Frugal Frost Coverings
The predicted last frost date in my corner of the world is May 10th.
I’ve already planted cilantro, beets, spinach and peas outside in the garden. These veggies ARE frost tolerant. They love the cooler weather. But I still prefer to protect them a bit from predicted frosts.
To do that, we cover them. When I was a kid, on our for-personal-use farm, what folks would call a homestead in 2025, we would toss a bed sheet over the plants to protect them.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I don’t have that large of a vegetable garden. We use buckets and other containers to cover our plants overnight during frosts.
Our favorite frost coverings are empty washed and dried KFC (chicken) buckets. It gives us one more use for them.
During frosts, our backyard is a bright advertisement for fried chicken.
(grins)
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Frugal Frost Coverings
Stocking Up On Gardening Supplies
(This photo features LAST year’s asparagus garden. It is still too early in the season for asparagus and marigolds. – grins))
The US-prompted tariffs will make many items more expensive all over the world.
That includes gardening supplies.
If we can (and yes, I realize having the funds to do this is a privilege), we might wish to stock up.
We can’t buy seeds too far in advance. They DO have an expiry date.
Potting soil can be purchased a couple years in advance, however.
And some gardening supplies like chicken wire (to keep the critters out of some areas in the garden), bamboo stakes, shovels, pruners and rakes are good…forever. I stocked up on any of these items that I could afford and that hadn’t yet had their prices increased.
My thinking is…this is a low risk ‘investment.’ Prices, even if tariffs are removed tomorrow, aren’t likely to decrease below the price I paid. Prices will, at best, stay the same and will, more likely, increase.
And I WILL use these supplies. Or I know someone who could use them.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Stocking Up On Gardening Supplies
Planting Outdoors
This is a stock photo. Our peas don’t usually look this good. (grins)
Spring is here in my corner of the universe! Woot!
That means we can start planting outdoors. We’ll be planting peas, spinach, beets, radish and cilantro. The peas will be started inside the house due to…squirrels. (shakes head) The rest will be direct sown.
I am so happy! Woot!
***
Cyborg Sizzle Homeland Omnibus
Cyborgs will do anything to protect their Homeland.
* * *
The cyborgs have claimed their Homeland but that has come at a cost. As they reconcile with their pasts, they seek to manufacture happier futures with the females they’re destined to love and cherish forever.
This omnibus includes three stories in the Cyborg Sizzle series: Taking Vengeance, The Cyborg’s Secret Baby and Dark Arsenal.
All of these Cyborg Romances are set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.
Taking Vengeance
The only force stronger than their hate is their love.
Vengeance hates all humans. They killed every being he ever cared about. When the huge C Model cyborg is told he’s genetically compatible with the enemy, he makes it his mission to capture the female and use her to expel all humans from his home planet.
The Cyborg’s Secret Baby
A fierce cyborg warrior and his curvy human female share a no-longer-so-little secret.
Stealth, a K Model cyborg, knows his passion for Zebrina, the commander’s human daughter, is forbidden, yet he can’t resist the curvy female. He craves her touch, cherishes her sounds of pleasure, would do anything to keep her safe.
Dark Arsenal
A cyborg warrior and a Rebel female’s first mission together might be their last.
Arsenal considers himself to be a disposable cyborg. He drifts from assignment to assignment, forming no connections to anything or anyone. When the cyborg council requires a warrior for a high-risk mission, Arsenal volunteers. He believes no one will miss him if he dies. He doesn’t realize he’s one female’s fantasy.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon AU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Cyborg-Homeland-Omnibus-Romance-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0DVQF51ZG
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book-series/cyborg-romance-continuum/id1488934279
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cyborg-sizzle-homeland-omnibus
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1700426
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Planting Outdoors
Gardening – Growing Green Beans And Showing Love
The Dear Wonderful Hubby’s Awesome Father had some health scares last summer. He lost the urge to eat for a little bit.
He, however, LOVES green beans. We always grow some for him. And last year, we ensured we had plenty of plants producing fresh green beans all summer long.
He ate those green beans because he loves the taste of them AND because he knew we grew them especially for him. And he loves us. As we love him.
(smiles)
Growing our loved ones’ favorite vegetables and fruits is a wonderful…and tasty way to show love.
