Gardening » The Savvy Student Shopper

Savvy Student Shopper’s Garden and Chicken Update 6/6

Jun 062013

Hey everyone! The Savvy Student Shopper is living a very busy life nowadays. Working, blogging, gardening, caring for chickens and everything else is tiring! Here’s a few new pictures from my garden the my friends, the chickens.

The only things I’ve been picking regularly are lettuce, spinach, and strawberries. Everything else is still growing but hopefully by next month I’ll be picking some more!

My tomato plants are coming along nicely. No sign of deer yet (knock on wood!). They have been munching on my apple trees (outside of my garden) though. I just love the smell of tomato plants. You know that smell? All you have to do is light touch a tomato plant and you get the garden-y aroma. I love it!

My yellow squash plants have started to flower, the zucchini should be soon behind. As long as the bugs stay away, I should have a bunch of squash and zucchini in a few weeks. I’m not a huge fan of either, but I do enjoy watching them grow!

My lettuce is still producing, good thing because my newer lettuce is taking SO long to grow. The little sprouts look like they haven’t grown in weeks. We love out fresh lettuce though! So tasty for dinner and easy to grow. On the right, where it looks empty, I have some Kale coming up.

My black raspberry plant has really taken off this year. It’s only one bush, we won’t get a ton of berries but it is very healthy looking!

The spinach is one of my favorites so far this season. It’s my first time planting spinach seeds (not sure what I was waiting for) but I am so glad I did! I guess I’m still shocked that my leaves look just like (even fresher actually) than the spinach at the grocery store! Super cool and a great addition to our salad.

The black raspberries coming along!

While weeding the other day, I came across… a POTATO! What a surprise! I did plant a lot of potatoes this year and this find gave me some hope that my garden is filled with potatoes underneath. I sure hope so! I didn’t remove the potato as it was still attached to the roots under the soil (along with other potatoes I hope!). It’s not time to harvest the potatoes yet but I am totally looking forward to dig-day.

And lastly, my babies. The chickens are going on 13 weeks old and we are patiently waiting for them to surprise us with our first egg! Bonnie is still the largest, especially compared to her other black/white sister, Luna. Bonnie has these fluffy thighs that are so cute, like chubby baby thighs I guess. Bonnie is also the loudest. Instead of clucking or peeping, I think moos at us. It’s a very odd sound. Luna, still the runt, is probably still the most timid. Ginger and Biscuit, the two reds, are pretty spunky. All 4 absolutely love to run around the yard. Just yesterday I found 2 in my neighbor’s yard! But, we have discovered the chickens love mulch. My mom spent last weekend laying down mulch, weeding the flower bed, and planting new flowers. LOOK what the babies did! The scratched away the mulch like it’s some kind of game. Mom is not happy with the chickens. On a more fun note, the chickens L-O-V-E grapes! They go crazy over grapes, especially Bonnie.

That’s all for now! I hope you all are enjoying your summer. To those of you who raise chickens and/or have a garden, good luck and keep it up!

Savvy Student Shopper’s Garden Update 5/20

Gardening 1 Response »

May 202013

The first official harvest from the garden! A basket of lettuce for dinner, our first red strawberry, and some pretty flowers for the table

My garden is definitely coming along now! I’ve been working in it every chance I get. Everyone that gardens knows that there is always something still on your to-do list. It’s always a work in progress. Gardening is one of my favorite past times and I love to share that with you! My dream would be to have a sand-free and deer-free yard, but that’s just a part of game when you live on the woods near the water, I guess. I also have lots of herbs and a pallet filled with lettuce and spinach sprouts that aren’t pictured. It’s time for me to let the chickens out and play in some dirt. Catch ya later!

See that pretty red strawberry? Stupid bird got it before I did!

Strawberry patch (wooden planter was upcycled from my childhood tree house)

Potatoes in trashcans – still doing well!

The right side of the garden (cucumbers, yellow squash, onion,lettuce, radish, zucchini, raspberries, blackberries, pumpkin, gourds). I have room for one more planting.. what should it be?!

Close up of the newly transplanted cucumbers

Onion patch and radishes in the middle (just planted yesterday)

Squash, lettuce, and zucchini

My first tomato!! My other half of the garden contains tomatoes (12 plants so far), green beans, more potatoes, some straggling asparagus, and garlic. More tomatoes and peppers are still on the to-do list.

Our apple tree has apples!! Last year we got ONE lonely apple, this year is looking much better. The deer keep munching the tree though, so I hope we still get some apples for us! I also remembered my neighbor right up the street has an enormous peach tree in his front yard. I’ll be talking to him soon

A Peek Into My Week: Chicken Update, Garden Update, & More!

