Kaseys Korner

Hellebore 'Phoebe' & 'Kingston Cardinal'

Among the spring beauty coming to life in the garden:

(Hellebore 'Phoebe')

another unexpected curve ball in the game of life.

My precious daughter is fighting for her life from septic shock & pneumonia.

She has been in ICU since Sunday.

Just when I was getting myself together again, another blow. 

(Hellebore 'Kingston Cardinal')

Sooooo, (once again) I will NOT be blogging for a while ~ at least until her stats have improved. 

If you can spare a prayer or positive thought for her, we would all greatly appreciate it.

Gardening Smart (helpful clean up tools)

My recent knee injury sent me in search of products that could make my spring garden clean-up faster and easier.  Why did it take something happening to get my thought process moving in this direction??? 

Anyway, what I found is helping me so much I decided they were "finds" worth sharing.  Maybe you even own one (or all) of them already?? 

I'm totally loving this 30 gallon Kangaroo Garden Bag by Fiskars:

Besides being light weight, it's collapsible!!!!!  Meaning it's absolutely not a storage issue. 

Winner already, right?!!

When it's totally full, it's still not very heavy to carry.  A huge consideration for hard-working gardeners!!  I can't tell you how much easier it is than lugging my yard waste cart around or fighting to keep a garbage bag open.  I won't go back to those methods even when I'm back to 100%.

I'm also really digging the Leaf Loader pictured above too.  I've been raking leaves & debris onto it, folding the opposite sides together then funneling it all into the garden bag or my yard waste container.  So simple and very easy on my knee, since I only have to bend over once to pick it up. It also folds and stores easily.

I bought both the garden bag & the leaf loader from Amazon but I've given you separate links in case you're interested. 

Something else I bought last summer but am only just now using is this 18 volt, rechargeable chain saw by Earthwise:

I purchased it from Improvements but it also looks like it's available from Amazon and many other popular retailers.  This is the first time I've lived in a house long enough for the shrubs and trees I've planted to get big enough they need pruning.  This little chainsaw is perfect for those small jobs I'm fine doing by myself.  I've already cut a few old stems out of my lilacs and a couple of crossed branches from my Hawthorne tree.  It could not have been easier.  Hallelujah!

Just so you know (and I'm fairly certain you do) I'm not a "big name" gardener so I'm not getting any endorsements for recommending these products.   They are just products I've found that have been helping me get my gardening chores done in a more efficient and timely manner.   If they can help someone else, then I'm not gonna be the kind of girl to hold out!!  It is also entirely possible all these products are "old news."  I have a habit of doing things the old fashioned (hard) way until forced to do otherwise.  Could be this is another of those instances???

 

Spring Door Decoration

A simple pussy willow wreath:

purchased a few years back from JoAnn's.  I added a raffia bow and small basket at that time, also purchased at JoAnn's (the basket houses at least one family of finches every spring.)

I had been wondering if the wreath was getting a bit "tired" and if it should be switched out permanently but the bunny "garden" sign spruced it up perfectly!!!

As soon as I saw it, I knew the sign would be perfect for either my garden gate or this wreath.  It needs to be sealed (to protect it from the weather) before it can hang on the gate, so I chose to add it to the wreath, for immediate gratification, and I'm so glad I did. :)

If this sign is as much "you" as it was me, I purchased it locally from my favorite store, Cozy Cottage but it's a Primitives by Kathy design if that helps to find one online.

Everywhere it's looking more and more like spring. 

Planted out today, Primrose 'Blue Zebra.'

So excited it's April here, how about you????!!!!!