Giveaway Roundup!

Healthy Wealthy Moms Cookie Melts giveaway
Busy Mommy Media Britax Stroller Giveaway
Mommies with Cents General Mills & Target Giftcard Giveaway
Did You See That? Celtic Woman Songs from the Heart giveaway
Leslie Loves Veggies Willow Book giveaway
Mommy Kat & Kids Sunny & Chic Boutique headband giveaway
Leslie Loves Veggies Reading Glasses Shopper Giveaway
Wedsmack Chanel tattoo giveaway
Visart Pendant giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls K Geddes St. Patricks bracelet giveaway
Leslie loves veggies Pillsbury Sweet Roll giveaways
Blog Enterprises Joy of Soap giveaway
Mom wear your Teas & Golden Moon Teas online giveaway
The Online Nanny Diaries Penelopes Porch necklace giveaway
Leslie Loves Veggies Flirty Girl Tees Giveaway
Mahayla’s Mommy Kidorable Giveaway
Zoey’s Closet Custom Hospital Gown Giveaway
Salad for Breakfast Tracy Designs giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Wilton Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Giggle Baby Designs Giveaway
Maternal Maddness Uprinting Labels giveaway
My Four Monkeys Oopsy giveaway
Budget Saving Mom Home Depot giftcard giveaway
Piece of Me Pawparazzi Pets Giveaway
Mommy Has to Work Re Usies Giveaway
Mommy Has to Work Ecojot Giveaway
Mahayla’s Mommy Pillow Pets Giveaway
The Art of Random Willy-nillyness Crisco Olive Oil giveaway
The Sweet Life First Act Guitar Giveaway

A VERY Handy tool!

In all of the reading I've done lately I keep on coming back to space as an issue. One of the way many people combat this issue is square foot gardening. A concept developed by Mel Bartholomew and written about in his book (don't forget to check amazon!) and website. The basic idea behind square foot gardening is to use raised 4' x 4' beds that are broken into 12"x 12" squares. Each 12" x 12" square can contain a certain number of plants. For example one 12" x 12" square can contain: 9 beet plants or 1 brussel sprout plant or 1 cabbage plant or 4 head lettuce or 16 leaf lettuce. The list goes on and on.

Raised beds themselves have a lot of advantages. The soil warms up much faster being the biggest. The fact that raised beds can be at various heights to accomodate gardens of all ages and physical abilities. All in all square foot gardening in raised beds seems to be a gardens best chance of high yields. Just one big thing to remember when constructing your raised bed- put some time into researching what wood you use to construct them. You want a wood that is strong & rot resistant but IS NOT chemically treated (c'mon do you really want one more chemical around your food?)

Now onto the VERY Handy tool part! Go to www.gardeners.com Hello! There are several pre-planned garden plans (Salad Bar, Kids Garden, Plant it and forget it and High Yield to name a few) to look at if that is your deal or if you like the planning aspect they have a wonderful tool that helps you with that. Really I can't talk up this plan your own device enough. You enter your available space and click on what crops you want to plant. It tells you how many can be planted in each 12" x 12" square. I don't think it could be any easier! Then if you've been doing some reading on succession planting and/ or multiple season planting you can add that into this mix.

Happy Gardening!

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter

So, does anyone have one of these? I was so excited to see them for $9.99 at my locals Walgreens. Much more in my price range than the previously seen prices of $20 or $30. I bought a few and thought that I'd grow my grape & cherry tomatoes in them. Well, I did a bit of research and guess what I plan on returning??? Please let me know what good and bad experiences you've had with a Topsy Turvy planter. Thanks!

My new Gardening "Bible"

So last year was my first attempt at gardening. In terms of produce harvested the garden was a dismal failure :( Part of this is because I had NO idea what I was doing! I just forged ahead and hoped for the best. I can say that it was a smashing success in terms of being a learning lesson! Oh, before I forget our tomatoes were beyond successful and we had tomatoes coming out of our ears! So I decided to use this past winter as a time to learn about gardening. I hunkered down and read a lot of books & spent a fair amount of time online. There are 2 books that were so incredibly helpful and full of information. Today I'm going to share the first with you. Crockett's Victory Garden

Amazon has several copies of this book available starting at $4.49. Now I must tell you this book was first published in 1977. Please don't let that fact that its old dissuade you from getting this book. The information by no means is dated! The book is written as a month by month guide and every month is further broken down into various crops. I loved this because it was very easy to make a gardening calendar and start a garden notebook. (Another really useful tool! Google Garden Notebook for ideas & worksheets!)

On my next post I'll share another very valuable book in setting up my garden!

Giveaway Roundup!

I've been checking through the blogosphere for great giveaways & found some great ones for y'all to check out! Have fun entering!


The Freebie Spot is giving away a $50 giftcard
Babies Gotta Have It Aden + Anais Sleep Sack Giveaway
Glimpse Reviews Jinja Ninja Giveaway
Glimpse Reviews “Fill Your Own” Water Bottle Giveaway
Glimpse Reviews Nova Nature Toy Giveaway
Coffee Mugs and Sippy Cups Boutique Hat Giveaway
Moms by Heart.net Artisan Bread & Extras Giveaway
Real Heart Prints Rainbow Brite CD Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls EasyLunchBoxes.com Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Aquabling giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Addison Lynn Desings Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Sticheroos Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Mayfair Lane Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Affordable Scarves giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Trendy Tadpole Giveaway
Frugal Mommy of 2 girls Kidz Gear Headphones Giveaway
The Not So Blog Me & My Feet Giveaway
The Not So Blog Caress Evenly Gorgeous Giveaway
Moms Wear Your Tees $40 Kangaroodle Gift Certificate
Fertility Authority VitaClay Rice and Slow Cooker Giveaway
A Wrestling Addicted Mommy Curious George 2 Soundtrack
The Girl is a Mom Mustela Giveaway
The Girl is a Mom Bummas Giveaway
Thanks Mail Carrier Great Big Outdoor Playball Giveaway with HearthSong (Make sure you get the Thanks Mail Carrier link for this one!)