Every living thing

deserves a chance.

We had a very late freeze here in the Texas Panhandle two weeks ago. Snow, even :-(

I had gone into Lowes for something, and as usual, I went into the garden center.

WOW! So many babies had been frost bit and were reduced at 50-70% off regular price.

This Hydrangea was on the clearance rack. It had really taken a beating.

I saw the branch that was split down the middle and just knew I would have to cut off the entire branch, but I didn't care. I have always wanted an Hydrangea and now I was going to have one at a price I was willing to pay.

So I gave it a few days to see what happened and I couldn't believe it! The split branch was not dying!!! It was generating new growth!

I bought a roll of floral tape today and taped it up good. Now I am hoping it will graft itself back together. Time will tell.

Repurpose and Reuse

I have held on to two old water bath canning pots for a couple of years.  I knew I wanted to use them as planters, just have never gotten around to putting the holes in the bottom (used a screwdriver and hammer).

So yesterday, I just did it!

And I think it's just pretty as can be :-)

I can't wait until the plants are growing and filling out more....going to be gorgeous!

Lemony kind of day

Ah fresh squeezed lemon juice. Beautiful! This juice is for fresh homemade lemonade. The juicer...it belonged to my mother and has been around for as long as I can remember. It is likely at least 50 years old. I love the thing!

Lemon peels. These will be made into lemon infused vinegar for household cleaning.

"King of the lemon peels"!!! Well actually, this cute little 4oz jelly car of fresh squeezed lemon juice will go into jam tomorrow.

Fresh squeezed, freshly made lemonade. Yum! How do ya like that neat glass pitcher? Under 5 bucks at everyone's favorite (or not) Supercenter. 1/2 cup of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar and 7 cups of water. So easy!

This, my dear friends, will be some of the most awesome household cleaner known to women(or whomever cleans house). I just dug all of the fleshy part out and cut the peels up in half or so. Put them into a pint jelly jar and filled it to the top with vinegar. It will sit for a couple of weeks and voila! See the lemon seeds? Ima gonna see if they will grow. Likely not, but hey, can't blame a gal for trying.

Heck, I even had on a lemon yellow t-shirt. I just love this shirt! It came from one of my most favorite stores, Tractor Supply. Oh and I didn't plan all of this lemon-y goodness around my shirt....it's just what I picked to put on this morning.

Lemon blossoms SMELL.SO.GOOD! I bought myself a Meyer lemon tree about a month ago. I have often been curious about Meyer lemons. I know they have a distinct shape, are much larger than typical lemons and are quite spendy.

Baby lemon!!! The tree has likely around 15 little tiny babies on it! So...on with the story about Meyer lemons. So since I was curious, I put a post on Facebook and lo and behold...got all the scoop on Meyer lemons: "Meyers Lemons are have a slightly higher sugar content (because they are a cross between an orange and a lemon), are more spherical and have thinner peels. They are a hybrid so if looking for "heirloom" - go the other route. Meyer's also get a lot taller than regular lemon trees (15' vs. 8-10'). I like Meyer's for lemonade, but not as much for baking."

So there you have it. A lemony kind of day.

Tomorrow's agenda: Apricot Jam

Come and see...

My almost garden!

Since it is not quite time, here in the Texas panhandle, to put the garden in, all of the plants I have bought so far are in pots. Not to mention, I haven't even gotten my raised beds ready yet. I used "Mel's Mix" in my pots, as that is what I will use in my raised beds. Mel's Mix is the growing medium used/created by Mel Bartholomew, writer of Square Foot Gardening. This is the method I am using to garden this year.

At harvest time, with just the plants above, we will have 7 types of fresh heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, rhubarb, POPCORN!, 4 types of peppers, spaghetti squash and patty-pan squash. All of that is in the pots in the photos. This week, I plan to add pickling and slicing cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, watermelon, okra, cantaloupe and pumpkin...in plants.

Once the garden is in, late in May (yikes, 6 years here and I STILL cannot get used to the last frost date of Mother's Day) I will be planting seeds for lima beans, green beans, green peas, purple hull peas, black-eye peas, pinto beans, black beans, red beans, radishes, carrots, corn, mustard greens, turnip greens, collard greens and gourds. WHEW! I am so excited for harvest time already!

For the first time ever, I have an herb garden, too!

Top shelf to bottom, left to right: basil, chives, sage, thyme. cilantro, lavender, spearmint, parsley, lemon verbena, rosemary and chamomile.

I still would like to get some calendula.

That old set of stairs was here when we moved here and it is a fantastic plant stand. I bought some white spray paint this weekend and will get it painted this week.

I used marigolds for natural insect repellant.

I put one marigold plant in 3 pepper plant pots and 1 tomato pot. Hopefully it will work. I will have the marigolds interspersed within the raised beds, too.

It is a cool, mostly overcast day here today. It is also supposed to storm this afternoon/evening. I thank God for the rain...but really wanted to work outside today. That means it is indoor work for me today.


Have a wonderful Monday!

Food scraps. Flowers. Herbs.

I shared this photo on Facebook on Sunday. Quite a curious photo, eh?

I am making an attempt to regrow celery and green onions. After I cut off the end of the celery and the ends off the green onions, I put them in a bowl of water for 24 hours. Then I planted them in pots with potting soil. I probably should have used top soil, but the only bag I had was potting soil.

You can see that I buried the celery a bit in the dirt, I wanted to have a little space to add dirt if I needed to once it starts growing and needs more support.

According to all of the other places I read about this, I think I cut my onions off too short. We will see.

While I was in planting mode, I planted the Peony tuber and basil and rosemary plants that I got the other day.

I am so ready for everything to begin to grow. I am more ready for spring this year than I have been in a really long time.

Here's a few links for the celery and green onions.

Chickens in the Road
Dream State Inspiration
Garden Swag
Veggie Gardener
She Hearts It

So what about you, are you gonna give it a try with the celery and onions?