Chickens, Gardening, Miscellaneous 4 Responses »

May 112013

What my life has come to

As I mentioned, it is finals week for the Savvy Student Shopper. Instead of spending time hunting for deals, blogging, and coupon shopping, I’ve been attempting to study and write up my final papers. Wednesday is my last day.. the end is near!

I am in the process of selling textbooks backs too. It has become a game for me the past 3 years. Eventually I’ll write up a post about textbook buying/reselling. This year, I think I may have broken even! Meaning I’ll be making back close to what I originally spent in January. I have learned a ton about buying/reselling textbooks and I’ll definitely share some of that with you.

The chickens are doing great – very big and healthy! I’m looking forward to their egg laying stage in a few months. They are still spending the nights in my bathroom because their coop is not 100% secure (My dad was supposed to have it done by now) and I don’t want to chance anything since I live on the woods with lots of hungry animals. They do spend the day in their outdoor coop and they love it!

Every time I’m home, I try to spend a little bit of time getting the garden in shape. Gardening is a lot to keep up with, especially when you are only home a few times a month! Some nasty buggers have already attacked my chives. Like 100 little black bugs per chive stalk. Disgusting. Between the deer, bugs, droughts, sandy soil, birds, etc., I think I have more garden mishaps than garden successes, but it’s alright.

My older lettuce about ready for harvesting.

Raspberries are thriving! I hope I actually get some berries this year and not just leaves.

Onions

Potatoes in cans

Baby spinach

My strawberry patch is doing the best it has ever done! As long as the birds and bugs leave it alone, I should have dozens of berries!

Some more potatoes on the one side of my garden. (Please ignore all weeds)

I think I’m hitting up CVS this weekend, so I’ll try to share my trip! As soon as I’m done with school, I’ll get back into the grocery store deals and Target! I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Happy Easter + Updates!

Chickens, Gardening, Miscellaneous, Thrifting Comments Off

Apr 012013

I hope you all had a lovely Easter! The Savvy Student Shopper has been so busy around here with chickens, gardening, cooking, homework, classes, and internship searching that there has been zero time to blog! I hope that things will get less busy soon, but gardening season has started, chickens are growing and I have exams in just over a month. Crazy! Summer will be here before we know it

I’ll be posting a chicken update, a garden update, thrifty finds, and my latest CVS trip in the near future so don’t go too far!

Frugal Tip: What to do when you have 7 million zucchinis?!

Gardening, In the Kitchen Comments Off

Sep 032012

Unfortunately the bugs destroyed my zucchini plants and left me with a very short growing time and only a few zucchini. But between the zucchini I picked from my garden and the few I picked up at the farmer’s market, I still have enough frozen zucchini bread and shredded zucchini to last us until next summer If you have too much summer produce to handle -freeze it!

I made many batches of zucchini bread this summer. We always ate a loaf or two, and then I’d wrap up and freeze the other loaves. If I wasn’t feeling up to making bread, I would simply shred the zucchini, measure it based on the recipe I follow, and then freeze it up in portioned baggies! This January when we’re craving some fresh summer zucchini bread, I’ll be able to pull out my shredded zucchini and whip up a loaf or two!

If you want to be frugal, you must never let produce go to waste. It can almost always be cooked, frozen, dehydrated, or canned for a later day!

(Squirt sleeping on the counter!)

Gardening Updates 8/6

Gardening Comments Off

Aug 062012

It has been quite some time since the last gardening post, hasn’t it? I’ve been busy and the garden has been slow. When I went away for the 4th of July, the deer got back into the garden because the piece of fence fell down and ~~my dad~~ someone didn’t bother to put it back up. So that set the tomatoes and peppers back a few weeks and killed some of my lovely potatoes.

I picked this bowl of tomatoes last night. The majority of them are a purple variety… I really have no idea. I figured they would get a darker purple color, but a lot of the tomatoes started to split open from being left on the vine too long, so I just picked them the way they are. I’m sure they’ll taste just fine! And I still have a few blackberries every now and then. After this picture I ate them all! They were nice and sweet.

I’m going to replant some lettuce and some other fall-ish veggies this week if I find the time. I also need to plant some more pumpkins and gourds because those awful bugs destroyed all the big leaves in my garden.

Savvy Student Shopper’s Garden Update 7/12

Gardening, In the Kitchen, Thrifting 1 Response »

Jul 122012

My garden was left alone for the week when I went on vacation so it was not in the best shape when I got home! We had a nasty storm right before I left for the beach which knocked over part of my fence and it didn’t get fixed until just the other day. Unfortunately, the deer found their way back in and devoured a ton of tomatoes. They also like tossing green ones on the ground and also taking one bite out of tomatoes and leaving the rest for me. They also ate every single pepper and chewed the pepper plants down to the ground again. Stupid, stupid deer.

