New Format Tips and Tricks
Chi
9 years ago
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dees_1
9 years agoravencajun Zone 8b TX
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Mesquite bean/pod cleanup - tips or tricks?
Comments (22)I know this post is old but I am new to the forum and rooting around for tips and tricks myself for various things so I thought I'd chime in. We just spent the ENTIRE morning raking and hand picking mesquite seed pods up off the ground in our front yard. Now my husband is attempting to get the rest with our leaf blower. I am with the fellow who first responded - I should have just spent five minutes every day picking up what dropped. I would love to have spent my Saturday morning doing something else! Love the shade the tree provides my yard and home here in Phoenix though. Oh, and we also have a mesquite AND palo verde that some previous owner thought would be awesome to plant by our pool. Ugh......See MoreTips, tricks and lessons you have learned
Comments (31)I enjoyed re-reading all of these. I have a couple more tips. If you don't have a full 8 hours of full sun, but do have 4-6, and you want tomatoes, plant them anyway. Your yields won't be as good, but I've found this year that if you prune the plants, you will get a decent number of large tomatoes. I'm not preserving my tomatoes in any way, so this only applies if you want a few tomatoes to eat. There are a lot of lovely veggies and edible plants that will grow in partial shade, so do your research and you can still grow veggies and edibles without a full-sun spot. Eat your sweet potato leaves. They are yummy. The tender tips are good raw and the older ones cook up well. The tubers will still form, even if you use some of the leaves. Most ornamental sweet potatoes don't have edible leaves (they taste horrible). I use regular sweet potatoes as ground cover just so I can eat the leaves. I never dig the ones in the ornamental beds, and they come back every year, providing ground cover, food, and a never-ending supply of slips for the edible beds. If you have earthworms, cultivate them by giving them lots of organic matter to eat. If you don't have earthworms, get some. They are nature's little fertilizer factories. You can buy red wigglers from just about any bait shop, or go out into the woods early in the morning and dig some up. They are abundant here in FL. Grow flowers! Even in veggie beds, they attract pollinators and better than that, they feed your soul. That's all. Lots to do today since we're having what I hope is our last freeze tomorrow....See MoreAny tips tricks or advice for using a TT convection oven?
Comments (3)Everything I've read about convection ovens suggests adjusting either the temperature or cooking time. Lower the temperature by 25 degrees and bake the regular amount of time -OR- keep the temperature the same, but start checking your food about 3/4 through the regular cooking time. I have a convection oven and it automatically reduces the temperature by 25 degrees, so that might be an easier way to go. Either way, I'd check the quiche at least 15 minutes before it's supposed to be cooked, just to avoid overcooking....See MoreHelpful hints, tips and tricks/crochet
Comments (3)You cut a hole near the top of the bottle so you can insert your yarn and then string the end through the neck of the bottle. A yarn holder is great if you have cats or a dirty area where you will be crocheting and you want to protect your yarn, such as taking the project with you to the Little League game. I took a little zipper case that came with some free sample cosmetics at the department store to use for my needlework supply storage. I keep scissors, a 6 inch ruler, a small tape measure, safety pins for marking, a row counter, yarn needle, crochet hooks, and a few knitting things in it. Then I have everything in one place to use when I settle down to knit or crochet. Be sure to save left overs in their original sleeves, and tape them together tighter to keep them secure so that you can buy more of the same yarn and know what it is if you ever want to use the scraps in another project. If you use acrylic yarn, look for No Dye Lot yarns that will let you buy perfectly matching yarn months or years later. I like to make a copy of the page from the pattern book using the scanner on the computer. If the print is small, I enlarge it. Then I can put away the pattern book to keep it nice and mark up the copy as I need to. You can mark the row in the pattern with a Post-it note or even buy a special place marker set of a metal sheet and magnets. Some beginners like to put a bobby pin or safety pin through the first and last stitch to be sure they crochet all the way to the end....See MoreDoug Durando
9 years agoravencajun Zone 8b TX
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDoug Durando
9 years agoChemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
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9 years agoDoug Durando
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9 years agoChemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
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9 years agoasm198 - Zone 6a (MO)
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9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoAmazing Aunt Audrey
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