Sunflowers 101

I absolutely love sunflowers! They are so pretty and happy! I'm attempting to grow some and I am super pumped. These ones are the super gigantic sunflower. If they were in the perfect environment, they would grow up to 16 ft tall with a 10 in diameter for the bloom. That's huge! When I'm at work I sometimes think, "my sunflowers could be taller than the ceiling!" And if all goes well, I will have blooms by the end of April.

I have 12 seeds that I'm trying to sprout right now. I began my little project on February 12th and I already have 3 pretty little sprouts! (Keep scrolling for the progression!) And more are growing. They probably won't reach their full potential because I'm only going to be keeping them in a smaller pot. One day, I would like to have a field of sunflowers and daisies, and of course strawberries everywhere!



I am really enjoying this whole gardening thing. (One of my new found hobbies) It's so fun! And so far my thumb is green. :)

So sunflowers, like its name, need sun. They follow the sun and thrive in full sunlight. They take about 2-3 weeks to germinate and they take 65-75 days to bloom. Another great thing about sunflowers is their seeds! You can harvest them to roast and eat, or use them to plant some more. I'd prefer to just use the seeds to plant some more! In the Phoenix Valley, the best time to plant sunflowers are in-between the months of February-July. The approximate harvest time is 90-100 days, but that also really depends on when the back of the sunflower starts yellowing. (A good sign its about time to cut the flower for harvest) Also, if you are planting them in a garden, some good companies to the wonderful sunflowers are cucumbers, corn, peppers, tomatoes, and soybeans.

This is the little greenhouse I got for my flowers. Just add water! 

See? Ta da! Ready to plant!

2/20/15 Already have some seed activity and only after one week!

2/22/15 The first sunflower is about to fully pop out! 

2/23/15 And one day later, we have a seedling! See the disruption in soil in the second one from the top left?

2/24/15 This is right before I replanted it because the big one was toughing the top of the greenhouse.

2/26/15 Ta da! Look at that?! Four more!

2/27/15 This is the three that are newly planted. Nine more to go! (they are happily under my new grow light!)

I can't wait to see what they look like in a couple weeks! And then in another month! Especially now that I bought a grow light for them, they should have great progress. :) Can't wait for pretty flowers. I also can't wait for the progress on all my other plants! Hooray for springtime!!

Stay tuned for more updates! And check out my instagram for more current updates!

Orchid 101

I love orchids. They are so pretty! One catch... they can be pretty difficult to keep alive. I would know, because I pretty much killed mine and have since been bringing it back to life

Somewhere around March or April of 2014, Scott bought me an orchid! I wish I had a picture, but I guess I forgot to take one... I think I had it at my parents house while we went to New York for the summer, and it pretty much died. At one point it had WAY too much sunlight. (I used to think sun was good, but its bad. However, sunlight is good.) After coming back, I have been determined to nurse it back to life! And reviving it has been quite a process. Orchids are such picky plants. Direct sunlight and the leaves will burn. Too much water and they will rot. Dry air is bad. Not enough airflow is bad. Normal soil is bad... I have my orchid on my windowsill in the kitchen right now and it seems to be doing quite well. You can see in the pictures below!

My first task with this plant was repotting. There were these teeny tiny little bugs in the bark and bugs are never good... So repotting was a must! I used this website for some assistance. The first step is to determine if it needs to be repotted. Bugs should also be on the list because bugs eat roots, which is bad! I also didn't soak my orchid potting mix overnight...just for a couple hours maybe...and I did strain it because you just want mainly the bigger pieces of park and straining/rinsing will help with getting rid of any possible bugs hanging out in the potting mixture!

I think I did fairly okay with my repotting since the orchid is growing a new root!! (New roots come from between the leaves and will grow down. Flower spikes come from the leave and grow up. Also, flower spikes are usually green, not purple like my new root. More about that here or here) My orchid had some pretty nice leaves, and one stunted leaf. Maybe I'll get lucky and there will be a new flower spike in the near future!

