Best/Worse/What did I Learn Today? Come sit awhile and share your day..newcomers welcome

Omg those are the greatest of ideas, some of which I do but some not and will try, maybe all but chess lol

i believe they are coleus, many of the plants have to be transplanted as too many in a container, especially the coleus.


I had a coleus my son gave me a few years ago and it ended up over 4’

I have a lot of areas for potted plants so hoping coleus are the main fillers along with petunias and 4 o’clock s

7 months bed rest?? NO wonder if was your LAST pregnancy Iris! LOL Your flowers are so pretty. I love Azaleas and have not had any.

Dianne, sorry to hear the seizures are not yet controlled for Zeke.

Linda, waiting for parts and repairs are NOT any of my favorite things!

Betty, we will pay $500 to have the longarm moved by the professionals we bought it from initially.

Longarm room is "done", now to move in shelves and machine, stock shelves. 25 x 10 with LED cam lights & 2 plug ins in the ceiling for the longarm, if we choose to plug in overhead and avoid a cord on the floor. Longarm room pics taken from opposite ends of the room. There are 2 45 inch windows and an electrical panel that will make putting cabinets in a challenge!

Hi ladies - sorry I've been MIA - been totally busy.
I got my flight itinerary to go to Winnipeg! Leave Apr 16 & back on the 23rd :) I'm so excited!

How wonderful! You can't top a gift like that!

Morning, having my coffee while waiting to leave at 7am for chiropractor session then home I come. Wasn’t sure what I’d wake up to this morning as it was snowing quite heavy last night but it must have gotten milder as it seems to have melted quite a bit.

Love love love your sewing room Pat, bet you are busting at the seams to get everything operational. In the long run it will be well worth the $500 to have the machine set up professional. Great idea re the plugs in the ceiling. I was thinking the other day if the see tracking that the cord can easily move from side to side, should go on the Grace frame and see if they offer something.

How exciting Susan, bet you will be packing up your suitcase and it sitting at the door before long counting the hours. Have you a list of what you want to do while there?

How is Zeke Dianne?
Best I get a move on

Sure hoping i have energy today to work on some projects, tired of being a couch potato lol

Betty, YOU could never be considered a couch potato! LOL

Dreary, cold, windy day here. Ice is pretty much out of the lake. This is the time of year that some yahoos on snowmobiles try to jump over the open water. Over the years there has been some tragic accidents. One young man ended up with brain damage. I worry for the people who come to rescue those in trouble. We have a volunteer fire department.

How did your visit to the chiropractor go Betty?

Zeke has not had another seizure since Sunday. He had 2 seizures then a few hours apart. It's quite a process to get his meds down him but he does love peanut butter on a cracker with the pill hidden in the PB. I ran out of crackers with sea salt and just had plain crackers - nope that wouldn't do. He's a diva!

I just watched the latest video that Zeke's namesake posted. He is a world class surfer and travels the world to surf competitons.

Pat how is the settling in going? Stanley doing OK?

Has anyone heard from Karen? I miss her posts.

Need to go settle an argument between the TH. It's all over 1 biscuit. I'm fortunate that it is always a verbal argument. If Chaos would just eat the darn biscuit rather than lord it over Zeke this wouldn't happen. Zeke is a true Rotti as he is always up for food.

Oh Chaos, too funny! It's extra yummy if ONLY he has it and Zeke knows it! Just like kids!

We are making headway, slowly but progress is progress? In 20 years we'll have it all sorted, donated, sold, or remodeled, right? Exciting, I hope to get the new garage wall painted today so I can start moving shelving units around a little! Marie's grandson Brandon begged for paying jobs, she offered the painting & he was supposed to do it last weekend. No show, no call. I was NOT favorably impressed, and if it was me, next time he asked, I would turn him down & tell him WHY. But that's me, I can be a little "rigid" about this kind of thing.
On the other hand, when we NEED help, she does not want to alienate any workers and I get that... there ought to be some balance we can find.
We are making progress with Jenny & Stanley show.

Glad I was home from my chiropractor appointment when the blizzard started, am sure it was headed your way Dianne but hope it changed direction. I don’t know how I would get meds down Ziggy, you can’t get anything by him and am sure aI would have claw marks all over me.Chaos just wants to get to Zeke, not hungry for it himself but doesn’t want Zeke to have any. lol what balance surfers must have, is he a young surfer? I was disappointed when in California that I didn’t see surfers, was disappointed with their beaches along the coast, not like films.

