Wow! Time does fly! Here it is the middle of April and maybe, just maybe, Spring is finally here to stay. My rhubarb is up and just today I saw little sprouts of asparagus poking up through the soil. I really didn’t think my asparagus survived the winter, so I am thrilled! I just started it last year; planted it in boxes with bottoms and six inches of homemade Mel’s Mix. The summer was so hot here in Ohio last year, that we just didn’t keep up with watering all that well. By the end of the summer, my asparagus plants were pretty stressed. So I didn’t really expect it to survive, but there it is! Proof positive that just about anything – even perennials – can be grown in six inches of soil in a raised bed garden box.

The first weekend of April I was the speaker for the Licking County Home & Garden Show. What a great show! I offered the 10-Basics of Square Foot Gardening several times over the weekend and we had a full house every time. Looks like it is going to be another banner year for home gardening! And why not? With Square Foot Gardening, it is so easy to have a home garden.

Then I had surgery last week and spent two days in the hospital. I will have about a two-month recovery, so I’m not too sure what I will be doing about my own gardens. I will probably sit in a lawn chair and direct my teenagers, telling them how to get everything in! It will be good life skills practice for them. I really don’t want to miss spring planting! I’m so tired of the cold and wet, aren’t you?

A couple of months ago I started another business, different from Square Foot Gardening, but certainly compatible. It is all about teaching people how to make their homes safer by removing toxins and replacing them with healthier (and better working), natural alternatives. The more I learn, the more I realize how terribly toxic our every day household cleaning products are. Many of them can’t be disposed of in the regular trash, did you know that? And yet we are using them every day to clean our homes, leaving toxic residue behind. Our pets pick it up on their paws, our babies crawl through it, our children touch it. It is actually pretty scary. As I learn more, I will share more here.

In my “down” time, I will also work on separating my blogs into specific categories, especially gardening. I already have the domain name registered – www.CassiesGardenStuff.com. But don’t go there yet! I’ve done nothing with the design and it just has a “holding” design. The first thing listed is about something sexy. NOT, I repeat, NOT what my site is about at all! I will then split out the email lists as well. CassiesStuff.com will become more thoughtful and philosophical in my blogs – whatever is on my mind – and CassiesGardenStuff.com will stay subject specific.

I just registered to have a booth at the Green on the Green in Worthingon, May 21. Mark your calendars! This looks like a great event on simple ways to go “green.” Hope to see you there!

That’s probably enough for now,
Cassie