What we have started to do is sort of wrap each plants base in the soaker hose.  It is hard to explain without a picture, so let us get to that first…

As you can see in the picture, if you will give the base a nice lil wrap… you get 360 degree watering out of your hose, and you get a foot instead of 4 inches to help distribute that water.

We also like to group our plants so that we can water all of them at the same time.  Which means when you wrap each plant with the soaker hose… you have to do a series of them.  Not a big deal.  Just create a daisy chain (seems like appropriate naming in this circumstance) of sorts.  See below for a picture of this daisy chain method…

Pretty cool right?  You can see at the very end, we have it wrapped twice with the slack.  When we add a plant, we just coil that slack backwards until we hit our new plant and then wrap it.

Do you have tips to share with us?  Post it in the comment area or email them to us.  If it saves time, money, effort… pretty much if it makes gardening easy - let us know about it.  And we will do our best to pass on any tips we find useful, because we are cool like that.

Other Gardening Tips:

Gardening Tip: Let Your Strawberries Read The Newspaper

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Whatever your plans, use the tips below to throw the Perfect 4th of July Barbeque.  If you have some tips of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments area.

Tips For The Perfect 4th of July BBQ

Be sure to plan ahead for your 4th of July BBQ.

It might seem like an easy thing to throw together a backyard BBQ, and in some cases that is true.  However, if you want to throw the “Perfect” 4th of July BBQ - throwing something together last minute is not the “cool” thing to do.  If you are inviting folks over and wanting everything to go smoothly, you should already have decided what foods you are going to cook, what drinks will be served, appetizers… you know - the whole she-bang. 

If you are going to be having a full day of stuff, you will want to have some games lined up, music and anything else to try and entertain people while the food is being Q’d to perfection.

See what I mean about planning?

And you were just going to throw some burgers on the grill and half ass the rest of it?  **shakes head**  Don’t invite me to your little “BBQ”.

Sharpen your skills, not just your knives.

The last thing you want to do is plan everything to the “T” and everyone get there only to serve them mediocre food.  It is a shame when people get excited to share in fellowship and great food and then leave with a feeling of emptiness and disbelief.  They go home and cry themselves to sleep, and spend the next week wondering why… I mean WHY things went down the way they did.

Eventually they will find new friends, friends that actually deliver when it comes to BBQ.  So do you want to be that guy/gal that doesn’t deliver or the one that comes through and has everyone talking about how KICKASS your BBQ was?  That is what I thought. 

Be sure you do your signature foods, don’t try new stuff when you have to be on point, it could end up killing you in the end.  If you do not feel like bringing your “A” game, see the next tip, it is just for you - we will call it a special super intraweb spectacular BBQ tip of the day… just for you.

**Special Super Intraweb Spectacular BBQ Tip of the Day**

Keep everyone as drunk as possible (if possible).

I know not everyone drinks alcohol - and I won’t hold that against you.  But if the truth of the matter is that you are not up on your game when it comes to the actual BBQ of the foods… then you need to be sure you keep your patrons as drunk as possible. haha  This will make everything taste good… great even.  By the time the party is over, you will be the baddest dude on the block and be known for your killer BBQs and how great your food is.

Smart eh?  That is why I’m the expert and you’re reading this blog post wondering how to throw the best BBQ in the world.  Don’t be sad… it is just how it works.

Dust off your old records & 8-tracks for some good tune’age.

Tired of the new songs on the radio these days?  So is everyone else.  If you pull out some old music, everyone will be hi-5′ing you by the third song.  Everyone loves old music… not SUPER old music, but the hits… from any genre.  Seriously.  Throw on some Eagles and see if everyone in the room isn’t mouthing the words by the end of the chorus.  Crank up some Hank Williams Jr. or Journey and watch the party turn up a few notches. 

Music makes anything better - accept taxes.  Taxes would still suck with a live symphony playing in the background.  But when you are throwing a BBQ - a killer BBQ, you have to have some good music to listen to.  Be sure to stock up and burn a few CDs before everyone shows up.  Or if you have satellite radio - then get it ready to go.

If you don’t know what music to grab for your special occasion - go hit up MusicGoat and find something you like.  With new podcasts all the time, you are bound to find something you like.  Tell ‘em Double D sent ya, he will take care of the rest.

Don’t invite that guy that makes an ass of himself anymore.

No one wants to watch someone throw up on themselves while they are eating ribs.  And along the same lines, no one wants to end up fighting someone at the end of the night because he/she “looked at his girl”.  We all know and have a few of those friends that take it to the edge and then some… or maybe could start fights with a few shots of liquor in them.  Why do you want to jeopardize your entire BBQ & rep by invited this d-bag? 

DON’T DO IT.

Save face before you even half to and let them make other plans… be known for your fantastic ribs, not your a-hole of a “friend” that tried to make out with your wife and ended up getting the cops called.

Be safe & have fun for heaven’s sake.

The whole point of a perfect 4th of July BBQ is to celebrate and have an awesome time.  Sometimes you get to caught up with the whole thing and want it to be perfect… and honestly, even though this goes against my title and some of the tips… perfect sometimes is imperfect.  That’s right, let a few things slide.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Having fun is the most important thing - so as long as you are not compromising that rule… you should be ok.  Keep the other tips in mind, but don’t lay it down like the law.  Step outside the box a little and be sure you are safe in doing so.

