Just a Little Company in the Garden ~ WW

A pair of Eurasian Doves that live and nest in my backyard.

Keeping me company while I garden.

Love waking up to their peaceful melody.

I'm glad they feel safe and comfortable enough with me to

relax and preen.  They had more babies this Spring :) 

That makes it 5 years with babies hatched here. 

How to Wash Fruit and Vegetables

I'm lucky to have a local farmer post his available produce on Facebook where you can text him your order and have porch delivery. There's nothing like fresh fruit and vegetables to lift you're SIP mood!

Normally I would put these away and wash prior to using. But now, Heaven forbid, you don't want to contaminate anything with COVID-19. We're told to wash, wash, wash. Gone are the days of shinning your apple on your shirt before taking that first bite.

I did some research and found everything from using soap to just rinsing.

In the past when I've had particularly dirty produce I've used a vinegar soak.

It helps remove bacteria, pesticides and what ever may be lurking.

I can't say whether it will help with removal of potential COVID-19 but it's safe and worth a try.

After thoroughly washing your hands for 20 seconds, thoroughly clean your sink , bucket, or whatever you're going to use..

I just used my sink - 

Once I was done cleaning my sink I rinsed it with bleach, then rinsed it with water.

Use 3 parts water to one part vinegar and swirl a bit.

Add produce and let soak for about 10 - 15 minutes.

After soaking I rinsed them off with water

You may not be able to see bacteria or chemicals but you will see the dirt!

For the Cherry Tomatoes I placed them in a colander due to their small size. 

Then set them in the solution.  Once done much easier to lift out colander than fishing them out the the solution.

Produce was then placed on towels to let dry.

There was only about half left when I finished drying by hand to put away.

Everyone pigged out on the full flavored fresh fruits.  

It's been about 2 weeks since I purchased this purchase. I have a bit of lettuce, a cuke, and a few Cherry Toms left - all of which are still fresh.

Just had another delivery yesterday.

They now have Cherries and Cantaloupes!!

YUM!

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Solar Lights added to Waterfall Finally! ~ WW

A Summer Hello for Your Home

My Sister had some flip flops left over from last year after a craft she made. She passed them down to me.

I've already made a flip flop wreath that I love, what could I do with these?

Then it hit me

A welcome sign ;)

I had 3 pairs = 6 flip flops

I could lay them out spelling a word

I could use paint sticks, 

Have I ever mentioned how I LOVE Paint sticks!

They come in so handy, for so many things.

I decided to paint the sticks to cover up the stores ads 

and make them look a little neater.

I used Waverly Chalk Paint in Pool

I thought the name was pretty apropos

Once the sticks were dry I used GE Silicone II to glue the FF's to the sticks. 

I found fabric with pink Flamingo's on white background in my fabric stash and thought it would make for a great "hanger".

I just twisted it and stapled it to the stir sticks.

Short on FF's for "Welcome"

I came up with "Hello"

Only problem with that is I have one left over. :(

Hopefully I'll figure out something to make with it.

I started out stenciling in white

But it just wasn't showing up enough

 so I switched to dark velvet purple.

Once the letters were dry, I thought they needed

 a little something more.

I found a spray of faux Dogwood.

I pulled off a few of the flowers and glued them to 

the top of the FF's.

Too cute! 

Cute on your screen door

Darling hanging in the house

And a Welcoming Hello to your guests!

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If your interested in this "Hello Sign" it's in my cousins shop.

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How to Transplant a Lilac

I had Lilacs all along my side and a portion of my back fence at one time. Most were suckers of Mom's that Dad had started for me from the farm. I L♥VE Lilacs ~ there blooms are sentimental because Mom would always bring a bouquet into the house to place on the kitchen table and that intoxicating fragrance just takes me back. Once when I was living in Miami she and Dad overnighted a bouquet of Lilacs to me. I couldn't stop crying. It was the best meaningful surprise I have ever gotten.

OK sorry for getting sidetracked.

Anyway, the Lilacs were happy for several years. Grew and bloomed beautifully.

Then one by one they dwindled away. A couple were taken out by Pit Bulls that chewed thru the fence, we have renters on all sides of us. I have nothing against renters, I used to be one. The ones behind us decided to build a fire pit by digging a shallow hole in the ground during one their parties. It ended up catching our fence on fire which took out a few more Lilacs.

To make a long story short, out of about 9 Lilacs I have 3 left,
They haven't been happy campers the last few years. I decided I was going to move them to a better place. The best time to move Lilacs is right after they are done blooming. Mine have just finished.

We used to have a small Dragonfly pond outside my bedroom window. It went by the wayside several years ago and became my compost pile. For the last 5 or so years I have been building up the soil by composting in the hole that was left.  This year it was finally filled and decomposed enough for plants. I wanted to mix in some potting soil in with the compost. I found this expanding soil block. It was fantastic! Light as a feather and on clearance. It re-hydrated and mixed in easily.

You can see some of it here.

It's a reddish brown color.

I cleaned out all the leaves from the floor of the gazebo and threw them on top, then mixed them in too. The soil looked so rich and it was full of worms!

Here's one of the Lilacs that needed to be moved. As you can see it was growing horizontally. Why I don't know.  There weren't any other plants blocking it from the Sun.

I got my shovel and inserted it as far as I could

all the way around it. You want to get as much of the root ball as possible - intact with the dirt still on it. 

There was one stubborn spot I kept working on.

I finally realized it had sent a large root between the fence boards!

I pulled as gently as I could, I got a good portion out before it snapped. :(

The other 2 gave me no problem at all.

Here are all 3 waiting to be planted in their new home.

Dig a hole twice as big as the size of the root ball to allow room for all the roots to spread out. Place the root ball into the hole being sure the trunk is the same ground level as it was before. 

Back fill the hole. Be sure to step all around the plant to be sure the roots and soil are married to prevent air pockets.

One down 2 to go!

Once your done planting, be sure to trim any dead wood off the Lilac. Trim any remaining spent blooms, we don't want the plant to spend all it's energy making those seeds. Save that energy for next years flowers!

When completely done, give them a good soak. I just put the hose attachment on shower and let the ground slowly soak the water in.

All three in their new home. So far so good.

It's been about a week and not a wilted leaf in sight :)

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