BloominThyme (Gardening and relationships)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: N/A

WEB ADDRESS: http://bloominthyme.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: A mother of two young children in Central Florida, gardening is one of the LAST things I have time to do, but what started as a “victory garden” has become a favorite pastime. No longer working outside the home, I spend my days driving through school drop-off and pick-up lanes, running errands, washing clothes, volunteering in the community and managing a household – visits to the garden have become my personal reprieve!

Unless of course, it’s summertime. Heat and humidity don’t do any favors for the vegetables, let alone my appearance, but then again, summers are for vacations. Fall through late spring… Now these are wonderful times to be outdoors, and the harvest from a productive garden is simply a bonus. Not to mention it makes a great addition to the dinner plate. While my kids may change their appetites on a daily basis, the two agree: a bean never tasted so good as the one they grew themselves!

MY REVIEW: This is a fun blog, all about gardening, and family relationships. The author illustrates her posts with copious photos.

If you're a gardener, and/or someone with children, small or otherwise, I think you'll enjoy this blog.

Sample post:

Want to extend a BIG thank you to Ashley for signing on to volunteer in the school garden! So inspired was she by her own adventure this spring, she has eagerly joined the school garden and the kids love her. The more the merrier, right?

And what’s more merry than these garden boots? I mean, these are fashion and function all rolled up into one flirty package!

I love creative gardeners who can manage to not only grow some mean veggies but look good while doing it! Remember: when you have a garden, expect visitors. They will come in droves. They will watch with wonder and amazement. They will talk your ear off (if given the chance) and they will run home and want to start their very own garden. But they won’t give you notice so be prepared and look great — like our volunteer-extraordinaire, Miss Ashley!

Thanks for showing up with a smile. The kids appreciate it

RECENT POSTS:
--Flirty and Fun Volunteer
--Building Our Bean Fort
--Fiddling with Floating Row Covers
--Weeds, Seeds, Sunflowers and Wildlife
--If kids were vegetables/fruits, mine would be a…


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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

High Altitude Gardening (gardening)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: High Altitude Gardening, by Kate Miller

WEB ADDRESS: http://highaltitudegardening.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Tips and tricks for gardening high in the Rocky Mountains.
Short summers, weird soil, such fun!

MY REVIEW: This is a great blog...but frankly I think you'd do better to visit it on the web rather than on the Kindle, because she provides lots and lots of gorgeous, full-color photos and to get the full impact, you do need to see them in color. Did I say these photos were gorgeous?

Highly recommended on the Kindle - but better on the web.

RECENT POSTS:
--The bell pepper uprising
--Thanksgiving Point Tulip festival
--The Merry Month
--5th Blogoversary
--An Easter Gift for the Bigguns
--Depressed daffodils and sad little tulips

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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel (gardening, travel)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel, by Freda Cameron

WEB ADDRESS: http://definingyourhome.blogspot.com/
BLOG DESCRIPTION: I am a freelance garden and travel writer sharing my experiences, advice and color photos of my garden and my travels. My specialty is deer resistant gardening.

MY REVIEW: We're in the middle of winter here in the USA, but that doesn't mean that gardening has to stop. Depending on where you live, you can cavort outside in the sunshine, or occupy yourself with pots in your greenhouse, garage or basement.

The author of this blog writes authoritatively and well about the art of gardening. Posts on home and travel are few and far between, but really, if you're a gardener...it's the gardening tips you wnat.

Highly recommended.

Sample post:

Parlez-vous Français?
I must THINK before I speak French.
I have a grand plan to practice and learn more of the French language since France has become our annual vacation location. I have repeated this plan for the last few years, but haven't made sufficient progress.

I really need to improve my command of the language. Seriously. It's time.

With only five months until the next trip, I am setting goals to increase my vocabulary, improve my conjugation of verbs and my ability to converse. I'm also listening to many of the songs of the late Edith Piaf (La Vie En Rose fame) to make this task more enjoyable.

Languages are tedious to learn. I'm easily distracted.

