A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall coffeehouse 2661

Good morning, rise and shine....there is snow to deal with. I thought we'd have an early spring, was I ever wrong. ☹️

Not to worry. With this weather it could be spring the day after tomorrow. And remember .at least it is not December.

So true. 🌷

Good morning !!

I have started cleaning my raised beds because I started cucumbers and squash seeds in cups yesterday. Seems I can't help myself.

You have raised beds, Sheri ?
Yes about the gardening. I just love doing it. Mind you the fresh veggies ARE tastee.

I can't wait to start planting. I have two months to go before I can plant potatoes. 😄 Ill start some seeds in cups next month for a few things.

My raised beds are ready to go. I just have to find some onion sets and a few potatoes. I found a few potatoes already.

Good morning !!

.....and I am extremely jealous of you.😘

It is still snowing. Only six inches for today but it is more than enough. It's a good day to make a large batch of spaghetti sauce and lasagnas to freeze.

Yay for spaghetti sauce and frozen lasagnas....I am envious of that !!!

Yes, I've had 3 raised bed since before Johnny died. He built them. I also have a small area where I plant cucumbers in the ground and for years, until this year, I planted squash in straw bales. This year I'm planting squash in one of the raised beds because it's a lot of work starting the straw bales and since it's just me, Shelley's family doesn't eat squash and Ginger is in MS, I'm not doing all the preparation. All I'm planting is a few squash plants, a few cucumber plants, maybe just 2 tomato plants, and possibly okra - not sure about that. I only cook with onions if someone is here and while I do love digging potatoes, they're just too much trouble for just me.

I plant 4 tomato plants..and my DH will eat them IF I cut them for a meal. But he is not a real fan.
But I love a home grown tomato.
I plant about 6 hills of potatoes. Just cause I love fresh potatoes. This year I just put in 6 broccoli plants.( My SIL brought them to me). In the next few days I will put out onion sets and a bit of lettuce. That is all the veggies I will plant.

I think I may plant flower seeds this year instead of buying starts. I have planted perennials for most years since I have been here. BUT most never make it to the next year. Sadly my dad's sage has died off as well. The horrid cold snap we had last winter killed it.

Glad you have the raised beds that Johnny built. That is a nice remembrance. You know you could always plant flowers in your raised beds.

I am debating starting another vegetable plot in my backyard, the more I can plant...the more I can preserve for Winter. I am also going to start putting veggie plants in places in my flower beds where plants have died out. I figure tomato and pepper plants will look just as pretty. 😆

Junie, I'm not a 'fresh' eating tomato person either but I love them cooked. I am using my last green pepper from my freezer....I need to plant more this year.

Bestofour, I think the fact that we can plant potatoes here at the end of May is why I love the whole process. It is the first excuse to dig in the dirt.😉

I am off to clean this storm from the driveway, Winter is never ending here.

Go ahead and add the new veggie garden. Less grass to cut ! My dad's dad used to put his whole yard in garden..and my grandmother would put up as much as possible. They also had a grape arbor so she could make jelly. But then they had 10 boys to help with the care of said garden.

Good morning! The kids will be here today. There is no school.

Both sets of my grandparents had gardens everywhere on their properties. They were farmer's as well, it is in my blood I guess.😉

It is minus -9*F here this morning, I don't know how those tiny little birds survive our Winter. I scattered food for them on the snow, I could watch them all day.

Yes, I love watching the birds..sad thing is unless it is right before a snow storm or some severe weather Birds don't come here like they used to for me at home. Why I even had a blue bunting I think it was come by for a day or two during it's travels. I guess I just cannot compete with all the fir trees the neighbor has.

I noticed. My fingers hit a 2 instead of a 1 in my last post. My paternal grandparents had 10 boys not 20..gracious..10 was enough. Then they had 2 girls. So at least Grandma had "some" help around the house. Grandma used to go on "vacations" to visit her parents in Northern IL when all those kids were small. I do not blame her. I assume if there were any babies she was nursing I guess she had to take them with her though.

So many questions I should have asked but did not. No one left to ask anymore.

