It's time for a spring garden jump start. There are gardening tasks to be done, and the growing season is coming. The grass is starting to green up, bulbs are peeking through the soil, and spring is around the corner. Gardening chores come fast and furious once warm weather hits. Sometimes you don’t have time to fit all the tasks in. A spring garden jump-start is a productive way to begin your gardening year. You can hit the ground running and get ahead of the season. That's why late winter is my favorite time to get many of the spring jobs done-- or at least get them started. It's a great way to reduce the springtime stress of too many gardening tasks to do. So what are we waiting for? Let's use these garden tips and get this spring garden jump start going! Step 1: Weeding My top priority in late winter/early spring is keeping weeds under control. Cold weather weeds such as chickweed and mustard are much easier to hand weed when small. Plus, the weeds haven’t gone to seed … [Read more...] about A Spring Garden Jump Start in 12 Easy Steps
How to Make Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender is one of the most popular and useful plants grown in the garden. Many gardeners ask me how to make lavender essential oil, which can be used in so many ways. But there are so many wonderful uses for homegrown lavender. In this story, I will give you my recipe for how to make lavender essential oil. I will also give you nine more easy ways to use fresh homegrown lavender. These range from culinary uses, medicinal remedies, and a wide variety of household uses. Start Here: How to Make Lavender Essential Oil It’s quite easy to make lavender essential oil. For my homemade version, I do this: First, harvest the fresh lavender from the garden. Cut and dry enough lavender to make at least 1 ounce of dried lavender. (To dry, hang the cut flowers upside down in a dry, dark place for 2 to 4 weeks.) When the flowers have dried, put the dried lavender flowers in a clean glass jar. Next, infuse the flowers. Pour coconut oil over the dried lavender in the glass jar … [Read more...] about How to Make Lavender Essential Oil
How to Grow Lavender Plants
Lavender is one of the most beautiful and useful plants in the garden. It is a beloved plant that offers a trifecta of fragrance, medicinal benefits, and beautiful blue-purple flowers. In short, many gardeners want to know how to grow lavender plants. A stunning addition to perennial borders and informal hedging, lavender has plenty of devoted fans and garden lovers. Lavender plants offer a large selection of bloom times, colors, flower forms, and sizes. Truly, you can find a lavender plant suited for just about any garden situation. Lavender is a compact shrub-like perennial that is evergreen and deer proof. No wonder it finds its way into so many gardens and landscape designs. Growing lavender plants every year is essential to my garden. Contrary to popular belief, lavender flowers come in not only lavender-purple hues, but also shades of pink, white, and even yellow. I find many uses for the fresh and dried flowers, from culinary to sachets, lavender wands, … [Read more...] about How to Grow Lavender Plants
Awesome Homegrown Flower Arrangements
A blooming garden is all you need to create awesome homegrown flower arrangements. I love going out to my garden and cutting everything I need to create a beautiful homegrown floral bouquet. I have always loved arranging flowers. With the onset of COVID-19, I started creating a ‘bouquet of the day’ to beautify my home. I knew I would be spending more time at home. So why not create a colorful floral arrangement to brighten my home—and my day? After all, growing and arranging flowers is therapeutic. Instead of spending money on greenhouse-grown or imported flowers, I challenged myself to arrange with only those flowers that I could grow. Thankfully, the pandemic no longer dominates my life—and I have awesome homegrown flower arrangements to enjoy every day. Flowers and Foliage: The Great Duo of Flower Arrangements Many stunning flowers can be home grown and last well in bouquets. We commonly talk about flower bouquets and floral arrangements. But most people … [Read more...] about Awesome Homegrown Flower Arrangements
Feed Birds with Homemade Birdseed Ornaments
Making homemade birdseed ornaments is a great project that is fun, kid-friendly, inexpensive, and it feeds birds such as cardinals, finches and grosbeaks. As if that wasn't enough, making homemade birdseed ornaments results in great gifts that are fun to give during the holiday season. Birdseed ornaments and wreaths fit the “bill” on all counts. (Did you see how I snuck that pun in?) Feeding songbirds is a great way for us to interact with nature. Plus, homemade bird seed ornaments help birds get through the tough months of autumn and winter. That’s when available food is scarce, and wild birds need all the help they can get. Studies show that consistent bird feeding produces significantly earlier egg laying dates, larger clutches of eggs, and higher chick weights across a wide range of bird species. Feeding birds is not only good for the birds, it makes bird lovers happy. Here’s how I create homemade birdseed ornaments for my bird friends—and for my people friends, … [Read more...] about Feed Birds with Homemade Birdseed Ornaments