***
Claiming Cure
A proud cyborg medic meets his human match.
***
Cyra has tasks to complete before she dies.
There are patients to heal, a dangerous mission to undertake, and a world to save. She doesn’t have time to entertain uninvited guests.
Especially one coldhearted cyborg medic who thinks he’s better than her.
The male might be breathtakingly handsome. His sternly set lips might be extremely kissable. And his touch might draw out a passion she didn’t think she was capable of feeling.
But he’s also a distraction, one that might doom millions of innocent beings to a painful, horrible death.
Cure isn’t emotionless. He feels…greatly. Listening to that malfunction has caused other beings pain and suffering in the past.
He refuses to allow his desires to cloud his judgment now.
His resolve is tested when he’s forced to associate with the most provoking, alluring medic in the universe.
Cyra is his genetic match, the one being in the universe he is fated to protect, touch, claim. She’s clever and beautiful, and the need to hold her almost downs his systems.
But now is not the time to indulge his great wanting.
Cure has an assignment to complete.
If he fails to accomplish his goals, everyone he cares for, including his human female, will die.
***
Claiming Cure is a standalone Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features two skilled medics determined to ignore the toe-curling attraction between them, a perilous impossible mission, and foes seeking to ensure they never heal another being ever again.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/claiming-cure/id6499055867
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/claiming-cure
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/1553992
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Growing Green Beans And Showing Love
Gardening On A Budget
I recently read an article stating that it was too expensive for individuals to grow some of their own food.
And I agree, the way the writer did it, it WOULD be too expensive. She had the fanciest gadgets and the priciest seeds.
But many of us grow food with little or no financial investment.
To grow food, all we truly need is
a seed
some soil
a container for the soil
water
sunlight
and
time.
Seeds can be gathered from grocery-purchased vegetables or fruit.
OR, even better, we can likely get more seeds than we ever need simply by asking a few people we know.
Because many gardeners happily save seeds and they usually have more seeds than they can use in multiple lifetimes. I know I’m in that situation. (sheepish grin) We’d be happy to give you some seeds.
Soil can be found…well…almost anywhere.
Stars, many folks put out potted plant containers filled with half-decent soil for garbage collection in the Fall/Autumn. Some cities give away compost.
Compost can be easily made using ripped up cardboard, coffee grounds and some water. (I’ve actually grown green beans directly in coffee grounds obtained from a nearby coffee shop though I don’t recommend this).
If there’s a building project in your neighborhood, those builders are likely planning to haul away a lot of dirt. Bring them your little container and ask them to fill it.
Containers are an easy resource to locate also.
A margarine or yogurt container with holes punched in the bottom is often perfect for a plant. I grow my tomato starts in red solo cups with holes punched in the bottom. I grow herbs in KFC buckets with holes punched in the bottom.
Put a tray under the container to catch the water. I use rotisserie chicken trays for this.
Water is also easy to source because you can reuse water you’ve used for something else as long as you didn’t put salt or chemicals in it.
If the shower takes a few minutes to heat up, put a bucket in the tub/stall and collect that water for your plants. If you’re boiling pasta, forgo the salt and then use the cooled drained water. If it rains, collect that water.
Sunlight can be free.
Herbs, for example, are often grown on windowsills. My houseplants are all placed next to windows. They’re tropical plants and they do well during the short sunlight days over winter.
If you’re growing in a place without windows, a white bulb with at least 2,000 lumens will simulate sunlight. That can be put in any appropriate fixture. My basement grow station (where I start my seeds) uses white LED shop lights.
Time is the final factor. Growing green beans might take 50 days total time but caring for 5 of those plants will take you about 10 minutes of not-so-speedy effort a week. Maximum.
Money isn’t a restriction if you truly want to grow some of your own food!
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening On A Budget
Gardening – Start Small
As you’re planning your 2025 garden, one piece of advice I would give you is to start small.
Plant 3 tomatoes, not 30, for example. 3 tomatoes are manageable. You can dig a garden to hold those 3 tomato plants in less than an hour. You can sow seeds for 3 tomato plants in mere minutes. You can weed around those plants in minutes.
30 tomatoes, in contrast, is almost a full time job. Caring for a garden that size is a lot of work.