Anywho, check out my orchid progression photos. I included the dates of the pictures as well. :) 

Orchid as of 10/09/2014

Orchid as of 10/22/2014

Orchid as of 2/03/2015

Orchid as of 2/11/2015
Repotting

Those roots look so sad! 

Pretty new pot! 

Orchid as of 2/12/2015
New growth! 

Orchid as of 2/21/2015
Do you see that beautiful new root growth?!

Orchid as of 2/21/15

It is just looking so beautiful! I'm excited to see how this thing looks in a few months from now. Stay tuned since I'll probably update again eventually.

Also, be sure to check out my instagram for current updates.

Cheers!

Gardening 101

If you follow my instagram, you may have seen my attempts at growing an avocado tree from a seed, reviving my orchid and trying to grow a baby pineapple into a plant to get another pineapple. It is now time to officially test out how green my thumb is! I went to Home Depot the other day. I was pretty stoked and bought some things to grow and plant, replant, etc.

Here are the things I got at Home Depot:

1. Kellogg Patio Plus (1.5 cubic FT): $5.97 
• There are a lot of different soils out there that will work fine. The gentleman in the gardening department suggested this particular one to me. You get a LOT for a little. He also said that this soil is good for both flowers and fruit/vegetable plants. Win - win
2. Vitamin B-1: $5.98 
• This helps stimulate root growth and helps prevent shock. It's a really great deal as well. For each use, you only use 2 Tbsp's that will be added to a gallon of water. It will basically last a long while. I got it mainly for my strawberry plant (I'll go into it a little more in that post)
3. Miracle Grow Orchid Potting Mix: $4.77 
4. Jiffy 12 Peat Pellet Greenhouse 
• This helps grow seedlings before planting to a larger pot
5. #3 Black Nursery Container (the bigger one): $3.57
6. 8" Newbury Plastic Planter: $2.67
7. 5.5" Glazed Clay Pedestal Bowl: $6.98
8. Strawberry plant (2 little bushes): $3.68
9. Sunflower Seeds (American Giant): $1.58

Here are my to do's for my mini gardening:

1. Replant orchid
2. Plant avocado seed (it has been growing roots from sitting in water)
3. Plant pineapple plant (it also has been growing roots from sitting in water)
4. Pot my strawberry plant
5. Plant my sunflower seeds in the little seedling starter
6. Grow an orange tree from a seed

Since I have so many different plants that I'm attempting or working with, I'll be updating them individually. (I don't really want the posts to be ridiculously long...and I'm sure you don't either.) For my gardening to do list, I will be linking the initial post for each one (once I have posted it) to each number on the list. So stay tuned!

Also, feel free to check out the Gardening tab at the top of the blog to keep updated with everything I've been doing in reference to gardening and planting.  

Come with me on my gardening journey and maybe you will decide to plant some things too!

Cheers!

Weekly Ranting

Recently, I read the most ridiculous thing ever, at least the most ridiculous in the last week... So on facebook, your friends occasionally—or a little more often that you'd like—share or "like" different little buzzfeed stories or something along this nature. I occasionally will read the ones with the lists, mainly out of curiosity. This particular one was 12 Things No Woman Should EVER Do in Front of Her Husband. Naturally this sparked my curiosity because I am married and I was interested to know what this lady thinks I shouldn't be doing in front of my hubby.

Oh my goodness, this was so silly! So after the first couple of them, I didn't even read her reasonings, I was just dying to know what else she didn't think was okay. And apparently after 10 years of marriage, she didn't do any of these twelve things, which I think is CRAZY honestly. Showering, urinating, have babies, laugh until soda came out of your nose, and sleeping are all okay to do in front of your spouse, but here is a list of things that a woman should never EVER do...

