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coconut oil granola & boxwood update

DIY boxwood preservation & Family Fun

*This is our serious shot!  I can't get the others to load! :( 

Hello there.  What have you been up to?  Aside from thrift shopping for 70's clothes (Grace and I had to do so for a fun little mother daughter church fashion show), I've been doing some serious spring cleaning and sprucing up the house for company.  The cleaning came both by choice, and by necessity. We had so much rain that a room in our basement flooded.  It was really a blessing in disguise, because I was able to get rid of a lot of things, and reorganize my workshop.  I completely rearranged the shelving and tables, and I love the new look.

Tips for growing asparagus

Can you see my little ferns??!  I know it's not the best picture.  I love fresh asparagus from the garden. At a church meeting/luncheon a few years ago, someone brought some that they had grown in their garden.  It was the best asparagus I had ever tasted!  I couldn't believe how much better it tasted than what I buy in the store.

I wanted to try growing my own.  I must have mentioned it to a friend, because one day she surprised me with some asparagus crowns to plant.  My soil is like clay, so I had to work so hard to dig my trenches and fill them with good soil.  I prayed that all that work would yield crop.   A few weeks later I thought I had killed them, and then, to my surprise, I saw the ferns emerge!  And after that, a few little asparagus popped up.

I asked  my friend's husband about how to grow them, and he gave me some great tips.   So, if you want to grow your own delicious asparagus, here is what he said...

1. To keep them growing well, it is important to keep them weeded.  They can be mulched to make that easier. 

2. Dress them with some powdered limestone every year.  This counteracts the natural acidity of the soil and the effects of acid rain.  He sprinkles on a little 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring and again in June when he quits picking.  His ferns usually get about 5 or 6 feet high.

3. Be patient! 

It is recommended not to pick any spears for the first two years.  This enables the plants to get well established.  During the third season, pick the spears for about 4 weeks.  The next and succeeding years you can pick for 8 weeks.  Just snap them off at ground level to harvest them.   Commercial growers cut them off well below the ground because they are selling it by the pound.  You end up having to break that part off and discard it.  In warm weather they need to be picked every day.  In hot weather they often have to be picked twice a day.  They start out very tender no matter how large in diameter they are.  They get tougher and stringier as they get taller and as the head starts to open up.   If the head is still very tight, they will still be tender even if they are 10 or 12 inches tall.  Pick them at 6 or 8 inches tall.  At that height they are very sweet and tender.

4. The ferns should be cut off in the early spring before the spears start to emerge.  The spears all originate in the crown which should be about eight inches under the ground level.  The crown gets bigger every year.  He said he dug up some plants that were about 15 years old and the crowns were 12-15 inches in diameter.  Some of the older crowns send up twenty or thirty spears each year. 

For more tips,check out this site.  Good luck!  I think it will be well worth it to have delicious, fresh, tender asparagus!

D.C. Cherry Blossoms and Thyme ground cover tip~

Free botanical printables~

a surprise in the wildflowers

projects

Mom's easy crock pot pasta sauce with garden tomatoes

How to make my $2.00 sign "aged" with apple cider vinegar!

I am so excited about the Raspberry sign I made for $2.00!  In fact, I am in the process of making two more.  A different one for autumn, and yet another for winter.  I will show you those later.  Anyway, this is such an easy project with big impact.  Here are the materials:

Best Thai Green Curry with Chicken Recipe

image source

I sat behind Mitt Romney's

older brother Scott in church on Sunday in Michigan!  Too funny.  We were there on vacation visiting family last weekend.


During one of the church meetings they were talking about journals/family history and asked if anyone had any stories to share. Scott Romney said that no one else knew this (including his deceased mother), but that when they were kids, Scott threw a dart and it stuck in Mitt's head. Mitt went to tell on him, but before he could get to his mom, Scott pulled it out.  Mitt ran to tell his mom, Scott said he didn't do it, and Mitt's mom told Mitt not to lie. :)

Okay, now on to my RASPBERRIES!  

Yep,

A study in pink

Last year, we celebrated with a party.  It's that time again, and this year we celebrate with a painting!  My New Original Peony Painting debuting  in my Etsy shop!   Happy Monday~hope you all had a great weekend!

The neighbors wud think id gone crzy

Outdoor inspiration

Here is a little Monday afternoon inspiration for you!  Did you see this fire pit in House Beautiful magazine?  It puts ours to shame!  Of course, we built ours on a budget.  However, now I am thinking about adding rocks around ours, and some more permanent benches.  Looks like a cozy, relaxing way to spend an evening, doesn't it?

Simple Strawberry Cream Pie

Mow easily and stop weeds with landscape shingles

$4.00 Door Decoration

Yellow metal basket... $3.00 from thrift store last year

Wreath door hanger...already had... from Dollar Tree

Leaves and branches...from yard

White silk lilac flowers...free from thrift store 

(used savings from my frequent buyer card!)

repurposing a vintage crib frame from a yard sale!

accessorizing the outside of your home