Tag: diy

Garden bounty!

Over the last few days, we have been harvesting salads, radishes, and herbs from our garden. In this post, you are going to see, that even if you have bad soil, not much sun, nibbling rodents, and more (like us), you can still grow a bountiful garden!

Here is our herb garden:

It does not get full sun and our soil does not drain very well, but look at what we have harvested from it!

And more! This is just one harvest!

(We have containers for most of our plants here to take care of the problem of bad soil. The soil has been loosened where the mint is in the ground.)

As you can see, we even have some lavender plants near this area. On the web, you will see that lavender likes full sun and well drained soil. Lavender plants will do better in full sun and well draining soil, but these plants have neither, and they are still doing fine.

In our mostly greens garden, we made a chicken wire and zip tie cage to protect the plants from animals that will eat them, and tilled the soil to help the plants grow. This space does not get full sun, but it still gave us a good harvest. In the summer heat, lettuce will bolt (when a plant starts to flower and their leaves taste bad) pretty quickly, so in this scenario, the shade might help. There is mostly bok choy (a plant with edible leaves) right now, because we harvested and pulled out the other plants, (they were bolting) and started seeds in the bare spaces.

These places in the garden that I showed you today are not the best spots for gardening, but we still have managed to get a bountiful harvest from them. Here are some of the things we will/have done to maximize our harvests. Firstly, we water our plants everyday, because in the summer/late spring heat, the soil will dry up very quickly. Also, every week or two we will fertilize our plants. This is especially important if you are growing your plants in containers or poor soil. Another thing you can do to get good harvests from your plants is to spray your plants with neem oil. Neem oil is an oil that keeps away or kills many plant bugs.

Keep in mind that many of these plants will do better in full sun and well drained soil if you can plant them in those conditions, but if you don’t have lots of sun or good soil, do not let that keep you from growing a garden! Bye now!

Home grown beans! (Grown in a partially shaded area!)

How to propagate succulents! Succulent series #2

Hi guys! Today I am going to show you how you can multiply the number of succulent plants you have for free! This is also a good option if your succulents are looking old and a bit worse for wear. Let’s get started!

First you need to find out what type of a succulent you have. Some succulents have seeds, and some don’t and instead reproduce through fallen leaves! There are even succulents that don’t produce seeds till you take off their leaf! So here is how you can find out witch type of succulent you have.

Look at your plant. If it has little seeds forming on the tips of its leaves, it is a seed propagating plant.

If it does not and it just has leaves and a stem, it is most likely a leaf propagating plant. You can also check the base of the plant and see if there are any roots where a leaf might have fallen off.

Now you actually need to propagate your plant. For a seed reproducing succulent, all you have to do is when you see little roots on the seed, take it off the mother plant and just place it on the surface of the soil. It will do the rest.

For a leaf propagating succulent, it is a bit more complicated. First you need to take off a fully grown leaf. To do this, gently secure the stem of the succulent with one hand, while the other hand just gently grabs the leaf, and takes it off. It should come off relatively easily.

Then, let it sit and callous over for a few days. This way the edge of the leaf is sealed. After a few days, all you have to do is get a pot of soil and place the leaf on top of it. You can also do this when there are some roots and/or a mini plant on the edge of the leaf.

That’s it for today’s post! I hope you enjoyed it! Please check out our other posts! Bye!

How to save free seeds from your garden!


Hi guys! This post is #1 of a series for how to save seeds. This one is all about harvesting your seeds and setting them up for storage. Let’s get started.

First you want to chose your plant to take seeds from. If you are worried about cross pollination, (cross pollination is when a pollinator bees, wasps, etc. pollinate one type of a plant and then a different type of the same plant, that fruit is basically a combo of the two types of plants. Remember, you can always search this up) then take seeds from a plant that is far away from another plant like it but not the same.

Second, there are two main types of plants, hybrid and heirloom. The difference between the two is that when you save seeds from a hybrid plant, when you grow the seeds next year, the produce is a little bit different (in a bad way usually) and every tine you keep on saving seeds from a hybrid plant, the produce gets worse and worse. Heirloom plants on the other hand, when you save seeds from them, the seeds (not counting cross pollination) are basically the same produce as the other plant. This principle is usually used for tomato plants, and you can find out whether they are a heirloom or hybrid by looking at the tag, the seed packet, or by searching it up.

Another factor to saving seeds is the dryness/wetness. If it has been raining a lot recently, then you should let the seed pod/seeds dry a bit before you store them. If they are already dry, still let sit for a day or two just to be safe. You don’t want your seeds to rot in storage!

That’s it for today’s post! This post was all about setting up for saving and storing our seeds. In our next post, we will talk about how to do exactly that.

Bye! Please check out our 33 other painstakingly written posts!

How to prune mint. Pruning the mason jar herb garden!

Hi guys! Today we are going prune our mint and chives in the mason jar herb garden!

let’s start with our mint! Trimming mint is like trimming basil. You cut the stem at a leaf node so that your plant will get more bushy and put out more new growth.
Check out my post about pruning basil here: https://tigershakti.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/how-to-prune-basil/

Here is what a leaf node looks like on a mint plant:

Sometimes when your mint stem gets pretty thick, you will start to see little branches coming out of the leaf node before you even cut the stem!