Drink responsibly and have a killer BBQ this 4th of July.  Oh yeah…

KEEP THE FIREWORKS AWAY FROM YOUR BBQ PIT.  Geeez.  **shakes head**

P.S. - If you are looking for our KILLER BBQ Ribs How-To… look no further…

How to smoke pork ribs for your 4th of July BBQ

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We found this one on Saturday, and still… even though I was looking for hornworms… it still scared the crap out of me. haha

Last year I would drop them in a little  cup of soapy water, because I really didn’t understand anything but the fact that this lil green monster was chewing my tomato leaves down to nubs!  But since learning about the problems with bees… and how crops are pollinated… and all the other stuff you learn when you dig a lil bit under the surface - we have learned that these guys turn into the Hawk Moth.  We recently had a discussion on twitter/facebook about this and here is a link to even more info on the Hawk Moth/Tomato Hornworm.

Since we like the hawk moth, we decide to just take those green aliens to a nearby plant that is not on our property (haha) and let them free.  We are considerate like that. 

We have seen quite a few lately (we are in West Texas), so if you haven’t started looking - better get to it.  And if you live near us… you better definitely be checking… just sayin’.

Also a few other lil critters have shown up - not sure what all of them are… but did snap a few pics.

Aunt Deb thought had a few ideas, but I dunno.. never seen this one before and I don’t think anyone has nailed it yet.  Give it a shot?

… this next one, well we kinda caught these two… ahem… umm.. well… kinda… “in the moment”

Are you infested yet?  Anyone have any pests they can’t get rid of or maybe a new tip to keep the squash bugs at bay?  Share with the class, please.

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Anyone know what it is?  I assume it is a “weed”, take that in whatever way you wish.  I used to think this was a weed… or that was a weed… then I realized that a weed is what you term it as.  Something growing somewhere it isn’t “supposed to”… is usually called a weed.  blah blahb lhblahblhab.a.a..blahbity blah. 

So what is it?

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With some awesome unexpected rain a few time in the past couple of weeks, our watermelons & cantaloupes are doing great!  We are seeing some vines & honestly… we are thinking a week and we will see flowering.  Can’t wait.  In the meantime, here are a few pics of the black diamond watermelons we have growing on (get it… like “we have going on”… but instead of going… we said growing.  Get it?  it is a play on words, nevermind).

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(more…)

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WHY DID WE NEED THIS MANY BELL PEPPERS AGAIN?

We have an addiction… seriously.  Oh well.  Check these pics of our lil bell pepper butts (yeah… we call them that)…

How awesome is that?  Very.  We love bell peppers, we use them in fajitas, pepper steak… we are about to stuff some and see how that is…

What do you use bell peppers for?

If you have any tips, recipes or anything… please share.  We are going to need to figure out how to use all of these.  Of course we will lend some to our friends & family - but help us use our bell peppers!

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Lets get on with it…

Everyone’s favorite thing to see, besides a tomato itself.  The blooms. 

Mexican Fire (Anisacanthus quadrifidus) - in bloom.  So awesome.

Can’t remember the make & model of this Lantana - but one of the ones we bought this year was Carlos Lantana.  We had to buy it.

This is a new addition, its in a hanging basket - a Blue Daze Evolvulus in full bloom.

Our huge Oleander is in bloom.  Very bright and it contrasts so much against its green foliage.

We picked up some Vincas to help add some color to the garden. They do just that.

So there you have it… all the blooms we have to offer.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see your blooms.  Wait… that sounded dirty.  You know what we mean.

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Like this…

Do you have any tips you want to share.  Strawberry tips or just tips in general.  Email us your tip and we will include it on Double Danger giving you credit!  Or just share your tip in the comments.

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On Saturday, Shala called me while I was at work and said a package just showed up from Fiskars.  Anyone who knows gardening and gardening tools… knows the name fiskars.  Well I couldn’t wait to come home and check it out.  Being a Fiskars fan is something that is hard not to be.

Well when I came home I found this…

Ok… not the grass shears - but the card & Big Grip Trowel.  As if that wasn’t enough… the trowel was engraved with my name.  Check the close up below…

We can’t thank Fiskars enough, we love their products and honestly… we wouldn’t stand behind a product if we didn’t feel it was worth the money.  So if you are looking for gardening tools with high quality, try Fiskars.

And those shears you saw in the first picture… better get you some.  They are THAT good.  Just sayin’…

So after a hard week at work, Fiskars came through… but then yesterday - at lunch I checked the mail.  And look what we got from Carri from Read Between The Limes…

(click here for a bigger picture)

Carri is our friend on Twitter, and we got into a convo about tomatillo - and how we had never grown them.  Next thing we know she was sending us seeds… then next thing we know there is almost a seed type for each month of the year!  It was so nice, and check the goods…

Grande Rio Verde Tomatillo Seeds

Pineapple Tomatillo Seeds

Tomatillo Seeds

Purple Dragon Carrot Seeds

Early Scarlet Radish Seeds

Bright Lights Swiss Chard Seeds

Fava Beans

Lupini Beans

Yard Long Beans

Purple Top Turnip Seeds

Seriously.  Too cool.  Shala is about to plant a bunch of beans anyhow… but we are worried about the heat - so we are going to save a bunch for later on in the year.  Thanks Carri!  We owe ya.  Can’t wait to try them out.

So all of that is to show you something… not everyone is a spammer.  The entire internet isn’t a cesspool of nastiness.  It is no different than the real world.  There are good folks.  There are some bad ones.  And a few crazies.   We are thankful to have met so many good ones.

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