Planning Your Garden- Step 1

February 03, 2011 The Provident Princess 2 Comments

• Just because the map says you live in one zone doesn't necessarily mean that you only can have plants rated in that zone. If you have a lot of snow cover in the winter the ground stays warmer so you can probably grow plants that are rated for a high zone since their roots will be well insulated. Also keep in mind your summer temperatures, length of days, soil moisture and drainage and elevation as these can affect plant choices too.
• Your hardiness zone number does not tell you when you can plant your garden. You need to go by your first and last freeze/frost dates. This gardening website has a really user friendly frost date finder tool with more in-depth information. 

• I live in hardiness zone 6B and that each winter, on average, my risk of frost is from October 26 through April 22. Almost certainly, however, I will receive frost from November 14 through March 25. I am almost guaranteed that I will not get frost from May 20 through October 7. My frost-free growing season is around 187 days. 

This information is going to be what I use to plan my garden. More on that next week. Until then, check through some lists of which plants will grow in your area.

Preparing for Emergencies, Big or Small

January 31, 2011 The Provident Princess 0 Comments

Emergencies happen everyday. They aren't always the major ones like being stuck in a snowstorm or experiencing an earthquake. More likely it will be something on a smaller scale. These are the emergencies that are so easy to prepare for that we most often overlook them.

In addition to an emergency supplies kit (72 hr kit), we should make a condensed version for our cars. It's easy to think that if there really was an emergency you would just grab your emergency supplies kit and hop in the car. Why would you need an extra just for your car? Well, you can't always be sure that you will be at home when a disaster strikes or that you would be able to go home first. And second, sometimes it is just a small emergency not a huge disaster that happens. One where you wouldn't even need your emergency supplies kit.

Case in point. A few months ago I was going to the bank to deposit some cash. My husband told me to keep some in my wallet for "just in case".  I rarely use cash and didn't really see the reason to keep any on hand. But, I remembered my grandma had always kept a secret stash of cash in her car. I thought maybe that would be a good idea.

Fast forward another couple of months. I was driving somewhere and had forgotten to fill up my car. Suddenly, I realized I was pretty much driving on fumes and my car would die any minute. I'm notorious for only filling up a gallon or two when I'm in a hurry to go somewhere. Luckily, at the last second, I found a gas station. You would not believe how scarce they are in residential areas. Anyway, I had just congratulated myself on making it to the gas station without getting stranded on the side of the road when I looked down and realized I didn't have my wallet. Now how was I going to get gas?

As I sat there lamenting my poor planning I remembered back to that moment when I thought of putting some extra cash in my car. I remembered where I was going to put it but I couldn't remember whether I had done it or not. I said a prayer as I reached into the hiding place and guess what?

 It was there! I had remembered.

So I was able to fill up my car and head on my way.

That day could've gone a lot differently. But because all those months earlier I had taken the time to plan ahead I saved myself a major headache down the road.

I'm going to be talking more about car kits in my next few posts so check back soon.