Sunday Potager Ramblings #71 (Lemon Trees, Create Gifts From Your Garden)

Well, hi there. Happy Sunday. How was your V-day? Hubby and I went for groceries and errands, got pooped out from the running around, so did nothing in the evening. Hahaha. To be fair, we have never done much of anything for Valentine’s Day, just not really our jam, BUT I hope yours was great : )

A small dog wearing a red sweater stands on a wooden deck, beside a colorful ball, with a fenced yard in the background. — *Most of the yard is bare of snow, but this morning is frosty.*

We’ve been enjoying gorgeous weather all month, plus degrees every day. One day we even had plus 17°C (62°F) on our back deck. Crazy for the prairies. I have been watching my patio melt a bit more daily, was even out there sweeping one day!

However, this is all coming to an end as they say that winter is coming back this week. Snow and cold. Not super cold, thankfully, but I’m still sad about it. Things were looking pretty spring like around here. We are close though. In just a few more weeks, when the melting starts, it really will be the beginning of spring : )

A vibrant flower garden featuring rows of purple and yellow pansies, with greenery and trees in the background along a dirt path. — *Tabilk, Victoria, Australia*

This picture on Pinterest caught my eye this week, with all those violas! A lovely sight in early spring, flowers for the bees. It reminded me of the year I had volunteer violas popping up between my newly planted tomatoes.

A vibrant garden bed filled with colorful pansies in shades of purple and yellow, surrounded by green plant supports. — *Volunteer violas in my tomato bed.*

A welcoming front porch featuring a decorative wooden sign reading 'Home' surrounded by vibrant flowers in planters, including pink geraniums, yellow and green foliage, and purple coneflowers. — *Coneflowers in my front garden. Second year for them, hoping the clump gets bigger every year.*

How to Grow and Care for Coneflowers

How to Grow, Harvest, Dry and Use Calendula Flowers (With Photos)

Calendula is one of the top 3 flowers to grow in your food garden, in the beds. They feed pollinators and attract beneficial insects.

A close-up of two artichokes, one fully bloomed with a vibrant purple flower on top and the other in a closed form, set against a backdrop of green leaves. — *Artichokes in my garden*

How To Grow Artichokes In A Short Growing Season (Complete Guide For Zone 3-5) – From Soil to Soul – this works whatever zone you live in ; ) Start the seeds now!

African Violets: How to Care for African Violets – my mom was a huge African violet fan. She had dozens and dozens. I have not grown one myself since she went into the home (she has since passed and I just cannot bring myself to bring one home, no matter how pretty I think they are at the shops).

Check out Margot’s Winter Garden
How to prune roses – it is that time!
Why Are Some Gardens Always Full of Birds? 9 Reasons – yes, I am still on my bird attracting kick, hahaha.
Types of Rooting Hormones & How to Use Them for Plant Propagation

A visually appealing layout for a home and garden article featuring recipes for making rosemary rejuvenator and luscious lavender oil. Includes images of ingredients, preparation steps, and final products in glass spray bottles and jars.

Creative Content — Homestead Design Collective – loads of ideas for what to make with flowers, herbs, or veggies from your garden. Want to grow something for gifting? Selling at markets? You will love these ideas.

A serene garden landscape featuring several wooden raised beds with protective mesh covers, surrounded by lush greenery and colorful flowering plants. — *I have finally found the covers that I want hubby to make for my brassica bed.*

Hillside Garden — Homestead Design Collective – check out those covers on the veggies, eh? This is what I want hubby to build me for my brassica bed, except with access doors on both sides as my beds are wider than this. As I grow all my brassicas in the same bed but rotate the bed each year, it will need to be one that we can move each year. Luckily, all my beds are the same size (4’x12′) so just need to figure out a way to temporarily fasten it to the bed.

Garden design in is the detail – how to transform a boring backyard to a lush green oasis… I love the garden in this short video. Not a lot of colourful flowers, but one could use the same ideas but switch out some of the plants with flowering ones.

Designing a garden from scratch in 17 steps – great tips.

Indoor lemon trees in terracotta pots, with ripe lemons hanging and green leaves, set in a sunlit greenhouse. — *My potted citrus trees.*

Lessons Learned: Growing, Killing, and Reviving a Meyer Lemon Tree – having grown many, many citrus fruits over the years, I would agree with this author in that watering is one of the biggest issues. In winter, when they do not use a lot of water, I water only about once every 3 to 4 weeks, BUT when I do, I water very thoroughly. They are planted in a soilless mix so when that ‘soil’ dries out, it is hard to get it to absorb water again.

Water each pot over and over again, till all the soil in the pot was moist, had absorbed water. Water till water flows freely from the bottom. Wait 10 minutes and water again till the water flows freely from the bottom. Do this 3 or 4 times. Or, water thoroughly and let sit in a pail of water for several hours. Just as would with a summer hanging basket that has gone too dry. Put some liquid seaweed/kelp in the water for an added boost.

A beautifully decorated lemon pie with a smooth yellow filling, topped with star-shaped piped cream and fresh lemon slices, surrounded by lemon halves and floral arrangements on a white table.

Recipes (back by popular demand : )

This Thursday is my day to host this month’s coffee klatch so I have been on the lookout for fresh new ideas. Perusing the blogs I follow to find something new and exciting.

I always like to offer up three different goodies, so am thinking of making that lovely pie and the cookies. I’ve not yet decided what the third item will be, but perhaps those sourdough crackers? Thinking it might be nice to have something savoury to go with the sweets? What do you think?