Reuse Makes Good Use..

Last year I upgraded my daughter's swimming pool. I'm not one for just throwing stuff away so I took this pool and reused it for my raised garden bed. I had hubby punch some holes in the bottom and then he filled her up with soil.

It is a great use of a old kiddy pool! We planted our first garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, and peppers. With some extra love it took off. We had a great harvest so last year so I decided to expand this year and included a snap pea tee-pee and a did some companion planting with Sunflowers.

We stuck with the same variety of plants included some new ones. We added some Jalapenos and carrots. I can't contain my excitement for the carrots. In my area they are ready for harvest after 90 days and when you start to see the tops poke through the soil. Every now and again, I pull one just to see how big their getting and they are coming along pretty well. This post is to share my garden design. It is what I would call primitive but with a purpose and built with love. Enjoy

Here is my baby pool raised garden bed and the snap pea tee-pee. My little one prefers her snap peas raw so I came across some great designs on Pinterest and fond the tee-pee design. Once it starts to grow and climb, she can sit inside and eat her peas.

It's a perfect reuse don't you think? The carrots are in the front and there is some basil, jalapenos, green peppers and 2 varieties of tomatoes. I had to put one big sunflower right in the center too.

 

This year we also decided to do some companion planting with sunflowers and cucumbers. I planted them along the fence where it is full sun. I did this because I wanted to get a bigger harvest of cucumbers and I love sunflowers. The sunflowers are just starting to bloom. Some of my cucumbers have a mind of their own, I guess I didn't plant them close enough to the sunflower so they started spreading instead of climbing. So I resorted to putting cages on a few of them.

 

 

I did 2 different types of Sunflowers. I can't recall the names but this one is very pretty and so delicate. The other type has about 5-6 blooms on each flower and they are a deeper orange-yellow color with darker leaves.

 

 

Basil...Basil and More Basil!

Every year I must plant Basil in my garden. I don't do a big garden; I actually use a old baby pool to grow what we need. We do a couple verities of Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers and of course Basil.

So each year I end up with lots of basil to harvest. I love Bail, it is great in salads, sauces, soups and I like making my Basil Olive Oil. This lasts me through the winter and then some. Once you make it, just store it in the refrigerator. When you need it, scoop some out onto a plate and let it come to room temperature. It's great for sauces and dipping Italian bread. Just add a little cracked pepper and salt and you'll fall in love! 

Basil Olive Oil

You'll need Basil, Salt, Olive Oil and a glass jar; I use a mason jar. 

Harvest your Basil; or you can buy a bunch at your grocery store. Clean it and lay it out to dry.  

Add a little bit of Salt on the bottom of the jar then add some Basil and Olive oil. Repeat this until the jar is almost full. Then just store it in the refrigerator. Voila...excellent favor source for your salads, soups and sauces!

Corn, Basil and Cucumber Salad

Another  use we do in my house is this corn, Basil and Cucumber salad. It is one of our favorites and it is so simple to make!

3 ears of corn shucked from the cob

1 cucumber sliced and quartered

Fresh Basil...the more the merrier!

Onion (I've used red and yellow onions)

Salt

Pepper

2 TB of Mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.