We’re heading toward 30 days here at the cottage. It doesn’t seem real, does it?
More of eggcups-on-parade: my second Snow White, a bunny, two lustreware egg cups (I have a smaller one somewhere with a thin strip of blue at the rim), another lustreware cup with a brown bear, an Emma Bridgewater cup from London, Walking Ware from Carlton/England, lovely motto ware cup from Devon, a Holt Howard rooster, blue and white transferware, a tiny bunny cup and an art deco plastic cup from Paris, a flowered egg cup from Paris, a rooster cup, a face cup, another rooster cup, a brown Mason’s Vista transferware cup, and a chick emerging from an egg from Portugal.
More tomorrow.
I cleaned out two of the garden beds yesterday, raking out the leaves and debris. Then Don raked all of it onto a tarp and made several trips to the refuse pile (very helpful.) I’m going to do two more today, as we have some rain coming on Thursday. It felt so good to be out there working – to finally get a jump on all the cleanup that must happen before I can do anything else.
I felt my shoulders relax. Those endorphins kicked in.
Then I came in, showered, ate some lunch and watched more of the 2019 episodes of Gardener’s World. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again – that show is so calming. My blood pressure must surely drop as soon as I hear the theme music and Monty Don’s voice. Heavenly. I’m almost done with all the shows I never got to last year and then I’ll start watching this year’s episodes – only 3 so far.
Here’s a question for you. How are you getting plants, soil, mulch, etc., for your gardens? I must admit I’m not sure how I’m going to handle that but it needs to be handled soon – in the next week or so. Any suggestions? I’m thinking our local nursery – which is the same farm stand that Don went to last week (they were highly organized) – might have some new protocol in place for plant shopping. I’d love to hear what you’ve encountered in your neck of the woods.
Still reading and loving This Rough Magic. Still watching old Cheers episodes. Let’s see, what else? I ordered stamps online yesterday. Everything that was routine now has to be handled differently. I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re spending more money than usual in our efforts to make sure we have everything we need on hand. I can’t say that for sure. Since we can’t just drop by the store for a few items, we tend to buy a lot in one order, trying to anticipate anything that might be needed. Sigh.
Happy Tuesday.
Our local greenhouse is doing curb side pick up. You order online, pay and then drive to the greenhouse, they load up your trunk and off you go. We pick up tomorrow. Ordered 2 plants for the house, soil and a seed starter tray. They are also giving away free Easter Lily’s if there is anyone who is a nurse in the family, and our dd is, so we’ll have one of those in the order too. I miss walking around the greenhouse but am so happy they came up with a solution for now. I also order seeds through a company on the East Coast and have to put that in this week. Free shipping now too!
Glad you were able to work outside. Snow arrived again on the weekend but late yesterday it was starting to melt. The rest of the week looks pretty warm so hopefully this was the last of it and we’ll be on our way to Spring!
X Chy
I’ll have to check on ours. I don’t think you can order online, but if I call, I can tell them what I want.
Thanks, Chy. Stay safe.
I don’t have a plan as of yet. I know Home Depot is limiting the number of shoppers, plus you can order some things, and they will put in your vehicle. We normally get huge bags of soil from Costco. And they have senior hours 3 days a week, plus limit number of people in the store. I am hoping that by Mother’s Day, the worst will be over, and I can personally pick out my annuals for containers. If not…I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I was going to purchase more perennials for a new garden bed I was going to create…that might be up in the air, too. This is uncharted territory for sure.
Today it’s supposed to be 71. Good day to be outside. I need my endorphins to kick in! Keep well! ;)
I was just talking w/ my daughter about Home Depot plants the other day. I usually get some baskets there, and I do get potting soil there, but mostly Miracle Grow, so can prob find that anywhere, but that is about it. I think they treat their plants with a lot of “stuff” so I am not a big fan (the same as WM and Menard’s). But, all their stuff is outside in the parking lots. How will they ever navigate that to make it “safe”? Back in Feb I actually ordered a few live plants on QVC. They don’t send them until it is safe to plant in your particular zone, so I know I have a few things coming. We usually do a lot of plant shopping at the Amish farms and wonder if they will be open. As you said, we don’t normally start looking for plants til around Mother’s Day, But I have doubts as to how normal things will be by then. And what the heck is normal.
I have no idea how Home Depot is going to keep their nursery safe. I think the safest thing for us is to shop at two local nurseries. I might have to limit my containers, too. There is just so much that is unknown. Fortunately, we have about a month til we have to seriously think about that. Stay safe! ;)
I have heard Jung’s is doing “trunk” deliveries if you order beforehand!!
