I decided I was moving forward, and I watched a variety of YouTube videos on how to use the block instead of the classic editor. The number one reason was that they are continuing to update it, and I decided it was now or never.
What have I learned from these videos besides how to insert a block and move the tool bar to the top instead of having it float over the top of each paragraph? This change was done so WP could compete with other companies like Elementor and draw those folks creating websites either as an employee or contractor and for individuals setting up Ecommerce sites. I’m pretty sure social bloggers like us didn’t make the list of customers they were trying to satisfy. 🙂
That being said, I used the new editor on my volunteer site to do a couple of posts, updated some pages, and even created a list of 60 members. I’m still flummoxed about quite a few things, but I’ll keep googling and reading Dan’s very explicit directions on NoFacilities. Thank you, Dan.
My seedlings are doing great and will probably need to be transplanted this coming week. My two grape vines have these tiny, tiny grape clusters on, and it is a hoot watching them grow. The eighteen asparagus plants from seeds are all doing well, and I wish you could smell the fragrance from these hyacinths. This week I’m hoping to pot up some dahlias and some canna lilies to give them a head start.
We have a new Master Gardener project restoring four raised-bed kitchen gardens at a 1700’s historic home. They do tours, special events, revolutionary reenactments including canon fire, and the gardens will add to the educational piece for the visitors. The upper garden at the county nursing home is ready for spring cleaning too.
Gardening season is here, let the planting begin!
Hope April is starting off well for you, and you had a nice Easter weekend with some decadent dessert. A spoonful of sugar makes the block editor go down. 🙂
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
Judy, good luck with the block editor! I am still learning… We spent Easter with our 10 year old granddaughter who helped us plant our first citrus tree and then we made chocolate chip cookies. As if we hadn’t already had our fill of chocolate!
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You are one lucky woman to spend the day with your ten-year old granddaughter. Wow – now, that’s an Easter gift. Add gardening and chocolate chip cookies, and you definitely had my kind of day. 🙂
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Block editor? Bah humbug! It definitely isn’t geared to us older resistant folks. I did a post in the classic but when I went to edit I couldn’t get back there and had to insert a picture in block. OMG! An hour later I was still fussing and fuming. I ended up putting the picture at a different spot because it wouldn’t let me insert it in the middle of a block. Gardening season is here and I’ve had the first pangs of missing my old home. We have space for gardening here but so much inside work to do that it’s a time thing. I keep telling myself pots this year and next year I will increase the beds and do fabulous things. I need some hyacinths!
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It’s like peeling an onion, you have to keep looking for something that use to be right there on the page. It’s still there, but you’ve got to dig for it. I’m also thinking the idea of including text and images together may be a thing of the past since the blocks are either or. At least, I haven’t been able to find out how to do it. Maybe this is the year for containers and hanging plants repotted in them – gardening is done. 🙂
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I couldn’t put an image in the text box. I tried every which way and it was a no go. My problem was that because I had originally used the classic, my entire post was in one block so to add a picture in the middle, I’d have to break it up into different blocks. Way too much work. I compose in Word, then copy and paste.
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Thanks for the mention, Judy. I’ll keep scooping the sugar 🙁
Your blog is looking very good. I know it may have taken longer, but that will pass. The plants look great. I’m glad to see temps get up to where we’ll be outside when we wing to be. Well, until we’re going out early to beat the heat.
I hope you have a great week.
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Thank you for keeping that sugar express rolling. 🙂 That’s right the heat will be coming. 🙂
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Love the rich blue of your hyacinth Judy! The new master gardener project sounds fascinating. Do you research as well as plant? I’ve been intrigued by the historical gardens at Colonial Williamsburg and Monticello. As a career software developer I’ve hand-coded HTML for webpages (back in the day) but I’m still using Classic editor just for it’s efficiency. I keep trying out the block editor but find it tedious.
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Tedious is a good word for it. What was all on one page before is now buried in layers. Still there, but you have to work for it. 🙂 We are very fortunate on this particular project to have a list of historically correct plants that were researched by an architect and landscape designer. That is a huge plus for us. It feels good to be part of a team bringing it back to life. Thanks for asking.
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Every time I read a blog that explains the endless difficulties with WP, I am even happier that I’m not a blogger, just a follower!
Your plants are looking great….hard to believe they’re ready for transplant.
Wait! You won’t believe this. You were right about three photos and “so much white”” I just went back to check something you wrote, and the three photos are side by side. “Wonderful” you say. Nope. The photos are now covering your last two paragraphs, and the grapes are covering a section of the paragraph above!
So I’m just going to quietly leave so I can get out of the way of the steam coming out of your ears!!