Wish someone had news re Karen. Breaks my heart when DG friends just pop off, like losing a family member.


Pat, how young is Marie’s Grandson? I'd rather do without the help and know I have
to do it myself than wait on someone who doesn’t show up, at least call.

Got a called from Hummingbird Fabrics, Luanne said “ I’ve good news for you, your memory board came in early this morning and John put it in, working fine”. i said that is good news but bad news is we have a blizzard and likely won’t be there until Friday morning. Could get Greg pick it up tomorrow I guess but I have to be in Barrie Friday, weather permitting.

Vacuumed the woodworking area, tidied it up a bit,I cancelled Peighton’s class at 4, used the weather as an excuse but really it’s because of my neck and hip, bad me

Gabbed with mom for 1/2 hour, she still isn’t feeling the best.

Everyone is busy.
My daughter in law and I just got 6 quilt tops basted with batting and backing. Won't take long now to get them done.
Susan, glad to hear you're going to see family. Enjoy your trip.
Please keep jaye in your prayers. She was in the hospital rehab for the 2nd stroke she had, then came down with covid. It's kicking her but.

Oh LInda, that is scary news about Jaye. I will remember her in prayers.

Betty, due to growing up with a twin brother & a brother 1 year & 4 days older than me, I was constantly being passed over for jobs until my brothers
turned people down. I have VERY strong feelings about rewarding the worker who says yes & shows up. I have been known to turn down requests from mother to "let Alison do it, she needs the money" when it was Shaneil that ALWAYS said yes & did the volunteer babysitting while her mother & I did the cub scout stuff. I told "mother" straight up "NO, Shaneil earned the job & Alison has turned me down, or said yes, changed her mind & sent her younger sister Shaneil. Ya... it's a MAJOR hot button for me! LOL

Brandon is 16 and has a driver's license and can get himself HERE without us picking him up, he's a decent worker when he shows up. When his sister Mia (15 YO), gets HER license, you can bet I will be asking her FIRST always. Mia shows up when she says she will and is a fabulous worker. The youngest sister, Nancy (14 YO)? NOT so much, she is not near the worker her older sister Mia is.

Roller work is done, back out for the brush work.

Prayers to God for all who are not well. Hope those of you up North stay warm as much as possible, & weather the storm OK.

We've had a cool and rainy snap here, as the cold air from up N. makes its way South. A cool & wet March is "ideal" for agriculture and for gardens, in these parts. We have been hurting for rain here in TX, so it's lovely and a relief now that we are finally receiving a good drenching!

Soil very muddy today & not good for sowing nor for working in the Cottage garden... doing so would compact the garden soil, not recommended. I'll have to gingerly tiptoe may way around that area later tonight (8-9 PM) to do a slug & snail round up, but it should be a bit less soaked by then. If I don't round up the slimies, they will eat up the majority of my baby plants-- especially the Brassicas & salad mix seedlings!

These cool temps are a blessing too, because many of my seeds will not germinate above 70F. Today, I sowed Oregano seeds in the 8" terracotta rear patio pot, which held just a few tiny weed seedlings (such as the ubiquitous, & invasive, Ruellia) when I found it.

Most of what I have sown so far has sprouted. The most recent arrivals are Nasturtium which had been awaiting this cool spell; it likes germination temps below 65F. Something is peeking up in the Shiso pot. Too early yet, to ID the sprouts.

Only a few seed types had low germination rates. Fortuitous, considering I used all seeds packed for 2023 (last year's leftovers).

Found an under- utilised sunny spot on the rear patio. Carefully removed the eight 1/2" tall Boehmeria cylindrica – False Nettle seedlings growing there. Transplanted them all out into their own shady/moist spots in the yard because they are a butterfly host species. Nettles, including this stingless one, also have uses in herbalism and in cover cropping/composting.

