TXBeth
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Posts posted by TXBeth
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Thanks everyone! I knew the hive would be able to help me out with this!
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1 hour ago, Lori D. said:
If it were me, I'd give:
- tool kit (minimum of trowel, gardening fork, pruning shears in a tote or bucket)
- watering can
- book on gardening
- seed packets
- "coupon" for going to Lowes / Home Depot / plant nursery in the spring to get:
* a few seedlings of her choice
* bags of gardening soil
* and either a gardening square or container, or blocks (like Kung Fu Panda's photos above)
_____________________For your general information about gardening or starting a garden, and some ideas:
For beginning gardening a plot outside, you'll need:
- a shovel to dig up/turn soil (hopefully your family already has one, as that's not a very exciting gift)
- hand trowel
- pruning shears
- watering can
- garden square or container (most successful way to start, as it reduces weeds and you fill with good, loose soil)
- bags of compost / gardening soil (to fill the garden square)
- possibly a tomato cage or trellis (if growing vining plants, for support)Very nice to have:
- a tote or bucket or garden tool box with carry handle for the tools (I've seen aprons with pockets for the tools, and while they're super cute, they are NOT easy to work in)
- a pad for kneeling or sitting on (they have folding stools, but kids don't tend to need those, and a pad is more versatile)
- put her name in for receiving a free seed company catalog in the mail -- Johnny's is a good oneTOOLS
Tote & Tool Set ($31) -- this has all the tools for starting off (except a shovel) -- trowels, gardening forks, pruning shears -- + pad for kneeling or sitting -- and the shape and quality of the tools looks sturdy and durable; go for a solid adult set that will last her and skip the cheap plastic kid gardening sets
BOOKS
Square Foot Gardening With Kids (Bartholomew)
Gardening Lab for Kids (Brown)
300 Step-by-Step Cooking & Gardening Projects for Kids (McDougal) -- this is very nice as it also includes recipes for cooking what you grow
PLANT SUGGESTIONS
seed packets
for seeds, plant just the few you need, then fold the open packet end over several times, seal in a small ziplock bag, seal all of those in a gallon-size ziplock bag, and store in a dry spot in the back of the refrigerator; this keeps the seeds viable for several years for use as needed
- sunflowers -- SO fun! get a variety that gets tall AND then have fun drying and eating the seeds! (see this short article for varieties)
- marigolds -- fast growers, long blooming season, and marigolds help repel aphids
- nasturtium -- plant in a pot near your garden; get a variety with edible flowers and put in a salad; they have a tangy peppery taste
- radishes -- fast growers -- seed to harvest in just 4-5 weeks
- snow peas -- fast growers, and can eat them pod and all; great in salads or straight out of the garden
- pumpkins -- fun, but they take over the yard with vines, just as a heads-up, and they may or may not produce for you after a long growing season
seedlings in the spring from Home Depot or plant nursery
- cherry tomatoes -- yellow pear cherry tomato variety works well in our area and is something fun/different
- greens: spinach, romaine, red leaf lettuce -- snip a few leaves for a salad every few days, and let the plants keep growing until the heat comes
- herbs -- mint, rosemary, chives, sage, oregano, thyme -- these all work well in the cheap clay pots, and keep going year-round, plus you can snip and dry them
potentially tricky plants
- corn -- you need to plant at least a 4'x4' square of it to get good cross-pollination, and depending on where you live, you may end up finding ear worms have eaten a lot of the kernels (and are a living squirmy surprise when you harvest and shuck the corn for
- zucchini -- this can be incredibly prolific and overrun your garden plot with huge growth; it can either overwhelm you with zucchinis, or they can all wither when they get about as long and thick as your fingerETA:
I just noticed your board name indicates that you may be in TX. If that is the case, you may need to adjust when you plant to fit better with your climate. (My growing season for some things has to be shifted by 6 months for many things due to the climate in my area.) Check out this TX Vegetable Growing Calendar.And if you are in zone 8-9, where it is hot for a long time, you may be able to grow things like chile peppers, but struggle to grow regular-sized tomatoes. Getting DD connected with a local gardening group will help her find out what plants -- and what *varieties* of plants -- work well in your area, and they can pass on tips about how to deal with climate, insect pests, animals that want to munch your garden, etc.