My education included four years of French. Taught by a US Southern lady. Drawl and all! Not so good. Humorous, in fact. Slow and drawn-out syllables.

My pronunciation is an embarrassment when I speak, but I have found that making the effort is truly rewarding. The French appear to forgive me (and probably laugh when I leave) as long as I use these magic words:

Bonjour (madame, mademoiselle or monsieur). Always say hello.
S'il vous plait. Please.
Merci. Thank you.
Au revoir. Goodbye.

Those four years of classes were rather academic and severely lacked conversational training. I read French better than I speak it. I understand it better than I speak it. However, I cannot put answers together very quickly. I have to think about it awhile—too long!

My husband with his four years of the language, doesn't understand the spoken fast-French. But, he is very skilled at constructing sentences rather quickly.

Much to the amusement of the French—our interactions go something like this:


I order our food or ask a question in my pre-planned French.
I mostly understand the French reply.
I translate to my husband in English.
He answers in French.

This causes some confusion about our American culture or maybe our marriage. It seems that, as a woman, I must not be allowed to reply! Honestly, my husband is not a male chauvinist at all.

Separately, we cannot function with the language. Together, we are one! C'est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui. (He's for me. I'm for him.)

RECENT POSTS:
--Time to Sow Fall Seeds for Spring Flowers
--Parlez-vous Français?
--Pink and Purple Prevail
--Geranium 'Rozanne' Update
--Blogging Friends

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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

Never Pay Retail Again (Finances)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES, with Reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Never Pay Retail Again, by Jodi Furman

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.livefabuless.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Recently profiled in an Associated Press article and a contributor to CNN, Jodi Furman explains clearly how to live the champagne life on a tap water budget. A working mom with 3 kids, Jodi provides pragmatic and time tested advice-- no toilet paper splitting or clothing woven from dryer lint, just dollars and sense.

Never Pay Retail Again (neverpayretailagain.net) is one of the leading places on the web to get information about:

-surviving, even thriving(!) in this economy
-shopping strategically for everything, teaches you how to easily shave more than half off of your grocery bills and up to 80% off your clothing and household goods bills
-how to find, organize and utilize coupons
-find great deals and steals, both online and in store
-find new online codes and printable coupons for your favorite stores and items on a daily basis
-recipes for good, cheap, fast and *healthy* meals
-find practical advice from an Ivy League educated, MBA-wielding frugalista

MY REVIEW: This is a blog that gets multiple posts a day, and offers coupons and various great deals on a wide variety of products. However -- you have to go to the website to print out the coupons.

So, if you like - and this blog certainly seems to be selling well on the Kindle - subscribe to it, check it at various times through the day, and see if there are any coupons or offers you like. If you see one, then you go to the web and print out the coupon.

Check it out.

RECENT POSTS:
--LAST DAY!!! Exclusive fabuLESS discount: TUPPERWARE: 10% off your ENTIRE order and FREE shipping (NO minimum!)-- or, if you order $100+, get 15% off and FREE shipping, ends Friday, 7/30/10.
--Vistaprint: Get their TOP 10 products for FREE-- just pay shipping!
--Coupons, coupons-- get your coupons here!
--Justice: In store and online: 40% off your ENTIRE order, expres 8/4/10.

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Ms. Cairo writes several blogs including:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Topical Murder and Dated Death

Gardening for the Average Person

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Gardening for the Average Person

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.averagepersongardening.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Helpful tips, tricks and information for those that love to do all kinds of gardening.

MY REVIEW: If you grow vegetables - and in today's economy it makes sense to start as large a garden as you can! - then you will most definitely want to subscribe to this blog. And if not to the blog, you'll definitely want to bookmark the website and visit their often. The site offers podcasts (although it doesn't bother to tell you if the podcast is daily or weekly), there's a sweepstakes, and there's also a seeds of the month club.

Sample post:

Vegetable gardeners have been going green long before it was main stream to do so, and no I am talking about making the plants greener in color or your neighbors green with envy. I can remember way back in the 70s when I would help my dad with his soil as he would bury our leftovers in his garden. When I asked him why, he told me that worms eat the leftovers and turn it into nutrients that the vegetable plants love. No one in the neighborhood would argue with him as many of the neighbors literally lined up for a beefsteak tomato or two. They truly were the best. Today those �leftovers turned into nutrients� is what we call vermicompost or worm castings when it is broken down by worms.

