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LATE WINTER FRUIT TREE PRUNING

   With late winter here it is time to prune the fruit trees!
Apple produces, pears, quince, even crab apple and ornamental cherry need a good clipping. They benefit from the cold to keep the chance of disease down and not be clipping off ripening fruit.
Here are a few tips on pruning.

• Keep your tools sharp. Make clean cut don't tear the bark along the branch.
• Keep your tools clean. If you are working with a diseased area wipe down your tools with rubbing alcohol before you move to the next tree.
• Clear out the dead wood first, then you can see what you are left to work with.
• Cut off vertical suckers. Most fruit trees you wont to encourage horizontal growth(its easier to get at the fruit)so any thing that goes strait toward the sky is the next to be clipped out.

There are different ways to prune different trees so get a good pruning book for more details, but this is a good rule of tomb, and don't ever cut off more than1/3 of the tree off at any one time. More than that will stress the tree too much. People new to pruning tend to get a little clip happy and go to far so take your time and stand back often to see how it looks.

Before you know it you will have a beautiful tree that produces more fruit!

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CHRISTMAS ON A STICK

   I have been hosting the same Christmas party since I was a junior in high school. It's been 28 years now and they don't seem to be growing any smaller if this years attendance is any indication. Many friends attended this year who came to the original party where all I served was a pot of home made pasta sauce, pasta and garlic bread( when you 17 thats all you really need right?)! But I learned to make pasta sauce for that occasion and since then I have been concocting new recipes and finding themes to entertain my cense of creativity. My unsuspecting guests have endured Scottish Haggis, a recycled cardboard box Christmas tree and this year Christmas on a Stick( because I was "sticking" to having the party).
    Here are some "Sticky" ideas that came from the party......

Maple Side Cars were the signature drink and we cut sugar maple branches and carved them into picks and coated them in sugar!!! They were a big hit.(see recipe on another post).

AND LOTS OF THINGS TO DIP IN THE CHOCOLATE FONDUE!!

Home Brew

Home brew in January and have a great St Patrick day, green food coloring not required, but not restricted ether!!!

FORCING SPRING

      Getting spring to come early here in the North East is a passion of mine.
I have spent many years forcing branches and bulbs for flower shows and for my self.
Here are a few tips for forcing bulbs.

Plan ahead! Make sure you keep your bulbs in a dark and cold(35 degrees) place for the minimum time, daffodils need a good 6 weeks of cold.

Pot them up with good potting soil and come compost and a table spoon of bone meat for an 8 inch pot.

Keep the bulbs at the surface of the pot so the roots have all the room, and crowed then in next to each other so you will get a full pot of blooms.

Keep them watered but never soggy! Bulbs will rot easily if they don't have a chance to dry out each week.

When plants start to sprout move your bulbs to a full sun window, or the growth will get leggy, week and flop if the plants are not getting enough light.

In no time you will have flowers and fragrance that sooth the winter blues.

NEW PLAN

   I have been working on the planting plan for our landscape that surounds the new garage that we are building. It's energizing to work on it and makes me forget about all the snow on the ground!

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VIVA LA THROW PILLOW!

WHY DO MEN HATE THROW PILLOWS?
   In my experience most men hate throw pillows (most men, not all). It seems there is a need for comfort on the part of women that men don't require. My husband can sleep on a bus station bench all night if need be, and has on occasion. I have no scientific evidence for this dichotomy of the sexes, but, based strictly on the anecdotal evidence, men don't need to "nest" the way women do.

Well here is a project that might make men come round to the throw pillow.........
.......maybe..........DIY French patriot  pile........Hipster bean bag.......or whatever you want to call it. 

I'm a bit of a Francophile, so this was an attractive idea to me. You could also use a British Union Jack which is very popular right now or an Americal flag seems obvious, or run with your own nationality or symbol. Design-wise, these flags have a strong graphic, almost pop art quality. Any time you bring a strong graphic symbol into interior design it can have an edgy, urban or industrial feel, like advertising as art, and even convey a sense of irony, which permeates so much of design and art today. 

I started with 18 French flags about a foot long, printed on a smooth cotton.

I stitches up this pile of French flags that were already closed on three sides so I just filled them with foam, pinned them closed,  and hand stitched them up.

 I used the filler foam from this bean bag chair and then topped it with the pillows.

   I haven't seen my man lounging on this yet but it looks like a good place to drink a beer, watch the game or at least have a pillow fight!!!

VIVA LA DIFERENCE !!!!