Ginger
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Thank you for telling me. If only I had a clue how to fix it – nope. I guess one photo at a time will have to be the plan in the future. Appreciate the feedback.
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The kitchen garden project sounds like a lot of fun. Our last home was located not far from Manchester, VT, and I volunteered at the Hildene estate (a Lincoln family summer home) maintaining their magnificent gardens, including restoration of kitchen gardens. It was a lovely experience.
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Manchester, VT, is a beautiful town with a rich history. I can only imagine the fun and satisfaction you had volunteering at the Hildene estate. This is a much smaller venue, but I still feel like it will be a rewarding endeavor.
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Have fun Judy!
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I think your post looks very nice! On my iPad the pictures are perfectly lined up and clear and bright. On email, they were somewhat scattered, but that happens with every post from everybody.
Your hyacinths remind me of my grandma in spring….pink, white, and lavender, in bouquets with tulips headed for the Blessed Virgin statue at church!
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Ginger sent me her email, and they were scattered. Interesting, but I’m at a loss. Your bouquet also reminds me of May flowers and the Blessed Virgin – big deal back in the day. We used to have an afternoon processions with flowers. I haven’t thought of that in forever. Thanks for the smile.
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I, too, think your post looks great. Clearly you are mastering Block Editor. A big nuisance, though, for those who don’t want anything fancy and just want to post a darned piece with a few pictures. Also, sounds as though your busy season is upon you! Happy gardening!
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I think I’m on my way to figuring out enough to get by. 🙂 I potted up some cannas and dahlias this morning to give them a start. I love being able to be outside half a day during gardening season. 🙂
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Same!
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Good for you tackling the learning curve, Judy… good for the ‘little gray cells.’ 🙂
Have a great week, the weather looks promising.
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Thank you for the hearty chuckle. Yes, those ‘little gray cells’ have to be exercised now and again. 🙂
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Well look at you! You are going at Block Editor Face On! I do believe you tackled it and I am on the sidelines cheering you on. I just played around with it on my desktop… its not easy. I am going to try to post from my desktop today but if I get a headache… I’ll be on my iPad. Most of my pictures are on my iPad… so that’s why I do my posting from my iPad. It’s a bit easier on there like I said before.
Those grapes are too darn cute! Love the Easter Colors… and happy gardening!
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👏🏻 Big round of applause to every social blogger who has adapted. I can’t imagine we’ll ever like it better than the classic because for us it does the same thing only we have to dig through layers to get there. Technology just isn’t targeted towards the senior community. Oh well, we’ll do it anyway. 🙂 Good luck with your desktop. I’m sending good vibes. 🙂
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Your master gardener project sounds great. I look forward to seeing how it goes. As for using the block editor, I use it, I am learning it, I don’t like it. So what else is new?
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I love your description. I think 99.9% of us feel exactly the same way. 🙂
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I am more impressed than I can say that you are attacking The Block. Wow. And you will probably conquer it. Your plants are beautiful, but I don’t have a right word for the blue of that hyacinth. It defies description. Your MG project with the historical garden sounds remarkable, and I hope The Block will allow you to update us on its progress. Your post today looks great here, by the way! And Charlie Brown and Snoopy say it for me — it’s warm and sunny and my fingernails are dirty! Happy dance!
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In several of the videos they mentioned the classic was going away permanently at the end of the year, and I thought if I wait, I’ll just go through this whiny stage all over again, and I wanted to avoid that. 🙂 Everything is there, it’s just not easy to find at first. Google and YouTube are my best buddies right now. 🙂 Charlie Brown and Snoopy are the best, and my hat is off to your dirty fingernails. 🙂
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That’s very discouraging about the Classic, but thanks for the warning.
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Your post looks great and your little grape babies are adorable. I’m definitely joining Charlie Brown and Snoopy in their spring happy dance!
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Thank you. Wouldn’t it be great if Charlie and Snoopy could stop by regularly? There wouldn’t be a grumpy person alive. 🙂
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Your post looks fantastic on my tablet and well done for persevering. Thanks too for the link to Dan’s post. It’s very helpful. I just can’t understand why WP thinks all this is good for business. How lovely to have a new garden project to work on. I hope we get to see it in the future.
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Glad it came through okay, and Dan does a good job of sharing his IT knowledge. I’ll take some project photos and share.
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I meant to ask how do you make the tool box stationary at the top instead of floating above a block. That drove me crazy the other day.
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That thing popping up every time you hit return was driving me crazy. One of the videos I watched showed how to do it. Open up a new post, be in the ‘page’ mode on the right side, click the three dots at the top, and ‘top tool bar’ comes up as an option. I tried pasting a screenshot in here but couldn’t. If you can’t find it, drop me an email, and I’ll send you the screenshot.
