More June Gardening Tips

• Watch plants for early signs of disease or infestation. Look for deformed plant leaves, spots, webbing, or yellowing of leaves.

• Deter diseases from spreading by removing infected parts or entire plants; spray or dust with fungicide, if necessary.
• Finish pruning spring-flowering shrubs and trees by the end of the month.
• Tie annual and perennial vines to their supports as they put on new growth

June Gardening Tips

 

Mid-Atlantic Region Garden Tips

Expect highs in the low- to mid-80s F and lows in the mid-50s to mid-60s. Take advantage of any dry, cooler days to stay ahead on your gardening chores.

• Keep an eye out for pests such as groundhogs and rabbits so that they do not get to your harvest before you do.

            Groundhogs have sensitive noses, so use that to your advantage. Groundhogs detest             the scent of garlic, lavender, basil, chives, lemon balm, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary,                and oregano. They do not like the smell and sting of cayenne pepper.

• Plant squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, and gourds outside.

• Plant members of the nightshade family if you haven't already.

    **Nightshade is a family of plants that includes tomatoes, eggplant,                    potatoes, and peppers.

• Divide spring-flowering bulbs while you can still tell where they are. **Mark the location of any that you will be dividing in fall, instead, before their foliage dies back.

• Fill in gaps left behind as spring bulb plants and early-blooming perennials 

What I've Been Up To...

I really love cut flowers in the house! My husband and son sometimes bless me by

buying me some (my husband brought me some yesterday as a matter of fact!)

But, I also love to cut them from my yard--one of my fav things to do!

I recently had these lovely pink peonies and sage that I cut and brought in.

Alongside them you see the blessing of a bumper-crop of strawberries!

I held one so you could see how huge they are!

Don't these look pretty in the vase below?

Also, I am still on the Gaps diet...and here is my typical lunch...

salad, fruit, and kefir. It's so nice to have lettuce from the garden,

and the strawberries too--makes life easier!

When we went to visit our friends in Ohio last year, one of them made "Garden Tea" for us to drink.

I have an abundance of mint as you can see below, so I made some...

Basically, I just took filtered water and put it in my Vitamix--then I took washed mint (mine is apple mint)

and put it stems and all in the vitamix and blended it.

I strained it into the pitcher--and drank it.

It is really good!

Here's another batch of strawberries, and some snow peas too.

I really enjoy these fresh garden blessings!

If you read my previous post here, you know that I've been cleaning and decluttering for over a month.

It culminated today with our yardsale (our community had one) and since our son Brad is the president

of our civic assoc., we wanted to participate.

Everything that was left was loaded in the back of Brad's truck and the guys took it

all to Goodwill.

Phil and I also worked hard last night (it was pouring outside-so a great time to do it) cleaning out our attic.

We spent less than 1 1/2 hours, but we got alot done! And, I feel so much better now!

And, we made a little extra money to boot! :)

June is always a busy month for us, and ours is getting cranked up already!

More June Happenings...

Our Spring/Summer season has been full of celebrations!

We have been privileged to attend many graduations this year.

This was a double grad with 2 brothers.

It was a blessing to celebrate God's blessing on their lives,

and to fellowship with many dear friends.

The only downside?

We had another invitation for the same day, but due to distance we could only

attend one.

We pray God's blessings on all the graduates in our lives!

June Blessings

June has held it's share of blessings for our family :)

For one, I am feeling pretty good these days (for which I am thankful)

Also, our garden is doing so well! (The flowers above are from flowers grown in our yard)

I have thoroughly enjoyed this lettuce! I eat salad 3x's a day and never tire of this one!

It is Amish Speckled Butterhead and it doesn't bolt in the heat!

We are now getting squash, zucchini, and we had our first cuke!

But, alas, no pics yet.

My herb barrel is doing great! I slip that apple mint in

when I juice-yum!

Our pastor's family has the church over during the summer so I snapped some pics one night :)

We have a devotion (brought to us by one of the young men)

we have a covered dish supper, singing, and lots of fun and fellowship

We were blessed with this lovely rainbow after some rain earlier in the month.

Brad celebrated his 19th birthday!

Bri celebrated her 22nd!

Mommom brought them an ice cream cake to celebrate

We celebrated Father's Day with dinner and gifts

It has been a jam packed month so far,

we been to several graduations, parties, and events.

 and it's not over yet!

We are thankful for the fellowship, milestones, and blessings that June has held for us

in our family.

Psalm 75:1
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks:

for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.



A Day at the Beach...

We escaped on Friday for our first beach trip of the year...

of course the first thing we did was eat! lol

My honey had the day off...here he is soaking up (too much) sun!

Here's Bri soaking up a little too much sun too

Nothing like the sound of the gulls!

(as long as they aren't after my food!)

Brad taking a little snooze

The weather was perfect (just a bit too breezy) and we had fun enjoying the sea spray,

gull cries, roar of the waves, and family time...

Great way to "kick off" the summer!

Catching up...

My goodness the time is flying! I haven't even had hardly a minute to post! :)

This is  a "catch up" post!

Brad's puppy is settling in nicely, and has been named Bingley--he also got his first bath!

He's also getting his fair share of attention!

Isn't he the cutest???

He's also growing--he topped 6 lbs!

I tried something new this year...added aluminum sulfate to my hydrangeas...these are all picked from the same bush--I guess I didn't add it evenly--love the results anyway! :)

One of the kids snapped this sunset--aren't we blessed?

...Brad turned 17!

Bri got her hair cut...and we went to a park for her birthday

... she turned 20!

...we attended the wedding of a sweet friend

...we celebrated Father's Day!

And...we had a delightful afternoon with dear friends!

We are indeed blessed!

Our life is busy, and full--and we're thankful!

Hope you're enjoying your June before it's over!

What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.

 ~Gertrude Jekyll