It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
When I posted my experiment on Nextdoor.com to see if anyone else had done it, it got 6K views. I had no idea there were so many other frustrated yard warriors, like me.
Have any of you tried micro clover as a replacement to grass?
Here we have huge live oak trees. They are gorgeous but grass will not grow underneath them. The roots are massive!
It’s common for us to plant Asian jasmine ground cover, which is lovely and extremely hardy.
That was my most rewarding gardening adventure, keeping plants that are treated as annuals, which we live in climates that allow perennial life, alive and producing for years.
The smaller the tomato, for my climate, the better. I'm guessing you have more rain and can do the bigger ones easier.
All of mine were in 24" minimum pots, just FYI.
Enjoy your harvest!
Need, there's an older neighborhood in Vero Beach, FL that is full of live oaks and it's such a pretty drive. I'm up in Zone 4... I'll look up the jasmine ground cover.
I am sorry that you lost your tomato plants.
7 years is a long span of time. That’s fabulous!
I really want to try my hand at growing tomatoes. We do get our fair share of rainfall.
My favorite tomatoes here are creole tomatoes. They are absolutely delicious! I love creole tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and cherry or grape tomatoes.
My dad grew tomatoes. Grandpa too. Grandma would can them. I know nothing about canning.
Grandma had a fig tree in her backyard. I ate the fresh figs right off the tree. She had so many figs that she canned fig preserves. The preserves were good too.
Are tomatoes prone to insects? I wish that I would have let daddy teach me about gardening when I was younger.
He offered to show me shortly after we moved into our home. I wasn’t as interested then. I was busy with other things.
I told him that I think that is the case but that I wasn’t completely sure of my answer.
I am not going to wait until they turn red. I can’t wait to taste my peppers!🫑
They aren’t quite ready to pick yet. I know what I want to make with them. Stuffed peppers.
Bought some pots yesterday, going to pot them separately, and give one to my friends and neighbors.
Hopefully they are as cute as they look on google
I love sunflowers! 🌻
I'd give you one though needs. 😊 If I could.
I would gladly take it. I would swap some of my peppers for a sunflower! 😊
He started placing metal sheeting around the trunks of his trees so that the squirrels can’t get to the bird houses.
We are invaded with squirrels, like I've never seen before.
They ate a hole in my and neighbors bird feeder . We have 3 cats, boys being boys husband bought a pellet gun, shooting near them. They didn't care. Neighbor put hot sauce all over and near his poll, they didn't care.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg
It's very similar to this one, but not my exact model:
https://www.amazon.com/Squirrel-Outdoors-Protection-Cardinal-Chickadee/dp/B0CJ96ZKG2/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3JRG5P5R7HSO5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VrgxfoNdIGkwCVEGF0q7SkKLV93S87bgrq4Vzg7kAmt9-xGMIfXh8A2MQqx0Zm6V5RPh5F-JVG_pj0A16NZ1MP3LNogadrLvoKx99Zg11-KgGQn8qJv09iO2v8Ex3x5nO_Yn6v9_PrhhVwGlIjF4vID_Wc8WZRAGem6HHA06dgQ64SzidgQYxAgffc5H6nOgsxNYBAriNKgYFSubrFYz_EK-5vnyyeXJ_k4uLxPx1s5bmcpPz0kT_7qaWrmdH6iK5jYagYCwNyoht944M01BpMTDvI8Q9Vn0dhEBMEYFOnM.uijOULRRPqL4-3EjHxyJTOssUqcp0tQFcQ8nMcLm9kw&dib_tag=se&keywords=squirrel+proof+bird+feeder&qid=1718111058&sprefix=squirrel+proof+bird+feeder%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-7
I've had mine for a long time, maybe even 10 years or more.
However the squirrels do love drinking the nector out of my oriole feeder, like a bunch of drunken sailors.
I have a garden (small) that is a jungle of blooming high cineraria, brugmansia, jasmine, california poppies, foxglove.
I leave in two weeks for a month on Puget Sound with the DD, and am letting the partner watch over the yard, as he does yearly for a solid month. I want to try to clear out what I can of the spent blooms and yesterday filled one Lowe's garden waste bag and two huge greens containers (the tenants and ours).
Worked all day and had myself at last down on the ground with the proverbial "I cannot get up". Had to use the nearest tree (the brugmansia with it's yellow trumpet blooms) to pull myself to my feet. Have a blister on my thumb.
Nothing more strenuous than the Golden Gate Park dog park today, and eating things bad for me while listening to podcasts.
I hope I just "go" before I cannot get down into the earth. (wait, you DO get down into the earth when you go). I WILL NOT hire out this work I so love, let them have the fun, and pay them 50.00 an hour (the going rate on NextDoor here to do it while nanny helpers for moms only get about 35.00.
I will be gone June 25/July 25 and I never take ANY social media of ANY type with me, nor a computer. I do have a few friends here whose email I have on phone, should I fall in the Sound and have time to type in a message. But otherwise you kids are FREE OF ME FOR A MONTH, as happens ever year.
I do not want to hear too much celebration about that fact.
Have a great time. Many many a times I read a post and think , oh Alva needs to answer this one.
Take good care of yourself 💓
Btw, hubby doesn't know I spent 50 dollars 🤫. I don't disagree it was probably not the smartest purchase, we just never had this large of squirrel issue before. Birds where mad and banging on the window