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I’ll check it out and let you know. Thanks.
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My parents came over for dinner and we had a lovely time listening to my dad tell stories about his life on the farm and other things. As you know my planting experiences in Arizona have been less that stellar, even less than okay, but my six lettuce plants are thriving in their long, narrow planter and I found a Spanish lavender plants at evil Lowe’s a few days ago and we got it planted where it will hopefully thrive. If so, I’m going to get a few more. What I need to do know is get out again and dig up dandelions which can thrive anywhere, even in our cement-like soil. 🙂 Oh, I also bought a grape hyacinth plant at Aldi and it’s sitting on the coffee table, looking and smelling great. Small joys.
janet
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Nice Easter with family. 🙂 It sounds like you’re figuring out how to work within your climate gardening guidelines. We all have challenges especially with our climates changing so much. You could probably grow lettuce during the hot months inside with the a/c and a sunny window. 🙂
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I was thinking the same thing. We had a very small salad last night of our lettuce and our few cherry tomatoes with a few drops of aged balsamic. Mmmmm. I love the way the lettuce grows back so quickly and by bringing it in eventually I’m hoping it will grow for a long time.
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I’ve been using the block editor. Not loving it, but getting used to it. Of course, they’ll be sure to change it if I ever get to really like it.
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Judy you are so funny, I think I’ve had enough chocolate and sugar to help the block editor go down! (a little bit anyway). Your master garden project sounds really interesting, and good for you being able to keep up with personal blogging and the MG newsletter. We had our whole family here for Easter and the weather was wonderful, hope the same is happening for you.
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That was one of the factors that pushed me to just do it. I was watching a video and the guy was talking about how he was adapting to the ‘new’ version, and I thought ‘oh boy,’ I’d just better do it now or I’ll spend the year dreading it.
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I’m glad you’ve decided to embrace the block editor, no sense in trying to make something work that will not be fully supported much longer. Kudos to you on learning a new skill! I have just watched a video last night that was very helpful and I’m going to try and put the link here in my comment, maybe it will help you or someone else.
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I love it! That is one of the ones I watched last week. 🙂 When I started out, I watched according to how long they were and how long I wanted to walk on the treadmill. 🙂 Then I started watching the newer ones because I’d realized they had already made many changes. Thank you!
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Oh good! I thought it was good too. I also watch videos according to how long I want to be on my machine, haha. In my case it’s an elliptical but I call it the hell-liptical and my old treadmill was the dreadmill 🤣
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Love the headline you chose, and your post looks really good! I’ve moved the toolbar back up to the top also, but then moved it back so that it hovers over the block I’m writing on again. I can’t seem to make up my mind which I like better, though I guess it’s the latter even though it gets in the way too much. Thanks for Dan’s post; I learned a few things. – Marty
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Dan can talk ‘nerd’ really well, and I always learn something when he does. I have been trying different blocks based on the videos I watch, but I still can’t put an image in with text next to it like the old classic. Oh well, life will go on.
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Judy, to put text to your image, 1. insert one image (not a gallery) and size it to what you want, 2. choose left justification or right, depending on where you want it on the page and 3.use the up arrow to slide the photo into place among your text. You can also choose Media and Text from the Block menu to achieve basically the same thing. It actually isn’t all bad once you start playing around with it. I like symmetry, so to me the photo layout above looks really good.
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Timing is everything. 🙂 I watched a video this afternoon giving those exact directions, I tried it, and it worked. Thank you.
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Well Judy, you are surely not alone. I’ve not heard a single person who was using the classic editor say that they like the new one, or that it offers more functionality or a better experience. How’s that for a reaction to a new product? If it were back in my business days we’d have scrapped the product by now. That said, after pushing myself to use it because it was clear the classic editor was getting almost no support and certainly no updates, I am at least functional with it. I still dislike it but have made it work for me despite a steep learning curve. All that said, your post is perfect – especially your inclusion of Snoopy and his little dance. That DID make me smile!
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Ditto to your comment. 🙂 I think that is what I can say – I’m functional. 🙂 Snoopy always makes for a better day I think.
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If we can’t fight it, we have to try and adapt. I’m getting better with the block editor but photos are still a challenge. If they just slow down a little and let us get used to one change before adding another. Today’s post was going well until I realized I had two different fonts and sizes…how that happened I have no idea. 😊
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True. I’ve been using it, and so far the photos are still a challenge so I keep it simple. When I get the weekly email outlining what they’ve change, I just have to chuckle and wish they’d let us ‘bloggers’ catch up for a while. 🙂
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