Spring Forward with Scotts Florida select Mulch!

This post brought to you by Scotts Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.

With Spring just arrived here in the Northeast, folks are gathering up their gardening supplies and raking lawns and flower beds in preparation for the warm weather and the short growing season. Early planning and preparation ensures the longest season possible and an early start makes everything that comes after worthwhile.  I start with my rakes and wheel barrow and theone thing that makes a good garden great: mulch. 

I love dark mulch. I love the way it brings out the color in all my flowers, annuals and perennnials alike. Mulch is also a must have for my vegetable garden. keeping down weeds is super important to me because the last thing I want to do after a day at work is weed. Mulch is essential to  me. I'm interested in Scotts Nature Scapes mulch. I like that it is made from natural forest products, no waste wood is used. It also comes in great colors and and avariety of textures.

Last week I spoke to my brother, Pete, who lives in central Florida. His growing season is much longer than mine for vegetables, but he grows flowers and shrubs all year round. Pete says he's been having great success with Scotts Florida Select Natural Eucalyptus Mulch. While telling me about Florida Select, he metioned his commitment to sustainable gardening and how Florida Select fits his sensibilities perfectly. He chose  this particular mulch because it is sustainably harvested and plantaion grown. because it is grown locally, it helps the economy in his neighborhood. Mulch helps retain soil moisture and regulate the temperature of the soil while keeping weeds down without chemical applications.

SkyWatch Friday - Season 6, Episode 43

One sky, many watchers...

Click the picture to make it bigger...

Fly on over to SkyWatch and see more interesting views...

Wordless Wednesday...May Day 2013

Wordless Wednesday 

Check out some other Word-less-ness here.

The Best Oldies Songs Take Me Back...

Certain things remind me of other things. Today those reminders are songs. Songs take me to places in my memory that I don't visit very often. Sometimes, the Best Oldies Songs are super reminders of what was going on in my life when the songs first came out.

Every time I hear "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, I think of my sister in law Linda. She loved records she could sing to. I have a memory of waiting for her one morning about 25 years ago. She was doing her hair and she had the Pat Benatar record playing rather loud. Over her hair dryer and the music, I could her her singing "Hit me with your best shot! Fire Awaaaaaay!" She dried and brushed and sang, entertaining herself while doing her hair. Linda had really thick, curly, hard to wrangle hair. It took some time and effort to get it under control so Linda could get on with her day. One side of an LP later, Linda was ready to go.

At work we listen to oldies radio and "Anyway You Want It" by Journey never fails to remind me of Rodney Dangerfield crying "Let's Party!" on the golf course. For me Caddyshack is one of the classic screwball comedies. I watch it every time I find it on tv, commercials or not. I was about 18 when Caddyshack came out and my boyfriend worked at a local golf course. In the evenings, with a couple of friends, we would go out to the back nine and hit a few balls and sneak a few beers. We always had a boom box with us and cranked the tunes. I could identify with Rodney parting down on the fairway.

When I was a child, we lived in a small house with a floor furnace. On the cold winter mornings, mother would rise, turn up the heat and then switch on the radio.Her favorite was an AM news station out of Boston. BZ radio played the Best Oldies Songs songs and some new ones, reported news and traffic and entertained us while we warmed up standing over the floor furnace and got ready for school.

I love hearing old songs that remind me of stuff that I may not otherwise think of.