My yard is full of sparrows this morning. I scattered some oatmeal for them....I need to pick up some bird feed this week. Poor things, we have three snow storms showing up for the week ahead.

It is freezing cold today. I took a quick trip to the local little grocery store yesterday, my gosh....one could never afford to do a full shopping trip there. They wanted $4 for a small mango, $8 for a small pack of strawberries and $10 for a small pineapple. The sad part is, these fruit were not in good condition either. GG gets the good fruit, as for us....thank god for bananas. 😉

This week I can go pick up my eye glasses, hopefully they correct the myopia in my left eye. I was told to use them for watching television because my tv is over ten feet away from where I sit to watch it. You learn something new everyday.

Junie, when we first moved here 25 years ago I was distraught because there were no birds. Now there are lots and lots of all sorts of birds. I have seeds feeders and 2 platform feeders that I put mealworms in. And I put out 2 hummingbird feeders the other day.

I love a fresh tomato sandwich. The last 2 years my tomatoes just didn't do well at all but I'm trying again this year. I think I'll plant 2 sandwich cutting tomatoes and 1 cherry tomato plant because I like them cooked in the oven and then covered with basil or parmesan cheese.

We used to have a gigantic garden but we were feeding a family and giving some away to family and church people. Nowadays other than maybe freezing a bit of okra, I eat any produce as I bring it in. If I have extra, which is usually the case with cucumbers and squash, I'll give it to Shelley or friends.

Junie, broccoli and lettuce are fall crops for me. And with things like broccoli and cabbage the fight with the green worms is not worth what I end up harvesting. Good luck with your broccoli.

PS Junie, I did get a card from dodge.

Thanks for all the information. I planted broccoli last fall and green beans. The broccoli I have now are extra plants Val's DH had. We will see if any of the 6 make it. I too love a tomato sandwich. I put butter on my bread.

What I get to freeze are blackberries, and sometimes skinned tomatoes.

Good morning. More snow ahead....keep me updated on your gardening, it makes me smile with this dreary weather.

I've been watching gardening shows all weekend on YouTube, it's neat to watch what can or can't be grown in different parts of the world.

Junie, do you blanche then freeze your tomatoes? And use them for sauces? If I get any tomatoes I will do that.

I have to fight deer and birds for blackberries. I'll get enough to make a cobble or two and eat some but that's about it.

About the tomatoes. Yes, I cut an X on the bottom just thru the skins. And then I blanch them. After peeling the tomatoes I cut them up. I fill a clean and dry tomato can (for measurement) then transfer to a freezer container. Then I cut a piece of wax paper to fit over the top and put on the fitted lid. Then place in the freezer. I think you could also fill whatever amount in a freezer bag, close it, making sure to let out as much air as possible, and lay it flat to freeze.

Hey. At least you get some blackberries. I lose some to birds as well

I blanch, peel and freeze tomatoes as well, the small patio kind. They cook wonderfully in sauces. I use vacuum freezer bags.

Good morning ! Sadly we have been up since before 5. I guess I can get my chores done early, huh ??

You can come clean my driveway. 😘❄️❄️

Sure, be right over...:-)

Wait until Sunday, we are supposed to get two feet of snow this weekend. That's what I get for saying we had an easy Winter,......a very snowy spring. 🤬

Oh gosh Sunny. Can the Easter bunny get to your house through all that snow? Supposed to be 73° here Sunday.

Cucumber and squash seeds are already up. Need to keep working on the raised beds because I'll have to transplant soon.

Junie, when I wake up early, which I usually don't, I read my Bible or a book for a while. When it gets warmer and it's already light when I wake up, I might end up out in the yard before it gets too hot.

I used to be a morning person, Sheri. Now I am not. IF I can't sleep I usually get up and read too. But yesterday it was late enough that I knew that was not an option.

I got into the habit years ago to work on my garden in the evenings because of the heat. Even the watering, even thought " they" say to not water at night. A few of my onions are up and 5 of my 6 broccoli plants are doing ok. If anymore die, I will replace them with potatoes. I only was able to fit 9 hills into my raised beds. I have 2 beds, 6ft by 2 ft each. I NOW know they make 8x2ft beds, but mine are what they are now.

