General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGardeners are the most optimistic people in the world.
I have my storm supplies ready and I need to wait for hubby so we can both start to batten down the hatches, so I decided to use my time by visiting the hardware store to pick up garden supplies for the next garden project. There is reason behind my madness. I was in this house after Charlie in 2004 and we didn't have electricity for two days. It helped to keep my mind off my discomfort by gardening. Don't ask me why, but as long as I keep moving, the heat doesn't bother me. My son and his friend had cleaned up all the hurricane debris, so I proceeded to remove ferns from a small landscaped area on my property in order to plant daylilies. It would have been very therapeutic if not for the neighbor's grandkid who was propped on the wall across the street, obviously keeping an eye on my activities. It was pretty obvious that he was following orders to protect the next-door neighbor's vacant yard, who was a crony. Certainly someone they could depend on for quid pro quos over the years. (Really, such bullshit has to be experienced in order to appreciate what's really happening in these red suburban communities.)
Anyway, I went down to the hardware store today and couldn't stop beaming when I found like-minded souls filling their carts with mulch bags, soil and plants. I think it's important to remember that one should be prepared for the worst, but the waiting is hell and, sometimes, you just have to do something normal to help yourself stay centered.
niyad
(113,612 posts)speaking as one myself, I can say this.
I tell you what. I have great bone density tests, and I get plenty of Vitamin D for free.
niyad
(113,612 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, mint, some tobacco, and other smoke.
I worked hard to grow these things. Watering, nurturing etc.
Things looked good, thriving, vital. Then the grasshoppers came.
The worms came. Rats too. The peppers have been spared, but
everything else has been hit hard. I need a greenhouse. So much work
and in the matter of a few days---so much destruction.
I'm still an optimistic person though.....
I had a much bigger garden a few years ago. I looked out one morning
and saw the deer in there. Argggh!
Baitball Blogger
(46,768 posts)I grow sections of my garden just for them. Host plants for butterflies and some low growing yummies for the rabbits. I also help the tadpole population in my frog pond whenever I get them to spawn. I've gone years without anything. This year is a banner year, and the babies are emerging, just in time to knock out the silkworms.
LeftInTX
(25,606 posts)I've got loquats and that is it.
For some reasons rats don't bother them.
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)Things have to be done at specific times, if you dawdle, it's next year for that.
mopinko
(70,268 posts)a lesson that you dont die from procrastinating and losing a season. there is always next year.
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)There's always next year. I admit that I don't always succumb to the pressure of needing to do it now or lose it for a year at least. I found I like lying in the hammock too.
mopinko
(70,268 posts)i have always thought perfection was a dubious goal, anyway. in nature, especially, you are just never gonna achieve it. why disappoint yourself?
a better goal is enough.
every year my garden gets better, and i get to be a better gardener. the trees grow taller. that's enough.
WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)We moved from a zone 10 and almost 12 month growing season to a zone 6b or 7a with lots of weird bugs and crab grass that is more than tenacious.
I was a dreamer and oblivious to the obvious and fenced off an acre of semi flat land and started my native garden. There have been lots of things (okay, problems) along the way, but this year I have an almost completely workable water system and lots of the plantings have settled in. Of course, it will probably always be a work in progress, but I see some this year. That really creates such a feeling of accomplishment and contentment. But of course, one can never be too content, there is always more to do.
Have fun digging in the dirt!
mopinko
(70,268 posts)literally no soil.
long story. if you are really geeky you can go to my link and hear me talk about dirt for a half an hour. it's the latest video.
Bayard
(22,181 posts)As the t-shirt says, Gardening is cheaper than a shrink, and you get tomatoes.
For the past 5 weeks, the contractor has been here ripping my house apart to put in a new kitchen and bathroom, new driveway and pond. I have not had any time at all for the gardens, flower or vegetable. The weeds have gone out of control. I have to just avert my eyes when I walk past or it drives me nuts. I am however, getting great watermelons and pumpkins now.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I found out strawberries were armadillo bait.
Have not seen one since I stopped the strawberries ( developed a late life allergy to them!)
Baitball Blogger
(46,768 posts)Just now getting into strawberry lemonade - low cal option.
Atman
(31,464 posts)We still have lots of stuff from last winter. Our yield hasn't been great this season because of the bizarre New England summer, but we'll still quite well. Tons of tomatoes of various types, lots of heirlooms, plus the standards for sauces and salsas. Lots of cucumbers for pickling and salads, so many beans (green, yellow, lima, you name it) we've been giving them away. Peppers; green, jalapeño, red chilis, you name it. Loads of spaghetti squash, enough basil to fill a swimming pool with pesto. Probably 4O lbs of garlic, bushels of onions. Even red potatoes and sweet potatoes. And it's all organic. We're ready for the zombie apocalypse.