I’ve always loved gardening, planting vegetables and flowers has been my passion all of my life. That’s why when I learned of a Plant Addicts group on NextDoor I had to join. That was a couple of years ago. I attended my first Plant Swap then and met Gina Girard, a Master Gardener and the organizer of Plant Addicts Group. Gina put me in touch with other gardeners which helped us get our landscaping started at our home in Omaha. We had moved in November of 2019 and I had to leave most of my plants behind.
Gina put me in touch with people who gave me Strawberry Plants for my current Strawberry Patch and Rhubarb that I will now be making Rhubarb Cake with! It’s a great group of people.
This Spring we met in South Omaha for the Plant Swap. It was the day before Mother’s Day. May 10th. It was a beautiful day for the Plant Swap! Members bring plants, bulbs or seeds to trade for the same number of plants that they bring to the swap. The members set up tables and displayed what they had to swap. These are photos I took of the group. I had my Rollator (A Walker on Wheels) so I didn’t get around much to take photos. I forgot to mention the Plant Swap was on a hill in the backyard of Sue Adkins, the host. I also had trouble holding onto my IPhone and my Thumb or stubs of my amputated fingers got in the way of a couple of photos. Please overlook that pink blot of flesh!
The last two photos are of the plants I took home and tubers. I have an Amish Paste tomato and a Czech tomato called Moravasky. I am anxious to try these varieties that I have never grown before. Heather who sat next to me had the healthy looking tomato plants, one even had blossoms! I also got three red Cana tubers and three Elephant Ear bulbs from her. She asked if there were any plants I was looking for that she could get for me and I mentioned Columbine and she went and got one for me. As we were leaving I found out the Columbine had come from Gina! Gina told me it would bloom a pinkish red. I have always liked. that color. So it has special meaning to me because Gina brought it to the swap. We still had some plants left on our card table. Heather was staying longer and offered to put the plants on her table so we could leave. Bill took our new plants to our van and Heather folded up our card table for us and carried it to the van. It was so thoughtful of her. She helped me get to our van up the hill. Everyone was so kind to offer me help. It was a great group of people. We had a good time.
We bought a couple of half whiskey kegs to add to our container garden and some bags of potting soil. Our yard has clay.soil; if you can call it soil. We had rich black earth at our old home. Container gardening is easier for me and beneficial to the plants to have better soil. I didn’t mention it but if you have read my other blogs you know I have a below the knee amputated right leg and have a prosthetic leg. I also have amputated fingers on both hands; two on my left and three on my right. I have had some circulation issues. And “No ” I don’t have Diabetes. I get asked that question often.
I also found a Catmint plant. It will have small blue flowers in a mound. We had one of those at our last house. I’m always trying to replace what I left behind. My flowers are like old friends. They spark memories for me.
We were both tired out on Sunday and really feeling our age. We were tired from digging up plants and planting them in containers and labeling everything.
I did start making some Dorothy Lynch Copy Cat Dressing. I had started making Dorothy Lynch Copy Cat Dressing but found I didn’t have any dry Mustard Powder. Bill had picked up some for me later, so I could finish that up. It must have been bringing home tomato plants that did it; but I was in a tomato groove. I was also out of homemade barbecue sauce. So I made homemade ketchup and from that made homemade barbecue sauce. I love Dorothy Lynch Dressing. I believe it’s made in Duncan, Nebraska. I can’t have the corn syrup that is in the commercial product as I’m allergic to corn products. So if I want to enjoy Dorothy Lynch Dressing I have to make my own! I made two quarts of dressing. It’s the same with barbecue sauce. Hunts does make a corn syrup free ketchup. Thank you Hunts!
We have Romane Lettuce needing picked in the garden so I had to have my Dorothy Lynch Dressing!
Bill went to visit his mother on Tuesday. I planned on getting something done at home. Today I wanted to plant in the whiskey Kegs but they don’t have drainage holes so I had to wait until Bill got home from visiting his mom.
I started mixing up S.O.S. for our soup substitute but ran out of Arrowroot my substitute for cornstarch. I texted Bill and asked him to pick some up on his way home. I had the dry mix all mixed except for the little bit of Arrowroot I was missing. Bill came home without the Arrowroot. Two stores didn’t have it. He had to go out again after calling around to see who had it in stock. So I finished that when he got home.
A big thank you to Gina Girard for putting on the Plant Swap and to the home owner, Sue Adkins for providing her home to set up all the tables of plants! I didn’t see Sue when I left to thank her for volunteering to be the host. She had a beautiful yard and I would have loved to see her gardens. Thanks to the large group of plant addicts like me who helped to make the day a success! I look forward to making my future tomatoes into sauce and enjoying our new arrivals to our flower beds.
