letters from the wilderness
A few days late.... Grow cuttings from the garden for next year - I've been having some success starting cuttings from my garden for next year. Generally, I dip the cutting in rooting hormone and pop it into the soil. I saved the containers from plants I purchased this year to use for this purpose.... Continue Reading →
I'm back! My schedule got a little crazy, and then we did a 24-hour visit to see our 2 sons in Pennsylvania. October Unprocessed - I set a goal of making stuff from scratch AND using up old ingredients. One item I'm using up is chia seeds purchased from Giant way back when. I toss... Continue Reading →
Time for a belated Frugal Friday post. Our fall schedule kicked into high gear with the addition of physical therapy appointments for my daughter to help her TMJ and me dealing with a sinus infection on top of a recurring ear infection. Fun times! Coupons! at Kroger, CVS, and cashback and Fetch rewards - When... Continue Reading →
After my Amaryllis bulbs bloomed last winter, I tried pollinating the flowers to produce seeds. I was successful in producing seeds and getting those seeds to grow! Once the seeds began growing in water, I put them in potting soil in recycled plant containers from Home Depot and Lowes. I decided to use potting soil... Continue Reading →
The river birch stump is out! It took my husband several months with the help of two of my sons to dig out the stump, fix the underground drainage pipes and grade the area. The roots were tough to dig up. Several wrapped around the brick wall and went under the patio on the other... Continue Reading →
It's been a moment. A long moment in the garden. We had a dry spring followed by a dry summer. Between the deer, the voles, and the lack of rain, I struggled to keep what we had and the new plants I installed this year. Our water bills were high for 2 months. And then,... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, we took a break from our usual weekend gardening projects and visited Reedy Farm in Monroe, VA for their Open Garden Day. It was the perfect day! I had forgotten how much I love daylilies, maybe because the deer like them, too. In Pennsylvania, we only grew the common orange daylilies that grow like... Continue Reading →
This will be the first of several updates. After starting this post, I made additional changes. Such is gardening life. First of all, I decided the netting on the crop cages was too dense for sunlight, not to mention pollinators. However, I still had the deer issue to consider. I removed the netting and switched... Continue Reading →
May was a lot. Lots of stuff going on in our family including losing a young cousin who could have been an Olympic hopeful; he was that good. For therapy, I spent a lot of time in the garden which I'll be sharing about here. First of all, the mother of all digs. Behold the... Continue Reading →
While my husband dug up the roots of the trees we had removed last fall, I started working on our fountain. When we moved in a few years ago, the fountain didn’t appear to be operational. The top piece had broken off. The bottom part was filled with irises and leaves. Last summer I moved... Continue Reading →
2 dogs and a house 