Today, we celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day. Even though today is the day of Valentine, it is not too late to pick out a special Valentine and the right gift is still there waiting for you to go and pick it up. As Saint Valentine himself said, “Remember your Valentine.”
Making a Valentine Cherry Yum Yum. A great dessert for a Sunday Valentine dinner is easy to prepare and also very colorful. This is a simple, easy, no-bake treat. You will need one-and-a-half cups of Graham cracker crumbs. You can make Graham cracker crumbs by running the crackers through the blender in “grate” mode, or purchase Graham cracker crumbs ready to use. You will also need one-and-a-half sticks of melted light margarine, one can of Comstock cherry pie filling, one eight-ounce box of cream cheese, one-and-a-half cups sugar, one cup of milk and two cartons of Cool Whip. Spread half the graham cracker crumbs in a 13x9x2 inch baking dish or pan. Mix all other ingredients except cherry pie filling for the cream cheese filling. Add half the cream cheese filling in the bottom layer or crushed Graham crackers. Then spread the cherry pie filling over the layer of cream cheese filling then add the other half of the remaining cream cheese filling. Top with remaining Graham cracker crumbs. Refrigerate an hour to two before serving. Top with Cool Whip if desired.
A boom of thunder in the season of winter. Thunder in the season of winter is not that unusual. Winter thunder occurs when temperatures aloft are warmer than they are on the surface. My Northampton County grandma was a weather guru and she observed strange weather occurrences. If winter thunder occurred, she kept count of the number of times thunder occurred. The number of booms of thunder would indicate the number of days before a winter snow would fall. My mother’s prediction of winter was a bit different, to her, winter thunder predicted by each boom the number of inches of snow that would be in the next snowfall.
A search around the dormant lawn in the dead of winter. With the lawn now tan and in a dormant mode, you can get some great exercise and sunlight by taking a walk around the winter lawn. This walk can be purposeful in picking up debris, sticks, limbs, rocks, litter, and objects that your lawn mower may later encounter, in a few weeks when mowing season begins. Remove and discard these objects now before they make their way into your mower’s blade.
Servicing mower and lawn equipment before mowing season begins. Now is the time to have mowers and lawn equipment such as trimmers and blowers serviced and tuned up before mowing season gets into full swing. Most lawn mowers and small engine shops are not as busy in February, and many service centers will pick up your riding mower, service it, and return it to your home for a reasonable fee. While we are on the subject of mowers, remember to start your mower every week during winter and allow it to run for a minute or two. You may also want to leave the blade disengaged and drive it around the lawn a few times. Keep plenty of fuel in the equipment and don’t let it go empty. This works well in winter because you may want to use the mower to run over leaves and break them down for mulch and compost.
Wild onions are spiking on the lawn. The pesky wild onions are now beginning to show up on the dormant lawn of winter. This is another reason to keep your weed trimmer fueled up and operating each week during winter. As the wild onions make an appearance, use the weed trimmer to cut the onion spikes down to ground level and improve the appearance of your lawn. You definitely will not get rid of the onions but you can keep them under control and make the winter lawns look neater.
Hyacinths, jonquils, daffodils waking up. As we reach the middle of February and the halfway point of winter, the jonquils, hyacinths and daffodils are now showing their dark green spikes through layers of mulch and crushed leaves. It is always great to see green in the middle of winter peeking through blankets of mulch. By the time March arrives, they should be reaching full bloom.
Celebrate Valentine’s week by sowing a bed or row or red radish. Radish are a quickie cold-weather vegetable that will thrive in cold soil of the winter garden and also produce a harvest in around 45 days. They will not take up much garden space, and a packet or two will be more than enough. There are many varieties to choose from including Cherriette, Rover, Crimson Giant, Easter Egg, Cherry Bomb, and Cherry Belle. They cost less than $2 per packet. You can find racks at hardware stores and garden departments. The most unusual rate is always 100% which means most of the seed will come up.
Heart-shaped leaves of American violets. Among the objects of greenery appearing during the bleakness of winter is the glossy, heart-shaped leaves of the American violets emerging on the edge of the garden plot. As they continue to grow, you can make a perennial out of one of them by digging up a clump and planting it in a container of fine potting soil on your porch or deck. Water and feed it with Flower-Tone organic flower food for Miracle-Grow liquid plant food. The violet will continue to grow year after year.
Siberian kale: sweet green of the cold winter. This green is gold, hardy, sweet, as well as long lasting and has zero insect enemies as it resists cold, snow, ice and freezes. It is packed with color, taste, sweetness, vitamins, variety, and just plain good nourishment. It is no wonder that kale is becoming the number one green in all of America! It is a great investment in any winter garden.
Seed now showing up. With Saint Valentine’s Day in the rearview mirror, seed racks are now adorning Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and also supermarkets. You can purchase flower and vegetable sees packets each week as you shop. Place them in a box in a dry place in the house and label the packets so you will know what you have on hand when planting time arrives. Most stores have a huge selection to choose from right now.
Planning for a four o’clock summer. As we referred to the arrival of seed racks in supermarkets, hardware stores, and garden departments, you can now discover different varieties of four o’clocks among the racks of seed for less than $2. You can go ahead and buy a packet or two and be ready for a season of green foliage and colorful flowers. You can also order then from Burpee and parks in speckled, two tone, and marble varieties.
Sow a row or bed of lettuce. Lettuce is another cold-weather vegetable that can now be sown in a bed or short row. Packets of lettuce seed are less than $2. You can choose from many varieties. Sow seed thinly in a furrow two inches deep. Cover seed with a layer of peat moss and an application of Garden-Tone organic plant food. Hill soil up on each side of furrow and tamp down with a hoe blade. Lettuce has a harvest date of 45 to 50 days.
Hoe-Hoe-Hoedown: “A Valentine gift with unhappy returns” – When little Brady opened a Valentine gift from his grandmother, he was excited to receive a water pistol. He went to the bathroom sink to fill it with water. Brady’s mom was not very pleased and told her mother, “I’m surprised that you, of all people, would give him a water pistol. Don’t you remember how we kids used to drive you crazy with water guns?” The grandmother slyly replied, “Yes, I distinctly do remember and now it’s payback time!”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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