ETA #2:
And finally, if going for a garden square or the concrete blocks, you really need to dig down about a foot where you will have the garden to remove lawn, weeds, etc, and to turn and loosen the remaining soil.When I did the concrete block method last year in my yard, I actually dug down about 18 inches, cleared out all the soil, and stacked 2 layers of blocks, so the bottom layer was about 1/2 to 2/3 below the ground level. Then I mixed some of the original soil back in with multiple bags of purchased compost and gardening soil to ensure a good deep bed for the plant roots, and to reduce weed invasion. Yes, that is a lot of work, BUT having a good foundation is crucial to having a successful garden.
If that's too much work or won't fit in your yard, then get the big (at least 22" diameter) garden barrels, or patio containers like Annie G. uses above, and go with container gardening.
oh my goodness, thank you so much for taking the time to craft this response. Yes we are in the DFW area, which I just found out is zone 8a. This all gives me a great starting point to figure out how to get her started!
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DD9 is very interested in plants and desperately wants a garden of her own to grow veggies and such. Several of my prep bowls are sitting in our window sill to hold her plants. She is growing an onion (from a bit she rescued that had sprouted), a basil plant we got from the grocery store, a couple random weeds she transplanted from the yard, and now am amarillys we just got her from Aldi.
I am decidedly NOT a gardener. I regularly buy basil plants and never keep them alive past the first time we harvest some. Flowers die no matter how much I try to follow the instructions.
Anyway, all that to say we would like to give DD9 a Christmas gift of whatever supplies she needs to start a container garden or square foot garden or something in the backyard. Maybe to start in the spring, or maybe she could plant some kind of winter flowers and then trade out for veggies in the spring?
Any ideas? Suggestions? Should we get little boxes or build a wooden frame of some sort? What kind of plants do you reccomend for a beginner? Tools? fertilizer or special soil?
Thanks in advance for any help!
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I chose mine. We knew we were headed toward marriage and I knew he would choose something I didn't like. I hate big rings; they get in the way and scratch people. It took me a long time to fin what I wanted and I knew immediately it was the one. Tiny but complex rather than a plain band. The wedding band just added an extra little line around the side and is now attached.
I would post a picture but i can't figure out how to make the file small enough on my phone.
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The law that was linked very clearly only applies to a dwelling, residence, or vehicle. It would not apply in this case.
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I thought it used to be that department stores would give you a free makeover to help you choose good colors, etc. in hopes that you would end up buying some makeup there. Do they still do that? Does anywhere? I'm hoping to take my young teen somewhere that would do a nice classy makeover and sell me some decent-but-not-horribly-expensive makeup basics for her.
Any recommendations? My sister suggested Ulta, but they charge $30 for a "makeup lesson." If that's the only option, I might need to just find a friend with a lot of makeup to experiment with lol.
I could teach her how to do it myself, but I just don't have much makeup to play with and try colors, plus she is much fairer skinned than I am.
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DD12 just started swimming on a team this summer, and she is in the middle of puberty. I have always told her she could start shaving whenever she wanted but that I recommend waiting as long as possible lol. She has decided she wants to start as she is getting self conscious about it and others her age are shaving. That's no problem and I am going to get her a razor and help her learn how to shave her legs and underarms.
However...she is also concerned about her bikini area as hair is visible on the sides of the high-cut racing suits. What do your swimmers use? Shaving there is so susceptible to razor burn, but she is opposed to the idea of waxing, and I had heard that Nair, etc. weren't supposed to be used in the bikini area. I am an au natural type girl so I have no relevant experience.
I'd love any suggestions as I want her to feel comfortable and confident!
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I don' think there is any benefit to doing the blood test now because as others said, she will have to test every year anyway.
In regards to the vaccine, it leaves a very obvious scar so it should be easy to tell if she got it or not.
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:( no cable so we had to watch downhill skiing instead of figure skating. I only got to see 2 skaters before the slopes took over. :(
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Yeah we took our van in today to replace the bushing on the rear shocks because it was falling apart and making noise. Turns out besides needing an oil change, we also need new tires (one is good enough to keep as a spare, the rest are totally bald), a brake job, spark plugs changed, an open CV joint taken care of, and probably a new timing belt.
