Tag Archives: simplicity

garden, Hardware Store Life, June, Summer

June Gardening Guide

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Gardening became a lovely little side hobby of mine when we purchased our first home years ago. I loved learning about all the different types of trees and flowers in my yard. The gardening gene runs deep in my family. From my youngest memories, my family always had a garden full of veggies and beautiful flowers dotted the yard.

Snowball Hydrangeas were a staple in our yard growing up.

June is normally a month when your flowers and vegetables begin to show off in full beauty. The hard work of May and the other spring months pays off but it is not a time to relax just yet!!!

For a beautiful garden, June is a month when watering, weeding/hoeing, and monitoring for insects & disease can reap rewards. If these go unchecked during the summer months, it can definitely lead to disaster!!!

I love, love 💕 this water hose for watering plants!!! It is lightweight and easy to move around in the yard to water flowers during those drought filled days.

Wilkes County Hardware has the tools in order to help you be a successful gardener this summer. Don’t forget to stop by and consult with our staff if you have questions, concerns, or if you need gardening supplies. We will be there to assist you.

Black Wonder soil builder has been a garden favorite of our gardening customers!!! What a great way to supplement your soil and add much needed nutrients!!! You will definitely see the difference!!!

According to 2022 Blum’s Almanac, June is a great time to continue to plant tomatoes 🍅, eggplant, peppers 🌶, cabbage, beans, and celery. Sowing seeds for later transplanting…collards, cabbage, & cauliflower. Plant blackeye, crowder, and lady peas, squash, cucumber, and pumpkins 🎃.

Only a few of these are left! Gardening calendars still available.

In your flower garden, plant all types of lovely cut flowers like zinnias, marigolds, dahlias, calendula, nasturtium, phlox for later fall flowers. Remember to monitor your gardens carefully for insects 🕷, pests, or disease.

Deer 🦌 are always in my yard. I use the deer spray pictured here to keep activity at bay. It works well for me! Spray your plants routinely for 3 weeks to get the scent firmly established on the plants. Reapply if you have a heavy rain. After the 3 weeks, you should be able to apply once a month depending on the rain.
Plants looking stressed??? Use this concentrated spray to give your plants a boost! Good for struggling house plants too!!!

The “Best” days to plant 🪴 for June … 1-2, 8-11, 18-19, 23-24, 28-29.

We still have seeds left for planting!!!

The “Best” Weed killing days are June 16-17, 25-27. But these 3 barren signs (Leo, Gemini, Virgo) is usually a good time to spray weeds.

Wilkes County Hardware has several options available for your weed control needs.

Tuesday June 14 will bring the Strawberry 🍓 Moon!!! This moon is named after the wild strawberries that ripen in the month of June.

I love fresh strawberries!!! This dishpan makes it easy work. Yes, these dishpans are available at Wilkes County Hardware 😎

Also, Don’t forget to fly your American flag 🇺🇸 on June 14th for Flag Day!!

Need a new flag??? Don’t worry, you can drop off your old flag at Wilkes County Hardware too!

Happy Gardening Y’all!!! 👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍🌾

New ladies gardening t-shirt !! This one is selling fast!!!
Earth Day, garden, Hardware Store Life, Spring, Summer

Earth Day

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Earth Day is here today on Friday April 22. The first Earth Day was celebrated back in 1970. Over 1 billion people, globally will recognize Earth Day!!!

A few days ago, I read about a photo sharing challenge related to Earth Day. As I read about it, I quickly realized that I had several photos on my camera roll that would fit each category for each day to post. My camera roll has lots of nature inspired pictures. My daily postings are available on my IG page and I would love some love on my photos if you are there on IG. I hope y’all enjoy the nature inspired photos and remember to be good to our Earth. 🌳

By the way, if y’all are interested in Earth Friendly products, please ask us what we have available. We are slowly expanding our earth friendly product line in lawn & garden & elsewhere inside the store. Well that could be a separate blog post y’all, so I’ll leave that there for now. Look for that in the future!!!

Here are the Earth Day photos that I submitted as my favorites in each category for the Earth Day photo contest… enjoy and head outside to snap a few pics of your own!!!

Sky
Water
Green
Garden
Animal
Flower
Trees

“The Earth has music for those who listen”

Hardware Store Life, Resilence

Single Daisy

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This little stem broke off a few days ago from a grocery store bouquet of flowers . I hated to see it go in the trash can. It seems to be thriving in a tiny crystal bowl with a bit of water. I was amazed to see it still looking so great today.

To all mom’s out there following my blog, let me be one of the first to wish you a blessed Mother’s Day.

May you always be resilient like this flower… blooming beautifully in midst of calm or chaos. As storms arise in your journey, may you be grateful for the rain to help the blooming flowers grow, and find sunshine to light your path.

Blue skies and sunshine outside our back door at Wilkes County Hardware

Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

Hardware Store Life

The Clothesline

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I was walking around the hardware store yesterday checking the shelves for products that needed replenishment. I came upon a roll of clothesline. My mind began to instantly wander from the task at hand. My productivity waned… I was lost in my thoughts.

