August continues with some photos from Sunken Gardens in Lincoln Nebraska just before a storm and a few Nebraska sky images.
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Summer sunset west of Lincoln Nebrasa
Summer Days Gone By, Days 248-250,
garden
Day 199/365:Weeding the Vegetable Garden
One of the things I really dislike about gardening is weeding. Seriously, I’ve tried weeding to music, weeding when I’m mad, you know the whole therapeutic vision of yanking someone out of the ground by their head, doesn’t matter, I don’t like the task and I never will.
Weeding the Vegetable Garden
In order to raise a bumper crop of vegetables, weeding must be done. My favorite method of weed prevention is smothering them with grass clippings. I bag up my lawn grass (I don’t spray with chemicals) from the lawnmower and it not only helps to prevent weeds but the are rows nice and soft to sit while harvesting. It decomposes and adds organic material to the soil for the next year.
My friend Beth (pictured above) raises a large variety of vegetables including tomatoes, peppers, beans, spinach, chard, kale, romaine lettuce, spring greens. broccoli, watermelon, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplant, and a few others I know I forgot.
Tools To Make Weeding Easier
I have the diamond headed hoe and love how it easily pushes and pulls through the soil, even the hard concrete-like soil during the heat of summer. It actually makes weeding the vegetable garden fun, ok, maybe not fun, but less of a chore. I also really like the claw gardening gloves.
Flexrake 500W Hula-Ho Mini Flexrake Hula-Ho with 14-Inch Wood Handle
Asano Japanese Ninja Claw Rake and CultivatorGarden Weasel Long Handled Garden ClawBadger Garden Digging Gloves, Durable Gray Claws on Both Hands – No More Worn Out Fingertips or Broken Fingernails!Nejiri Gama HoeCorona Clipper SH61000 Diamond Hoe
When I was younger I NEVER wore gardening gloves, I was tough, didn’t need any stinking gloves, just wash my hands afterward.
With age comes wisdom and it’s so much easier to just pull them off and not have mud and dirt under your nails. Plus with gardening gloves, you don’t get poked with sticker weeds.
My small handled tools stay in my rolling garden seat, yes, another concession to age, I can’t believe I said that.
Taking Extra Produce to Farmers Market
If you have extra produce, as I do, you can take it to your local farmer’s market. In Elmwood Nebraska, we have a small group of small but mighty vendors. It’s a great way to earn some extra money from your labors and socialize with other gardening friends.
Day 186/365: Sweet Basil, Watching it Grow
Just a few weeks after I planted my basil it’s twice the size, just need to keep pinching back the tops to make it bushy, otherwise it just grows tall and goes to seed. Don’t want that, I want a huge plant with lots of leaves so I have plenty to harvest and dry. I use basil in just about everything, on pork chops, roasts, chicken, even omelets, and yes Italian dishes.
Day 109/365: First Flower of Spring
I’m so excited! On a gorgeous warm sunny Saturday last week I cleaned out the flower beds and look what I found. The first flowers of spring, a spring crocus! Yes, it takes little to get me excited, but this is a sign of spring, a forecast of what is to come, warm days, sunny skies. Oh, spring! Oh happy day! Next will be the daffodils and then my favorite spring flower, tulips.
Disclaimer: This image was updated a week later when it SNOWED!! What the heck? It’s officially spring according to the calender, no more snow!
Photography Notes: Used my camera in the shadow and snow programed mode and didn’t have to do anything post production other than resize. Did use my new MCP Action to quickly created the frame. Its the free Facebook Fix, side by side. This one you get by going to their Facebook page.
I’m Not the Only One Who Hunts For the First Flowers Of Spring
It seems I’m not the only person who gets tired of winter and looks for the hope of the first blooms of spring. Here in Nebraska it is the spring crocus that appears, in other location the first flower may be a bluebell, or even a skunk cabbage. What is it in your location?
I like to plant a small bowl of crocuses and have them on the dining room table. These are small enough they don’t get in the way and since I don’t have a green thumb I don’t care if they live all year round.
Hirts Gardens Delft Ceramic Bowl with Purple Crocus Bulbs and Indoor Fragrant Growing Kit
First Flowers of Spring
Four Indications That Spring Is on the Horizon
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How to force branches from flowering trees & shrubs to bloom indoors
Waiting for the first flowers of spring, especially in regions with heavy snow cover, can be a major exercise in patience, but with a little bit of work, your home can have flowers in every room. From the classic forsythia and pussywillow, which are …
The first flowers of spring
I have just picked a posy of the first flowers to bloom. You can delight in a jar of them, and in searching them out at the end of winter. There are cherry plum with tiny, bright flowers which have the scent of almonds, and primroses smelling of only …
The first flowers of Spring at Flower24hours flower delivery shop
Spring is finally here at London florists and flower delivery shops, bringing with it an abundance of new blooms, from daffodils to tulips. These flower varieties are one of the first flowers of Spring on Flowers24hours site: http://www.flowers24hours …
Beautiful Early Blooming Spring Flowers That Are Just As Anxious For The …
Now that it’s March, we’re ready to kick off spring, aren’t you? Yes, we know there are a few more weeks until it’s official, but we’re all about welcoming the season into our lives earlier. And one of our favorite ways to do that is by keeping an eye …
You Can Grow It – Planting bulbs
BOISE — Don’t you love it when those first flowers of spring pop up after a long, cold winter? Now’s the time to plant those spring flowering bulbs in your yard. Today on “You Can Grow It”, Jim Duthie share some information about bulbs, and a few tips …
Specieswatch: Snowdrop
The Flower of Hope or common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis, is showing itself in gardens and will soon be attracting visitors to woodlands and churchyards, where these first flowers of spring can grow in carpets of white. When it occurs in such profusion …