Today it is already 68. and the winds are to get up to 40mph. Crazy. It could rain and/or have storms this afternoon thru Saturday, and be warm. Sunday is predicted to be dry but colder with that trend going into next week.

Sunday it is, Sunny...does that mean I get to celebrate Easter with you ??

Sure, you can both come over for Easter. Bring your shovels though....we are supposed to get 30 inches of snow from Friday through Sunday. I wonder if I can stay in bed all weekend??🙈

Shovels it is then

Sure you can stay in bed all day. Just tell your people that you are not feeling well and they should stay away so you do not share.

I can't even imagine 30 inches of snow. We're supposed to get a little rain and we really need it so I hope it does rain.

We didn't go to church tonight because we were warned about an impending bad storm. So it is 8 pm and still no storm. Hopefully we CAN go to church tomorrow evening.

And I cannot imagine 30 inches of snow either. Crazy.

It is just like our Winter is a few months behind this year, this is February weather. DH said I'm getting punished for bragging that this is the first year that I never shovelled roofs. Mother Nature wants to make a liar out of me. 🤣

We will have a traditional Good Friday either way, baked fish with scalloped potatoes. My grandparents used to have hot cross buns, it is nice to recall memories from my childhood.

Yes sometimes it is best to keep your happiness to yourself.LOL.. we turned the air conditioner on today..we will be turning it off on Sunday and from what they say thru the next week.

Today I am baking a cake for Valarie and taking it to her with her birthday gift. When her birthday is thru the week she stops by and picks up her cake on the way to school and shares it there with her friends. But I will take it to her at home today. Then I will continue to look for pictures for Emily.
She wanted proof of when we took her to Disney World when she was 9. Prices have really gone up.
Valarie told me that if they took the 4 kids now it would take like $10,000. Can you imagine ?? I do not see how people can do that.

About Easter..I try to include a little gift to each child. Well it looks like the water goggles I ordered for my grands here will not arrive in time for Easter. if at all. Great...not.

Omg, that's quite an expensive vacation these days. I can only imagine how the pricing has changed since you took the girls.

What kind of cake are you baking? Was it Val who liked the peanut butter one. Cakes are the best birthday gift a person can receive. 😘

Easter is not fancy here either, the grands get something chocolate and a little gift as well. I remember being a child and getting the egg from KMart or Zeller's with our name written on it from my Aunts, my parents bought me the hollow chocolate bunny with the bow. My grandmother always bought me the chocolate hen with the little meringue chicks on it. Those memories make me smile.

Where are my posts going ?? Has anyone seen them ??

Yes that is quite expensive. Val and family are not going. For us to go there back in the day it cost about $1000.00and that included tickets to get into the 3 the parks and eating. Yes. Times have most certainly changed.

I make Valarie a box mix Spice cake..but I change out the ingredients some.
( Water for milk.) (Butter for the oil) and (4 eggs instead of 3.)
It does make a better cake mix Then for a topping I made peanut butter icing

When I was young we always got some hollowed out chocolate animal (usually a lamb or a bunny) in a cage ( box) of sorts. Then a basket to pick up real eggs with. It usually had plastic eggs in it with some change in them.

Those posts are like lost socks in the dryer.....gone forever.😆

It is snowmageddon outside. Three days of this nonsense is enough....I have the tractor warming up, it is too much for the hand snowblower. I'll just clean a path each day and deal with the full clean up on Monday.

I like box mixes for making roll cakes. They seem sturdier than my scratch recipes when it comes time to roll them up with filling.

Well MY posts are in love with disappearing, it seems.

I make fancy cake recipes from scratch, the regular ones are usually box mixes. However if the box mixes get much smaller, I will be making all my cakes from scratch..with my "old" cake recipes.

My sympathies about all the snow. This silliness has to stop soon, right ???

My SIL gave me lettuce and onions from his garden yesterday. I will be using that at supper tonight.

Good Morning !!!