Spring Is Here!!

It appears that spring is here. A sign of spring in New Mexico is the wind and dust which lasts for about a month. I hope April will bring the end to it!

I had forgotten that a friend gave my daughter many packets of flower seeds last summer, and instead of buying many plants, I will plant these seeds. I am going to Walmart to get a big bag of potting soil this week, and I will mainly plant in containers. Last summer, with the dry conditions and heat, I used containers all around my front yard and everything grew well.

I grew moonflowers in a container. The vines spread up my porch lattice and the flowers were beautiful. I want to plant those again. I am thinking about planting herbs also.

So, I hopefully will post some pictures here of my beautiful flowers this summer. Wish me luck.

Spring

After our freezing temperatures in December and January, and the bleak, gray color of winter, I am so ready for spring. I can't wait to buy plants, plan my garden, and beautify my yard and garden!

I already have plans to zeriscape certain areas of my garden, due to hot summer temperatures. I also want unusual containers for plants in my front yard, and on my porch. I am going to set aside a gardening fund and when the time is right I will excitedly rush out and buy plants in abundance.

My house plants are thriving. I just transplanted my lime tree and it has buds now, so hopefully I will have a few nice limes this summer. My orchid cactus is growing like crazy, and I hope I get to see it bloom again, even though the bloom just lasts for one night.

In the meantime, until spring is here, I will enjoy my plants in the house, and enjoy the flowers. I will keep working on the garden area so it will be ready for my eager planting, and planning soon.

Housecleaning as a business

I have cleaned houses for money for the past 25 years. I find it satisfying on a personal level. I have made many friends among my cleaning clients. People marvel at the fact that I enjoy it. I just do. I always look around, after I've finished cleaning a house, and admire my work. I bask in the compliments of my customers.

I will delve into my methods and organization of my tasks. First of all, I usually always start in the kitchen of a house. I wash dishes if there are some to be done. I wipe down countertops, tables, stove top, and then sweep, mop. With the other rooms, I dust each room, pick up, then vacuum. In the bathroom I clean mirrors and sink, then bathtub, then toilet, and move on to sweeping and mopping. In a bathroom I will usually put a cleaning agent in the toilet and let it sit until I'm finished with everything else, then clean it last. I have found that using a spray cleaner such as "Mr. Bubble" in the shower, and letting it sit for a few minutes, will work on soap scum buildup very well. Sometimes a scrub pad is necessary to get rid of a build up of scum on a shower wall.

Some customers dislike the smell of cleaning chemicals-in that case I use baking soda, and vinegar. This works very well on just about any surface. Baking soda is good for sinks, countertops, stove tops. Vinegar is good for mirrors, for glass shower doors, and will remove calcium deposits on faucets and fixtures if left for a while to soak.

In later posts I will share some more information about various cleaning tasks, and give advice on the business.

Composting

Composting your kitchen waste is a good way to create good soil for your garden. I have a small area in my garden designated for this. I have a big plastic container in my kitchen for saving all waste, except for anything with fat in it. I save coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peelings, and parts which aren't eaten, potato peelings, egg shells, tea bags, also fruit or vegetables which have gone bad.

I dump this container, when it is full, into my compost pile. Occasionally I use a shovel to mix the waste with dirt and turn it over. I also add grass clippings, dead garden plants, etc. After several months all this waste is rotted and becomes a very rich soil which can be put in my garden to enrich the soil.

One interesting thing that happens occasionally is, plants sometimes come up in the compost pile as a result of seeds that were dumped there. This is a fun surprise which I enjoy very much!! Also, birds and rabbits come to feast on the vegetable and fruit scraps before I dig them under the compost heap. An added bonus!

Christmas Cactus bloomed!!

I am so excited! I was cleaning up the kitchen, and caught a glimpse of bright pink in the deep window sill where I keep a few plants. I looked close and there they were! Two beautiful blooms. I took a picture which I will post on here later. The thing is-I water that plant once a week and otherwise, except for putting fertilizer spikes in it, I haven't done a thing. And this is so remarkable that it's blooming just in time for Christmas. I am now a believer in Christmas miracles for sure.

Animal Watching in the garden

My garden is a good place for attracting and watching wild birds. I keep some parts of the garden area "wild" by allowing native plants such as the chamisa bush to grow. I also make sure I keep water containers available. Even now, in the winter, I see many different birds coming in to get water. Quail, doves, pigeons, and other species, are regular visitors to my little oasis.

Sunflowers provide seeds for the birds to feed on, and they feed on insects. Some flowers attract birds and hummingbirds.

I might mention, also, that I have plenty of lizards, rabbits. The rabbits rest in the shade on hot days. I have the rabbits fenced out of my garden, but they have free rein around it and in the compost area where I have seen them eating lettuce scraps, and other vegetable parts. The lizards love hanging out there. When I water, I see them scurrying around there.