1. Be sick to your stomach (the number 2 kind of way)
Okay, what? It's not like anyone would have a choice on this matter, right? Besides, if I wasn't feeling well, I wouldn't hide this from my husband. I wouldn't appreciate him knowing so if I were to need anything, he would be able help. Obviously I wouldn't make him stay in the bathroom with me... unless he really wanted to. lol

2. Pick your nose
Stupid. Just stupid. I won't pick my nose in public with people watching, but I'll totally do it in front of my hubby. No shame.

3. Clip your toenails
This is also stupid. There is nothing wrong or gross about clipping your toe nails or any nails. I'm pretty sure I've clipped Scott's nails once or twice. But it's only gross if you leave your clippings everywhere.

4. Pick a wedgie 
Really??

5. Floss your teeth
Also stupid.

6. Shave your face (for exfoliating or for removing hair)
She thinks you should NEVER let your husband see you do this. Personally, I think shaving your face as an exfoliant is kind of weird. If you have hair on your face, so what? You shouldn't have to hide it from your spouse who is supposed to love you for everything that you are, flaws and all.

7. Pop your pimples
Stupid. I bet there are a lot of couple that assist each other on this one. Sometimes there are hard to reach ones and what's better than to ask your trusty sidekick to help?

8. Belch
I'm sure this would be annoying for anyone if it someone did it ALL the time. But still, I think it's stupid.

9. Remove any kind of hair
Stupid.

10. Poop
Stupid. What, are you ashamed? It's your spouse. No big deal.

11. Drive badly
Also stupid. It's not like people drive badly on purpose. (unless you are naturally a really bad driver) Besides, I don't see how this is really that big of a deal.

12. Criticize his "manhood"
This really is just stupid because why would anyone do this anyway? This is a no brainer.

SERIOUSLY? Stupid. I was under the impression that when you get married to your eternal companion, you can be 100% yourself and 100% comfortable with them. I don't think there should ever be anything you can't do with your spouse. I mean, I must be a terrible wife if we've only been married for a year and we have both probably done these things multiple times (not including number 12). You shouldn't feel the need to be ashamed or embarrassed to do anything in front of your spouse.

I love my hubby for all that he is and I'm sure he loves me for all that I am. What would life be if we couldn't have someone to be silly, gross, comfortable, goofy, and everything else with, right? That's one great thing about marriage! Total comfortability. No shame.

Anyway, don't listen to this silly list of nonsense. You definitely may need to hold off on most all of these things, and then some, when you are dating, but once married, who cares! :) Your hubby should love you no matter what! Flaws and all. <3

Anyway, that's my rant for the week.

Cheers!

Easy Garlic Chicken

Hello! It's time to share one of my favorite chicken recipes! Garlic Chicken! I found it awhile ago over on food.com. (We also had it for dinner over the weekend.) It's really easy (I promise) and there are only four ingredients! Prep time is about 10 minutes and cook time is about 20-30 minutes, depending on how thick the chicken is. I would suggest pairing it with some butter noodles or something similar. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (I have a jar of pre minced garlic. It's super convenient)
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• additional herbs and spices, as desired. 

Directions!

1. Preheat oven to 450°F, line a baking dish or cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil. (I wouldn't suggest a cookie sheet. Mine always comes out fairly juicy!)
2. In a small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender. 
3. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar. Add additional herbs and spices as desired. 
4. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place breasts in prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture. (It may be helpful to prepare the chicken in the dish first, and then sauté the garlic)
5. Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes, or until juices run clear. (I honestly don't know what this means... But I normally take it out at the earliest end time, cut the thickest part of chicken to see if it's done or not and either take it out, or put it back in the oven for a little longer.) Of course, cooking times depend on the thickness of your chicken. I personally don't like my chicken super thick, so I always cut it in half.

Voila! That's it. Fairly simple and painless. This time when I made it, I cut up some onion that I was going to place on the bottom of the chicken (so it could absorb the juices) but I forgot. So I placed them onto instead. Also, the next time I do this recipe, I'm going to see how it goes in a crockpot! 

This was just before I put it in the oven

That's actually 4 chicken breasts that I cut in half :)

If you can't tell.. I used a LOT of garlic. Yum!