Sleet

  

I saw a robin yesterday evening, so I know it won't be long until spring arrives.  Until then, we will just have to maintain and survive until the fun times begin.  Right now all most people can do is "hunker down" and ride out the bad weather.

Aloe Vera

 

Recently, I got two starts from an aloe vera plant, and brought them home.  They've been in this pot since than and I've fertilized them once.  Rain water seems to be helping them grow well.  Will put them outside when threat of frost is gone.  Warm temps help them grow real well, and I won't have to catch the rain water, it will fall on them freely.

Christmas Cactus

 

I got this cactus back during Christmas, when they were on sale.  Since then I re-potted it into a larger pot to encourage growth.  I fertilized it once since then and it seems to be doing well.

Sweet Potato Slips

 

As you can see the sweet potato that I've been rooting, has got several "slips" growing, which can be removed along with some of the roots, later for planting.

Spring Blooms

 

Well, what do you think?  These spring flowers are blooming and the temps are real nice, they are always the first one's to bloom.  The ground hog predicted that we would have an six more weeks of winter.........so, now it's a wait and see.

Winter/Spring?

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.

Trees Blooming

 This is the old elm tree in the front yard and as you can see it's putting out it blooms.  The other trees are doing the same with the warm weather we've been having.  The blooms are plentiful,  which will turn into seeds that it will drop and cause many new seedlings to pop up in my yard.  These are a problem, because I have to keep cutting them back when they get too big.  The flower beds are full of them and it's a constant battle each year.

Peaches

 

This was one of my peach trees, last year.  Our weather has been volatile this year, with warm and then cold spells, back and forth.  The trees have already started to bud for the coming spring and now we have another freezing cold front happening.  I'm afraid what will become of this year's crops with all this weather fluctuation.  The spring plants are subject to this problem, as well!

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!