False nettle is also known as "Bog Hemp" & is a Host Plant for the following winged beauties–
Red Admiral, Eastern Comma, Question Mark

Preferring wettish and semi-shady sites, Boehmeria cylindrica lacks the stinging hairs of its nettle cousins. Stringy heads of tiny yellow-green flowers form between leaf stems in summer.
Pic 1: Boehmeria cylindrica, adult plant in bloom- Pic by Prairie Moon nursery in Minnesota.
To be Uploaded later: Nasturtium seedling/s, & Oregano pot


This message was edited Mar 21, 2024 5:40 PM

This message was edited Mar 21, 2024 5:57 PM

Hm, apparently cannot add pics to previous post, so here they are in a followup post.

Pic 1: Oregano sown today.

Pics 2 & 3: Nasturtium seedlings, sown about a week ago

Pic 4: Capsicums, variety unknown, volunteers from composting. Self-sown sometime in January and appeared as 1/2" tall seedlings by early Feb.

Iris, you have lots of little plants coming up! Good for you. I doubt I will get much opportunity to make progress in our landscaping here this year.

I worked at Marie's old place again today from 10 to 8. The guy we hired, Tim, to rehang the insulation, wrap pipes and take the debris OUT from the house, quit yesterday. Tim said his back hurt and couldn't do it. I don't think it was his back, he did NOT want to work under the house & I knew that. But he accepted the job & should have either declined or did it, not back out.
I called a friend & got her 19 YO son to help. He did a GREAT job and was a lot less frustrating to work with than Tim was! His work ethic was wonderful. I will certainly try to hire him again. I think he was pleasantly shocked when Marie paid him. Working under the house paid better than he expected.

Pretty sad how many people don't want to work these days. I just can't figure out what they are using for money.
Yesterday was a light drizzling rain for us too. Went to the dentist yesterday, as I broke a molar, need to get it pulled. $300.00 just to pull a tooth. X rays show more old fillings are bad with cavities underneath. To fix 2 teeth, and get a partial for 2 missing teeth will cost me $11,000.00.
I need to start looking for better prices.

Woke up to snow this morning. Up to 2 inches, they're predicting. Plants are coming up and my lilac has buds. I hope they'll do okay. We're supposed to have temps in the 30's and low 40's for the next week or so.

11K! Holy cow.... I feel your pain! I accidently changed my dental insurance when I retired and intended to change it back to my old insurance but when I realized how much more comprehensive this insurance is, I stayed. Changing DDS in the beginning was hard, but I am OK with it now.

We got the last of the stuff out of the conexes.and all the issues under the house addressed. Waiting for the VA inspection to see what else we have to do. I am feeling pretty confident about the next inspection.

We've had a few days that reached 80s!! the weather has been so unpredictable. And the weather liars are so frequently wrong, I am afraid to bank on "no rain"! I have a load on the truck to come off.

This message was edited Mar 22, 2024 10:48 PM

Poor Jaye - of course prayers will be said for her. We prayer-warriors will certainly use our prayer strength to send her way.

Betty - couch potato, you??? Don't make me laugh lol

Wow, Linda Kay! $11k? We pay for it in taxes, but seniors get all kinds of discounts on health, eye and denturist/dentists.

Tired. AGM yesterday, but also had coffeetime in the morning, then again this morning. Two of our new members (men) are SO negative. One was at a previous meeting & the only only this AGM. The AGM got rather intense because we were talking about changing by-laws and one of our members was intensely frustrated with the proposed changes. The two men are now no longer wanting to attend meetings (only coffeetime & playing pool, thank you) that I told them I could refund their membership fees (nope, want the option to go to meetings) but were very negative & had polled other people who are not members and they had nothing but negativity to say. "This place is dead, and will close down soon" etc etc. By the time the 2 men left, I was in tears. They have no idea of how what was said at the AGM was growing pains. Afterward they'd back, they individually came back to coffeetime & were very polite & kind to me. I'm working very hard on bringing back the senior's centre and have had quite a bit of success, but they weren't here 2 years ago when it was all an uphill climb, so they don't KNOW, but they think they DO, of course. The meeting was actually very good - I now have a secretary, and the VP is staying until I can find a new one. He's 85 & ready to retire out of the position.

Our weather's been pretty unpredictable, too. One day you can go out in a light sweater, and the next day up to our calves in snow!

