bobs big green blog

Updated Garden Pics!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:57:00 +0000

Here's some recent pics of my garden. I've added a couple new boxes and containers from last time I updated. So far with all this rain we've been having in AZ everything is really happy:) I've got quite a few rogue tomato plants popping up and my peas are doing great!

New Links

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Just did some surfing in the Square Foot Gardening Forum and found some interesting links in the AZ thread.

http://www.sonorangarden.com/

and a great little garden planner for your SQFTG...

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KitchenGardenDesigner

New Poll ------>

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:45:00 +0000

Check it out!!! Let me know what you want to see on BBGB! I want to start posting more and keeping the world updated with what I'm doing in my little green world...so I wanna know what you are interested in. Thanks for checking in!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Pickin the first strawberry of the season! mmm...

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First Onions!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:18:00 +0000

Here's my first onions!!! 3 white and a red. I picked them when one was blooming and the others were popping out of the soil just screaming "pick me, pick me." I clipped off the tops and am storing them in the bottom of my pantry. Can't wait to find a recipe to be worthy of my homegrown onions. I started these from a starter bunch from my local nursery. I'm so gonna get some more of these. I use the baby ones as fresh scallions for other recipes. So easy.

Hypermiling Mentioned on NASCAR!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:13:00 +0000

So I watched NASCAR the other night for the first time with a buddy and they mentioned hypermiling. It was near the end of the race and instead of the drivers taking a pit stop and losing race position, the drivers were shutting their cars off to conserve gas. What a novel idea? Now if professionals are doing this to win a race, can't we all attempt to do a little hypermiling to win the race of life???

First Strawberry's!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:12:00 +0000

So here are some strawberries from my little box that I was doubting...but, it's producing now. I must say that they are the sweetest, juiciest strawberries ever!!! I plan on making a bigger patch in the front yard as it heats up down here in the southwest.

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:44:00 +0000

Happy EarthDay All!!! Here's a great idea for something to show the earth that you love her...Plant some tomatoes in hanging pots. Here's my system that I use. I got some 2.5 gallon buckets from the local hardware store, fill them up with some bobs mix and cut a 2" hole in the bottom. Cut a small piece of paper bag to cover the hole and fill with a some good soil mix. Pack it down good, put the lid on and flip it over. Cut a small x into the piece of p.b. and plant your tomato, pepper, cucumber, any vine veggie. Water well and let her sit for a few days for the roots to set. After the couple days, hang it from a solid hook, or build yourself a stand to hang it from. Install your drip system and you're good to go. I already have 10+ tomato's with about 40 blossoms. I just planted a red pepper and she's doing great. Enjoy!!!
Here's my salad garden. The arugala is doing great and already gone to flower. The rainbow chard is great, and great for you. We love it in salads and steamed. Also in the box is some carrots, lettuce, spinach, dill, random squash's, okra and a tomato that popped up from the compost.

Here is the standing box on the east wall. The broccli is starting to bloom, can't wait. My peas are getting too much sun I think, but I do have a few blossoms. My new basil plant is thriving as are my radishes. The green beans are doing good, just got few beans this morning. The squash blossoms are huge, but not producing fruit. I tried to self-pollinate with a q-tip this morning. Lets see what happens...

Enjoy your Earthday and plant something!!!!

Bob

Happy April 20th!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Get outside and grow something:) Oh yeah, earth day is on wednsday. Today is just green day...

Drink Soda Pop? You're Drinking Bisphenol A (BPA)

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Here is a scary fact that I found on Treehugger.com today:

"We have noted before that bisphenol A (BPA) is a key component of the epoxy liner in canned food and drink, so it should really be no surprise that new tests at Health Canada found it in pop cans. The chemical is thought to be an endocrine disruptor or "gender bender", and is now banned in many countries from baby bottles.

The levels in pop cans is low, with the highest level found to be 4.5 parts per trillion; you would have to drink 8,000 cans of pop or 900 cans of energy drinks to get to the daily exposure limit set by Health Canada.

But others say that those exposure limits are thousands of times too high."

Here's the link:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/bpa-is-in-your-soda-pop.php

Glad I don't drink soda!!! Say no to coke!!!

