|
The Joy of Gardening
This past week, I had the honor of taking care of my friend's home and their garden while they took a vacation on the Pacific ocean. I used to have a small garden, years ago and raised sunflowers, tomatoes, lupine, calla and tiger lillies, pumpkins, and several kinds of summer squash (acorn, banana, spaghetti, to name a few).
My friend's garden grew like crazy this past week because even though she wanted me to do early morning sets of watering (15 min sets), I ended up watering late in the evening or early morning and usually it took about 2 hours each time I went about watering the garden, removing weeds and snacking on strawberries or cucumbers, but it's early yet for the tomatoes. She's got lovely beds of flowers, too: Roses, poppies, daisies, hiacynth, calla lillies and all kinds of magical garden fairies and colorful glass sculpture, through out the entire garden. It was heaven to work in her garden and take care of it while she and her husband were gone for the past week. My favorite items to tend in her garden were the roses, the poppies and her herb garden (spearmint, thyme, rosemary and sage) and this gigantic tree-like bush of huge flowering ... Hydrangea! The picture below is not from her garden but is near perfect to the flowering hydrangea that's in her garden -- which flowers in beautiful violets, blues and in a beautiful shade of lightest green that I've ever seen. I trimmed a few blue, violet and green ones and put them in a crystal heart vase to take to work. :stillheart: http://cache.desktopnexus.com/thumbn...gthumbnail.jpg If you have a garden (or even if you don't, like me) and want to share what's in your garden that brings you joy, please feel free to post and share and let's hear about what's growing in your garden this year! ps/ their pets (Simon - their Jack-Russel, and Petunia - their cat) loved hanging out with me in the garden. Petunia loved hiding out in the rows of corn and Simon, bless his heart, followed me all around while I watered the garden areas. :) |
I love gardening and glad you made a thread for this. I take care of my neighbors garden in front of me. She's an elderly woman in her late 80's and can't do it herself. She has all rose bushes across the front of her apt and down one side towards my apt in the back. I live in a 4 plex. I have elephant ears growing this year, but I didn't take time to plant anything for myself in my own garden to make it look more full. I was too busy helping my aunt out of town this Spring. Her son in law helped me spread new sandy loam on the ground in front and back of the house so I could lay new sod grass and build flower beds for her. It was a job and then some. Me with a bad back got it done with a little bit of help from a couple of cousins with everything. It was very time consuming trying to figure out exactly where and how much and what but it's done and she loves it and that's all that matters. I'm proud of the work we did. And her labor fee was free. I didn't charge her a penny to help her.
I enjoyed doing it but I hated getting sick while I was there. UGH that was the worst part of it all. LOL We can't post our personal pics here, I wish we could(takes up too much in the server I think), but we can talk about gardening. Great thread Idea. |
Bumping
Bumping this for a friend.
|
Garden
I love to garden and I plan to start a greenhouse this year.
|
Garden
I have some wildflower seeds that I need to throw out on my land so that they can go through the winter process and bloom in the spring.
|
Gardening
Does anyone know how long I need to keep wildflower seeds in the freezer before I can plant them?
|
|
Gardening
Texas has had a warm winter so far and I am getting very excited to start planting gardens. I worry that we may have a late freeze but I am so excited. Like a kid on Christmas morning!
:cowboy: |
Gardening
I planted 4 O'clocks and more cilantro today. My Morning Glory's have sprouted and look good. I lost 2 Lantana to a freeze so they have to be replaced. The Rosemary is ready to be transplanted. The peach tree looks good and I hope to have peaches this year.
This is just the beginning of spring and I have a lot of work to do to get the rest of the herbs in place. Yay spring! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Maybe barter with a baker. :) |
I live in NE Ohio and love to garden. My gardens have always reflected how well I am doing in life. If I am scattered and falling apart, so are my gardens. If I am not succeeding in general, nor is my garden. If I am flourishing and happy my garden is colorful and productive. If I am really busy in one aspect of my life, my garden is put on hold. And when I have time to concentrate on it, I do a helluva job...