See that? Why would they do that to 10+ tomatoes?!

Now this squash thing isn’t from my garden, it was given to my mom at work. The lady has a huge farm on the eastern shore and brought in a ton of these… but she called them Spaghetti squash. It certainly doesn’t look like a Spaghetti squash to me though. Anyone else have an idea?

And the other night, I made some yummy pasta salad -complete with tomatoes from my garden (the few I saved from the deer, that is). And it’s served in a cute Butterfly Gold Pyrex Bowl. Apparently, this is my sister’s favorite pattern! It was my first piece (and it was free!) so it’s sentimental to me.

I’ve been keeping the caterpillars off my cauliflowers leaves, but apparently they just found a new home INSIDE the cauliflower veggie. I’ll save you the details, but unfortunately, I will not get to eat any of it. I picked the last of my radishes and lettuce. The deer also helped themselves to lettuce too. It’s like one giant salad bowl for them in there. Blackberries are coming to an end as well. I need to find a few new things to plant!

I made a few jars of pickles before vacation and I’ll make a few more with the rest of my cucumbers (way top picture). My cucumber plants are not doing well in all the heat we’ve had, so these will probably be some of the last cucumbers I get.

Garden Update 6/25

Gardening 1 Response »

Jun 252012

Here’s yet another late garden update. These pictures are mostly from last week, but they’ll do I have a thrifting post to write after I gather up the goodies for a picture. Ya know, the other day, I went to CVS and did a nice, big trip. I laid all the goodies out when I got home, went to get my phone to snap a pic, got distracted, cleaned up all the goodies and never did take a picture lol! My mind is just exhausted!

The white cauliflower is growing nicely. My hand is there for size comparison, if that helps. I also spotted a cheddar cauli poking is head out of the leaves too! I’ll take his picture next time.

This is a pretty new addition to the garden (it keeps getting bigger ). We were getting rid of our old kid’s play fort (kinda like this) so I stole the top part, flipped it over, and decided it would make a great raised bed! I filled her with strawberries (thanks Glenda!) and it’ll be ready for blooming next year.

And here’s an awkward photo of me holding my zucchinis. My phone was charging at the time so it was the only way I could get a picture of them without laying them on the floor. Aren’t they nice looking?

This picture is actually from last night, though those cucumber probably needed to be plucked last week (oops!). I planted normal cucumbers and pickling ones and of course I lost track of where I planted each type. I assume these are the pickling ones, which is supposed to stay small and cute like little pickles Blackberries are starting to turn as well! I had to pick a few and I’m sure I’ll be picking for the next few weeks. I’ll need to find time to make some jam (and pickles) in the near future.

Gardening Update 6/9/2012

Gardening 2 Responses »

Jun 092012

And here’s another late gardening update! Things are coming along nicely and I think I’ve finally (or temporarily) stopped the stupid caterpillars from killing my broccoli and cauliflower.

I picked the last of my first batch of radishes. And I also harvested some nice lettuce which we made into a pretty salad!

Such a pretty bunch, huh?

I woke up to these happy zucchini flowers smiling at me! I have about 7 baby zucchinis growing. I’d be happier, but I don’t like them I’m going to try making bread though… maybe I’ll like that!

I still only have one cauliflower poking out. It’s about the size of a tennis ball! I’m patiently waiting for the other 6 plants to produce their fruits.

I still have quite a few tomatoes coming along, though they are all still green. I haven’t seen any sign of deer sneaking into my garden, so I hope it stays that way! My potatoes are also doing very well. The one can of plants is taller than me!

I made brownies…

Gardening, In the Kitchen, Thrifting 5 Responses »

Jun 062012

…IN PYREX!

Yep, I made brownies yesterday in my cleaned up flamingo Pyrex dish I scooped up for 2 quarters last weekend. They tasted great

And then the rectangular brownie got cut into an “A”. 10 Gold Stars to the first person who can guess why my sister needed an “A” dessert last night! Any guesses?

Due to the reason behind the “A”, my sister had some friends over last night. I cashed out some Papa Johns codes and scored them 2 Large Pizzas for $1.99 delivery + tip. I also fixed them up a salad, with lettuce and radishes (both garden fresh!).

And because my sister’s favorite TV Show actress made Kale Chips a few weeks ago, we had to too. I know they are all the rave these days, I’m not too sure why. They weren’t terrible, certainly edible and crunchy though.

So there’s a peek into my Tuesday night… fun huh?

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