New BBGB garden!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:44:00 +0000

So its official. The BBGB garden has a new location. My family has moved and I needed to move the garden. It was a shame to move an existing garden, but all plants have transplanted well and are now happy living in seperate pots. This is my elevated garden, square foot style. Constructed of 4x4's for legs, 2x6's for the container and some 3/4 inch plywood for the base. All the wood was leftover or found in an alley to cut cost and to save new trees. I installed a drip system to save water and time. So far I have planted broccli, basil, a bunch of different squashes that sprouted out of my compost, peas, radishes, and beans. The other pictures are my onion box built from leftover wood I found and pots of thyme and mint. Also is a strawberry box that I am testing, pots of garlic and chives, pot of japanese egglplant and big pot of oregano. The reason I need so many containers is we have a lawn that I cannot turn into a garden just yet as we are renting our house and don't know how the landlord would feel with full fledged farm growing at his house. So i gotta keep it low key.

Green Exercise

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:48:00 +0000

So here's a new topic for the bbgb.com.

I've made a pledge to myself to exercise more and use whats around to me attain my goals.

For example: I was at the airport yesterday waiting for my plane, and instead of sitting by the gate and reading my magazine or going to the bar or just vegging out into those oh so comfy airport chairs, I decided to take a walk from one side of the gate area to the other for 20 minutes. It was a great workout, passed the time, and helped me take a great nap on the way home. Try it, you might like it. It's way better for you than getting one of those big pretzels or a ben and jerry's.

Hypermiler Ho!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

New hypermiler topic. Find all hypermiling, hyperdriving, and nempimania posts here!!! Newest to oldest.
Hypermiler Champion!!! 124mpg in a honda insight

Hyper Driving: Saved 1 mpg the first day!!!

Cool Fuel Economy Blog!

Hypermiler Champion!!! 124mpg in a honda insight

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:47:00 +0000

Here he is!!! Jack Martin, a Honda Insight driver won the latest Hypermiler competition with 124 mpg, using hypermiler techniques.

"Hypermiling requires some dedication, but the basic principles are easy to learn:
Pumping up your tires to the maximum rating on their sidewalls, which may be higher than levels recommended in car manuals. This reduces rolling resistance.
Use engine oil of a low viscosity.
A useful, but controversial, practice is drafting behind other vehicles on the highway to reduce aerodynamic drag. If the guy in front of you slams on brakes, you will need to see a surgeon to have that tailpipe removed from your head.
Keep speeds down
Accelerate gently
Avoid excessive idling
Remove cargo racks to also cut down on aerodynamic drag.
Avoid unnecessary braking; coast to slow down."

I have been using some of the techniques and continue to increase my gas mileage each day. I will be posting stats soon...

Check it out on Tree Hugger.

Bicycle Drifting!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:32:00 +0000

Now that's the type of drifting that I like to see and try! No gasoline required! I think I got some old tire laying around.

Hyper Driving: Saved 1 mpg the first day!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:43:00 +0000

A friend of mine mentioned to me this thing call Hyper Driving or Hyper Miling, and being a green guy, I was very interested to try it. So I read up on it on wikipedia and some other sites and tried it out today on my weekly trek to Tuscon, AZ. It's 100 miles one way, mostly flat and straight.

These are the methods I used:
Driving Barefoot (throttle sensitivity)
Average 60 mph
Average 2350 rpms
Pulse and Coast (rev up to 65mph then put it in neutral and coasted to 55mph)
Windows open under 55, AC on low above 55.
Coast on off-ramps
Coast down hills

If you are interested in getting the most gas mileage out of your current vehicle, this is the way to do it!!! I'm on my first true tank of hyper-miling after filling up with $4 gas for the first time. I'll keep you posted!s

Earth Day Mini Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:52:00 +0000

Here's an example of a mini garden that I started on Earth Day April 22, 2008. I wanted to see how much I could grow in this little space. I found the wood in an alley. Here's the box.

I lined it with an old t-shirt to keep the soil from falling out and weeds growing up. You could put a plywood bottom on it will holes drilled in it to make it mobile.

