Faithful Blogger Friends

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I just wanted to send a note to let you know that I'm still here but due to it being the Spring coming into Summer season there is sooooooo much to do! Things I am currently doing and thus the reason I'm not on the computer much these days:

• Planted garden (put out another row of pole beans last night) - we ran out of room to plant things due to doing rows. I hope my husband will be convinced to try square foot gardening next year so that we can plant more.

--Garlic (1 bulb to make many little plants) - still need to plant in a sunny spot due to running out of room

--Strawberries -- one of those round 2 tiered strawberry plant things with the sprinkler in the middle (from gurneys.com) Comes with 50 ozark beauties (can't wait to make strawberry jam-pies-bread-short cake, etc.) - we ended up planting the strawberries in containers but due to not planting in time because of bad weather all of our strawberries died and we got a refund. We are going to try and find at least a few plants at a local nursery so that we can have some strawberries next year.

--Rhubarb (to go with the strawberries) - planted but these did not survive also and we received a refund as well.

--2 Elderberry bushes - these are little bitty but are thriving and growing fast

--4 Apple trees (2 of Pixie Crunch and 2 of Apple Goldrush) - doing wonderful and hopefully in a couple of years we will have lovely apples to eat and can.

--Blueberry bush (great for pies, pancakes, muffins, etc. and rich in Anti-oxidants!) - doing wonderful also. In a couple of years we should be able to have some yummy berries!

We tried growing some items from seed but due to poor lighting in the house they did not do so well and we ended up composting them and buying some things from the nursery.

--2 lbs each of Red potatoes and Yukon potatoes -from seed potatoes - these are doing great. A couple of days ago we mixed in some manure mix to get them good and fertilized.

--at least a row of Golden wax beans - from seed we planted 2 short rows, about 10-12 plants each row

--at least a row of purple pod pole beans - from seed we just planted these last night because of running out of room and not having anything to have them climb on. But a solution has been found. We used leftover fencing and planted a row about 10-12 seeds (one row)

--at least a row of trofeo green beans - from seed we planted 2 short rows, about 10-12 plants each row

--8-10 plants of Cucumbers - we have, I think, about 12 plants right now (planted from seed)

--2-3 plants of green peppers - we ended up planting 4 green bell peppers and 4 red sweet peppers that we got from the nursery

--1-2 plants of jalepeno peppers - we planted 1 that we got from the nursery in a container on the patio

--6-8 heads of Cabbage -we planted 8 plants from nursery

--4-6 plants of zucchini - I believe we have around 11 plants from nursery

--4-6 plants of squash - we have 7 plants planted from seed and my husband planted a few more seeds last night

--3-4 plants of Roma tomatoes - we planted 8 Roma plants from nursery

--3-4 plants of Golden rave tomatoes - we planted 8 yellow plants from nursery (it wasn't Golden rave but they will be just as tasty)

--Pumpkins - ran out of room but haven't given up hope to plant them in some sunny spot

--Watermelon - ran out of room but again, haven't given up hope to plant them - just have to get a little creative and put them and the pumpkins in places not normally seen in a garden.

--Lettuce - I have some organic heirloom seeds mesclun seeds that I received Earthbound Farms for free. I can plant these this fall when the weather starts to cool again

--radishes/carrots - I have some seeds but no where to plant. I'm trying to find a container that I can plant these in along with my lettuce so that I can have salad added to the menu this summer.

• Just finished putting up privacy/chain link fence
• Planted some sunflower seeds on the side of house where it is sunny. - I have a couple of bare spots in between plants so will plant 3 more packs so that we have good and plenty sunflowers to make it look beautiful on the side and so I can have some seeds for next year to plant.
• Working on laying down newspaper and spreading mulch over my flower bed - to prevent the onslaught of weeds/grass that has invaded. Now I have half done and need to get the other half completed by Friday.
• Just planted 13 lily's beside my shed - these are red/yellow/orange to go along with the 3 lily plants I already have planted and the giant red hibiscus that will be blooming this summer.
• Need to still plant on the other side of the shed that is partly shady - Asiatic Lily's: 2 lollypop, 2 Vivaldi, 2 navona - Oriental Lily's: 2 stargazer, 2 LeReve, 2 Mona Lisa - and another 7 Oriental Lily's that no names were given for. I will also be planting 10 pink Gladioli "Tout a Toi" and 10 cream with hot pink Gladioli "Priscilla"

Also working on:

• FGMA (Full Gospel Ministers Association, Inc.) Renewals - these are due by May 31 but they keep coming until the end of June
• Planning my soon to be 5 year old's Nemo birthday party for mid June
• Planning a mini vacation and needing to remember everything to take for 5 people
• Have to buy gifts for and attend 3 different graduation open houses (June 6th - my niece, 14th - my son's Uncle, and 20th - a lovely homeschooled young lady from church)
• Have to design Ladies Day of Renewal Info and Registration brochure to mail out by June 10 (and still don't have pics and bio's from the ladies-this gets to be near impossible with deadlines every year when you are waiting on others info :-)
• Also have to retype all addresses for all ladies that have attended past Renewals so that everyone gets an invite this year (last year some addresses were omitted by mistake). We have done this for either 5 or 6 years now so there is well over 100 individual's addresses to type and have ready by the 10th.
• Plan our new Titus 2 Home Ministry (the name is still in the works) - this will be the Titus 2 Woman teaching other ladies that have the desire to be a Proverbs 31 woman to be a Keeper of the Home. This will start this Summer with a canning session. We will be teaching ladies how to can fresh produce in order to prepare for the winter and save money in the long run. We have many other ideas in the works as well but have to plan dates, etc. as we want this to be an ongoing event and not just a fly by the night ministry.

Well I'm sure there are many more things that I'm not listing but this post has taken me more time that what I have with all of the things that still need to be done. So until next time, blessings to you and your family and may you have a wonderful and fruitful season of gardening as well (I will be posting off and on so don't give up on me!)