Today our society is very self conscious about making sure we reuse and recycle everything. If it saves us money in the long run then let�s face it, you will get more people on board. Here are four things you can implement today that will help you get multiple uses from various items with a little help from being a vegetable gardener.

I already gave you the first one and that is to compost your food leftovers. Ok actually my dad gave that one to you but he�s not writing this article so for now I will take the credit, but thanks dad! Your coffee grinds to leftover lasagna are all open game for this little technique. The only thing you should avoid are burying steak bones, ham bones etc. They won�t break down at all. However you could grind them up and turn them into bone meal, but that�s a lot of work and it could be expensive which is what we are really trying to avoid. Just dig a hole eighteen or more inches deep, put the leftovers in, and cover the hole and your done.

You can easily get triple use from that plastic one gallon milk container. Obviously the first use is holding the milk. Once the milk is gone, rinse the container of leftover milk residue, fill with water and put in your freezer. It makes for a nice block of ice, especially in the summertime when you are having those outdoor barbecues and need to keep those drinks cold in the cooler. That is use number two. You can easily just keep using it for ice if you so choose, however you can also cut the bottom of the container off, and use it as a covering for your warmer plants like tomatoes or peppers. You put the milk container over them at night to protect them from cold temperatures.

If you have children like I do, and they like eating yogurt, like mine do, then save those yogurt cups because they make for great starter pots. I have accumulated a few dozen yogurt cups over the years and they make for starting my plants indoors, much easier. I fill with garden soil, taken directly from my garden, put in the seeds, place them underneath a flipped over glass aquarium (that I saved from the garbage) and create an indoor greenhouse for my plants. Works like a charm! Oh, yeah, don�t forget to drill holes in the bottom for drainage.

Finally, and this makes a great project for kids, is to use empty egg cartons. Not the ones made from Styrofoam, but the cardboard variety. First drill holes in the bottom of each egg cup to make sure the water drains properly. Then fill each cup with soil. Next, put your seed of choice in each cup covering them with ample soil. Add some water and place either, as before, underneath something that creates an indoor greenhouse, or on your window sill that receives sun first thing in the morning. Once the plants have sprouted and are large enough to move outdoors (weather permitting of course), take a pair of scissors and cut each egg carton cup into its own individual cup and plant the whole thing, cup and all!

Sure, none of these ideas will save the world in one day but they will help save you a little time, some money, add nutrients to your soil and help you do a fun project with the kids. Enjoy!

RECENT POSTS:
--Four Tips to Make Your Garden More Green
--10 Things You May Not Have Known About Tomatoes
--Tips for Growing Celery in your Home Vegetable Garden
--How Do I Get Rid of Squirrels in My Vegetable Garden?
--Armadillo Free in your Home Vegetable Garden
--Tips to Take Care of Moles in the Home Vegetable Garden
--Add Blueberries to your Home Vegetable Garden
--What Can I Plant to Attract Bees and other Beneficial Insects to my Home Vegetable Garden?
--How do I Stop Birds from Eating My Vegetable Seeds?
--How to Keep Raccoons Out of your Home Vegetable Garden


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Ms. Cairo writes two blogs of her own:
Winged Victory: Women in Aviation
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters

Alison's Blog: Mastic Beach

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: Yes, with reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Alison's Blog: Mastic Beach, by Alison Toon

WEB ADDRESS: http://alisontoon.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Notes, thoughts, pictures, links. Life on Long Island's southern shore, amid the wetlands... restoring house and garden. Realtor and telecommuter enjoying one of Long Island's best kept secrets

MY REVIEW: This is the kind of blog that makes you yearn for it to be illustrated with photos, but it isn't -- not even at the actual website. Oh, there' s an occasional photo, but nothing near what there should be, to illustrate posts on gardening, on new houses, on old houses, on a storm's devastation. A picture is worth a thousand words - and we don't get any.