And things will go wrong. Plants will die. Or become ill. Or have to be moved.
You are learning. Allow yourself plenty of time to do that.
If you’re successful with the 3 tomato plants and you have excess time and energy, you can plant a few more and expand your garden next year.
Or not.
Maybe the 3 tomato plants are enough.
Start small.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Gardening – Start Small
Regrowing Store-Bought Vegetables From Scraps
The Dear Wonderful Hubby, when he has the choice, always buys vegetables and herbs with their roots intact.
We then cut off the roots plus a little bit extra, stick those roots in dirt and hope the plants grow back.
We did that with this cilantro here.
These cilantro roots have been planted for 2 days and they’re already growing little leaves.
The tops of the plants WILL likely grow back.
So a piece of carrot (the orange part IS all root) might grow carrot tops (which are GREAT in soups). It is unlikely, however, to grow another ‘carrot’ i.e. orange root part.
Herbs respond awesomely to this ‘trick.’ It is a fast track to growing them.
Green onions are the absolute BEST, however. We’ll buy a bunch of green onions, cut off the bottom part with the roots (eating the rest of it), stick those roots in dirt and we can cut and recut those green onions about five or six more times.
This is fun for us. And we usually get at least one more harvest from any roots.
(smiles)
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Regrowing Store-Bought Vegetables From Scraps
Uses For Yard Waste
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I, when we first moved into our home, would, every two weeks, send our yard waste, our tree trimmings and pulled plants and other natural debris, off to the city for composting.
We would then have to fertilize our yard AND add soil to it. Both the nutrients and a portion of the soil were being depleted.
Because we were sending those nutrients and other components to the soil to the city for composting.
Yard waste is basically our land in another form. Trees, grass and other plants take from the soil while they grow.
When we ship yard waste off site, we’re giving away our land, land we worked hard to obtain.
We stopped doing that. (sheepish grin)
Now, we compost all the yard waste that we can. That compost is returned to garden beds and the rest of the yard.
We bury the big tree limbs or prunings in the yard (this is called Hügelkultur), building back up our land. This is especially useful to improve gradients, especially around the house.
We don’t bag our grass clippings. (And we haven’t had to fertilize the lawn since doing this.)
Leaves are stacked high on garden beds over the Winter. They serve as leaf mulch in the Spring. And gradually break down to feed the soil. We haven’t used additional fertilizers, other than our own compost and coffee grounds we obtained from coffee shops for free, on our garden beds since doing this.
Our yard is more of a closed system now. What is used is returned to it. (The little that can’t be returned is offset by food scraps, coffee grounds and leaves we obtained from other places.)
And our yard has benefited greatly from this change!
***
Claiming Cure
A proud cyborg medic meets his human match.
***
Cyra has tasks to complete before she dies.
There are patients to heal, a dangerous mission to undertake, and a world to save. She doesn’t have time to entertain uninvited guests.
Especially one coldhearted cyborg medic who thinks he’s better than her.
The male might be breathtakingly handsome. His sternly set lips might be extremely kissable. And his touch might draw out a passion she didn’t think she was capable of feeling.
But he’s also a distraction, one that might doom millions of innocent beings to a painful, horrible death.
Cure isn’t emotionless. He feels…greatly. Listening to that malfunction has caused other beings pain and suffering in the past.
He refuses to allow his desires to cloud his judgment now.
His resolve is tested when he’s forced to associate with the most provoking, alluring medic in the universe.
Cyra is his genetic match, the one being in the universe he is fated to protect, touch, claim. She’s clever and beautiful, and the need to hold her almost downs his systems.
But now is not the time to indulge his great wanting.
Cure has an assignment to complete.
If he fails to accomplish his goals, everyone he cares for, including his human female, will die.
***
Claiming Cure is a standalone Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features two skilled medics determined to ignore the toe-curling attraction between them, a perilous impossible mission, and foes seeking to ensure they never heal another being ever again.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/claiming-cure/id6499055867
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/claiming-cure
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/1553992
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Uses For Yard Waste
Reuse In Gardening
Last week, I mentioned I reuse used yogurt containers (cleaned, with holes punched in the bottoms) as seedling pots and I also reuse used rotisserie chicken trays (cleaned) as trays to hold those pots.
