
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?
Maybe I will just start to talk to the grasshoppers, ask them what they like to eat, give them that as a trade off to not eat my favorite plants.
In the 70's T.V series, KUNG FU", David Carradine was called 'grasshopper'.
Maybe I don't want to be in charge of life and death.
Are these bearded or Siberian irises?
They can also be early, mid season or late bloomers.
Sandy soil could make a difference; Instead of fertilizing them, you might try adding some well composed cow manure, sold in bags in garden centers. You can add it by hoeing out a circle several inches away from the iris, digging down maybe 5-6" and working the manure in. If it still has an odor, just spread it out on top of the soil and let it cure a bit before working it in.
One way you can tell if they'll be blooming properly is to dig up one plant, carefully and tenderly, and put it up in a deep container with your sandy soil mixed with good potting soil). It's kind of like the canary in the coal mine.
If it blooms and the others don't, you'll know something is amiss, either the placement of the bulbs, soil, or maybe some other unknown factor.
The good news is that the bouganvillas are doing nicely. We are killing the grasshoppers that were eating them. Poor, ugly things. Is it okay to kill them, or should we try to co-exist? They really creep me out.
If I were worried, (and you planted so many) I would dig one up and take a look. Re-check if you faced them up the right way? Don't you think there would be a little green growth showing underground?
Don't ask me which way is up-Sorry, I just don't know. Anything with bulbs in my garden grew by itself-I didn't even plant them there!
We will all be waiting to hear!
I totally missed that Stacey's partridges were in a pear tree :)
Partridge is a game bird in some areas, here it is more of an upper foothills / mountain bird, si.Ilario to the quail.
Pheasant is very good, I am not a fan of duck.... it tastes more like beef liver.
Re: the pheasants, is there a wild population in your area? You never know, there could be some descendants of those little chicks out there somewhere!
"...gardening connects us to nature and eternity like nothing else can, finding and coaxing growth in even the most sterile seeming environments, connecting to the universal cycle of life."
That's such a beautiful, poetic and insightful observation.
You're not off target in thinking that plants can hear us. I've read of scientific studies in which it's been observed that plants do communicate with each other to warn of insect predators. I haven't yet read of any studies supporting the theory that they can communicate with us, or at least hear us. But I do fuss over them and try to make them happy!
I think there's been and will continue to be a resurgence in growing one's own food, not only for the purity of food compared to commercial food with its chemical additives, but because of the bonds with nature that are formed.
Raising chickens also seems to be practiced on a more widespread basis. I'm surprised to read on gardening forums how knowledgeable some nonfarming folks are about the lives of chickens.
I am hoping to make a naturalized area at the back of my tiny town property, and today I noticed that the jacob's ladder and sweet woodruff are sending out tiny shoots and the buds are swelling on my little serviceberry tree. Changing the environment seems frustratingly slow sometimes and I envy those who just hire a landscaper to come in and do it all, but doing it myself, gradually, is the whole point of gardening.
I miss having acres of land to play with and plan for, I miss digging the beds and preparing for planting, I miss the scent of the earth and the feel if the soil between my fingers. Puttering around in flowerbeds and planters just isn't the same.
not really , ive had a fun day . im trying to get used to treating myself since theres nobody else left , and myself likes a good brat with a good whole wheat brotchen roll .