Hey my Sweet Lifers! Boy do I love cilantro…like I use it in all meals starting with on my eggs for breakfast and in my pasta dishes and with every meat! I tried growing it over the past several years and every time I tried to it would look real nice for about two...
Living the Sweet Life The Peaceful Life July 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! I hope all of ya’ll are having a wonderful start to summer. I have been enjoying mine most thoroughly. I’ve been learning a lot about what seeds to sow and when to do so in the flower garden and watching things sprout up and grow has been quite satisfying. The...
The Sweet Life Gardener Catnip
Hey my Sweet Lifers! There’s one herb in my garden that is appreciated more than any other by my sweet life cats and it is of course, catnip. I planted a small amount of it at the edge of the steps a few years back and now it is a huge plant that brings...
The Sweet Life Gardener Aloe Vera May 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! About ten years ago a neighbor asked me if I would like some aloe vera for my garden. I was barely wet under the ears with my gardening skills and I planted the tiny little things under a tree out in what is now the Sweet Life Garden. Over the...
The Sweet Life Gardener The Glorious Dandelion April 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! Recently, I saw a post from a dear friend regarding a perished bee having fallen prey to the hand of an unscrupulous person who thought it swell to put pesticides on their dandelions. Dandelions are not weeds! In the spring, they are some of the first flowers to feed the...
The Sweet Life Gardener Garlic March 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! I don’t think there’s anyone except my great Aunt Melda Lee that doesn’t like garlic. I shared a recipe with her years ago for my collards and I had barely gotten garlic out of my mouth as one of the ingredients when she twisted up her face and grimaced! I...
The Sweet Life Gardener Burnet February 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! There are many things I love about having a garden. One is the ability to walk outside and pick fresh daily items to use for my recipes. I suppose if I did not love to cook this would not be as pleasurable. What I love perhaps the most is when...
The Sweet Life Gardener Calendula January 2023
Hey my Sweet Lifers! Hope ya’ll had a marvelous and merry holiday! There are many flowers that serve as both a beauty and as a handy helper to plant in your garden. One of these is calendula, also known as Pot -Marigold and Poor Man’s Saffron. It is, in my opinion one of the...
The Sweet Life Gardener Tarragon December 2022
Hey my Sweet Lifers! If you’re feeling like you want to up your game in home cooking then might I suggest growing some tarragon. This herb has the ability to “elevate” dishes to the next level. Considered one of the four fine herbs in French cooking, it plays well with fish, chicken and pork. ...
The Sweet Life Gardener Parsley
Hey my Sweet Lifers! Of all the herbs I grow parsley is the one that I can never get enough of. I grow it everywhere and as soon as the root forms I move it to the main garden so it can flower and spread it’s seeds for even more! Parsely is a member...
The Sweet Life Gardener Sage
Hey my Sweet Lifers! This summer has really poured a lot of hurting on the garden. We have set records by having the hottest one since 1913. As you can imagine some herbs survive and even thrive in that kind of temperatures; while others said “adios!” Because I do so much cooking, preserving and...
The Sweet Life Gardener Peppermint
Hey my Sweet Lifers! Peppermint is one of the oldest herbs we have. It has been found in the pyramids in Egypt and apparently deemed useful not only for the living but for the dead as well. Mint was also used as a trading commodity. The word “mint” traces back to the actual minting...
I am Certifiably “Sweet!” 
Hey my Sweet Lifers! I just got clocked by a hornet in my armpit in the sweet life garden! I know, what a way to intro my column this month, but keep reading and it will make sense and perhaps even make you smile. I am constantly being reminded of the fact that at...
The Sweet Life Gardener: Thyme
Het my Sweet Lifers! One of the most versatile herbs to have in your garden is thyme. There are more than 400 different species used from culinary to medicinal to just fabulously decorative. The tiny petite flowers are a pretty addition to plates and the scent is lovely when making floral arrangements from your...
The Sweet Life Gardener Basil
The Sweet Life Gardener Basil June 2022 Hey my Sweet Lifers! Of all the herbs for...
The Sweet Life Gardener : Rosemary
Hey my Sweet Lifers! By now all of you should have gotten beds prepped and made some decisions about what you’d like to grow in your own gardens. I have been busy as well getting seedlings hardened off and ready to go into the main beds they were planned for. I have in the...
The Sweet Life Gardener: Who goes with Who?
Hey my Sweet Lifers! I hope by now you have taken a few moments to think about what you and your family loves to eat and jotted down a few vegetables and fruits that you would like to walk outside and just pick fresh from your yard. There’s really nothing more fabulous that eating...
The Sweet Life Gardener How much should I grow?
Hey my Sweet Lifers! There are so many challenges to think about when planning a garden, like understanding the way the sun lands throughout the day, the quality of the soil, and rotation and location annually. Unless it lives in the Sweet Life Garden year round, each year every bed is delicately and thoughtfully...
Keeping the Sweet Life Garden
Gardening in Texas February 2022 Hey my Sweet Lifers! I love to plant...
Top Ten things to do in December
In the garden it’s time to plant carrots, beets, turnips, mustard, onion, radishes, collards and spinach. Keep the plants and seedlings moist and away from critters as they are doing their best to forage as we go into the cooler days. This year I am collecting items for The Little House of Tiny Tots...