Has it frosted for the first time in fall where you are yet? Parts of our garden was still thriving outside while other parts where pretty much dying out. So, This year at the day of the first frost I decided to bring in some of my favorite garden plants from the raised garden beds. But I am getting a little bit ahead of myself. Let start out by talking about my raised garden beds.
Raised Garden Beds:
These Raised Garden Beds are repurposed from of old plastic kids pools, They are put up high on wooden 4 X 4’s to keep the rabbits and dogs out of them. This also allows for adequate drainage because there are holes drilled in the bottom. The bottoms are filled with rocks, then topped with dirt. When they were in use I added things like PVC pipe stakes and wooden stakes to hold up the plants. You can few the garden set up post from earlier in the year here. So, I guess this would be the garden take down post. I wanted it to be all ready for next spring so, I ripped out all the plants I wasn’t keeping. Then I shook out the dirt from their roots and smoothed the dirt out in the pools. I put the PVC piping in the larger one so that they wouldn’t blow away.
The Final Harvest:
Before I ripped up all the plants, replanting some in garden pots and tossing the rest I did the final harvest! Just look at all these fun tomato! In the garden we started out with lettuces, tomato, cucumbers, garden beans, red and green peppers, and banana peppers. Something went HORRIBLE with the cucumbers though and they all had this awful “dog poo” kind of smell to them and they were oddly shaped. I had bought these plants, so I don’t know. Many of the tomatoes, and the Banana peppers were home grown from seed. The bell peppers were boughten from the same lady and they were fine. SO, the cucumbers got ripped out back in august or so. I just got tired of dealing with them. I wasn’t able to get new seed this year, since covid was going on there was no place for me to buy it (unless it was a specialty store). So, with this final harvest as I am cutting up the veggies I am saving and storing the seeds for spring so that I will have seeds from the nicer veggies to plant. That is something I never thought I would say before…
Here is our final harvest of the year:
Bringing in the Plants:
We brought some of the best plants from the garden inside. I have heard that if you keep them in a three seasons room safe from the frost and water them the peppers can live for several years. I am hoping to replant them outside when it turns warmer again in the spring so I already have thriving plants. I brought in quite a few because I figured most of them wouldn’t make it through the transplant. It is looking at this point like I might be right. These pictures were taken a few days ago and the plants currently look a little “sad” now. I set them out on the porch for nice days in the sun to perk them back up and I have been watering them with green tea to give them a little pep. (I learned that from an awesome plant lady, with a green thumb).
My daughter added a fairy garden to the pots for a little extra touch of cuteness to our indoor “biogarden” as she likes to call it.
How are we Managing Indoor Plants with Childhood Asthma:
In the beginning of summer the veggie plants never seemed to bother my daughter, but I did take a lot of precautions before bringing a mini garden into the house. First off this garden is behind a closed door and can stay disconnected from the rest of the house. It is housed in our three seasons room. This room has not been in use much at all over the summer because of my daughters asthma not tolerating the dust. BUT I did a rigorousness cleaning to free it up. Admittedly I should have done this much earlier. Like a few years ago when she was diagnosed with asthma. BUT allas better late than never I suppose. (By this list you would think this room is awful. Really to the naked eye it looked completely fine. To the asthma lung, it did not lol) Here are some ways to I cleaned all the dust out of a 3 seasons room to allow for a child with asthma to use it pretty freely.
First tackle the floors:
- I started out by vacuuming the rug (that’s a given and happens frequently).
- Picking up all unnecessary decorations and outdoor toys (we used this room to put some of our summer toys but I deflated all the pool stuff since it won’t be used.)
- Sweep the floors to get rid of dust
- Wipe down all the flooring to get rid of any remaining dust.
Next Tackle the Windows:
The windows are supper important because if they don’t have a good seal they will let in dust and pollens. Keeping them cleaned at the windows will keep it out of the room. Here is how I tackled all the windows in the 3 seasons room:
- I started out by wiping all the window sills down with a huggies natural baby wipe to get off the dust and pollen that had accumulated.
- Then I wiped down the white window seals with a baby wipe to get rid of the pollen. You wouldn’t believe how green this was. It is stuff like this you don’t even realize lets pollen into your house. Especially where the window unlocks at the top.
- Then I cleaned all the glass in the windows with Windex. I figured out that I really sucked with the higher windows that didn’t have chairs near them.
- Then, I used dusting spray and an extendable duster and dusted around all the window frames and sills one last time.
Next tackle the door
The door is another prime spot for dust and pollen to come into a three seasons room. Here are some ways I cleaned the door and am trying to limit the amount of crud that comes in!
- I cleaned the door with a wipe.
- I washed all the glass in the windows
- I cleaned the window sills (they are really little) with a wet wipe in the door.
- I scrubbed the door knob.
- I scrubbed the door blocker. There is a large gap in the bottom of our door, to solve this problem we got a door blocker which we hadn’t been using. I scrubbed it down and now use it always. Even though it is a bit of a pain when letting dogs in and out side all day long. DOG traffic doesn’t help the dust. lol
Filtered and Heated:
After the rigorous cleaning I brought our air purifier out into this room and ran it on high to suck all the remaining germs, dust, mold, etc from the air. I ran it out here for two hours.
I have a heater that I brought out into the three seasons room that I plug in for a bit every time I let the first dog out in the morning. That way it is warm enough out there for my daughter when she wakes up.
I have to tell you, this is probably the freshest smelling and most cheerful room in our entire house now. Even though we have garden plants in it. I kinda thought I would have to toss them all outside but i think the oxygen they throw off at night time really helps with the air as well. My daughter’s asthma so far has been doing really well in this room. I even made her s special sunning spot so she could get some Vitamin D!
How to Maintain a Three Season Room Once You have it Cleaned:
On my Monday’s Schedule for the week I have placed a three season cleaning list. It is shorter and more of a maintenance list than the initial rigorous scrub down and de-dusting. Here is my maintenance list to keep the three seasons room usable for people with asthma. This might not work for everyone with asthma. But it seems to be working with us.
- Vacuum
- Sweep
- Clean windows with Windex
- Clean Window Seals with Wipe
- Dust Window Sills
- Clean door
- Purify air with the Air purifier
- Heat Daily (this is a newer model of the one I have) for a little while
I must say, I really want to go through my entire house with this level of meticulous cleaning. I was fully geared up to do this over the next few weeks. Then I woke up the next day, and it hit me like a force. People in crohn’s flares who find it a bit difficult to bend to in the middle at times but power through anyway, well it catches up to you when you do all this. My mid section HURT! My joints had swelled and my feet were like I was walking on a cloud of squish (swelling). I was so fatigued it was awful. It took everything I had to just get up and teach homeschooling and get my kid plates of food with a smile. It is like two warring paths or something. One that wants to just go go go and make it all perfect like that. And another that is like, holly cow it is gonna kill me! I do that any more. I just go until I drop. BUT I really do want to go through every single room like this. Or at least 6 of them. That way I have 6 days of maintenance work a week to keep them up. I guess I just have to tackle them a little slower.
Brie
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