I think gardeners will really love this blog....except for the lack of photos

RECENT ARTICLES:
--New home on Park Drive
--Gardening is the cure for all ills
--... and I nearly forgot! Eagles!!
--April Sunday
--Raccoons have long memories


Sample post:

Gardening is the cure for all ills

A week away, in California, where everything is already in flower and, while very green, is hurtling through spring towards summer. Here, spring is everything coming up at the same time. Especially weeds. And deer.

Despite the best-set plans and windchimes and obstacles, at least one small deer made its way up through the broken fence, onto the raised part of the back yard. Bambi feasted on the surviving tulips, the young hostas, young daylilies, and lettuce. Lettuce!!! Left his or her hoofprints all through the nascent rose garden, ignored the baby lavendar, and zoomed in on deer favourites. Fence repairs needed yesterday.

Knee surgery on Tuesday, and I don't know what it will do to my gardenability :-) next weekend... so today was busy. Baby herbs from Home Depot; potted-up and seeds sown and all on the deck. Baby geraniums/pelargoniums all lined up on the wall, daring a late-late frost (about 10% chance according to the wise ones). A new, dwarf Japanese maple, Acer palmatum v. dissectum virdis, in the largest blue pot which took me 15 minutes to roll from its place in the little woods (a deer or other bandit had stolen the baby dogwood that was planted in it last year). And I planted a lot of bright yellow Canna lilies in all the other blue pots (how did I collect so many blue pots already?) Maybe having them in pots, I'll remember to lift them in autumn, instead of wondering what the empty papery things are when digging in spring, which is what happened to the last cannas to arrive in the garden.

More variegated Japanese iris arrived while I was away, and having been in a soggy cardboard box outside all week, seemed very content in their new spot in the low, damp part of the front garden. Also in the box were two blue salvia, blanched white leaves struggling to get out of the box. They have gone in the bed near the mailbox.

More mulching done in the front, around the baby perrenials that are up. A tiny lupin plant, from last year's seeds. More coneflowers and a myriad of bee balm. Irises. The first cosmos seed have sprouted.

The flowering quince is almost, but not quite, ready. One of the old-fashioned just-yellow daffodils was so beautiful that all I could do was stare.

I think the pretty bush with purple berries may not have made it through the winter. The branches are dry twigs, brittle to the touch. I'll leave it a while and hope that it's a late-starter, but it's looking iffy.

The beautiful rhododendron that I planted last year in the little woods has no leaves, no buds. I don't think the deer are the guilty ones this time: more likely the long-winter, extra-soggy wetland reaching salty fingers to its roots. The branches that remain are still greenish: it may yet recover.

I just wish I would remember where I planted everything last year. But when something forgotten reappears, it's a very nice surprise.

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Ms. Cairo writes two blogs of her own:
Winged Victory: Women in Aviation
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters

The Hermitage

REVIEWED BY: Ms Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: The Hermitage

WEB ADDRESS: www.hermitblog.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: This website chronicles the building of my home, The Hermitage. There’s tons of information here, including:
•resources for those who are interested in building their own homes.
•weather at The Hermitage and surrounding area
•lots of photos
•my milestones in construction of this wonderful place
•and the day by day ramblings in my blog.

MY REVIEW: The Hermit lives completely off the grid – his home is solar powered, and the resources include solar powered ones. (Once the concrete slab for his home was poured, all electricity to power tools has been generated by the sun). For anyone interested in solar power or alternative energy and how it can apply to your lives, you’ll enjoy this blog.

RECENT ARTICLES:

•Fort Garland for Sweethearts: Fort Garland is a popular pizza place in the area, having a Valentine’s Day special
•Foggy Morning: A photo and commentary on a foggy day
•Local food: a discussion of San Luis Valley – the “breadbasket of Colorado” – and how stores in the area ship produce from other locations.
•Building materials: He gives a plug to Jim’s Post Commissary, where he purchases all the basics for building his home and the La Jara Trading Post – a huge hardware store.