Lemony Balm: A Series with Questionable Results

Freshly planted herbs!

As you might have noticed, I have a huge mess of lemon balm in my herb garden.  

Lemon Balm

I’ve made it a summer goal to use it more often.  First up, I made a simple lemon cheesecake and chopped up the lemon balm to give it a little zing. Sadly, I’ve learned that while this herb smells oh so good it doesn’t pack a huge flavor punch.  Even worse, Mr. Diva thought I was trying to sneak in a veggie to his sweets.  First mission: Fail!  

Since I needed to trim back this ever plentiful perennial anyway, I plopped a bunch into a mission jar adorned with a raffia bow.  Viola an instant flower arrangement without touching the wallet!  2^nd mission: Success 

If you have any other lemon balm uses, be sure to let me know!

Diva Delight: Big booty hose come with it!

You know you're a homeowner when...

This spring Mr. Diva and I have been hard at work trying to grow some grass before the heat waves set in, which means lots of watering. We have 2 sets of hose with wranglers that always seem to get knotted or kinked up. It's a real pain when you have lots to water and even worse when the hose sits in a mud pit.

Enter Frontgate. Mr. Diva discovered their retractable hose a few weeks ago while reading the WSJ.  From the way we talk about it you would think we had struck gold...garden gold!  This gadget is well worth the expense and is the perfect present for any gardener or perhaps a little Father's Day treat.