homestead

HOW TO GROW NASTURTIUM

October 9, 2021 Leave a Comment

Nasturtiums are so gorgeous! They are a great plant to have in the garden. You can start them indoors four-six weeks before your first frost date. Then plant them outdoors after the threat of frost is gone. You can plant them in the landscape, in pots and hanging baskets. What’s even cooler is they are totally edible! Add the foliage and flowers to your salad for a zing!

how to grow nasturtium — Alaska Dwarf Nasturtium

You and easily order seeds online. Once you have a collection of see you can grow from your own stock every year.

Nasturtiums are beautiful trailing over a raised garden bed or covering up a less than pretty space in the garden. They are often used as a sacrificial or trap plant for aphids and squash bugs. Plant them next to your Brassicas and they’ll help keep pests away. If you haven’t started a vegetable garden yet check out my post on how to get started.

Nasturtium’s are not too picky about the type of soil you plant them in so use what you have available. They are forgiving if you forget to water them and they love full sun. They can tolerate part shade but do much better with 6-8 hours of sun.

how to grow nasturtium from seed — Fresh Nasturtium seeds

Be sure to collect and dry seeds for the next growing season! Nasturtiums are heavy seeders and you’ll have plenty to plant or share with friends next year! Nasturtiums grow pretty quickly from seed. Feel free to start them directly in the garden after your first frost date.

Happy Gardening!

Ciearra

How to make a Grape Vine Wreath

September 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

Hey Gardeners!

So finally I had an idea of using the vines for a possible wreath. I dug through Pinterest to figure out the best way to make a wreath. This Grape Vine wreath is perfect for all year round and you can decorate it to your hearts desire.

I have a rogue grape vine in the west side garden that has been a pain in my side to control since moving to this house two years ago. The prior owners didn’t supply it with the proper support so it’s been growing all over everything. I’m constantly cutting it back from my plant babies and it’s extremely annoying.

I decided to use a wreath frame that I already had on hand to get the shape that I wanted. You can get a frame for as low as $1 at dollar tree if you need one.

I used string to hold the vines onto the wreath and to help keep the shape.

Once I was satisfied I set the wreath in an area where it can set / finish drying. I cut fresh vines so I wanted to give them time to dry in place before I decorated my wreath.

You can use what ever you want to decorate your Grape vine wreath. It’s all up to you!

Let me know if you try making a Grapevine wreath of your own

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

How to Dry Oranges for Holiday Decoration

September 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

I love drying Oranges! It makes the house smell like the holidays and I love holidays. I’ve been experimenting with drying citrus for the last few years and I can tell you that it’s super easy and great to have it on hand for all your crafty needs. Now you can dry all citrus so it’s all your preference.

Learn how to dry oranges for holiday decoration — Dry Oranges, Grape Fruit and Lemon Grass

Before getting started you will want to choose what kind of citrus you would like to dry. I’ve dried Oranges, Blood Oranges, Lemons, Limes and Grapefruit. They all dry very well and smell amazing during the process. They also hold up pretty well during the holiday season.

Next, you’ll want to grab yourself a cutting board, sharp knife and your citrus of course. Slice your citrus into 1/4 inch pieces. If you want to dry the end pieces, you absolutely can. If you cut your citrus too thick, it’ll take longer to dry – just a word from the now-wise.

Heat your oven to 200 degrees F. Cook time will be around 2 – 2 1\2 hours checking every half hour to make sure they are properly drying. Now I’m going to give you a few options for where to place your slices. You can put them on a pan with parchment paper. You will want to flip your slices at the half way point. You can lay your slices directly on the rack in the oven and not have to flip them. Or you can put them on a pan that has a rack. Or you can put them in a dehydrator and avoid the oven all together!

I used my dehydrator this year and I loved it; however, it took about 24 hours for them to fully dry. That’s a long time to keep an appliance running, especially unattended while sleeping. Not to mention the fact that my house is super old and so if the electricity… I don’t need a fire happening overnight, you know what I’m saying?

How to Dry Oranges for Holiday Decor. Fall, Thanksgiving, Christmas — Dry Oranges for snacking or decoration

No matter how you are dehydrating your citrus, you will need to keep a close eye on it. In the oven they can burn/ darken quickly. If you like to have a mix of orange or burnt orange like me then that’s great, but the lemons and limes do not look good if you let them go too long so keep an eye out if you decide to dehydrate them.

My last year’s dried oranges are still hanging in my kitchen and window sills. They looked so beautiful I never took them down after the holidays. They are still bright, vibrant and just a tad bit dusty but still going strong. Once your citrus is dried you can use them right away to make holiday decor, or you can store them. I have some in Mason jars and some displayed in wood bowls and both displays look fabulous!

Want to learn how to dry oranges for holiday decor? Dry Oranges — Dried Citrus, Oranges, Lemon Grass. Holiday Decoration

Happy Holidays!

Ciearra

Last week in the Homestead

August 18, 2021 Leave a Comment

Rain, rain go away come again another day! Just kidding I love when it rains the whole week and I can’t get anything done haha. To be honest I’m ok with the rain except for the powdery mildew on all of my squash. The rain has my garden and weeds growing like crazy! Last week was also back to school for us so we were all running around grabbing last minute supplies and clothes. What a crazy week!

Here we can see some severely under pollinated corn haha! It’s still cute because I grew it myself

We were hoping for Cashew to have her kittens last week but she’s still hanging in there!

I have been working hard to keep the garden manageable but with all the rain it’s been tough getting outside to keep things under control

I still can’t believe all of my kiddos are in school. It’s felt so overwhelming getting prepared this week and to see them all leave for the day is kinda sad.

With my new found free time I will be writing more blog posts and filming more video for YouTube so it’s not all bad.

I hope you have a great week!

Happy Gardening

Ciearra

Last Week On the Homestead

July 29, 2021 Leave a Comment

Hey Gardeners!

I don’t know about you guys but keeping everything properly watered has been tough. I don’t like to water in the heat of the day but this week has been hard to get outside before it heats up. We’ve had several nights of deer coming through and eating up our Kale and collards. Thank goodness they are leaving the Hydrangeas alone! Check out our week below!

I scored this Hoya Snowcap from Kroger for $10! It’s been overwatered but I think I can save it!

I made a sifting litter box so that I can switch the cats over to pine litter. Fingers crossed they take to it!

I was able to use my new dehydrator to dry some herbs from the garden.

I think the mason jars I choose are perfect!

I also noticed how much my climbing hydrangea has grown this week! Pretty soon it’ll be taking over the garage.

I did some staking in the cut flower garden / Berry Hill. I’m loving how this space is looking these days.

We found out last week that the stray we took in will be having kittens very soon! We are all very excited and taking guesses on how many she might have.

Me realizing how big everything in the garden has grown

Looking back at some early pictures of the garden this year it’s amazing how fast everything is growing! It’s quite overgrown and kinda hard to keep up with sometimes.

Last week in the garden was great! I’m looking forward to more harvests this week.

Happy Gardening!

Ciearra

Last Week on the Homestead

July 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

Hey Gardeners!

Last week was a hot one! Not only hot but humid as well. We survived by only going outside when needed. I watered either early in the mornings or late in the day. I had several plants show signs of burn and many wilted throughout the day even though I watered them early in the morning. On a milder day I was able to do some weed pulling and planting in the driveway beds. I have severely neglected those beds along with the other beds in the front of the house. We spend so much time in the back garden that I often forget I have things that need attention out front haha.