And this is a trusted mechanic and friend who always lets us know when things are needed and when they are not.
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LOL.....a dust mop is far from an industrial cleaning supply. I have the exact one in my house.
And yes if you sit at a desk and let the trash over flow to the floor you are lazy.
I got stuck on this comment. You use a dust mop at home? How big is your house? I have only ever seen them used in gyms.
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We called them blanket sleepers.
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I am lookinh specifically at Qustodio and Norton Family but open to hearing about others.
This is what I want:
1. Content filter to keep a kid frpm accidentally stumbling across porn.
2. Time limits that let you set a curfew (blocked 9pm to 7am) as well as a maximum time per day.
3. The ability to allow calling and texting even when the time limit is reached, up until curfew.
4. The ability to set "parent" or "emergency" contacts that can be called/texted any time no matter what.
Can your parental control app do all that?
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If she is never going to be allowed to invite friends, you will need to either make that clear to the leaders and ask for an exception or pull her out of AWANA. It is not fair to a kid (esp a kid w/autism) to have them in that program and not allow them to invite friends. If they don't invite friends they can't finish their books and receive the awards, they are left out of a lot of drawings and prizes, and they have to stand up to a LOT of pressure from the organization.
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Just a side note to explain this:But the actual answers didn't match. In one sentence, you had "My friend Jane likes..." in the next sentence, you had "her dog, Max, ripped". One had commas offsetting the name, but the other didn't. Maybe they weren't focusing on commas or something, or there's an obscure grammar rule, but it confused my son.
Presumably you have more than one friend, so the appositive Jane is essential to knowing which friend you are talking about, so no commas. On the other hand, she apparently has only one dog, so adding his name is just extra information, a non-essential appositive phrase, thus the commas.
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I'd not gift it in front of the friend for my own selfish reasons. I would want DD to squeal and jump up and down and take the first drive with ME, not friend.
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I learned it as "tender" but looked something up that said it is the same as "gentle." maybe not though. It was about 20 years ago whem my ASL class learned Silent Night.
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Yes that is what it looks like, sometimes with the fingers pointing down. My 3rd grader thinks it means "stupid and non-smart" and that people do it fingers up to boys and fingers down to girls. But that is what she thinks the middle finger means too.
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New rude gesture that wasn't around when I was a kid, but my daughter saw it a lot at school last year and is now getting it from a kid at church. It seems to be a new version of the middle finger by the way it is used, but I'd like to make sure before I talk to his mom. It looks like the ASL sign for "gentle." fingers all bunched together, pointed either up or down (seems interchangeable, may be dependent on the target's gender). Can anyone help me out?
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I think I would buy a board game like Settlers or Ticket to Ride and put both names on it.
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I am not good at probability but I can tell you 16%×12 is actually 1.92% :)
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My daughter's lymphoma was diagnosed by the hematologist we consulted because she was anemic with daily headaches and fatigue. Her ferritin was great, but not her Hg and hematocrit. I'd get a second opinion.
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I would happily let my kids walk to school if we lived close enough, but they will ride a school bus over my dead body.
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I would go into the women's while sending 8-year-old into the men's. We would meet right outside the restrooms. For the 4-year-old it would depend on independence level whether I took him with me or sent him with brother. I would not leave anyone in the car as that is illegal in some states (like TX).
But if I had any choice in the matter I would stop at a truck stop instead of a rest stop. They are usually clean and busy, while most rest stops in my experience are disgusting. Plus you can grab a soda or water bottle if needed.
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Has anyone been to Thailand?
in The Chat Board
Posted
We lived in Chiang Mai for 3 years. I loved it! We had already gotten all the vaccines for our time in Papua New Guinea, but most people we knew who lived there had Hep A vaccines done. They did them in-country though because it is so much cheaper there and the medical care is good.
I don't think I would get them just for a visit, and none of our visitors (parents, friends, sister) got them. I think it would be more of an issue if you were planning on doing village living like in the hilltribes regions.