so for the past five years, I have been very busy in other aspects of my life until this year. This year I hope to put in herbs, and some perennials, a few roses, and a small vegetable garden, mostly gourds and melons, a few beans and two tomato plants. I have to redo all the plants around my house for they have gotten overgrown and I want to do more of a cottage garden in those spaces. I use to have an ENORMOUS herb garden at a different house, and hope to get that back, at this house. My problem is that the greenhouse I bought the herbs from, closed. They had 20 varieties of scented geraniums and I use to have all of them! I had at least 5 varieties of sage, mint, basils, thyme, etc. Does anyone have an herb shop they frequent that sells via catalog? Let me know! |
Quote:
|
On a lark, several years ago, I posted about how e joy able my day was spent helping my friend with her garden. It's so nice to see other's enjoy gardening, too. :)
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Chad and homoe's banter about baking pies reminded me that it's been awhile since I've baked a pie for my sweetheart. I didn't get around to it this week at all, due to my partner coming home after chemo and needing bedrest. This last week was a tough week on both of us. I love to make apple pies and berry pies. Once in a blue moon, I like to make Cherry pie. Good stuff, for sure. |
Quote:
I love bartering. I once repaired a femmes car for a homemade apple pie. :) |
Quote:
Thank you for the tip on seeds. I love gardening, my parents and grandparents were avid gardeners. I grow food, herbs, and flowers. Thank you, Chad |
My mother and sister were/are avid gardeners, and my sister married someone with magical gardening skills. I however have a major black thumb, and struggle to remember to water the trees and small number of plants we have.
My sister and her husband moved to Idaho this past January, and since there is such a small growing season, they started most of their plants in the house and are waiting for the thaw to plant. They have a large bank of floor to ceiling windows that are acting like a green house, and the pictures show that they are going to have a great bounty eventually. The biggest problem for the garden will be the dear living on the property, as they live in the Forest on a mountain, but my b-in-law thinks he can build a fence that will keep them out. We will see.......... |
Quote:
I am not really a cake baker..tho I can and do make cakes. I just dont favor doing them. Not like I do cookies and pies! I have won over many with my baking skills...it is a joy for me! |
Quote:
good luck on that..the fence line needs to be at least 9 foot high and even then if hungry, they will attempt to leap it. The best thing to do is to buy some mountain cat urine and keep it placed around the parameters of the garden. They stay away from their predators. The other thing they can do is to plant a hedge of boxwood around the fence line. They do not eat boxwood and its scent is strong to them and thus, they might not bother whats inside. I too live in a short season area..range 5. NE Ohio. I cannot start anything inside because we have 4 cats and they tear up my starts. We are considering putting grow lights in a room in the basement, for a seed starting area. It would keep the cats away. Maybe next year once I get this garden started. I freeze my seeds over from one year to the next. Most seeds that actually need a cold dormancy should be frozen for a few months, if not over the actual winter period. I had a pup that use to climb into my raised beds and pull up all my plants. Lord he was a terror! LOL. He was so happy with himself for "helping" I couldnt hold it against him! He has passed on (long story short, a neighbor shot him. The neighbor is now in jail) but I will never forget him wagging his tail, smiling at me with my huge sage plant in his mouth!LOL |
Quote:
I love fruit pies. |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
I might add that deer love to eat roses. It's their "chocolate." They tend to do that often in late fall as they forage for food. That's just awful what happened to your dog. My sincere condolences. :rrose: And .....Good Morning to all. Have a joyful day! |
Quote:
You can actually make mini greenhouses with the bottoms of plastic soda bottles. They fit pretty tightly around the pots so unless your cats were really determined, the starts would likely be safe. A 2 L bottle bottom fits snugly around a 4 inch pot, and the 750 ml bottle bottom fits around a 2.5 inch pot. I have some lemon and grapefruit seeds starting this way right now so here's a pic of what I mean. https://s22.postimg.org/sfp8sfx9p/P3190010.jpg |
I actually use these when I plant seedlings outside. Inside, my cats are prone to use any dirt for litter boxes. I have tried for a few years, and they have won each year. LOL. So I am resigned to starting things outside. I DO want to get a greenhouse going eventually. However, I tend to do things in a big way when in reality, my age and my physical limitations might prevent things from happening. I need to bear all this in mind. I dont believe I am limited until I go to do something. LOL.
