August 22, 2008 - I Heart Frugal Girl

Have you met Frugal Girl? She's on my list of favorites over there --->

I love reading her blog, she inspires me to be even more frugal (OK, cheaper)than I already am. Being an old coot, I often gripe about how young people these days do not know the value of a dollar. Having raised five children, I learned to make do with what we had. My own children visit and I walk behind them, turning off lights as they leave the room, turning off the TV when they aren't watching. I taught them better, why didn't they learn? Why didn't I give birth to Frugal Children?

In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned what I do with my store-bought green onions. You know, the ones where you have to buy an entire bunch but you only need one or two. I guess Frugal Girl missed that one, because on her latest blog she was lamenting the fact that her onions had turned to slime. She's striving for a week with absolutely no food waste, and has not quite reached her goal....but darn, she sure does come close. So I'm going to repeat it here....or rather, I'm going to copy what I wrote to her and then show pictures!

I wrote: Oh, Kristen, I can help on this one! When you get those green onions from the store, do you notice they have these little things on the bottom called roots? That means you can plant them! Just get yourself a pot, a bit of soil, poke your finger way down in the dirt to make a hole and plop that little onion right in. You can fill the pot with them, planting them about an inch apart. Snip the green tops back to about 4-5 inches, give them a bit of water and set them outside, weather permitting. The tops will die back just a bit, but in a few days the new green growth will begin. Just pull them fresh as you need them! I forgo the pot and put them right out in the garden, with my flowers or veggies, from spring until frost. Fresh green onions, year-round, and no slime!!

Then I ran out to my garden and took a photo.

I poked these into the ground maybe three weeks or so ago. You can see a few more in the background, and I just pulled two today to give to my neighbor, Pat, for her dinner. All the green part is new growth, and you wouldn't believe the roots on them! This works so well, I'm going to buy a couple of bunches the next time I'm at the store, just to plant and have on hand.

We've had a few cooler days, and the nights are getting downright chilly. The garden has slowed a bit, but the crooknecks and zucchini are loaded with new blossoms and some baby squash. I guess they are just getting their second wind. I threaten to pull out the old bush beans, but they continue to show a few blossoms and give me an occasional handful, so I haven't the heart to compost them just yet. When the new bed of bush beans begins to produce, maybe I can let them go. I'm giving away tomatoes to anyone who will take them! I really will find all my old canning jars and make use of them next year.

I took the first cuttings of baby greens from the mesclun bed today. That, along with a few lettuce leaves, two beet greens and three small heads of endive, should keep Cookie Buns fed for a few days. I ended up with over 8 ounces of greens. Five ounces of those baby greens cost over $3 at the grocery store, so that seed packet has already paid for itself.

The beets I planted last month already have half-dollar sized roots and beautiful greens. I've never eaten beet greens, this might be the time to try them.

The cucumbers are still looking good. Here's Mr. Husband, just ready to pick the one he had for dinner last night:

This plant is in a medium sized pot, and has given us quite a few large slicers. They have all been solid clear through, with very few seeds. Makes me wish I liked cucumbers!

I put together a panorama image of four photos of the July built/planted garden. It has grown quite well in just over a month, I'd say:

That's about it for today. Remember to visit Frugal Girl.