I do this to save money but also to get one more use out of the ‘garbage’ the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I create.
Gardening is a GREAT way to reduce waste.
We break down brown cardboard boxes for composting or place them on top of garden beds overwinter. We use the flyers made from newspapers to craft fast, easily biodegradable pots we can simply plop into the ground. Old pipes from the recent solar installation are being used as plant stakes. Juice jugs become watering jugs.
Of course, anything that can be composted (tree branches, leaves, bamboo forks, etc) is composted or buried in the ground for makeshift hügelkultur.
Every piece of garbage we create, we look at and ask ourselves if it can serve us in the garden (or in other areas of our lives). This is a small way we try to make a little bit of a difference.
***
Claiming Cure
A proud cyborg medic meets his human match.
***
Cyra has tasks to complete before she dies.
There are patients to heal, a dangerous mission to undertake, and a world to save. She doesn’t have time to entertain uninvited guests.
Especially one coldhearted cyborg medic who thinks he’s better than her.
The male might be breathtakingly handsome. His sternly set lips might be extremely kissable. And his touch might draw out a passion she didn’t think she was capable of feeling.
But he’s also a distraction, one that might doom millions of innocent beings to a painful, horrible death.
Cure isn’t emotionless. He feels…greatly. Listening to that malfunction has caused other beings pain and suffering in the past.
He refuses to allow his desires to cloud his judgment now.
His resolve is tested when he’s forced to associate with the most provoking, alluring medic in the universe.
Cyra is his genetic match, the one being in the universe he is fated to protect, touch, claim. She’s clever and beautiful, and the need to hold her almost downs his systems.
But now is not the time to indulge his great wanting.
Cure has an assignment to complete.
If he fails to accomplish his goals, everyone he cares for, including his human female, will die.
***
Claiming Cure is a standalone Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features two skilled medics determined to ignore the toe-curling attraction between them, a perilous impossible mission, and foes seeking to ensure they never heal another being ever again.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/claiming-cure/id6499055867
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/claiming-cure
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/1553992
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Reuse In Gardening
Sowing Seeds And Taking Names
Or, rather, recording names. So I remember which seeds I’ve placed in the reused yogurt containers. (grins)
I planted 3 seeds in every container (holes were punched in the bottom of these containers).
Two flats (i.e. reused rotisserie chicken trays) contain eggplants (those seeds were purchased from the dollar store), one flat contains mini bell peppers (those seeds were harvested from 2024’s mini bell peppers), and I also planted a couple containers of parsley.
They were then placed in the basement grow station.
And now…I wait for my favorite moments of gardening – when the baby plants first poke out of the soil! Woot!
***
Claiming Cure
A proud cyborg medic meets his human match.
***
Cyra has tasks to complete before she dies.
There are patients to heal, a dangerous mission to undertake, and a world to save. She doesn’t have time to entertain uninvited guests.
Especially one coldhearted cyborg medic who thinks he’s better than her.
The male might be breathtakingly handsome. His sternly set lips might be extremely kissable. And his touch might draw out a passion she didn’t think she was capable of feeling.
But he’s also a distraction, one that might doom millions of innocent beings to a painful, horrible death.
Cure isn’t emotionless. He feels…greatly. Listening to that malfunction has caused other beings pain and suffering in the past.
He refuses to allow his desires to cloud his judgment now.
His resolve is tested when he’s forced to associate with the most provoking, alluring medic in the universe.
Cyra is his genetic match, the one being in the universe he is fated to protect, touch, claim. She’s clever and beautiful, and the need to hold her almost downs his systems.
But now is not the time to indulge his great wanting.
Cure has an assignment to complete.
If he fails to accomplish his goals, everyone he cares for, including his human female, will die.
***
Claiming Cure is a standalone Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features two skilled medics determined to ignore the toe-curling attraction between them, a perilous impossible mission, and foes seeking to ensure they never heal another being ever again.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Claiming-Cure-Dauntless-Cyborgs-Book-ebook/dp/B0D26MWGKC
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/claiming-cure/id6499055867
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/claiming-cure-cynthia-sax/1145464760
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/claiming-cure
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/1553992
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Sowing Seeds And Taking Names