Then I planted in alphabetical order, Bok Choy, Carrots, Onions, Radishes, and Spinach per the back of the package. I watered it every day and here are the results.

Two Weeks in.... Yesterday...

Lots of growth. The Bok Choy is growing great, as are the radishes, the spinach is doing o.k. I think I need to thin the radishes and the spinach will get some more sun. The onions are coming out slow. The carrots sprouted a little, but have since been blocked out by the bok choy. On night I will make a salad with all my mini garden veggies, or maybe a stir fry!

Thanks for looking.

Remember anyone can garden anywhere:)

NPR Radio: Food Crisis! Get a garden and subsidise your food purchases!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:47:00 +0000

NPR: Food Crisis hits middle class, listen here.

I was listening to NPR today and they had a story on Marketplace about the current food crisis. It covered three different families who were using home gardens to supplement their diet and save some money at the grocery store. If you are serious about having good food to eat and saving some money, a garden just may be for you! One point that was brought up was that a women didn't have time to garden. In my research with my own garden, after the initial set up with building the box, mixing the dirt, and planting your plants, I only spent less than 10 minutes on gardening a day. I could do alot more, but on my busy days I just give it a quick water and a check and harvest a little for lunch and dinner, thats it! Little time invested and I save so much $$$. Good luck Gardening!

Easy Asian Style Veggie Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:37:00 +0000

Here's a recipe for all you folks that are looking for something quick, veggie, and with lots of protein.

Veggie Stir Fry

2 Zucchini's (sliced)
1 Red Pepper (chopped)
1 package of mushrooms (sliced)
2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
1 package of firm Tofu
Soy Sauce
Shiracha Hot Sauce
1 cup of rice
1/2 cup of quineoa (keenwa! high in protien)

Combine rice and quineoa in rice cooker and cook.

Heat pan or wok and add a little of your favorite oil: peanut, sesame, olive, it don't matter:)

Add all veggies and tofu, stir fry for 8 minutes until all veggies are cooked thru. Add a dash of soy sauce and a dab of shiraca, stir.

Serve with rice mixture and enjoy!

If you want a full organic meal, use all organic ingredients. Now wasn't that easy!?

himomanddaditsaboy!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:34:00 +0000

Well, he's finally here!!!! Cavan Robert!!! 6lbs 4oz

I tried to find a 100% organic baby beanie, but none exsist. At least this one was locally handmade:)

biggreenbabyblog.com coming soon!!!

Al Gore New "Inconvient Truth" video in a convient 2 minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000

New Al Gore Speach cut into 2 minutes. Courtesy of SustyTV.com!
Time is now to take action!

Happy 4-20!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Here's ten things to do to keep the greenest day of the year greener!

1. Ride your bike to you "buddies" house
2. Play Frisbee or hackie sac
3. Shut off all the lights and tell ghost stories
4. Shower in the dark
5. Make up a live action "Cheech and Chong" skit.
6. Bake your brownies in a solar oven
7. Use a magnifing glass
8. Water your plants
9. Play guitar
10. Write to you Senator

Happy Green Day to you all!

Cool Fuel Economy Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:34:00 +0000

Here it is, Fuel Economy Tip of the Day!

Check it out, lots of content and tips on how to up your gas mileage! Good on dailyfueleconomytip.com

Add 10% to your gas mileage!

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:30:00 +0000

I did! Today, on my weekly trek to Tuscon, AZ for work I decided to try and drive in between 65 and 70 mph. I have been making the trip there for years doing 75-85 and always get 20 per gallon or less. So I wanted to see if slowing down helped my mileage and it did! By slowing down I dropped the RPM's of my 4runner thus running the engine at a lower speed and thus saving gas and $$$$. By the return of my trip I had 226.3 miles and used exactly 10 gallons of gas. I will try this again next week to time it exactly to see what the time difference is by actually slowing down.

Try it! Slow down 10 mph. Save the planet!

Here's some more tips to help improve your fuel efficency.
Thanks

Bob

New Zazzle T-Shirts

noreply@blogger.com (Bob (the bob)) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Printed on 100% organic cotton American Appearal T-Shirts

Inspired by one of my favorite and green things to do!

create & buy custom products at Zazzle