Evening all, blizzard last 2 days, of course yours truly didn’t look at the weather early this morning and agreed to go have lunch and shopping with Linda, hit bad snow fall when I was almost in Barrie and then all the way home.

Sad to say, for ME that Linda made me break down and buy a cane, been a hard few weeks trying to walk so did but makes me very sad, feel as though that is a step towards giving up health wise.

Lordy Lordy Lindakay, I do not understand how anyone in USA survives paying premiums for doctors/hospitals and dentists..I believe we are blessed living in Canada, nobody goes without health care and if needed the very best of care. This new program for dental and denturist will make a big difference to most senior or handicapped senior.not saying just USA, I think I’ve ever thought what they do in other countries, just always aware of my USA neighbours. Will have to check that out.

Deb, are they calling for nicer weather coming up, i.e. 50’s? Do you let the dogs out when it’s snowing.

Dianne, did you get this weather? i am attaching a photo of a wood stacker idea and thought of you..

Susan, as Recreation Co-Ordinator for most of my working career I so know how much energy volunteers put into their communities and how many only have words ‘wont work’ so disheartening.

Hoping Jaye is feeling better, she has had a hard time of it health wise.. prayers being said..

Same her Pat, gets so difficult to find people to work. Shannon’s next door is so short of help, pay really good $$ but the find someone, they get a few days pay then quit.
Glad you were able to find a helper and even better being a good worker.

Iris, between you, Sharon and I we must have almost every plant covered. Do you have a lot of land to put all these seedlings, i would say here I have more shade than sun.

My nasturtiums are doing very well, My coleus are going wild. Monday when I am in town think I will buy one of those pots with various spice plants to start, need to buy potting soil and and containers so I can divide all my babies

While out with Linda today we stopped at a second hand store, of course Linda saw a light stand, weighs a ton but she felt I could use it in my gardens which I can, will put solar lights in it but then Pinterest sent me garden Ideas and they have one identical that they used an old fabric lamp shade (which that store had) where they took fabric off the frame, turned it upside down, put chicken wire inside and choir filling and grew a plant, now I’m not sure what I want to do with it. It’s in the car til Greg or one of the young kids coming in the morning can take it out. Her neighbour was cleaning her mother’s home as she is going to a home and sent me fabric, there was also a big ott light but Linda thinks the bulb needs replacing, like in the garbage it will go, can likely buy new for cost of replacing the bulb? All of it is in my car, have to say my car looks like i am a homeless person with all their earthly goods in the car.

Greg picked up my sewing machine yesterday, he had an appointment so although he wanted to set it on the frame I told him to wait and come this weekend.

I have an idea for the children’s Mother’s Day Workshop, ordered stained glass film to test the project out

Didn’t cancel tomorrows classes, think I should have but I will puddle through the classes big sigh

A lady who wanted to drop off a bag of craft items is running late

Oops here she is, hope not junk or I will need to make a dump trip.

Betty, that's a great idea for stacking wood. I love that lamp idea.

Sunshine this morning,,plowman was here at 3am doing driveway, woke me up and couldn’t fall back to sleep, finally at 5:30 I got up and did a bit of prep work for todays classes.

Any news on Jaye Lindakay?

The bag Kim delivered had mostly fleece, might make one of those tie quilts for Grayson as one yardage is penguins

i am so impressed with these kids, I will have to post a few photo’s this afternoon

That wood stacking idea is cute... keeps it off the ground and is attractive. I don't know how practical with as much wasted space between the sections. Sure is attractive though!

Can't wait to see the pictures Betty.

Last night was mixed results with Jenny & Stanley, He came over to Jenny and touched noses, kept returning and would reach out and touch Jenny's long haired ears. THAT went well until it didn't. His reactions were not entirely positive looking as his ear would twitch back occassionally and then he took a swat at her. It wasn't super aggressive but enough I scooped him up and put him back in the bedroom. This whole time Jenny was behind Marie in the chair. Jenny was friendly but quiet.

The quilt show started yesterday but since I already have TOO MUCH fabric, I did not trust myself to attend. Our longarm gets delivered from the old house to here Thursday. I have lots to do to get ready.

