Weeds & Seeds Swap

I love animals, and think Deer are among the most beautiful and gentle looking creatures there are.  We see them frequently around this area as it is very wooded, as well as bears, raccoons, squirrels, and you name it, we have it!

My tulips are beginning to put out their buds, and when they flower I’ll be doing what I can to keep our cute but rascally squirrels from eating the flowers.

Deer are not a big problem for me unless they are making their way down to our lake during a drought, I believe I shared a story on this blog once before about how they came down from the woods on the way to the water and ate every one of my beautiful orange triple-flower Day Lilies. That was a major but rare disappointment, at least here on our property.  But deer can be real pests in many gardens…I have watched them grazing in yards and gardens very early in the morning when driving, while the homeowner/gardeners are still sleeping and unaware.

They are beautiful, but also do their part spreading Deer ticks that cause Lymes Disease, a disease that started here in NJ if memory serves me correctly?  Definitely somewhere nearby in the Northeast. It is quite common here, as are the ticks, I’ve found them on myself and my dog on a number of occasions.

“Deer Off”® is an organic/natural repellent that you can safely spray on your plants and in the gardening area to keep Deer away, after all that work, a deer repellent like this will save you from waking up to a great disappointment like the people that I just mentioned must have found.

havahart.com has a wonderful Havahart® Deer Off ® II Battery-Powered Sprayer that has a patented Dual Deterrent System™ formula that provides both scent and taste barriers to repel deer, rabbits, and squirrels…so not only will it take care of the Deer, but those squirrels I was telling you about that like to eat my tulip flowers.

Happy Earth Day, well actually it’s Earth Night at the moment!  The day has gone so quickly and been a busy one.  I’ve updated some things on this blog a bit, and hope you like the changes and new resources available to you.

My mother was a much better gardener than I will ever be.  I approach my garden with a feeling that it’s going to grow just fine, an air of confidence, and find myself challenged at times by it as the season goes on, while my mother would approach it with humility, always meekly saying “oh, I probably won’t get many tomatoes this year” or whatever the crop happened to be that was on her mind at the time, only to have more than she could handle by the end of the season.The first garden I recall from childhood was a plot in the backyard, it seemed huge at the time, but really the space was rather small.  Still, it had a nice yield at the end of the season.

I remember the pole beans Mom would grow, being so curious about how the beans climbed up those poles that my Dad put in the garden.  There were three tall sticks tied together at the top, similar to the picture below, and at the base, the seeds were planted, which grew and climbed up the stakes to the top, and provided beans throughout the season.  There were a few 3-pole groupings in a row, and since I was small, they seemed very tall!  Mom always told me that the difference between Pole Beans and Bush Beans was that that pole beans provided beans for a longer period of time.

Personally, I’ve never grown pole beans, have always opted for the bush variety as they look better in the area where I plant. My only “pet peeve” is those little cut worms that enjoy my garden so much, I have to make sure the soil is clear of them before planting my beans, they seem to especially love the thick, juicy bean seedling stems.  Sometimes I start them with a small paper cup around the seed-in-soil with the bottom cut out of the cup as those little guys usually snip the plant close to the surface.  There is nothing more delicious than vegetables from the garden.

By the way, if you have a large enough container, you can grow beans this way on your deck or wherever your container garden is on your property.

What kinds of beans have you grown in your garden?

All gardeners know the benefits of the sun when it comes to the garden, we are always looking to the sun when we determine what to grow..will this plant need full sun, partial sun, or full shade?

But I had never taken time to think about the importance of the dark, night sky to all wildlife. Seems surprising since I am what many call a “night owl”. If you want to learn more about this, you can visit the Dark Sky Festival website, this is an annual event that takes place in Harmony, Florida, but even if you can’t attend the event, the site is interesting and will give you some things to think about that you may not have considered before.

Obviously a beautiful night sky in an area that doesn’t have a lot of artificial lighting is wonderful for viewing stars and planets, but “light pollution” can also have a negative impact on the natural order of things that God created. This event and some of the things at the site can help you learn to lessen the impact…in fact they give a good example of how they influenced change in their community.

Personally, I appreciate the fact that our rural area has little artificial lighting, and our night skies are quite beautiful, we love to lay out on the deck when there’s a meteor shower and watch for falling stars, and look at the constellations. I can’t imagine not being able to appreciate this part of God’s creation.

The 6th Annual Dark Sky Festival is next weekend, April 25th, at Harmony, Florida, and it is a bit out of reach for us this year, but it’s free, and I’d be there if I could…if any of you visiting happen to go, please tell us about it in a comment!