Because mint grows so aggressively, you can cut your plant pretty low on the stem. Here is how I pruned my mint:

Remember, cut the stem right above a set of leaves!(a leaf node)

Here is a mint stem that I cut in another tutorial. See how the one stem branches off into two at the leaf node? That is what we are going for. Nice and bushy growth!

That is how you prune mint!
Here is the plant before and after:

Like we did here, you can still cut mint back pretty aggressively and your plant will grow back stronger then ever.

For the chives all I am going to do is to give them a little haircut so they keep growing.

Before we rap up this post I want to say that when you first start your mason jar herb garden, it will take a little while for it to start producing a usable amount of herbs. So that is all the more reason to start your own mason jar herb garden right now! Make sure you check out my other mason jar herb garden posts!

That is it for today’s post! I hope you enjoyed it! See u guys on my next post! Bye!

How to propagate a tomato branch to get another tomato plant!

Hi guys! Today I am going to show you how you can take a broken tomato branch, (or sucker) and turn it into a new plant! Let’s get started!

First you need your branch. Mine is a bit big, but you can definitely use a smaller branch.

Next we need to prepare our branch. To do this, all you need to do is to snip off the lower leaves on your tomato plant. Also, if there are any flowers, gently remove them. This way your branch will focus on making roots instead of making one last batch of flowers.

Once you’re done that, you need to get a container that can hold water and that is big enough for your branch. Fill it up with tap water.

Now, put your branch in your container with water.

Also, as an experiment, I am also going to try propagating some large tomato leaves.

All that’s left to do is to put your branch in a mostly sunny area, (it they are in super intense light, it can shock them) and if your container is clear, cover it’s sides with a paper towel to minimize the amount of sunlight that hits the water. (To much sunlight in the water can encourage algae to grow.

That’s it for today’s post! I hope you enjoyed it! I will be posting updates on the tomato branches! Bye!

How to grow mason jar herb garden!

Hi guys! Today I am going to start a series about growing a garden indoors for people who don’t have an outdoor garden and/or for anyone who wants to grow a garden indoors. Let’s get started!

The first step to grow herbs in mason jars it to (obviously) get a mason jar. Your mason jar could be anything from a cleaned jam or salsa jar, to a store bought jar. I like to use recycled jam, salsa, etc. for growing my herbs inside.

Next, we need some soil and drainage material. The drainage material helps to hold the excess water from the plant‘s soil so the roots do not rot. Drainage material can be rocks, shells, or broken terra-cotta pieces. When you get your soil, it’s important to buy potting mix because if you just get it from outside, it can have bugs, other seeds, and more things you don’t want in your mason jar herb garden. To fill your mason jar, place your drainage material on the bottom to about 1/2 to 1 inch high.

Then, take your potting mix and fill your jar till the soil level is around where the cap screws on.


After your mason jar is filled, chose the type of herb seeds you want and plant them according to the packet they came in. Plus, don’t forget to label your jar so you know what is inside it!

After you plant your seeds, gently water them and place your mason jar in a sunny area. Most herbs like full sun, which it 6+ hours of sun. Depending on how big your mason jar is, you should water your plant every other day to every day.

Thanks for reading today’s post! Keep a lookout for an update on my herbs, and my next post. See you then!

How to set up a watercolor pallet! (Part 2)

Hey guys! I am going to try a new posting schedule – every Friday and Monday. Plus if I have the time, I might add extra posts in the middle. Now let’s get started!

It’s time to finish setting up our watercolor pallet! Today we are going to label our colors and make a color reference. Labeling your colors makes everything easier because that way it’s easy to match your colors to your color chart. Plus, the color chart is important because when the watercolors in your pallet are dry, they tend to not look the same when they are painted on paper.

First, let’s start by labeling our pans. I used a piece of washi or masking tape and stuck it to the pan with the color name on it, so I can take it off and change the color if I wanted to.

Once that is done, it’s time to make our color reference or color chart!
To start, cut a piece of watercolor paper that fits inside your pallet.

If you want to make yours simple all you have to do is make little swatches of each color in the order you want them in your pallet, and once they’re dry, you can just write the color names.

I like to take mine to the next step, and make it adjustable and waterproof! If you want to learn how to do that, keep on reading.

Now it’s time to make our more complicated color reference. To start, cut a piece of watercolor paper that fits inside your pallet. Then, on a separate piece of watercolor paper, Make all the color swatches and quickly write the color name so you don’t forget. Then, while that is drying, take the watercolor paper that is cut to fit your palate, and cover it with packing tape.

Once that is done, cut little color blocks out of your swatches. (If they are wet, they may tear) Also, write small color names to fit with your now cut out color swatches. After that is finished, take your packing tape, or normal tape, and “laminate” your swatches with their color tag. (Make sure that the back is also covered)

Next, take some glue dots and stick them on the back of your swatches and then put them on your laminated cut out piece of watercolor paper. Arrange them till you are happy with how it looks.

You can also make little tape rolls and use those as an alternative to the glue dots.