We discovered a thrift store donation trailer just 2 miles from us. That will make life a little easier although I prefer to donate to New Beginnings which is across the river in Kennewick. Right now, the bridge I would normally cross on is undergoing some repairs, so the other 2 bridges are really crowded. I am staying as much as possible on "my side of the river",

I have a talk at church tomorrow and I am not yet ready. I was not too worried as I have studied the material several times but when I realized I was the 2nd (Last) speaker, NOW I'm worried. BEFORE, as a first speaker if my talk was a little short etc, it was the 2nd speaker that had to adjust. NOW the person to adjust to stay on schedule is ME! Pray for me, I HATE giving talks! LOL

I haven't heard from Jaye in a few days. I don't know how she is doing.

Classes done for the day, time for hot bath

Lindakay, is there someone who would advise you if things went wrong for Jaye? Sending prayers.

Pat, glad you found a spot nearby to drop off what you can no longer use. There will be quite a few squabbles before they adjust but they are doing well. Must be strange. All these changes in recent months must be hard on Jenny and Stanley. How is Marie adjusting? Not a fan of speaking in front of crowds, what is the topic you will be speaking on? Am sure you will ace it, imagine being the last one to speak.

Went through fabric Linda had for me, lots of Christmas fabric, a pre quilted giant sized teddy bear Christmas stocking, so many embroidery hoops, 1/2 was garbage, didn’t open the bag that Kim dropped off, just saw the fleece.. tomorrow is another day right.

To go on for young Ezra, 8 years old.. he loves Shera, well you just can’t come up with Shera out of nowhere so had him sketch her last week, yesterday I enlarged his drawing to 13”,this morning I used my light box to trace the outline, he made a stuffy then used my fabric markers and painted her.,he was happy with end result.

Mason embroidered Abbas’s on the back of the sweatshirt he is making, did a small on on the front, next week we can start sewing it together.

Sharon dropped 8n this afternoon to show me the elephant baby quilt she is doing, was putting the fabric cut out pieces on the paper design paper to show me and she was shaking so bad could hardly set them on their respective places. Will be beautiful

Iris, my babies, should go tomorrow and pick up what I need to divide the plants but have to go to chiropractor Monday so I will shop then.

More

Beautiful projects everyone is making. Your plants look good. I talked to Jaye's neighbor. She said Jaye is doing good, and going home Monday.

That is good news

Hoping coleus grow nice and strong so they can fill up the planters
I’m cuddled in comfy with Ziggy who is purring away😻

Oh a post came on our local group, they were selling sides for metal/wood bench for $30
I said I’d take it but asked if it would fit it my trunk, well within 1/2 hr they delivered it and would only take $20 as their children come to craft days, Monday I will but the wood slats and decide where it will go, likely with the metal solar lam

Have all these ideas in my head for my gardens, came to me, can barely get things done in house, so how to heck do I think a I’ll get anything in gardens done let alone make it bigger but won’t worry about that, aI will dream!!

"I can dream", that's about where I am. The longarm comes Thursday & I am not ready yet. Marie wanted to list some things on Marketplace & we spent the day attending to that.
Can't wait to see the newest craft projects.
Continued prayers for Jaye, sounds like things are moving in the right direction..

Afternoon all, sun is peering through the window, felt nice so put my head down, there went 3 hrs. Hasn’t been hot enough though to make all that snow disappear but am sure by weekend it will be gone. Bet most of you have great weather, maybe even sitting out.

I got the bin with St.Patricks decor put away in back shed and winter sign put away, even changed winter panel on the pillow to the spring panel. When I saw those Easter totes I was tempted to bring them in but said nope.

Marie was here for a visit, i was looking outside and said ‘ I soon will be able to get those stained glass windows up on front deck’. When she offered to help me it took but seconds to take her up on it.

Hope my 100 flower pots arrive mid week, would be nice to get all my pretties transplanted. I was talking to the lady that runs the library, he had a seed exchange yesterday and have all kinds of seeds left so I will drop in with more to plant.

Ziggy didn’t want out today, he is restless as well, maybe tomorrow after chiropractor he and I can both spend an hour or so outside.

Took out chicken and thought I’d make rice for supper but the bowl of cream of broccoli has filled me up, guess i know what is for tomorrow eats.

Where are you all?

