Thursday, October 18, 2018

How To Carve a Pumpkin

It’s October, and everyone knows what that means: Halloween! As soon as this month starts scary costumes and makeup start flooding stores, and all you can see everywhere are scary (at times too graphic) Halloween decorations.

So we decided why you should stay behind? There is no reason for you not to take part in the Halloween spirit. While we know that you may not want to invest a lot in Halloween decorations, there is no harm in making some on your own.

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when we say, Halloween, or even fall? Pumpkins, right?

PICKING OUT THE RIGHT PUMPKIN

The first step for carving a pumpkin is picking out the right pumpkin in the first place. It is best to shop at a local produce shop, farm or a supermarket that may be offering such pumpkins for sale. Try not to buy those pumpkins that have been shipped from distant areas as they might have bruises on them, and your decorations may get spoiled in a short period of time, which is not something you want! It is best to use mature pumpkins, and the way to identify a mature pumpkin is by pressing your fingernail lightly into its skin: if the pumpkins skin is punctured, it is not yet mature enough. Before you start carving, remember to wash the pumpkin really well to get rid of any germs that might be on the skin as you don’t want them getting on your hands!



 

THE TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Other than a large mature pumpkin, you’ll need a few more tools actually to carve the pumpkin properly. You’ll need a serrated knife (for bigger cuts) or a long-handled knife, a small ice cream scoop, a smaller knife for more delicate cuts, an apple corer (for making holes), tiny saws and an awl. Don’t worry if you don’t know what these tools are; you don’t necessarily need all of them, this is just a general list of tools needed for carving pumpkins. If you are doing this for the first time and don’t want to buy all these new blades, the bare minimum you need is:

  • A long-handled knife
  • An apple corer
  • A small, sharp blad


NOTE: It is best if you don’t involve children in this process, especially if you are not using safe tools. As much as the kids might want to participate in this fun activity, it is best they are kept away!

CARVING YOUR PUMPKIN STEP BY STEP

CUT THE LID: Draw a hole around the stem of the pumpkin, the whole should be big enough for your hand to fit through easily. Cut out this hole

SCOOP OUT THE CONTENTS: You do not want your pumpkin to go bad in a short period of time, so use a small ice cream scoop to empty the pumpkin completely. Then use a napkin to dry out the inside of the pumpkin completely.

DRAW THE DESIGN YOU WANT: Draw, using a black felt tip marker, the design that you want on your pumpkin. You can even easily use design templates available online. Just make it as scary as you can!

CUTTING OUT THE DESIGN: Use a small, sharp knife to cut out the details of your design. Make sure to make deep cuts, to keep the cutting as neat as possible, and wherever you need to make a circle cut (such as for the eyes), use the apple corer.

MAKE YOUR LANTERN SHINE: Once you keep you cut and carve your pumpkin, all you need to do it make sure it is nice and shiny and appears polished. You can use normal household cleaners, but the best thing to do is to soak the pumpkin (after cutting) overnight in a tub of water, in which borax is dissolved (one tablespoon of borax per gallon).




ILLUMINATING YOUR PUMPKIN

To give a creepy effect your pumpkin, you can illuminate in a number of different ways. For the scariest effect, use tea light candles that are operated by batteries, or ordinary candles in a glass case to prevent them from blowing out. You can also use strands of fairy lights placed inside the pumpkin, to make them glow from inside.


TAKE CARE!


Be careful while using sharp knives, and keep children away from this process!

Make sure that if you use candles, you take proper measures to ensure that the flame remains under control.

Take care not to waste the pumpkin seeds, and roast them and consume them as they are rich in protein.

Pumpkin carving is perhaps the best DIY activity for Halloween and the fall season in general. Don’t miss out on all the fun you can have carving pumpkins, and let your inner artist loose, and be creative with your carving and decorating this fall!

Monday, July 9, 2018

Stop Buying Avocados. Plant Them in a flower pot and you will always have Dozens of them

Avocado trees, probably started in Southern Mexico, were cultivated for quite a long time before North America was colonized. The pear-formed organic products are heavenly, rich nourishment that makes a great topping or eats alone expansion to your eating routine. The trees are warm season plants, effortlessly harmed by cold and snow. So, northern plant specialists must figure out how to grow an avocado houseplant so that they can enjoy this delicious fruit at home.

