Fun in the Sun

Had a good laugh after church when we were discussing our new supply of manure and the joke evolved, "You know you're from a small farm town when you stand around after church discussing manure."

My husband put aged manure down in the new bed that developed after we had to have the foundation in that part of our old house replaced. That meant tearing up and moving everything, letting it settle over winter, putting down edging and now improving the soil. Today, it's in pretty good shape and everything moved into place.

Through a series of events, I found multitudes of flower seed I'd gathered or been given over the past several years. I decided to throw all of them (except the hundreds of apricot pits - what was I thinking) on the manure bed among everything I'd transplanted. They're all seeds from annuals I really love and if even one comes up I'll be amazed. It does give them a better chance of living than sitting in plastic bags in the garage...

I'd also bought a bag of a dozen canna bulbs at the Salvation Army last week for $3. They appeared to be healthy and was able to get those in the ground today - I'm betting on lots of rain next week to get everything started.

It didn't get cold enough last night to do any damage to plants - very thankful. It means the farm crops that are already up didn't get damaged either - double thankful.

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Check out the Sunday Peoria Journal Star's garden contest. To enter, it costs three photographs and a drive to Hoerr Nursery in Peoria. The info and application are also on their web site.

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There's a new flower / antique shop in Galva owned by Abby Hathaway and her grandparents. It's in the vicinity of the grocery store/vet offices.

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Others in the near vicinity:

Diane Nelson's Prairie Country Gardens has plant sets. Sunnyfield Greenhouse always has hundreds of choices. Dew Fresh Market has plants until they run out - some pretty awesome asparagus ferns among others.