What are some of your favorite, easy, inexpensive home DIY ideas? :)
9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
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Can we PLZ get some action around here? Your favorite?
Comments (30)Always fun to list faves, though I think the best is the one that's blooming now! My current summer faves: brunfelsia Isola (lactea x americana, I believe, though no one seems to know for sure)is a blooming machine: I should have taken a picture a week ago, over 30 blooms in a 12" pot! It does get mealy bugs in winter, but it can handle a bit of abuse. Aglaia odorata, aka rice flower: mine's now 3 ft. tall, and seems to bloom after putting out new stems. Interestingly, the fragrance was almost the same as a cymbidium sinense orchid that bloomed at the same time -- heaven to your nose! Trachelospermum 'Mandianum', aka asiaticum, aka whatever they're calling it these days: has stayed in the same pot for years, almost a natural bonsai at this point, keeps popping out small yellow flowers with a marvelous, soft fragrance. And you gotta love the way old leaves turn red before dropping, for that two tone effect! And last but not least, now that I've figure out I wasn't watering my MOO enough, it's blooming all summer long! Yellowthumb, brunfelsia in Ontario? Have you checked flora exotica? Enjoy the scents!...See MoreDo-It-Yourself Wall-O-Water
Comments (29)For a couple of years I had a garden spot away from my house, with no water supply available so if I wanted to supplement rainfall I had to haul gallon jugs of water. To make my watering efficient, when I planted my peppers & tomatoes in the spring, I dug down and buried empty gallon plastic jugs, one between each plant. I had poked 4-5 holes in the bottom of each, of course, and left the caps on until later in the summer. Once the weather warmed, and after a good soaking rain, I mulched the beds 4-6" deep with chopped leaves, being sure to cover the tops of the (so far empty and still capped) bottles to protect them from the sun since I had found that the plastic degrades and becomes brittle when exposed to the sun. (In previous years, just cultivating around the bottles inevitably resulted in my breaking the tops off by midsummer.) When the weather reached a point where I actually needed to water, I cleared the mulch away for the moment and poured a gallon of water into each buried bottle. I set the cap loosely back atop each bottle to keep the leaf debris from falling in and clogging the exit holes in the bottom, then pulled the mulch back up to protect the plastic. I did not care about how long it took for the bottle to empty-- it seemed like a gallon or two a week per plant was sufficient, and the best part is that by burying the bottles the water went right down to the root zone where it was most effective. As for using wall-o-waters, since I had gotten some free from a friend, I tried them last year with 3 really early tomato plants I started specifically to experiment with. While they survived a good bit of frosty weather, in the end the plants I had started weeks later and planted out a month after the first ones when the weather had warmed quickly caught up to the wall-o-water ones and all the tomatoes pretty much bloomed & set fruit at the same time & rate. So my conclusion is that it was satisfying to my eager gardener's soul to be out planting early, but it really made no difference in overall plant performance. I have found the same to be true with early plantings of such things as peas and salad crops, too. Early plantings may survive, but later plantings quickly catch up and may even surpass earlier ones that have been stressed by the weather....See MoreYour favorites, quick & easy
Comments (12)Some of my favorite quick and easy dinners. Boiled Potatoes, Mushrooms and Shrimp Boil seasoned water,then dump potatoes in the boiling water first and let cook until almost done, next add shrimp and mushrooms for 7 minutes. Yum! ____________________________________________________________ Chicken Piccata-just like LindaC! ____________________________________________________________ Orzo Summer Salad 1 box orzo pasta 1 large red onion, chopped 1 green pepper; chopped 1 yellow pepper; chopped 1 can artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped 1 container grape tomatoes; halved 1 cup (+ /-) feta cheese; cut into small cubes 1 cup mixed fresh olives; coarsely chopped ½ bottle Paul Newman Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing Cook pasta; rinse with cold water; drain and toss with the salad dressing. Add all other ingredients except feta cheese. Mix well. Then toss in feta cheese. (Adding the feta last helps it to stay white). Serve cold. Better the next day. ____________________________________________________________ Chicken Yummy 4 chicken breast halves 1 c. of chicken broth 2 tbsp. of chopped cilantro 4 oz. of chopped green chilies 1 c. of heavy cream 4 oz. of shredded monterey jack cheese 2 slices bacon 2 cloved of minced garlic Directions 1. First you want to preheat oven to 350°F. 2. Now take a ovenproof skillet, you can now fry the bacon until crisp. 3. Drain on paper towel. 4. Now saute chicken in bacon fat turning only once, till brown. 5. Remove chicken, but you need to keep warm. 6. Then add the chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of skillet, simmer until reduced to half. 7. Now you can put chicken back in skillet. 8. Now add the garlic, cilantro, undrained chilis and cream. 9. This needs to bake uncovered, until chicken is done approx. 30 minutes. Take this out of the oven, Then you need to put oven to broil, sprinkle chicken with cheese, set under broiler until cheese melts and browns. Add the crumbled bacon to chicken. Serve ;-)...See MoreLooking for inexpensive ideas to improve the look of this home
Comments (29)I don't find that house to be ugly. It says small town craftsman's special to me. It's certainly not cookie cutter design, which IMO is ugly. My father grew up in the house his grandfather had built: small, poor layout, but still going strong over a hundred years later. There is more character in that kind of house than in any McMansion with superficial bling. Just be aware that the price is low for a reason. Money will need to be spent on other things before you can pretty it up on the inside or out. Looks like it needs a new roof and definitely gutters, so there's a chunk of change right there. Can you afford a paint job after getting the house waterproofed? Here it is in gray, a blue door, & the awkward shrub cut back:...See More- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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