I pruned fruit trees and cut budded apricot branches for a vase for my entry table. I purchased fruit this week: oranges for $0.39 a pound, Gala apples for $0.99 a pound, and bananas for $0.59 a pound. I also bought pasta for $0.49 a pound. After we had eaten the bananas, I put the…
January and February are my busiest months in the garden. February 15th marks our official last frost date here. Our local nursery gets tomato plants in on Valentine’s Day, and will have a large variety of vegetables and herbs by the third week of February. The leaves fall from the trees in December, giving us…
The garden is less productive than it usually is this month, but I’m hoping to have more to harvest towards the end of the month. I’ve cloched several lettuce seedlings to get them to grow faster. I have a few green onions (fewer than previous years, but we’ve also been using them more, so I…
I dug 12 parsley seedlings that had self-seeded in the garden, and moved them to places where they can grow to full-size. I took a couple of blackberry cuttings and dipped them in rooting powder, and then placed them in the garden. If they root, I’ll have a couple more plants. I also took cuttings…
I dug small paperwhite bulbs from the garden (that had multiplied) and transplanted them to another spot in the garden. In a year or two, these bulbs will be big enough to flower. I carefully dug up and transplanted beet and Swiss chard seedlings that had self-seeded, and transplanted them into rows in another spot…
Temperatures for the second half of the month are warming up quickly. This week we should have highs in the low 60’s, if the weatherman is correct. This month and next month are my busiest times of year in the garden. I have a ton of pruming still to do. I can only do so…
I spent a lot of time in the garden last week, pruning. I also spent a good deal of time during the dark hours of the days reading online about pruning and propagating. Even though I’ve gardened for 15 years, there is always more to learn, including specific rules for my climate. I love that…
I planted lettuce seeds in the garden. Some were seeds I had purchased last year and some were seeds that I collected from my garden last last year. I dug some tiny lettuce seedlings that had self-seeded in the rocked section next to my driveway and transplanted them into the garden. I pulled the fir…
My post, What I’ll Spend for Food, has been one of my most popular posts. Several readers have asked for an updated version that includes current prices, as prices have risen since I have written that post. At the time I wrote that (3 years ago this month) sales for both us and our agents…
I went to make lemonade the last week of the year only to discover that I was out of sugar. In general, I don’t run out of things–especially sugar! Staple items are things I always have on hand. I’ll be remedying that problem right away. I have 7 or 8 baskets of lemons on…
We start school again this week. After we’ve finished school each day, I plan to work on my goals during the afternoons, as well as on Saturday. There is a possibility of seasonal rain this week, which will dictate what days I work outside (if it rains, though this is the right time of year…
It was a simple week that we spent at home. I did some organizing and cleaning last week. I went through some clothes, and several pairs of children’s pants (trousers) need to have the elastic replaced in the waistband. I ordered bulk elastic on sale for 25% off from Wawak to fix these pairs of pants….