Author Archives: cathyboettner

I am working on material selections for our guest bathroom. I had hoped to get started on it this winter, but Jackson took this semester off because his classes were still all online and junior level engineering classes in a virtual setting seemed like a bad idea to all of us. So, we are workingContinue reading “Wallpaper for the Guest Bath”

I finally got my tomatoes and peppers planted this past week, and the cucumbers are tall enough to start training them to grow up the trellis we built for them. I hope that your vegetable gardens are doing well, in spite of the challenging weather.

My friend Susan told me about a strawberry farm in Dayton that I had never heard of, Lorenzen Farms. I went this morning and have never seen a field so full of ripe strawberries. I picked 2 gallons in 30 minutes. They are open from 8 to 11 a.m. and then again from 4 toContinue reading “For locals only….”

The cutting garden is doing well, but you can definitely tell the areas that get the most sun. For whatever reason, it seems that the cosmos have taken hold, but the larkspur and zinnia seeds have struggle. I saw that was the case a few weeks ago and started a couple flats of Cactus FlowerContinue reading “Cutting Garden–Dahlias are sending up flower stalks”

So earlier this year, I posted about building a pad for my birdbaths. I also planted strawberries and fig trees that I plan to espalier on my south facing brick wall of the garage. First of all, one of the fig trees leafed out beautifully and the other didn’t. The garden center had the sameContinue reading “The bird bath garden–maybe not the best idea…..”

May is one of my favorite months in the garden because things start blooming. The flowers are a little late this year because it has been a cool spring compared to what we typically see…damn jet stream. The garden on the north side of the house is looking so good. Everything is really green andContinue reading “Things Are BLOOMING!!”

My herb garden is in a tiny bed at the south west corner of our garage. This must be the perfect climate for herbs because they grow like CRAZY. I have to prune my rosemary 3 or 4 times a year just to keep it under control. Right now, the oregano is the problem…. IContinue reading “Herb Garden–a little out of control”

We have a long growing season, and our vegetable plants get really tall. When they get tall, the stems fall over and bend and we lose the vegetables. This year, we are trying to get ahead of the out of control growth, so we spent some time yesterday building some supports. Cucumbers: This one wasContinue reading “Spring Fever–Building Supports for vegetables”

I used to pick all the fruit that I use in my strawberry and mixed berry jams, but I have gotten wiser through the years and have learned a great trick. Buy bags of frozen mixed berries (I used about 7 lbs of sugar with this much fruit): And sort them into strawberry and mixedContinue reading “Making Jam from frozen mixed berries”

I took a recipe from my mother in law and made a few modifications to make it a really adaptable filling for quiches. Quiche Filling (makes 3-9″ quiches or 2-10″ quiches) 1 1/2 cups of mayonnaise 6 tbsp flour 2 rounds of Boursin cheese 12 eggs 1 1/2 cups of milk Combine all ingredients inContinue reading “Yummy Quiche Base”