How are your plants doing?
Grief and Mercy 