Darlene just send me a message, i was telling her I couldn’t find geranium seeds, she said that John just ordered 200 mixed geranium seeds, guess i will have to keep them til fall

Hi Betty & all,

I got roped into doing a day's worth of baking yesterday for a charity. It was a good cause.
Made a couple sheet pan yellow cakes with fudge icing, a few pans of walnut brownies, some cookies, some freshly baked honey bread, even a gluten free cornbread.

Today, been busy trying to get my seeds sown before it's too late in the year/too warm to do so. Two hours in the Cottage Garden today. Put seedling pots under covered patio because a rainstorm is coming tomorrow morning.

Radishes are up in the cottage garden. About half eaten by wildlife, so a good thing I sowed them thickly.

Mixed Brassicas are up in the cottage garden, about half of them drowned, or washed away. Recent heavy rain put their section of the garden under water 6 hrs.

Sowed four nine foot rows of Bush green beans. Three different varieties. Will edit this post & add variety names, when I remember the variety names. LOL.

Sowed one 6 foot row of Lavender, near the lettuce row, as an experiment. These seeds were very cheap, so no idea of their quality.

A few flower volunteers have sprouted up in the Cottage garden from last year's self sowing plants. I do hope the lawn cutting crew leave them alone & don't try to remove them or weed eat them, mistaking them as weeds. (This has happened before). I may need to hang a sign up in the Cottage garden, in Spanish, telling them not to cut anything inside.

Sowed two nine foot rows of mixed Cottage garden flower seeds to attract pollinators to the garden & beautify the area.
Flower mix includes California poppy, Alyssum, wildflowers, Calendula, Bachelor buttons, and many more.

You definitely have a gift for propagating plants, Betty! They all look lovely. To whomever asked if I have a lot of land to plant all my babies on... Not really. My garden area is less than 1/4 acre.

However, I always grow about 5-10 times as many plants as I have room for. I have found this to be necessary if I want good outcomes. I always have moderate to heavy losses of plants throughout the growing season. This is due to floods, doodlebugs eating some of the seedlings, ants eating some of my seeds & seedlings, wildlife like squirrels and birds eating the plants, pest insects such as cabbage loopers, flea beetles, and army worms, droughts killing plants &/or reducing yield, tunneling critters such as voles doing plant damage, and (rarely), humans stealing some of my plants or taking some of my crop yield without asking.

For all the above reasons, I would much rather end up with too many seedlings & plants, than too few. My budget is pretty tight, so I cannot just go buy seedlings and/or plants for myself from a garden center.

Iris I understand the savings of seed vs plants. Maybe someday I will get on the bandwagon.
I did not mean to ignore the question regarding the subject of my assigned talk. "Overcome the world and find rest". The good news is, it is OVER with.

holy Wahhh, -3 with high winds, i can barely feel my fingers are they are frozen, brrr

That was a lot of rain you had Iris, the seeds that didn’t wash away likely are viable due to soaking for days in water.

Some of the plants you mention aren’t familiar to me..i had a friend who said you can’t go wrong with a country garden as you get older, the flowers fill it in and you don’t see weeds so that is where I am at. My sister Sharon has manicured gardens, now they are a lot of work.

Pat I don’t know in the long run if starting seeds is any cheaper, you get so few in a package, add soil, miracle grow etc, then you have to nurture these seedling and late spring get them used to temps, guess it’s more of a pastime.


After my chiropractor I went to Home Depot and bought the wood for the metal bench, won’t be meant for sitting but as a decorative piece. Trying to decide if I want to stain the boards or leave them natural ?

Sharon is dropping in, she is not fond of the elephant quilt she is doing, i didn’t like when she first showed me the pattern but didn’t say anything as I knew she loved it, funny how you see photo and once you start it not like it.

So what is on today’s agenda, while waiting for my pots i was able to find 20 pots in back shed so will do a bit of dividing the thick ones

Good morning everyone. Yesterday was busy, going to church, then having company most of the day.
Sounds like everyone is busy.
29 degrees here this morning with light snow flurries. I will be glad when mother nature makes up her mind.
Today will be a quiet day, other than going to chiropractor for an adjustment for my neck. Maybe more quilting on the 24 quilts we are working on. 10 completed. 14 more to quilt. Photos coming soon.
Betty, I have done that. Started a quilt I thought would be pretty. Didn't care too much for it once it was finished.