Once you have your color chart, you’re done! Now you can see what every color truly looks like, and have the ability to rearrange them without having to make a new chart! See you soon!

Decorating our herb drying rack! (Herb drying part 3)

Today, we will be decorating our herb drying rack that we made last time and look at different ways to decorate it. (This is optional)

Before we start, I recommend that you take out any herbs you might have hanging in it. This way your herbs will stay nice and clean while you decorate.

One of the best and easiest ways to decorate your herb drying rack is to spray paint the outside. When you spray paint it is best to do it outside on another piece of cardboard or a tarp and making sure to cover up the inside part of the box because that is where your herbs will hang. This is mostly important if you’re going to use your dried herbs for seasoning in your food. FUN(ish) FACT! Usually when you are spray painting your herb drying rack, you want to add multiple coats of your spray paint until you cannot see any of the marks from your box under it. Here is a picture of a desk organizer I spray painted:

That desk organizer is cardboard!

Another way to decorate your box instead of spray painting is to tape or glue paper around the outside of your box. This is better if you are going to collage or paint the outside of your box. FUN FACT! There are also MANY other ways to decorate the paper you are gluing/taping on! Here is how I did it: (Make sure you decorate your paper before you glue/tape it onto your herb drying rack!)

The last way to decorate your herb drying rack ( That I am showing you, there are definitely other ways) is to use washi tape. In my opinion, washi tape is amazing for this project. You can use it around the edges, you can make stripes, and honestly you can even go crazy with it if you wanted! Here is how I used my washi tape:

Something you might want to do after you put your washi tape down is you might want to either mod podge over it, or put packing tape over it. This way it will keep your washi tape lasting longer and sticking longer. Also it gives a bonus shine! Something you might want to do after you put your washi tape down is that you might want to either mod podge over it, or put packing tape over it. This way it will keep your washi tape lasting longer and sticking longer. Also it gives a bonus shine! Stay tuned for my Flower&Leaf pressing tutorial tomorrow, and my tips and tricks for your decorated new herb drying rack on Friday!

DIY Herb Rack! (Herb Drying Part 2)

Herb Drying part 2

Today we are going to make a drying rack for the herbs we bundled last time! This activity is fun, useful, and can finally give a use to that big cardboard box sitting in your house that you don’t have the heart to throw away.

To dry herbs for their flavor and aroma, you have to make sure that you do not dry your herbs in the sun. Otherwise, the herbs that you are drying might lose their taste and scent. 
Fun(ish) FACT! Some herbs can take up to 3 to 4 weeks to completely dry!

Here is how I made my herb rack:

Taking inspiration from paper bag ideas, I took a big cardboard box, and hot glued bamboo skewers (you could use most sticks) across the bottom half of the box to hang my herbs from. FUN FACT! One of the best ways to dry herbs is to hang them because it allows good air flow between the herbs. Next, I taped the top flaps of the box to provide more shade on the drying herbs.

To make a good use of the extra space, I decided to make a second row at the top of the box with my bamboo skewers. This could also help if you are drying longer herbs. (remember, you can use basically any type of sticks). To start, I made marks where I wanted my sticks to go. Then I started gluing.

While I was hot gluing, I had to make sure that the bamboo skewers were secured firmly at the ends. This is important because if your sticks fall down, all of your drying herbs could get crushed. You can see here that I ran out of normal hot glue so I ended up using some decorative silver hot glue.

Close up of one end of a hot glued stick.

Once I was done gluing all of my sticks in place, I gave them 1 minute to make sure all the glue had dried. After that, all the important parts of the herb drying rack are done!

  • SELFIE!

Now you can put your herbs out to dry on your new herb drying rack that you made yourself!

  • You can hang your herbs at the top or the bottom.
The top row you can use to hang the longer herbs stems and the lower ones can be used to hang the short herb stems.


Keep a lookout for my next post about how to decorate your new herb drying rack tomorrow!

Drying herbs! (Herb Drying Part 1)

Lemon Balm bundle

Yesterday, it was good weather outside, so I decided to harvest and trim some of our lemon balm. To make sure that the cuttings would keep, they had to be dried. FUN FACT! many herbs taste stronger when they are dried! Here I am using lemon balm as an example, but most herbs can be dried like this. 

First, I washed the lemon balm cuttings to get rid of any dirt. Then, after they were dry, I made Bunches of lemon balm cuttings that were about the same size. FUN FACT! Lemon balm is a good herb for making tea! 😋 After that, I took a rubber band (I have leftover rainbow loom bands from craft projects so I used those), and tightly wound them around the top stems of the lemon balm cuttings.

Making bundles using rainbow loom

Next, I took some spare paper clips and unfolded them like this:

( you can use big ones or small ones)

After I had prepared the paper clips, I took one the smaller end of one of the paper clips and slipped it in the rubber band that was holding the steps together, and there you go! Some Lemon balm cuttings (or most other herb cuttings) ready to dry! FUN FACT! Lots of herbs like the mint family, rosemary, etc, like to be trimmed and grow even better with proper pruning! Stay tuned for a post about trimming/pruning herbs!

Keep a lookout for my DIY herb drying rack post tomorrow!