Sunny Forsythia
Even though forsythia doesn’t produce nectar or pollen, I still enjoy seeing it’s sunny face in the garden during these early spring days. I’m sure it still provides habitat in some way, most likely in the thicket of stems and branches.
I’ve been contemplating adding a long hedge of forsythia along our driveway. We need something like it and I could propagate the entire hedge for free from the one bush we have. My parents have a huge forsythia hedge and it’s amazing most years. Every 10 years or so they cut it back to the ground and it is a little stunned for a few years, but the 5-7 years after the trimming it’s always a showstopper!
Do you have a forsythia in your garden? What’s your favorite early blooming shrub?
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Sewing Up a Storm
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, I called my mom and sewed a ton of zipper pouches for orphans in Indonesia. They will be filled with goodies from local businesses and delivered later this summer.
A friend started this project and we’ve been working on them here and there as we can. We are making each one unique, hoping the girl that gets them will love that hers is different than everyone else’s. It has been a really fun project, we have more orphanages we can make them for as well if we have the time. For now we’re committed to making 60.
Choosing fabrics, zippers, thread, and decorative stitches has been lots of fun. I love to sew and don’t need a ton of sewing for myself, this has been the perfect way to enjoy my hobby while doing something for someone else.
I can’t think of a more perfect way to celebrate Mother’s Day than by making something for motherless children.
How did you celebrate Mother’s Day?
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Friday Favorite: Seasonal Eating
When you start eating a little more seasonally, you start eating a wider variety of fruits & vegetables. It’s a wonderful thing because you enjoy most things at the height of their flavor and you eat them in quantity. Then, the season is over and you’re ready to wait another 6-8 months until you can enjoy that thing again. This variety of rhubarb is ‘Glaskins Perpetual’, it’s supposed to be a plant that can be harvested all summer long. A bit like everbearing strawberries as opposed to the June bearing varieties. This is the first year that I will be able to harvest from these plants, it should be nice to have a bit of rhubarb here and there throughout the summer instead of one giant flush in early summer. I also have a few different varieties of regular rhubarb, they’re getting close to harvest as well.
Currently, I’m eagerly anticipating the rhubarb harvest. I’ll be making rhubarb ketchup, rhubarb and strawberry ice cream, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb cordial, and loads of other lovely things. I may freeze a bit for enjoyment in the middle of winter, but generally there’s not enough left for that after everything I want to make during the season.
What fruit/vegetable are you most looking forward to in season?
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So Excited
I’ve always loved tree peonies, though I’ve never had one in the garden. Last summer I purchased two from a lovely little garden center nearby. They may bloom this year, they may not. Either way, I’m super excited that they both survived the winter and look healthy and happy. Neither are in their final resting place, both will be moved eventually.
You can bet that I’ll be eagerly watching them to see if I might be graced with a lovely bloom this spring. If not, I guess next spring will have to do. The color of the emerging growth and the gracefulness of the plant is more than enough to make up for it. I can’t wait to see what color the blooms will be!
Do you grow tree peonies? Any blooms your especially looking forward to this year?
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Lucky Me
In Ohio, I had a HUGE rain barrel system that I loved. It was made with seven 55-gallon drums all linked together. On Monday, my name came up at the local winery so I could get a few used barrels.
These barrels are made with French oak, they should last for quite a while. I’m thinking of preserving them with a little jojoba to make them last even longer.
These will hopefully be made into lovely rain catchment devices. I’m planning on putting one of each side of my greenhouse when it gets build. I can’t wait to have lovely rain water for my seedlings and plants once again.
Do you have a rain barrel in your garden?