What I have going for me, is that I did an internship in horticulture therapy, and specialized in creating gardens for those who had limitations. So, I am designing everything this time, to accomodate me as I continue aging. I have raised beds, and am putting in a few more this year. I grow things vertically when I can...like berries and grapes, peas and beans, gourds and melons. Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
My one boy would spend his time trying to get the lids off. Jet Kitty destroyed the terrariums I had started last year, using pop bottles. They were much like these, but I included a tiny fairy and some whimsical items like itty bitty tiny tools and flower pots. I had to give them away to save them. My tabby female is the one who scratches in the dirt and her momma, Tiny Teena is the main culprit who act as tho the pots are tiny litter boxes. The cats dont actually make it IN the dirt...the "fall out" drops to the side, but they scratch in the dirt... so i have poo and soil to clean up..and dead plants. I had hoped to screen in my mud room/enclosed front porch and put some starts in there, but not this year. Thats a project that has gotten delayed. the only plants I can have in my house right now are hanging plants... |
Quote:
I live in a densely populated urban setting, so I think I can use your helpful idea to grow starter plants at home. We have community gardens in various locales across the greater metro area, but I don't live close enough to any of them, to make use of this kind of program. So I'm going to make use of your idea. Thank you ! -------------------------------. I'm not an avid gardener, but I do like to garden in small ways. Especially if I can use small foot print ideas and try not to support anything to do with Monsanto. But that's getting harder and harder to do lately. I read somewhere recently that plastic is now found in the human food chain, so that's a scary thought. I did a tiny bit of looking online for resources that might come in handy (for anyone who wants to do their own research, etc). Here are two resources that might help: http://www.almanac.com/content/garde...-order-sources https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com...-non-gmo-seeds Happy Gardening. :) :bouquet: |
I just potted some rosemary and a bell pepper plant. I do believe I'm heading back out for more because I need some basil, romas, and jalapeños :)
|
Gardening
My morning glorys look great and are blooming. The cilantro is about an inch tall and looks great. The 4'o'clocks are not productive yet.
The peach tree has started blooming. Yay! Lastly, the Dewberry vines have new berries growing. Yay! :wateringgarden: |
Quote:
|
The weather has been so different in California this year, that my citrus and peach trees are already flowering, and my Japanese Empress tree is already growing leafs instead of blooms!
The Japanese empress loses all leafs in the late fall, grows beautiful flowers at the tip of all the branches in spring, and then grows large elephant sized leafs in summer/fall. Right now I have large green leafs, and a few of the branches have flowers. Because of the early blooms, the bees are barely buzzing, and I haven't seen the big carpenter bees around the empress tree at all. :( I am seriously worried about the lack of bees...I have maybe 10 honey bees buzzing my fruit trees! Last year there were so many I would have to close my door to get some quiet. Our food supply is in serious jeopardy without bees! |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Gardening
I bought two Lantana plants to replace the ones I lost to a freeze. I showed great restraint in the garden department today.
|
Gardening
Does anyone else inherit plants? I am wondering if this is normal or if my family is a little odd.
It seems that my grandmother's plants are a prized possession. :wateringgarden: Today I will plant Irises and salvia. |
when I lost my family farm, I lost all my grandmother's plants. She had roses, perrennials like poppies, solomons seal, etc. and seeding hollyhocks and four o clocks. We had acquired many of them and had them robustly growing on the farm. I had to leave it all behind. It made my heart sorrow even more so.
Quote:
|
yesterday I was able to gnab a load of wood chips from the city workers! They were on our street cutting trees. I asked if I could have the wood chips so they delivered them to me. I asked first if any of the trees had been diseased and they said no. So I have my young man coming over today to start spreading them out in my garden beds. Perfect for mulch! And to think I was going to order a truck of mulch for next weekend! SCORE!
Next weekend the ts garden gets tilled! Then off to the nursery to buy some plants! Oh! I live in the suburbs off the city. I got special permission recently to house my mini pony on my property! AND the city just gifted me the empty lot next door! Its HUGE! We are going to fence it in this summer then bring the little guy home in the fall! I am so excited! Who would have thought I would have a pony in my yard again? I am so lucky! And now free manure! |
Quote:
|
I finally got my berry garden in! Blueberries, blackberries and raspberries!
Veggie garden coming soon! My grand daughter is going to do this garden with me. I want her to grow up knowing where food comes from, that it isnt just found in stores! At an auction, I bought a weather vane (with a horse of course!) on a pole, for my garden. I love it so much! Sometime this week, I have to tackle my shade garden. It has become overgrown and I really need to get in there and pull out all the weeds! I went to Lowes for soil today and god help me...it took everything in me not to buy out the store! There was so much I wanted to get! So many new ideas! |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:06 AM. |
ButchFemmePlanet.com
All information copyright of BFP 2018