Can Avocados Grow Indoors?

Avocado trees can achieve 80 feet in stature. Most plants do inadequately where freezing temperatures persist. This reality prompts the inquiry, “Would avocado be able to trees develop inside?” The straightforward response to this inquiry is yes. There are many, dwarf varieties, which can aid the chilly and mild season gardeners to deliver the sound, organic products in their own home.


The Procedure of Growing an Avocado Houseplant

Avocado developing inside can begin with a pit. However, it is best to start them with a healthy, grafted, dwarf tree. Ripe avocados are grown from the right rootstock. A plant created from seed is less likely to deliver the natural product. However, it will make a stunning tree. Expel the pit from a ready avocado and flush off any abundant tissue. Push a system of toothpicks into the pit and suspend it over a glass of warm water. The pit should plunge an inch or so into the water at the scratched or dimpled end. Place the glass in the brilliant light where temperatures are no less than 65 degrees, Fahrenheit (18 C.). Change the water regularly. Before long the pit will create roots, which will become down into the water. In the end, stems and leaves will grow. At the point when the roots fill a significant part of the glass, the time has come to transplant to a pot.


Growing Avocados in Containers

Avocado developing inside is fun and simple. Move the grew pit to an unglazed earthenware pot that is no less than 10 inches across and twice as profound as the roots. Utilize a potting mix with compost mixed with sand for a free, quick depleting synthesis. Developing avocados in compartments inside likewise requires brilliant light. A plant will get straggly without satisfactory light. Squeeze off abundance development at first to advance a bushier, more grounded plant. Try not to expect organic product when developing avocados in containers. Indoor plants require cool evenings to drive bloom and for fruiting. They can likewise take up to ten years to get to the fruiting stage. On the off chance that you do get the organic product, the flavor isn’t comparable to those economically delivered from rootstocks.

Indoor Avocado Plant Care

If you want a good quality, natural product, buy a dwarf tree that has been joined onto rootstock. The stock is expanded to deliver the best qualities of the plant and will make the tree more grounded and more resistant to several kinds of environmental impacts. Indoor avocado plant mind incorporates plant support and bolstering. Utilize a stake to keep the plant’s fundamental stem strong and straight as it develops. Likewise, transplant the tree as it exceeds its pot. Prune off any suckers that emerge from the rootstock. Prepare with water-dissolvable sustenance month to month and turn the tree much of the time to advance even development. You can likewise prepare with angle emulsion consistently for the primary year. Give the plant direct water when the dirt feels dry to the touch.



Common Diseases and Insects

Avocados are mouthwatering additions to the garden. However, there are numerous bugs and diseases of an avocado tree that you ought to know about before planting. Most by far of avocado tree issues with diseases can be followed to the arrangement in ineffectively depleted soils or developing trees that aren’t guaranteed infection free — they carry the pathogens with them. Some of the most common diseases of avocados include cankers, fruit rots, root rots, sun blotch, wilts, and blights, etc. Almost all of them are preventable when taken care of minutely and if your plants start to suffer from any of these diseases, don not worry! There are cures available for all of them. Insects that are most likely to attack your avocado plant include borer, caterpillars, lace bugs, mites, thrips, etc.

Types of Cold Tolerant Avocados

The cool resistance of avocado relies upon the assortment of the tree. Exactly what is an avocado’s chilly resilience level? The West Indian assortments develop best in temperatures from 60-85 degrees F. (15-29 C.) If the trees are entrenched, they can survive a fleeting minor dunk in temps. However young trees must be shielded from ice.

 

Some varieties of slightly cold tolerant avocados are:

  • Tonnage
  • Tayor
  • Lula
  • Kampong
  • Meya
  • Brooks later

Avocados tolerant of temps between 25-30 degrees F:

  • Beta
  • Choquette
  • Loretta
  • Booth 8
  • Gainesville
  • Hall
  • Monroe
  • Reed

Frost tolerant avocados:

  • Brogdon
  • Ettinger
  • Gainesville
  • Mexicola
  • Winter Mexican