Thanks…did not know that. We’ve got one about a mile from us! ;)
Enjoy your time outside, Donna. Just came in from working outside. Stay safe!
Another fine collection of egg cups! I recognise the Walking Ware as my friend had a set in the late 70s. As well as egg cups she had a milk jug and a gravy boat. I love Emma Bridgewater designs and few years ago picked up two small cups suitable for mulled wine in a charity shop. They were fifty pence each!
I’ve got to catch up with the new Gardener’s World episodes too, I think one features snowdrops.
Our local nursery will deliver goods for free if you pay in advance. They just leave it by your house. I could do with some bark cover and a bag of gravel chips. I’m hoping to plant sweet pea seeds this week. They’re my favourite flower.
Happy Tuesday
I wish ours did! It’s a small family-owned business and I don’t think they have the capacity for home delivery. Take care, Dee Dee.
I feel like we are spending way less money, even with delivery order charges. No antiquing, no shopping at all except for food and necessary items. You may be spending less than you think, too!
We do very little shopping on a normal basis – rarely buy anything, but food – we eat out about 4 times a year. So I think we’re actually spending more, unfortunately. Take care, Jenny!
We had to go to Lowe’s Home improvement to make a repair on our house so u asked my husband to pick up mulch, stones, and soil. I had gotten seeds and seed starting materials earlier. My husband said that the customers at Lowe’s were not as respectful of social distancing and, unlike our grocery store, few were wearing masks. We will not go back. Every package was sanitized when brought home. In our area, I have noticed people trading plants or giving them away ( via porch\driveway pick-up) through a local gardening group I belong to on Facebook. I imagine you could also order from plant catalogs. Good Luck
I need mulch and big bags of potting soil and some annuals for pots. Those have to come from the nursery, unfortunately!
Stay safe, Jane!
I know. Unfortunately our experience with Lowe’s which sells mulch and soil was not good as far as social distancing. Good luck. I have bought plants on line before. Wayside Gardens sells plants through the mail. I know some people are having mulch delivered. In some areas this is allowed. This might be a very interesting gardening season.
I don’t usually shop at Lowes because – well, I don’t buy plants there because I think the quality is not very good. So I try to get mulch, soil and plants at the same place. We’ll have to see what happens! xo
Egg cups are beautiful as always. Such fun to see them every year. Sort of an Easter tradition. I guess it is one of the few that we will actually be able to enjoy this weird awful year. So THANKS for that!!
I think plants might be a challenge this year. Those of us who are avid gardeners will do all we possibly can do to find them ~ safely, of course. I am wondering if the beautiful Amish farms will be open this spring. We don’t usually start to purchase plants here until around Mother’s Day, so who knows what things will look like by then. If Wisconsinites can live through this #^*# Election day, I guess we are of hearty stock. I can’t even………………………
I can start buying stuff in a week or two – I hope I can figure out some sort of plan! Stay safe, Chris.
We went to the garden center a month ago(?) in anticipation of lockdown and got all kinds of soil improvements, seeds and young veggie starters; the plants are already in the ground (tomatoes and zucchini doing well; obviously, SoCalif weather is a lot diff than yours in the N/E, which meant the local garden centers were already ready for Spring, so we had stuff at our disposal, lots to choose from to purchase). I don’t know what I’d do now-today, especially since Dr. Birx AND public health in L.A. are all saying now is NOT the time to go out and, as of yesterday, are pleading with people (L.A.) to not go to the grocery store or even the pharmacy unless they can absolutely help it, saying please try to get by with what you already have on hand in your house.
If it wasn’t serious enough already, it’s apparently critical right now, but my husband and I had already plotted on the calendar (from what the disease experts had been saying for weeks, considering where it was thought SoCalif would be behind NY; we’ve been glued to the sad news coming out of NY/NYC), that starting the week of April 5 and for the entire month thereafter in SoCalif, we could be in real trouble. (We felt we’d waited too late to get our post office box mail and grocery delivery this past Fri & Sat, Apr 3rd & 4th; had wanted to get to it earlier and just didn’t as we debated about the grocery home delivery or not; well, had tried, but just couldn’t get a reservation and finally had to give up until we finally got lucky with Instacart. So, you know, the big ‘back & forth’ about whether or not to get out in the car and do these things or just skip it entirely and hope for the best with our piled-up mail and dwindling foods on hand.)
