Spring Blooms & The Garden

Hello, friends.  Monday evening, J & I picked up our taxes.  We're thankfully getting a refund, and are discussing the best use of it.  I went through Swagbucks for a purchase needed for the soap shop, and got 1% back.  Another deal I got through Swagbucks was .05 back each for purchasing apples and lemons.  Little bits, but it all adds up.  I finished two free ebooks, and started another on nights I was awake.  The days and nights warmed on Monday, so we were able to do without heat all week, and have been closing up the house as the day warms up, so no A/C was needed.  The Lowe's cc bill was paid off immediately, so no charges were accrued.  For a dinner, our butter beans and lamb's quarter were pulled from the freezer.  Our last tiny stored onions were used in the beans, and our garlic was used in the greens.  Celery was harvested for a waldorf salad.  

An onion was pulled from the garden for a meal of Mexican quinoa and bean burritos.  Laundry was hung on the line.  A dear niece visited, and brought a yummy pasta dish for lunch.  We wandered the gardens, and talked about gardening and plant dyeing.  She'll soon be graduating with a Masters degree, and will be off on a new teaching adventure.  I ran to the library in town, shopped a few sales in Walgreens, and got $5 in rewards.  A small pot of petunias, mixed portulaca and dusty miller were purchased for the window basket for the workshop.  I found a pot that had two of the dusty millers in it, so got a bonus plant.  The first of our asparagus is being harvested.  It will be a few days until there is enough for a meal, so I purchased some at Aldi's for $1.99/#.  I got one of the free coffee bean bags that J was given while at a job for a coffee roaster a few years ago, cut it to fit the window basket, filled it with potting mix, and planted it.  I dug three clumps of creeping jenny to start with, then added the store bought plants.  We'll hang it after the gas company sets up my little workshop heater next week, as that's the area they'll be working in.  I'll share a pic once it's hung. 

I learned from Rhonda's blog that Lowe's is giving away weekly freebies in April, and signed up for this week's.  I've been having some challenges lately, which have really slowed me down in the garden.  Sleep has been a challenge many nights, which has me feeling rather zombie-ish some days.  I've cut back on the supplements I'm taking, in case they're a problem.  I've also had an awful case of eczema on my hands and lower arms for many weeks.  I've finally found something that seems to be helping, which I may share in an upcoming post.  I'm trying to do a bit of yard and garden work here and there, but end up damaging the fragile skin each time.  Perhaps I haven't learn enough patience during the pandemic?  I was pretty sure I'd heard hummingbirds earlier, and spotted the first one on Friday.  The feeders had been up a couple of weeks, in anticipation of them.  

The past few weeks, I'd been noticing the rooster's dish up on it's side some mornings, and some scratching nearby.  I thought it might be a raccoon or a possum, and sure enough, M placed his game cam on the spot, and caught a raccoon the first night.  Now, we're trying to figure out who is breaking eggs.  That's going to be a little tougher to figure out, as it happens in different nest boxes, and when the hens are in the boxes, you can't see what they're doing when their back is to you.  The peas and spinach were fed with this.  I'm trying a few new things this year, to see if they will help create healthy plants and soil.  I've enjoyed using the LeafSnap app this year.  Most recently, it identified a cluster of flowering saplings J & I came across as black haw viburnum, which is both edible and medicinal.  I snipped some lilac to enjoy in the house.  There was one right outside my window in my childhood home, so they've always been special to me.  

A batch of yogurt was made.  A few small garden beds were weeded.  Our chard was sauteed with bought spinach.  There were so many potatoes, when J cut eyes for planting, he boiled and froze several bags.  I got one of them, steamed it after defrosting for a bit, and used it for potato salad.  Almost 100 potatoes are up in the garden.  J set up the garden trellis on Saturday, and I planted the tromboncino squash.  He also made the cucumber bed, and planted those.  I transplanted the rest of the wintersown lettuce, and the wintersown Hopi Dye sunflowers.  On Sunday, J made a bed for yellow squash, and I planted those.  I also planted nasturtium seeds in both of the squash beds, and planted radish seeds in the cucumber, broccoli and cabbage beds.  Both of these are said to repel pests for these plants.  Several volunteer sedums were transplanted in better spots.  We cleaned up our strawberries, and placed cardboard around them for weed control.  They're covered with blooms.  We haven't gotten any berries to pick in years, and not many then, so we're hoping this will be a bountiful year.  Many wishes you have a most bountiful week.