Hard to believe the sun is shining here Lindakay while you have flurries…sooo cold though

You are making headway with those quilts, you will be bringing many smiles to those in need

Sharon dropped in,was the squareness she didn’t like so she will take 4” of left side, put some comma pies over little elephant and Center it out that way, with a few other changes she is ok with it

Grrrr Sunday night Ziggy was going crazy on my bed,off my bed,down the hall etc.
Now I know why, bought cough candies Friday, take a look, guess mice are back so must put mice poison on my Wednesday shopping list

A main reason why I am able to save by raising my own plants is I make or re-use most of my own plant-starting supplies.

Rather than buying bagged seed starter soil, I use compost which I make in my compost pile.

Rather than buying pots for my plants, I use free containers ranging in size from one egg carton divot with used eggshell inside, cardboard toilet paper rolls which most people toss out, to repurposed pint sized cream cartons, half gallon and gallon size milk jugs, 5 gallon food grade plastic pails that used to hold stuff like condiments, and 20 gallon plastic animal feed tubs, which people are throwing away.

I also reuse all my storebought pots, even if they are chipped and mossy. If one splits in half or a large corner breaks off but it's still only 2-3 pieces, I glue it back together and keep on using it. Most of my conventional pots are over ten years old. I only purchase pots that look like they will be reusable for many years.

Rather than buying fertilizer products such as miracle grow, I make my own liquid and solid fertilizers from various combinations of:
compost tea, solid finished vermicompost/worm castings from my earthworm bin, and ashes from burning fallen wood and fallen leaves (my yard is about 60 percent forested).

I also am fortunate to have several really cheap ways to buy seeds. Today, for example, an Ace Hardware store in my area was selling seed packets at four for $1.00. This was a clearance sale, so they sold out of these seeds within hours of the sale flyer being sent out today.

Further down the road, a Dollar Tree was also selling seed packets at four for $1.00. This was their regular price for this item. Due to high demand, these also sold out quickly. By late afternoon, the seed shelving unit was half empty.

Not surprisingly, the seeds that sold out fastest were heat tolerant, like Eggplant, Okra, Cherry Tomato, Zinnia, Wildflowers, etc.

There is a website dollarseed.com, where I sometimes buy seeds I need that my local stores were sold out of. I don't know of any cheaper source of reliable, non GMO seeds than this vendor. There may be some places that are cheaper due to selling in bulk, but I don't have enough land to be interested in bulk seed savings.

I also am a seed saver. When possible I grow flowers for pollinators, avoid pesticides, and allow my plants to go to seed so I can save seeds from them. I am especially likely to save seeds from my flowers, and/or let them drop seeds and self-sow. The more flower seeds I save, the less I have to buy later on.

Saving veggie seeds is much harder. I have had limited success, but I keep on trying. :)

Moved seedling pots back out into the sunlight from under their storm-sheltered location.

Adjusted soil level in several Amaryllis pots. Mom in law read they prefer to have their bulbs slightly exposed to the air. Used the soil I removed from those pots to sow some tiny-seeded flowers, small-seeded Brassicas, and small-seeded salad mix, in the Cottage Garden.

My garden soil is about 70 percent heavy clay, so I get better germination rates when I sow small-seeds/ tiny-seeds by covering the seeds with potting mix, instead of covering with the heavy garden soil.

Planted a Self-composting Container, inspired by Hugelkultur:
Rainstorm knocked a rotten branch out of a mature pine. The wood was rotten enough to crumble easily by hand, so I picked up the rotten wood, crumbled it into a big pot. Then filled the top half of the pot with high organic matter potting mix and a couple handfuls compost. Then planted a 5" tall volunteer Capsicum seedling in the pot.

Noticed an interesting pink-flowered wildflower in the mint family has popped up in a partly shady area of the backyard lawn. This plant is certainly uncommon, and hopefully not threatened/endangered. My guess is it's a Warnockia. If it's not a protected plant, I'm going to transplant a few of them into my butterfly/pollinator garden area.

I will try to take pics of it to get it identified. Informed Mom in law that this pretty, bee-supporting, patch of wildflowers will die if she uses weed- &- feed anyplace near it, so it's better for the Earth and our bees/pollinators to only use those chemicals on the front lawn, if at all.