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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Hearts for My Mother

Made this heart from an old map of the bay area and central valley for my parent's front door.

Isn't my mother cute?

The heart stickers are placed where each child, grandchild and great-grandchild lives.

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My family is so lucky to live relatively close to each other.  No one has to hop a plane to come visit.

Will be getting the heart boxes down this weekend.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Roses in My Garden


Been busy in the garden lately.

Now is the time for pruning and feeding the roses.

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Over the years, I have used different brands of "food" for my roses but have found this to work particularly well.  It is a bit more expensive, but seems to keep the bugs and diseases away which makes for a healthy, big blossom producing plant. Make sure you feed them now even though they are dormant.

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I have quite a few rose bushes in my garden...I think I am up to 20 plants now.


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With all the rain, weeds have overtaken my garden beds.  Oh...I hate those weeds.

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Even though clover is most prolific, it is the easiest to pull out,
especially now that the rains have softened the soil.

There are so many weeds, I fill my compost bin to overflowing every week.

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At times, I  take a break from hacking/pulling weeds...I grab a meyer lemon off one of my bushes, pour myself a nice big glass of water and plop some slices in...and gulp....mmm refreshing!

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Yes, I have a year round supply of lemons...

  A gardener's work is never done...at least here in California.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Not Too Late for Bulbs

Do you still have a bag or two of bulbs sitting on your garage/basement floor like this?

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Did you think you blew it again by not getting those bulbs in the ground and yet again you have to toss them all away?

Not so fast now.    Luckily I live in a place where the climate is mild enough, the dirt is still pliable enough where I can  still plant the bulbs right in the ground. If your garden is frozen and covered with ice and snow you are too late for flowers emerging from your soil in the spring.  But you can still plant those forgotten bulbs in pots.  Let me show you how .

First....

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Any bleach will do.

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FILL POT HALF WAY WITH SOIL
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PLACE A LABEL (INCLUDE THE NAME & DATE), WATER AND WAIT...

IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS YOU WILL BE TREATED WITH A DELIGHTFUL SIGHT.

GIVE IT A TRY...I PROMISE YOU WON'T BE SORRY.