I have a friend in a town near me who just won’t change her schedule and is still insisting she’s going out to the grocery store this coming Thursday when I know she doesn’t really need to (she has enough money and storage space in a big house that she could have stocked up for six months or more, when she’d been out on previous occasions!) and, well, she isn’t going to listen to anyone about changing her routine, and I’m just so worried for her because she does have at least three co-morbidities for complications from the virus if she was to get it. Have you read the online articles about some of the baby boomers (‘me’ generation) being as negligent as ‘the young people’ about refusing to change and still going out in the world ‘way too much despite all the virus/epidemic warnings, which is driving their adult children to worried distraction? (One person was saying something about not being able to keep his senior-aged mother from going out solely for fresh flowers and could she have skipped it or combined the errand with something else at least!) This is my friend, with her multiple errands (most of which are non-essential). The only thing she has changed in her activity is that she’s doing her grocery shopping on Thursday rather than Saturday because she heard the store’s deliveries are Weds nite, so she’s hoping she has a better chance for supply of Kleenex.
My bigger worry this week has been trying to procure a pulse-oximeter which I’ve needed for my asthma; measures my oxygen (thru the finger ‘clamp’). Finally found one on Amazon at double the price it should be (I feel) although it’s a 3-week wait. Haven’t used one at home in a long time, but I’m needing it as my asthma is really ramped up (I’m sure stress is exacerbating my disease). The meters are in short supply because Covid patients at home are needing them to make sure they don’t descend into pneumonia. (So I hope I wasn’t taking it away from someone else, but various vendors carry them. It’s not like I bought the very last one available!) Selfishly, I had a few books in my cart I’d put in there sometime back and I really wanted them but, nope, put them into ‘saved’ because I just don’t want to put those Amazon workers thru any more work and virus exposure than they need, besides which I’ve got that dang credit card now to pay off due to all this stock-up on the food business.
Anyway, to your question, our local garden center is open and it’s part of a hardware store which is considered an essential business where I live, so it’s really an individual decision to go ‘out there’ or not, Claudia; it’s of course always a dilemma for any of us as to what’s the right thing to do. I love going to see all the plants and flowers there at this time of year; I really miss it. Being out in the air and sunshine and seeing the variety of things for Spring planting; whereas in later months, it gets so hot to walk around a nursery or garden store. All I can keep doing (due to my own personal health risks of being away from home right now) is to try to be aware of anything new coming up in my own yard; we notice every little bud, every little blossom. Any new birds at the birdbath. Are the cats losing their winter coats yet. Are we going to get rain or aren’t we…
Our garden centers don’t really get stock until April 1st and even then, it’s fairly sparse until mid-month. Ah well. I’ll figure it out.
Stay safe, Vicki!
Back to buying ‘extra’ food (and having to use a credit card in fixed-income life, NOT what we’d planned or wanted to do to this degree!), what’s concerning me for the purchasing, no matter had it been from when we were last at the grocery store three weeks back or so, and/or from what I’ve ordered online, is not only the extra money we’ve spent to stock up on food that can ‘last’ but also how so much of the food is diff from what we’ve been accustomed to eating and not anything we’d usually have except that I had to make a lot of subs for out-of-stock items. It’s a way to get creative with food but, for instance, I feel we’re ingesting ‘way too much sodium with the shelf-stable foods instead of fresh foods and I know it’s temporary but, before the next round of epidemic (come next winter or so as the experts are anticipating in the absence of a vaccine), I’ll be spending some real amount of time in summer to try to stock the food more thoughtfully and carefully (when hopefully more is finally IN stock!). We just, none of us, even those who took the early warnings and suggestions, really had enough time to plan a homebound life very well, at least not for this duration; was an increasing emergency situation and you do what you can do with it at the time.
We got some food items (by delivery, but not fresh groceries) today and my husband has been disinfecting the shipping carton and wiping down each item he’s unpacking, saying to me, “I’ve never seen such weird foods in my life!” Sigh indeed. (But, like, okay, with no fresh veggies and running low on frozen, I went to dehydrated bell peppers & carrots that can be reconstituted, that sort of thing. Or, glass-jarred vegetables that are basically marinated, pickled [like a cauliflower mix]; of course sun-dried tomatoes which come in glass jars as well. All to supplement my canned veggies. I’ll try to wash off as much of the salts as I can, and I figure it’s better than no veggies at all.)
xoxo
I”m getting ready to place my first online grocery order. I know it works but I feel very sketchy about it! Life goes on — some walks, though I’m trying to juggle walking time to avoid any kind of crowd. Today I got the herb garden raked out and was pleased to see new life coming on many of the herbs. And I got the sticks picked up out of the back yard, which will make the eventual mowing easier. Still more to do, but I felt productive.
