"Berdine's" America's Oldest Five and Dime Store

  I know this has nothing to do with gardening but I have to tell you about a place that is in the town that I grew up close to and visited this store weekly! It has been in many national magazines and the next time your are in this area., you need to step back in time and visit this Old five and dime! We take our kids there from time to time to share the experience and that's exactly what it is an experience! It opened in 1908 and today it's like stepping back in time to go shopping!
 Her is the link to Berdine's Five and Dime; and its located in Harrisville, West Virginia, just a few miles from North Bend State Park (my grandpa was the Master Carpenter that help build their lodge and my mom and brother used to work here)! Here are a few pictures I took on our last visit!

The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener

The Redeemed Gardener

  Well I hope you get to stop in and enjoy!

More Articles on Berdine's:

 WVLiving

"History is a story written by the finger of God." ~ C.S. Lewis

Bolting Spinach

  Well you know what it means when spinach starts to "Bolt"? It means its time to harvest it all!
But what is bolting? In a little 2'x2' patch, I harvested close to 10 gallons of spinach in all! Bolting is when agricultural and horticultural crops prematurely produce a flowering stem (or stems) before the crop is harvested, in a natural attempt to produce seeds to reproduce.
What causes Spinach to bolt?   Spinach bolts quickly to seed during the long days in late spring or summer. Warm temperatures accelerate this development. Varieties that are "long standing" or slow to bolt are best adapted for spring planting.

Spinach Bolting

 The variety I planted was: Winter Bloomsdale (45 days, tolerant to cucumber mosaic virus, slow to bolt, cold tolerant, good for over-wintering)
 I trust these helps and really growing Spinach is very easy and you can grow it in spring and fall!

"Recycled Garden Markers", garden tip

   Here is my easy and cheap way to mark your plants in the garden. I know there is many ways to do this but I like this one! I just collect plastic knifes and spoons that are not used at work (and sometimes used), using a sharpie I write the names of the plants on them and put them in the ground (No Rot, No Rust). Think about it, how many time's have you or someone else opened one of those plastic cutlery sets only to use the fork and most of the time throwing the spoon and fork away. Well, here is a great way to recycle!

The world asks, “What does a man own?” Christ asks, “How does he use it?” ~ Andrew Murray

"Colonial Gate Closer", What is it?

  Do you ever get tiered of having to go behind people and shut your garden gates or are you just wanting to add a little interest to your garden? Then try a "Cannonball Gate Closer", they are traced back to Colonial times in America and may go back even further than that. We found ours in Colonial Williamsburg, VA. It makes it much easier when you came through the gate with your hands full to shut the gate. Plus not to many people know what they are so its a great conversation starter as well.

"The Redeemed Gardener"

Matthew 7:14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Around the Redeemed Garden in 2013! Part 2

  I told you I had more for you to see, lol! If you didn't get to see Part 1, there it is! So much to do and so little time but the rewards are well worth it all.

Solomon Seal peaking over the bench!

   These two pictures are of what we all call "The Secret Garden", it is where my daughter and her friend next door have sat and played for hours. Its a shared space and brings us closer with our neighbor. Years ago it was all grass and it a 11'x28' area. My wife and I made many trips to the rivers in the West Virginia area and collected each rock and hauled them back (lots of fun stories there). I hand dug all the grass up, pored all the sand to set rocks in,  painstakingly sat each rock by hand, pored pea gravel between the rocks and planted each shade loving plant. Lots of hard work but well worth the finished garden! And there is my little garden sidekick, Maple!








  Here are the new additions to the front gardens. On the left, we had to remove a storm damaged bush, so we replaced it with a male "China Boy" Holly. Yes, you do have to have a male and female bush of this verity to produce berries! We also planted another Dwarf Boxwood. Its a little empty looking now but it will fill in quickly. On the right, is our new "Flowering Purple Plumb", if you will remember we had a bad storm, called a "Derecho" hit us, and it took out one of my "Bradford Pears". We just replaced it and we think we will like this specimen much better! Read more on my thoughts of "Bradford Pears", in "Bradford Pears, You can Keep Them".

  I know this isn't part of the garden but she is such an obedient and loyal friend! This is a make shift bench beside my garden, I call it my prayer bench. When we go to it she knows not to cross the railroad ties for anything, she lays right there. As you can see, I have my coffee, read the scriptures, pray and listen to God's creation as the sun comes up or goes down as often as we can. We could all learn a lot from how unconditional a dog loves!
  I'm sure more will come as the season progress. Until next time, God Bless and happy gardening!

Psalm 12:10 "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal."

Around the Redeemed Garden in 2013! Part 1

  I have been so busy with family, work and work around the house that I feel as though I am chasing my tail sometimes. I trust all my friends in blog land have been working hard in your gardens as well? I wanted to share some pictures today of not only my Veggie garden and my flower beds around the house. It seems like this is one of the busiest times for us in the garden before letting God take care of the rest. Here is whats happening around "The Redeemed Garden"!

  Our Lilly of the Valley is blooming so wonderfully and in the right photo (from front to back) we have Spinach, Lettuce and our cucumbers are reaching up for the trellis!

  In the pot we have our Carrots ( a great way to grown them) and the old Whiskey Barrel serves well to grow potatoes. To the right we have Broccoli, radishes, beets, turnips, Peppers, and tomatoes. Each week more will be planted, just all that we have right now!

  One of our Lilacs that is blooming and smells so wonderful. My great grandma Bakers Lilac that I planted from a start off the old farm stead finally bloomed after 6 years of being planted, that was exciting! On the right is the rose garden, the head board is just for decoration!

  Well I will leave you hanging with this, I'm gonna post more in the next post for you to see and enjoy! Remember to keep your priorities in order, God being first on the list, and everything else He will take care of!

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7