Green Onion Revival

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations! Frank and I went up to north Jersey to visit his grandparents for their annual 4th of July party. This year it was a bit more low key, but very fun as usual. It's always great to take a break from life to enjoy the company of family. I hope yours was relaxing and positive as well. 

Today I want to show you a great trick I just learned!

 I was browsing some of the pins I have on Pinterest that I have not yet tried and found this gem. Apparently you can use the white ends of scallions to grow new ones! I guess I won't be buying green onions at the grocery store for a while! Who knew!?

Source
Original Source

Of course I needed to try it on my own and lucky for me I had actually bought a bunch of scallions for something I was planning to cook and didn't get a chance to before they began to wilt. So, I rushed into my kitchen chopped off the wilty ends (is wilty a word?). I took out a rinsed out jar, filled it with some fresh water and set my onions in the jar by our window sill. 

I changed the water every other day and was sure to keep the jar in enough sunlight. And yes, that is a Tostitos salsa jar...

The next day I could tell that they were already starting to grow! And now, about 10 days later they are practically growing out of control! I guess I should find another recipe so I can use them and regrow them again. 

To grow your own:

1. Wrap leftover white ends of scallions loosely with a rubber band.
2. Fill a glass jar with about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of fresh water.
3. Place wrapped scallions in jar and place jar in the sun.
4. Replace water every other day or so.
5. Watch them grow!!

                        

 

Apparently I can at least keep scallions alive! Oh, and by the way...remember those poor succulents I tried to revive? No go. One is completely dead. RIP poor succulent. And the other two are hanging on, but pretty scrawny. At least I have my scallions...and my basil!

Happy weekend! 

My Question for You! Have you tried to grow your own green onions or any other vegetable? 

Succulent Revival

Remember when I bought these gorgeous succulents in hopes that I would be able to keep them alive since they are noted to be almost impossible to kill? 

Yeah. My thumb is not green, it's grey. Grey as in my succulents are practically dead. As in I kill everything my thumb touches. Even succulents.

I started noticing a few weeks ago that they started appearing translucent. And then when I touched the "petals" they would easily fall off and crumble. I found out after researching a bit that I have been over watering them. The only way to fix it is to deprive them of water and leave them alone in hopes that the ruined "petals" will fall off but the plant will revive itself and continue to grow new "petals". I also learned from several people that it is important to use cactus soil, which I did, but also to use pebbles at the bottom of the pot to effectively drain the water to make sure the plant does not "drown". 

Here's what I did in attempt to save my succulents:

1.// I got two bags of pebbles from Michael's for $1.25 each. I only ended up using most of one bag, but I'll keep the other bag for other plants. I took out fresh cactus soil. I got it from Lowe's in the gardening section. It's called Cactus and Citrus Soil. 2.// I used a gardening trough to gently empty the potted succulent (into a plastic bag to eliminate the mess). 3.// I gently scraped the pot as clean as I could. 4.// I added a layer of pebbles to the bottom of the pot. 5.// Then, I added the succulents back into the pot and surrounded it with fresh soil. 6.// I added pebbles to the top as well, both for drainage and for looks. I also thought the pebbles might help support some of my scrawny-looking succulents. 

Needless to say, I will definitely NOT be watering these for at least two weeks or so. I am hoping that refreshing the soil and adding the pebbles will help them to recover. The really scrawny ones look like they still have little buds where "petals" could grow, so we will see what happens with them. I hope my succulents can be revived!

Question for you: Do you have succulents? Do you have any tips on how to keep them alive? I'd love your advice!

Succulent Swooning

Okay, let me be honest with you. I do not have a green thumb. 

I am a plant killer. Serious. I bought a basil plant last summer. Give me two weeks. Wilted and dying. Give me a parsley plant. Give me a week. Dead. Give me tulips. Died in two days.  I don't know what I do so terribly wrong, but I'm determined to learn to at least keep my plants alive for longer than a few weeks! 

So, I've been swooning over the recently popular succulents.  {CLICK each photo to link to the source}

chickettes.com

Tips on keeping succulents alive from Sand & Sisal

A tutorial on building a succulent garden from the lovely April from House by Hoff on Migonis Home blog. Both great reads!

Liz Marie Blog

Armelle Blog

All of these ideas are so great! So, Frank and I went on a trip to Lowe's {one of those stores we cannot walk out of empty handed...} and ended up buying three succulent plants. I bought the terracotta pots for them, but haven't quite decided how to decorate the pots yet. The pictures above are my inspiration. But for now, I'm hoping to at least just keep them alive!

I found these tips for planting succulents

How to Plant and Take Care of Succulents

The 10 Best Succulents

Do you own a succulent? What are your tips and tricks to keep them healthy?