News Flash -Meyer Lemon Tree Has First Flower

Although the Meyer Lemon has many buds ready to flower, here is the very first flower. The flower has a wonderful fragrance.  For those who have asked where I purchased it, just go to Four Winds Growers and click here for more information.

Thank you to the owner at the Growing Traditions Blog for inspiring me to make the purchase of this citrus tree. He made lemon marmalade from his lemons he picked from his Meyer and I thought perhaps I could do the same.

The Last of the Pesto

For dinner tonight we used the last of the pesto that we had frozen from 2011's bounty of basil. It was delicious. So a couple of lucky people can take these leftovers from tonight's dinner for lunch tomorrow. Yum!

Boots and I Miss Smith and Hawken

Years ago I bought a pair of red slip on gardening shoes from Smith and Hawken. I still have them and wear them when gardening in the vegetable garden. They can be hosed off and are perfect for my needs. Plus they do not slip off like gardening clogs.They are probably 15 years old.

Last week I was trimming our Serviceberry tree and my red slip ons were not going to cut it. It was exceptionally wet in the area and I needed boots. So I slipped on my snow boots. They got really muddy and I am in the process of still cleaning them off. So before I end up ruining my snow boots, I decided to order these gardening boots. Not only are they waterproof, but they are cute too.

USDA Weekly Crop and Weather Bulletin

I accidentally came across the USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin. I had no idea such a bulletin existed. Click here for this week's bulletin. 

The Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin (WWCB) is prepared by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The bulletin provides information on weather, droughts, rainfall for the United States and world wide. There are charts and graphs for those geeks among us. This is the first time I have come across the term " agrometeorological information".

Generally it is  posted every Wednesday. 

Composting

Composting is my husband's job. Actually he seems to enjoy it, which is great for the garden. It dawned on me that we had not used our garbage disposal in a very long time and that perhaps I should check it out to make sure it would still run. It did, but perhaps it is sad because it is rarely used since we compost.

My latest purchase was a new kitchen compost scrap bucket to dump our veggie scraps in. I have always found them to be over priced, but I was able to find this one on sale.

Baking with Julia March Recipe- Rugelach

I just finished rolling out the rugelach dough and it was one nasty challenge. Julia Child's recipe for at least the dough part did not beat out the Martha Stewart recipe that I typically use. Well the little gems are in the refrigerator for the next few hours to harden up. Believe you me, they need it. If I would have put them directly in the oven we would have had flatten rugelach: they would have spread all over the baking pan.

Also here is Dorie Greenspan's interview on    about  rugelach and baking the gems-click here

Pansies

I know Spring is just around the corner when my favorite nurseries have their pansies out. So today I went to Rahn's and loaded up the car. Another favorite place is Bloomin Garden's for these little happy faced flowers. I hope to be able to start planting them in the flower boxes and planters this Sunday since it will be 50 degrees. Right now it is lightly snowing.

Also stopped in at Half Priced Books and stumbled across a gardening book that I could not resist for $5. I love the DK books because they always have practicle advice regardless of the topic. Here is my lucky find.