To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Ecc. 3:1
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Ecc. 3:1
Thrift, or blue phlox, was my grandfather’s favorite flower because it’s one of the first things to bloom in spring. Being a farmer, he preferred to be outdoors, and this perennial is a sign that Spring is on the way!
March is a busy month in the yard and garden. Here are a few tasks taken from HGTV to take care of this month.
The time to begin garden clean up is after you've had 7 days of 50 degree temperatures. This timing gives beneficial insects, which hide among garden debris, a chance to wake up and exit their winter quarters. If you spot shoots poking through a heap of leaves, pull them aside gently. Wear gloves, because you might stir a sleepy bumblebee queen.
The right time to plant seeds for warm-season veggies like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants is six to eight weeks before your region’s last average spring frost. If seedlings outgrow their tiny pots, bump them up to a 2" or 3" pot to keep them growing until the right time for planting outdoors.
Late winter/early spring is the ideal time to tackle rose pruning. Always remove dead, diseased or damaged stems (called canes), cutting back to a bud on healthy wood. Remove canes that rub on each other when the wind blows. To choose which cane to remove, look at the canes closely. If the bark on one is already damaged, remove it. If one is growing more toward the center of the shrub, remove it. Also, shorten rose canes as needed to control plant size.
Give houseplants a spa day. Start by snipping and removing any dead leaves or stems. If plants don’t need to be repotted, consider replacing the top half- to one inch of soil with fresh potting mix. Last, give plants that don’t have hairy leaves a gentle spritz from a hand sprayer filled with distilled, room-temperature water. It’s best to do this over a sink, where overspray won’t hurt surfaces.
Ireland is rich in it’s old wives tales and superstitions. You’ve probably heard some of these.
See a penny, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck,
It’s bad luck to put a new pair of shoes on the table (why would you put shoes on the table at all?)
One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy. The Irish are very superstitions about magpies, believing that seeing one by itself is bad luck. The way to break the omen is to be friendly to the magpie, calling out “Hello, Mr. Magpie”, and waving to it.
If you have an itchy nose, you’ll have an argument with someone close.
If you accidentally drop a knife on the floor, you’ll have a male visitor very soon.
Opening an umbrella indoors will bring bad weather.
It’s bad luck to walk under a ladder.
Anyone who bothers a fairy tree will have bad luck the rest of their life. Fairy trees are generally found in fields with large stones surrounding them, and fairy folk are said to dwell beneath them.
It’s bad luck to throw dirty laundry water out the front door because you might anger the leprechauns, who are thought to be invisible.
When cows are lying down in the field, rain will come soon.
Bakers should cut a cross into the top of a loaf of bread when baking to let the devil out of the bread, making it safe to eat.