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We don’t have a ton of yard to use, so we mostly do container gardening. I like freeing up what small yard space we have to use for entertaining. In the summer, we always have fires and dinner outside. It’s a real treat to enjoy the outdoors whenever we can. After working so many years of crazy hours (Nurse’s schedules can be all over the place – 12 hour long night shifts were really hard.) retirement has been pure bliss. Every night when the weather permits, have cocktails and dinner outside. We love having fires in the fall – the crisp autumn air and the warm fire make everything so much better.

Every year I make sure to plant lots of tomatoes (I make a lot of canned salsas and sauces), hot peppers (lots of varieties) and tons of herbs like cilantro and basil. I tried doing bigger produce like eggplant and squashes, but for some reason they didn’t take too well to our soil. I’m in the process of building raised garden beds (with the help of Alex of course!) so I’m hoping by the next season I’ll be able to try some new veggies. I’ve always wanted to grow pumpkins for the fall, but those didn't take well either the few times that I’ve tried. (My Grandmother always used to grow pumpkins and every Halloween we would go over to her house and carve them. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories. While I didn’t grow the pumpkins myself for my own children, I made sure to keep this fun activity alive. I’ll keep working on growing my own so when I become a Grandmother myself I can share them with my grandkids!

We also make sure to grow some cat nip every year for our kitties. They love it! And this stuff grows like a weed! I dry it before giving it to them, and it keeps for at least a year. It’s crazy what a difference it makes between homegrown catnip and store bought. My kitties barely touch the store bought stuff!

Here is where I get my seeds and supplies:

• Poven Winners (by far the best plant and seed supply company!)

• Ace Hardware I prefer this smaller company to places like Home Depot or Lowes. I grew up going here and have been a loyal customer for many years.