One of the best ways to fill your garden with color is to grow summer flowers from seed. Growing flowers from seed is cheaper than buying plants, and you'll also find a greater variety of flowers if you grow them yourself. This is a long post so grab a cup of coffee and buckle your seatbelts. Repurposed containers for seed planting. These type of containers can be used for vegetables, along with perennial and annual flowers. Create a drift of flowers wherever you want. When I start annuals and perennials from seed, I can plant a drift of flowers wherever I want them, especially for those flowers I start indoors or in the greenhouse. This gives me greater freedom, and it's cheaper than buying transplants although I still buy transplants, especially perennials. You can grow many perennials from seed too, but it takes a bit longer. You might not get...

With this morning's bright sunshine and blue skies, I am overflowing with April garden thoughts. In fact, I've been thinking about this blog post for a couple of weeks ever since my blogging friend, Sonia, of Miss Bloomers, commented about working to enjoy spring on Facebook. Middle of the garden looking back up to the kitchen and garage. I walk out the kitchen every morning, coffee cup in hand and simply walk the garden thinking about what to do where. What is it to delight in spring? Do gardeners even know how to enjoy April or are we so busy with our to-do lists that we are blind to the miracles right in front of us? . Blindingly yellow daffodils For gardeners, is spring just a series of to-do lists? After all, April's garden thoughts could be anything, couldn't they? I could list a series of April garden chores and...

How can you temporarily alleviate a case of spring fever if you’re tired of cloudy days, winter storms, and disgusted with Vladimir Putin? When world events make you blue. I can't fix world events, but I sent money to Catholic Relief Services and World Central Kitchen. Everyone needs food and shelter. Like so many of you, I wish I could do more. Some of my first daffodils. It's been a hard spring for all of them. They needed more mulch because of the bad weather. In fact, I wish I could meet Ukrainian refugees with a bouquet of flowers and take them home with me. I also continue to pray. I pray every time I think about what I cannot control. It helps me bear life's burden when it feels too heavy. We all have our ways of coping with current events, and spring fever is definitely a current event....

Today, the weather outside is again frightful so I made roasted butternut squash soup and nutmeg muffins. These nutmeg muffins are my favorite hands down, and I've profiled them several times before. Here's the gluten-free nutmeg muffin recipe. My favorite gluten-free flour I now use Cup4Cup gluten-free flour because it's my preferred gluten-free white flour substitute. They also make a gluten-free wholesome flour that is a good sub for whole wheat flour. Both flour blends were created by the chefs at Thomas Keller's restaurants. The muffin recipe is adapted from Marion Cunningham's book, The Breakfast Book. Roasted butternut squash soup and nutmeg muffins. The Marion Cunningham influence. While I love all of Cunningham's books, The Breakfast Book is my best-loved. A thousand years ago, I was a career girl, a legal assistant--just imagine me in a suit, stockings and heeled pumps--I know, it's difficult for me too. I worked all...