I’ve been wondering about the mulch/plant situation. I found some lettuce seeds, probably last year, that I’ll give a try and a few flowers but hoping to find some other plants for the yard. It takes a long while for my sweet pea to kick in, though maybe earlier this year as it has been so warm. But I don’t feel good about going to the garden store for at least another month or so. We’ll have to see.
The egg cups are darling. Every day I see ones I just adore. Today it is the brown transferware, the flowered cup from Paris and the Bridgewater. What a delight!
I hope there’s some sort of solution. I don’t need much because I have perennial gardens. But I sure would like flowers for pots on the porch and pots in the secret garden, etc. It would seem awfully bare around her without them! Stay safe, Jeanie.
Hi Claudia,
Thank you for sharing your charming egg cups at this Eastertime. Your collection is wonderful, mine is cool, but no where near the standard or yours.
This year, I will focus on caring for the perennials, shrubs and trees and the vegetable garden. I have started lots of seeds and hope they will keep me from going to the garden centers which is one of my favorite things to do in the spring.
Our nearest garden center is a small family owned business and they are doing the call and order your plants and they will deliver for free within a certain radius or you can call when you get there and they will bring the items to your car. Hopefully this thing will hurry and pass and life will return to somewhat of a norma.
Take care and be safe!
My gardens are perennial gardens, so I don’t need to add to them. But I do need plants for my porch and the little garden seating areas.
I love going to the nursery – I would really miss that – I hope I can find a way to visit. Stay safe, Kelly.
I also find Gardeners World comforting, and was counting the days til the new season began. Monty Don’s Instagram is very calming too. As for my garden, I’m just working with what I have for now. I had big plans for spring this year but I’ll wait for fall. Soon it will be in the 90s and 100s here and then my yard work really slows down!
Yes, I follow his IG account.
I have to have pots on my porch and in the secret garden and funky patio. It’s unthinkable not to have them. So I’ll wait until I can slip into my little neighborhood nursery, buy what I need and leave ASAP! Take care.
I ordered two Marigold seeds from Sears last week. Earlier I ordered some Pansy seeds from Amazon. QVC had a full day of gardening the other day. I ordered six Pansy plants. They will not be delivered until April 17th in my area until it is considered safe weather wise. Love those egg cups.
Marilyn
I really want some pansies, Marilyn. That’s how I start off my planters! Stay safe.
i have no suggestions about getting plants and soil and mulch during this weird, awful time, but i have confidence that you will find a way to get what you want/need to garden!
glad you could be outside and do some yardwork.
be safe, everyone!
kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy. You, too!
Here in Wisconsin we usually don’t do much plant buying until May. It’s just too cold. Dean did try to arrange a mulch delivery but the local nursery he phoned didn’t have a truck available. He’s going to try one of the other local ones. I like to have lots of big pots full of blooming plants on the patio and front porch and I just don’t know if that’s going to happen this year.
We did have an absolutely glorious warm day today, so unusual for April. It was so nice that I was almost tempted to go stand in line to vote (my absentee ballot didn’t arrive on time). But D talked me out of going. He’d already sent his ballot in so hopefully his vote for the Wi Supreme Court justice we want will be enough.
Take care.
Kay
I have to check the election results, Kay.
Let’s cross our fingers for beautiful potted plants in our gardens.
Stay safe.
I’ve been calling our local Agway and paying by card over the phone. They offer drive thru for bulk products such as mulch and soil which they load into your vehicle, and curbside pickup for plants and any other needed items. They are also limiting # of customers in stores & have plastic shields for cashiers as well as gloves & masks. I do miss browsing the nursery, but I’d rather be safe than pick out a flat of pansies.
We have an Agway nearby – I’ll check what they’re doing. Thanks, Liz. Stay safe.
A dear friend of mine has been doing some gardening work, but I don’t know if she mulches or will plant this year or just maintain what she has. While we were promised an early spring and it looked like it for a few days there, not much is happening. I wish I had a gardening interest or skill but I don’t like bugs…and when you play in the mud, leaves, etc., you tend to find bugs. LOL. You and Don are a good team, holding up and keeping up and following your seasonal routines which I believe is a gift to yourselves and others. I find myself wanting to paint eggs and bunnies with big ribbons but my old kitty doesn’t like my watercolors, so my painting sessions usually turn to cuddle time. Which is also sublime. Glad you and Don are staying safe.
I like bugs!
Stay safe, Nora. Thanks.