Well, hi there! Happy Sunday, eh? How are you all doing?
I gotta say, I am not feeling this season! Spring is 3 days away, but it is still late winter mode over here. We are getting a bit of snow, which is totally fine, it comes and goes just as fast, but ugh, these cold temps!
I read my blogger friends’ posts… they are all spring cleaning, spring decorating, planting outside even. Obviously living in a warmer area than I am in.
In order to get into spring cleaning and decorating mood, I need sunshine and fresh air coming in through the open windows. I am hoping that this upcoming week is it! I really want to get into the mood to clean (I know, call me crazy), but there is no washing windows when it is -8°C (17°F) outside!
I have the most amazing gardening links for you this week. So many ideas. Are you making any changes to your yard this year? If so, these links will be sure to give you loads of ideas. If not, there may still be nuggets here and there, things that you can add, grow, try in your existing beds or yards.
Gardening Bits
Window boxes. I love them! They make such a difference. Both my front yard and back shed window boxes pictured here are at the end of season, definitely not at their best, yet they still add a pop of charm.
This wonderful write up about how to design a garden from scratch in 17 steps. Don’t you just love that grassy pathway? I am trying to decide between steppers and grass for my small front yard makeover…. leaning towards a small curving grassy lane… mostly so that I can grow bulbs in the pathway in spring.
Like these beautiful muscari (grape hyacinths). Here is a list of other early/spring bloomers that would look great in pots, gardens, borders…
This gorgeous spring garden, with all those lovely bulbs coming up everywhere. Absolutely stunning. Love that deck with all those potted bulbs (something we cannot do in a zone 3 but I always did in my zone 7 garden).
Common weeds and how to deal with them. You all on the west coast need to get that hairy bittercress before the flowers turn to seeds and pop everywhere!
How to Plant a Cocktail Garden
Chaos Gardening – what is it? And how do you do it? I did this last year with both my vegetables and some annual flowers of sweet alyssum. calendula, and cosmos.
9 flower bed trends. I am doing #1 up front, for sure. Want it full to the max.
6 Benefits of Hydrogen Peroxide for Houseplants – Homestead Gardener. Hmmm….
How to make homemade comfrey fertiliser. I make my own fertiliser regularly, from compost, manure, or alfalfa. This year, I will be making it from comfrey, as my brother has a large patch on his farm.
How to Grow Tomatoes in Containers on Your Deck, Patio, or Porch
12 Vegetables That Thrive in Containers, So You Can Grow Produce Almost Anywhere
Check out these organic Canadian fertilisers to feed your gardens, houseplants, and most importantly, your wee seedlings.
All Sorts of Homey Bits
10 ways to design a kitchen for aging in place. We did this with this renovation that we just finished last winter. We had both the kitchen and the bathroom renovated so that everything is set up for later… just in case. Check out these things and see if you agree. Would you do anything different? We got rid of all the corner cabinets, both up and down and made everything as easy to keep to clean as possible (except the stove – get yourself an induction stove, you will thank me later ; )
This cute Stockholm home. I love that wall. Mostly because of those Finnish Moomin coffee cups on the hooks ; )
*As an Amazon affiliate, if you buy an item(s) from one of the links, I get a small commission to support my blog. It does not cost you any more to purchase through my link than if you went to the link on your own : )
Free printable Farmhouse Easter Prints. This one above is the one that I chose. I use a new print each month in my entry way, a seasonally fitting print to welcome people to our home. I also printed off the bunny for the grandies’ room.
This free 10 minute ab workout. Free is perfect, eh?
This pretty little laundry room. I am still dreaming about zhuzhing up my small laundry area. This gives me so many ideas!
These are my favourite, amazing cleaners that I use.. especially once I get into spring cleaning mode. I have dreadful allergies, to all sorts of things. Bad enough that I had to go to the ER for anaphylaxis twice in January. This means that I try to keep everything as organic as I can, including my cleansers.
- I just found this Nature Clean laundry soap, absolutely love it. You can get if from some grocery stores, from well.ca or Amazon. It is Canadian, smells divine, cleans well. Well.ca is Canadian and ships free on orders over $35.
- Mrs Meyer’s can be picked up at Canadian Tire, London Drugs, Pharmasave, or ordered from well.ca or Amazon.
- Mint Cleaners can be purchased on line from Mint, from well.ca, or at some local gift shops (Innisfail, Nanaimo).
Recipes & Foodie Bits
Sauteed green bean salad with goat cheese. This looks amazing. Has convinced me to grow green beans again this year. I did not bother last year, as we both dislike frozen beans, but… if I just grow enough to eat fresh, I feel that will be great use of garden space.
15 foods that have more protein than an egg.
The ultimate lentil loaf (like a meatloaf, just better ; )
My sourdough has finally started rising! Yay! Not doubling up yet, but it is bubbly, is growing, and it looks and smells great, nice and yeasty…
This week, I made the loveliest discard French bread loaves. This discard sandwich bread is equally amazing, as are these one hour buns. All of these recipes are from Amy Bakes Bread.
If you are making sourdough with cup measurements and not getting the results that you would like, you really need an inexpensive kitchen scale. It truly makes all the difference! My recipes are always bang on perfect now, I used to worry a lot about the flour especially… too much, too little, but if you use grams, it is always perfect. This is the one that I have, this one is an Amazon favourite (great price), and this one is on sale at almost half price!
Whew, that was a lot to peruse, eh? I hope you enjoyed this week’s links, ideas, and all my favourite things.
The Marigold Potager - A Zone 3 Prairie Garden 
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