We sell clothesline at Wilkes County Hardware, even the old fashioned cotton type & clothespins

The memories came flooding back of my mom’s clothesline when I was growing up. We spent the Saturdays putting the sheets, & towels onto the clothesline. It was a time saver for mom, not having to run the dryer all day after working all week.

My sister and I both had “jobs” while we were assisting hanging clothes on the clothesline. We both were too young to reach the clothesline for ourselves. We had it down to a well-oiled system. One of us carried the old metal dishpan outside into the fresh, clean air towards the line. Of course the clothespins were in hand too. Once we were at the line, I handed mom each piece of laundry from the dishpan, while my younger sister, delved out the clothespins. Mom hung the laundry in sync with the wind. The whole process didn’t take long.

Mom used an old metal dishpan like this one, wet laundry was too heavy in the laundry basket… of course I asked her why she used this when I was little…

Now, memories are often nostalgic… so I must say that my mom’s memories of these Saturdays at the clothesline are probably different from ours. She probably remembers the trips out to the clothesline where we both complained about the weather being too hot, or bees flying too closely, or even those hateful chestnut burrs that were close by waiting to prey on our innocence toes/feet in the late summer/early fall months. I know complaints were definitely lodged… but we always finished our task, hanging the laundry out to dry.

Oh… those chestnut burrs were rough on the feet!!!

I’m glad my sister & I were able to experience so many wonderful things during our childhood that are now seemingly falling away into the past.

Everyone used to have a clothesline… now I would bet that if you still have a clothesline in 2021, you are a rare lucky person.

Back to nostalgia, as we both grew older, mom sent us out to the clothesline to hang or even harvest the freshly dried clothes. I took them down while my sister held the fresh loot.

I can still smell the scent of the sheets & towels dried outdoors. Nothing was better than those air dried sheets on your bed at night.

However, I do recall, that towels and washcloths from the line were not a favorite of mine. They were a little too rough for my liking. We used the line mostly for sheets anyways.

My dad eventually took the old, pesky chestnut trees down and made way for some new backyard landscaping as I got older. The clothesline was used less frequently.

But that clothesline was a constant in my backyard during my childhood. Things change as do people. I will always cherish those good memories of times spent together at the clothesline, soaking up the fresh outdoor air & sunshine.

Hardware Store Life, memories, Shop Local

100 Year Old Dust

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“I dusted once and it came back… I’m not falling for that again😂.” Anyone else heard of this cute little quote??? Have you ever been there yourself???

Dusting your home can be one of those thankless tasks that you are doing often. If you have the right tools from your Wilkes County Hardware team it can be an easier chore to accomplish. So before I get too busy with my blog post, don’t forget we have some great cleaning products for your home. Come see us soon!!! We always enjoy your visits!!!

Back to blog post reality… the running joke at Wilkes County Hardware… we have the best dust ever!!! We all affectionately refer to it as “100 Year Old Dust”. That’s right… we have the good stuff, century old dust 😂. What is even more amazing… it never seems to disappear😳.

Our building dates back into the early 1900’s. A good guesstimate would be our building could be 116 years old.

Those of y’all that have been loyal readers of my blog may also recall the blog post about “Old School Air Conditioning”… in other words, we open the doors and let the air circulate through, all the pollen, dust, & dirt naturally flows inside. Creating more dust you know…

The broom is busy usually during the slower times to help sweep up some of the 100 Year Old Dust as time allows AND we try to regularly clean the racks as often as we can. But, the century old dust floats down from the upstairs level and often settles onto surfaces… it is a constant battle.

A great point of nostalgia inside our store would have to be our freight elevator… folks love it. Yes, it still works and we use it often. The elevator does a create that large gaping hole inside our building, allowing the 100 year old dust to freely flow from second floor to our main floor.

Lastly, one of the unique features of our hardware store is the wood stove. During the cold weather season, the stove creates its own “dusty” problems, but it is our main source of heat and folks love it too.

Life inside an old school hardware store as you might recall in your own personal experience…seeing a bit of dust or even a “packed hardware inventory” in which only the owner knows where everything is located. So an old school hardware store can be full of nostalgia for many of us… right??? A trip back down memory lane of times past, & times we enjoyed. Nostalgia to me could be best defined as memories of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never wish to lose.

Here’s a good old school hardware store bit of nostalgia from my childhood. I can remember the days of going into nearby hardware store in Roaring River with my dad just wondering how on earth could they find anything in there!!! Every surface was covered with hardware products, and I remember seeing the old, dusty floors. It was always an adventure going inside there in my mind as a kid.

So it got me to thinking a little bit…. Folks might be seeking some old school hardware store nostalgia when they arrive at Wilkes County Hardware. I think they are pleased to see that these type of stores still exist in 2021.

We are extremely thankful & grateful for the opportunity to help those in our community by offering several hardware services unique to our business, and maybe not offered anywhere else in town.

I’ll be content keeping track of our 100 Year Old Dust everyday because you can’t find another hardware store like ours anywhere else in town… the old school hardware store, complete with 100 Year Old Dust, and so much more 😊.