Sometimes when you’ve been working a blog for a while, great posts get lost at the “bottom of the blog”, and need revisiting, so with gardening season arriving for some of us, and always around for other lucky readers, I thought I’d point out a few helpful posts:

• Gardening in Containers - this post contained some thoughts and ideas for those who don’t have space for a garden, or just like the idea of gardening in containers.
• Keeping Deer Out of the Garden - another post with some ideas and a helpful article, we have only had trouble with deer during droughts when they try to make their way down to our lake.
• Tropical Climate Gardens - for those of you fortunate enough to be able to grow tropical gardens, this is another helpful post.
• Vegetable and Organic Gardening eBooks that you might find helpful.

Do you have any favorite gardening articles or posts to share?  Please let us know in a comment!

I have an extra-special special to tell you about at the end of this post, but first…Florida!  This is the place that many escape to during the Spring, right on through the summer, and into the Fall months.  But Spring is when most of the people from our part of the US head down to Florida.

For many, the first thing that comes to mind is theme parks, we’ve done them and enjoyed them, but if/when I go down again, it will be for a quieter visit…no rides this time, I’d love to take in some of the natural beauty of the area.

Here is a list of things that you can consider if you, like I, would like to take in some natural beauty in Kissimmee:

• The Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens
• Florida Eco-Safari - in 4700 acres of Florida wilderness, on horseback, through land and water, exploring beautiful natural ecosystems of Florida.  There are MANY
• World of Orchids - those beautiful flowers, so many varieties to explore!
• The Heritage Trail - because I love to learn more about the history of the places I visit, this would be something I wouldn’t want to miss, with many museums and things to see along the way.
• The Bok Tower Gardens - I first saw this historic landmark an old linen postcard when sorting through some things obtained at an estate sale, and found it intriguing.  It would be a beautiful spot to visit.
• A Glass Bottom Boat ride at Silver Springs
• Bird Watching…this is something that doesn’t cost anything, and is so much fun, the unique birds in the area are so beautiful! You can do this at places like Lakefront Park, Peghorn Nature Park and Trail, Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area and more beautiful locations.

There are so many things to do, that the next time we go to Florida, we’ll plan much better, our last trip was with children, so mostly amusement parks and rides, but this type of trip will take more planning….and the www.visitkissimmee.com website seems to have all that’s needed to discover places to visit and plan.

Oh, the special I mentioned, it’s a Sweepstakes…..Kissimmee is giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) week-long vacations for four (4). 2 more drawings will be held on or around 5/1/09 and 6/1/09 (the first one has passed). Visit the site, and enter the Sweepstakes today, then look around at all the beautiful pictures and things to do.

This post is to let you know that the plant exchange page has been updated for the 2009 season.  Old inactive contributors have been removed, and new contributors are needed and appreciated.  You can offer plants, or any garden, herb or plant-related item that you wish.

If you are not interested in offering your plants or other items for trade, but would prefer to offer them for a price, there are instructions on how to do this.

When you offer something for exchange or sale, not only will it be posted on the “Swap, Sell” page, but a post will be written to the blog about what you are offering, and information about you if you wish.

You will also find the story of how this exchange got started quite a few years ago at the bottom of the Swap, Sell Here page.

What a nice Easter weekend it has been for my husband and I, we went to Lancaster, PA to celebrate 30 years of marriage, the special meaning of Easter, plus the beauty of God’s creation all around us in one wonderful weekend. We had a little rain Saturday morning, but for the most part, it was beautiful. My husband was thinking of giving me an Easter Lily, and as beautiful as they are, the pollen makes me sneeze, so I enjoyed looking at them in shops, and the many other flowers that are blooming now.

Did you know that if you take pictures of flowers, there is a way to design your own postcard using your picture? I visited a popular site for designing all kinds of cards either using your own pictures or pictures already provided, the url you need to go to to get to the postcards is www.vistaprint.ca/full-colour-postcards.aspx and once there, you are given several options for designing your card. First you pick the size card you want, then you choose to browse designs provided or to upload your own design, then follow the instructions, adding text, etc., to make your own unique and beautiful postcard.

I was thinking how nice it would be to send a greeting, or an invitation with flowers from my garden on it. Others may want to use them for business purposes.  I did use one of the floral designs that was already at the site to make my business card.

Something that  I would suggest is that you use a special email address for things that you order online from this, and other companies.  You will receive emails about offers, and it’s nice to have them all coming to one email address rather than mixed with your personal mail.  Taking this step has helped me a lot in keeping my online shopping and purchases organized.