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?
This same family also turns a radio (?) on loudly enough on baseball and football days that I can hear it from my house which is more than 250' away.
Willie, can you sing more loudly than the crooning neighbor?
CWillie, I've been thinking about squirrel proof enclosures. I don't recall any good methods, but if you're concerned about a privacy fence being objectionable, make it beautiful. If it's in the shade, grow sweet peas and let them climb all over it. Morning glories are another option, and they're prolific growers.
I would think that neighbors would enjoy looking at something covered in flowers (which would cover all the wire and bracing underneath to keep out the squirrels.
I think chicken wire or something with smaller openings in the mesh would be appropriate, but better yet would be something with finer mesh. Having dealt with squirrels, we've found they're more creative than Houdini in getting in and out of places they don't belong.
As to just a privacy fence, wattles are easy to create if you have the branches. Vines such as morning glories can act as horizontal weavers. But the top would have to be covered to keep out the squirrels, so that's more of a harder task to achieve. Squirrels could probably just push the top right off.
There are some stunning wattles though. I saw photos of some displayed at one of the Hampton Gardens exhibits.
rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show/hampton-gallery. Look at the "Trend Spotting" photo on the left hand side, about 1/2 way down the screen. I've NEVER seen such a complex wattle fence as that one!
BTW, your post on stewardship of the land is very poetic, insightful, and touching.
Sharyn, some gardeners do make hoop houses, not only initially for protection from the cold but also for specific vegetables, such as cabbages. Some use a fine tulle over wires bent and anchored in the ground; the tulle allows air to penetrate (which plastic used for early crops doesn't).
When I've seen tulle in the bridal sections of fabric stores, I never thought that someone might use it for crop protection.
Or, here lies my favorite last dog in my favorite garden spot works too.
Weed it and reap!
dont mean to sound braggy but i try to teach the boys to turn off the tv and think for themselves . that s*it on tv aint real ..
i have never marched to someone elses drum beat . thats why even tho i have a perfectly fine toilet in the bathroom , i still crap in a bucket . i just dont have a need to do things like everybody else does . my old trike is a greasy , homemade abomination but when i rattle past columns of shiny harleys i have to turn my head away so they cant see me laughing at them . its really liberating to choose your own values without any outside influence .
its occurred to me that many of the best things in life are things that dont require money . things like self respect , integrity , contentment , perseverance, patience , etc .
the economic collapse of 07 was engineered by government . it was meant to cool down an overheated economy based on debt , before it turned into another 30 ' s style depression . i dont think things will ever return to the same level of crass consumerism that we had in the 80 ' s and 90 ' s and indeed i hope it doesnt . it wont be long till a tiny , sustainable home on a small dirt plot will triple in value even as the stapled together mc mansions are rotting down . its already happening in my area .
I've been dreaming (again) of building a squirrel proof garden but I feel intimidated by my neighbours living here in town (no privacy fences). I wouldn't feel comfortable slapping together an unsightly enclosure, and an attractive one would take major work and dollars.
I grew up really believing that farmers were stewards of the land, not just another corporate entity out to take as much as possible. My dad would walk the land and creek every Spring, looking for things that needed to be addressed. He got off the tractor and moved the killdeer nests instead of running them over. Of course farms and equipment were smaller then.
I've often thought I would have made a great pioneer, I relish the simple tasks of digging and planting and harvesting and putting up the fruits of my labours. I would rather live in a shack built with my own hands than a cookie cutter home meant to please the masses. So how did I end up just another rat in the race??
Get a cheap florescent shop light and put in one cool light and one warm light bulb, then stick your seedlings right below but not touching the lights. Keep them on at least 14 hours a day. Know your plants so you can keep the temp where they like it best, tomatoes like it warm. And don't forget to water!
its more about 70 ish degree temps busting your seeds than sunlight .
ive started them in the window box before and i know ill have to remove them from direct sunlight or they ' ll grow too rapidly and lack stem diameter .
too tall , too fast ..
im not very bright , i have to rely on past experiences to guide me .
my rainwater system is proving itself adequate enough to support a toilet by now and possibly even my washing machine , but old habits die hard .
i dont WANT to be like everybody else .
great for plants , but pretty toxic where shellfish are concerned .
americans utilize human waste too but we pretend to sterilize it beforehand .
whatever ..
cutesy terminology makes americans think their exceptional . imo , we are not .
we are innovative , hard working , and smart -- just like 80 % of the world .
offense intended to the 20 % of people who cant seem to establish anything resembling a society , use r@#$ as a war weapon , and employ child soldiers .
i always wholeheartedly seek advice -- then i do what i wanted to do in the first place .
how do we seperate thought from reality ? i might be raising healthy cherry trees or i could be in an asylum right now , staring at a padded wall , screaming -- i found a place to empty my s*it bucket ..
who's to say who's right or wrong ?