Christmas in The Tropical Paradise

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It's Christmas Day here at The Tropical Paradise and there really isn't much to do but enjoy the sunshine. I hand-watered the lettuce (in the foreground), which is growing back nicely after I trimmed several leaves for a salad a couple of days ago. If you are going to do this, be sure to get leaf lettuce, not head lettuce. With leaf lettuce, you just trim off the leaves you need, eat them, and the plant continues to grow and produce new leaves. Head lettuce, like iceberg, conversly, is trimmed off at the base so you can only harvest it once.

When I first moved to Phoenix I was surprised that the grass went brown (dormant) in the winter. So to have green grass during best part of the year, you have to overseed, which requires seeding, topping, watering, and of course, mowing. Have I mentioned how much I like my artificial turf? All you have to do for that is to go out with a blower every once in a while. I have a nice little rechargeable blower that I use, and it only takes a few minutes. Besides, a few leaves on the ground gives the *grass* a more realistic look!

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