Money Out of Pocket

It's amazing the amount of money that can be spent on keeping up a yard and garden.  Last year I remember investing large amounts just to keep the yard in city code shape and clean.  It means that if you want to have a yard that keeps standard viewing, then you are going to spend money on it.
My vegetable garden cost quite a bit of cash as well.  This leaves me to think about down sizing the coming year.  I did the type of garden one is accustomed to having in the years prior to now.  Back then you had a huge garden with all types of vegetables to support the coming harvests.  Today, it's not feasible to have such a garden considering the things that just won't grow right in certain soils and the weather.  Certain soils take a large amount of mulch to get it in shape for planting seasons.  I'm one person who is not young anymore.  I have to pay people to come and do the heavy work for me.  Here in you have more expense. 
This coming year I am considering having raised beds that can be easier controlled.  The harvest will be less but I'm sure the area involved will produce better.

Donate

  I recently became introduced to the idea of this post.  It has been check by me and I think this will be a great idea for many people to get involved in.  
The "click to donate" website offers individuals the opportunity to donate to certain causes and never have to spend a penny.  You can go to  http://www.clicktodonate.org  and look at the information they have listed for your possible interest.  The website puts a clicker on your webpage beside the search bar and every time you do a search it register's for the cause you are donating to.  I saw where there were several you could utilize, but it gives you the option of doing your own "cause" as long as you list the company and the name of the "cause".  Donating without having to spend any money is a great idea and is used along with 501 companies.  There are many companies that Google, Bing and other websites are interacting along with to perform this means of donating to non profit organizations.  Along with these companies, you can be of help to certain disaster relief organizations and not have to put one penny into it.
How great it would be if every time you did a search on your search bar, you could actually be of help to some needy cause?  I wonder how these people came to implement this wonderful help based website?  Take the time to go and look around for yourself and see how easy it is to be of service to others without much effort.

Sprouts

 

A wee bit of progress is the last two days......it looks like I'll be able to plant some sweet potato slips in boxes this spring.....that'll be fun and I love to eat sweet potatoes....weekly!

Earthworms Can Work

So, you think earthworms are outdoors creatures? Well, you can actually raise them indoors, and use their castings to improve your soil, indoors and out. Container Make it large and manageable, space 8 to 12 inches deep. They feed on the top layers of the bedding. Bins can be plastic or wood. Drill 8 to 12, ¼-inch-diameter holes in the bottom and sides for aeration and drainage. Drill more holes if using plastic or bedding stays wet. Place a tray under bin to collect “tea” that drips from bin. Tea makes good fertilizer for houseplants. Bedding Options; shredded cardboard, newspaper, or coir (coconut husks); and peat moss. Mist bedding with water if it looks dry. Cover bins to keep worms in dark. Keep temperatures between 40°F and 80°F for survival, place bins in cellar, warm garage. Red wigglers thrive in temperatures between 55°F and 77°F (Worms from garden, night crawlers, prefer cooler and deeper soils.) Buy red wigglers through the mail or at a bait shop. One pound of red wiggler worms (about 1,000 worms) can eat a 1/2 pound of scraps a day. Food Feed worms vegetable scraps, fruit peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells, and even leftover pasta. No spicy foods. Avoid meats, fish, fatty and oily foods, and bones. Lay a thin layer on top of bedding. Worms feed in the dark. A small amount of potting soil or cornmeal help your worms digest their meal. Harvest After 3 to 4 months your worms should have eaten the bedding and the scraps. Top layer of matter should be dark brown and the consistency of chunky sand. Harvest the castings. Push the castings to side, add more bedding and scraps. Worms will go to the new bedding and scraps. Dig out castings and add more bedding and scraps. Make sure to pick out stray wigglers and return

Roots

 

Back during Thanksgiving, I had an extra sweet potato that was too small to worry about peeling.

 

So, I put it in a glass of water on the window sill, and left it to root..  Recently, I notice these roots growing around the bottom of the potato.  I also can see some sprouts starting from one of the eye's.  Soon I will have slips that can be planted this spring.  I'm thinking of making a box, with compost in it to set them out.

Temps

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.........and the temps are creeping up into the 60's, so that means we are in for some nice weather.  The problem is that we will have some more freezing weather and the trees and spring plants will be confused and get frost bitten.  I guess there will be a problem finding good fruit again this year at the stores.

Spring?

Ok, enough of this cold crap!  The ground hog hasn't even seen his shadow yet, and we're still freezing our butts off!  I get tired of the cold weather, cause most of the time it's a wet cold and that cuts right through my bones.  It would be nice to have spring, year round!

Winter

The weathermen, are predicting some freezing rain, and possible snow this week.  I have large trees which are old and tend to break easily.  This is a scary situation for me, since there is a large tree hanging over the front of my house and the power lines.  This happened last year and the people next door were without power for a week until they could get the big tree cut off the house and reconnect the power lines.  I sure hope the weather doesn't become too bad and cause all this damage again this year.