After a long day on my feet, I'm taking a little rest and decided to check the blogs. Glad to see a few more people wrote a blog.
The past couple of weeks have been ones of working in the yard. On Easter we are invited to purchase an Easter lily and can designate it as a remebrance or a thanksgiving. We bought two since they were $8 and after Easter service, brought them home and used them as table decorations for the two tables we had for our Easter dinner and our family coming. I then planted them in the front garden near the ones we planted last year that are starting to come up. Yesterday when I went to church to fill the altar candles and attend ladies' Bible study, one of the ladies was going to get rid of the leftover ones so I snagged two more. It rained yesterday and today so I need to wait to plant them. I know I won't see them bloom again this year, but that's OK. I figure it is a good way to reuse the plants and with the two free ones, it's something else nice to have in the garden.
Sadly I have spent money on some plants to put in the front flower garden, and then also bought two plants for a smaller flower garden at the back of the house. We are trying to make it a pollinator garden to attract butterflies and bees. I read where you could put different sized rocks in a bird bath and it helps the butterflies and bees get a drink, so I did that. Some of the rocks were ones I dug out of the ground when I mowed. There are lots of rocks in the land around here. DH had said we could buy a bag of rocks, but I figured I might as well use what we had. I'm sure the butterflies and bees won't mind. We also bought a "bee house" to put out in the pollinator garden. It is scary reading how many honey bees we've lost in this country.
We have a Dollar Tree in the small town we live near and I was surprised to see some perennial bulbs. I bought a few and planed them in the front garden. I spent $3.75 and tax. Figure if just a couple come up, I'm money ahread. Dollar General had a box of flower seeds for hummingbirds and butterflies so I spent $2 and bought that and planted them in two different areas. It is supposed to have both perennials and annuals in the seeds. I have a small area near the front steps that I planted some since the tulips are starting to die back. I found some black landscape border in the pole barn so before I planted the seeds, I put it in around the tulips and the rest of the bed, hoping that will enhance the area.
I read online where you could plant potato starts if potatoes had started growing the eyes. I cut them up and dried them for a couple of days and planted them. I did buy grow bags because I honestly didn't want to have to dig them up in the soil. It seems like it has taken forever for anything to pop up, but I'm seeing leaves so I'm hoping my "free" potato starts do well.
The big thing was we tilled up a small area in the very back to make a vegetable garden. I have been saving coffee grounds, tea leaves, and egg shells and DH tilled them in the soil. I planted lettuce, green onions, radishes, and carrots. I want to make sure there is no chance of frost and hope to plant peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans. I'm hoping we do well on this garden, not only because fresh vegetables are wonderful, but hopefully it will offset the grocery bills.
In the front flower garden was this small plaster decoration that said Cubs. My husband is a Cubs fan. Sadly, the paint had totally faded on the red part that said Cubs, and the blue circle around it was faint. I bought some red paint at Dollar Tree and we had blue paint, so since I could not work in the yard due to rain the past couple of days, I painted the red and blue. DH is thrilled. It did revive it and better than buying new. It was nice working in the room we finished in the basement just for crafting.
My other project today besides putting together dough for homemade sandwich bread was to clean and organize the pantry. We have a reach in pantry and I'm ashamed to admit it was a mess. I looked on Pinterest for suggestions on organization and honestly, some of those folks either don't have a lot of stuff, or are far better at organizing than I am. I did not want to buy anything, just wanted ideas. I did use some of my canning jars to put cornmeal and oatmeal in, but it helped that I took everything out and then reorganized everything. A few items found homes in better spots. Fortunately nothing in the pantry was expired, so at least I haven't let that happen.
After baking bread and making supper, I think a relaxing evening reading a library book sounds wonderful.
May 1st, 2025 at 12:24 am 1746055455
When she visited people, she would ask for ‘slips’ from their plants, take them home and root them in water, and eventually she’s have plants that outpaced their originals.
Same with plants from gardens - she dug up tiny offspring from other people’s pereniels, transplanted into her yard and had beautiful flowers. She was generous with hers too, always happy to share.
Somehow, even in her old age, she always attracted ‘boyfriends’ who did favors for her. One was a man who worked at a greenhouse. Every year after Easter he’d drive up with a trunk load of unsold and pretty ragged looking lilies. She planted them and every Summer she had an amazing display of years worth of ‘discards.’
May 1st, 2025 at 03:39 am 1746067156
May 1st, 2025 at 04:09 pm 1746112164
Mumof2, you must have quite the green thumb!
May 1st, 2025 at 04:49 pm 1746114580