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?
Yeah, it’s stifling here!
They are hanging on by a thread but I am still hoping they will come back.
But hope springs eternal, I've planted some bush beans where the garlic was in hope of taking advantage of the big rainfall we are supposed to get from the remnants of Beryl.
Or maybe passive composting in that area for a year?
Jjust some thoughts knowing exactly how you feel.
I'm just whining because where I grew up all we had to do was till the ground and toss in the seeds or plants and we got very good yields, now I'm planting in areas where the topsoil has been stripped away and no amount of compost and peat moss seems to replenish that, it will take decades.
Then I put a piece of cut potato in a jar, some water, and it grew roots. Took them outside on the porch.
Two of the jars have leaves, one jar does have roots but it looks also like moldy, and the cloudy water smells.
Should I plant them in dirt now? And throw away the moldy sweet potato?
I feel obligated to continue this growing stuff, but will it end with new potatoes?
I could adopt them out.
100 pounds of sweet potatoes from slips of one potato!
That's a lot of pressure.
Videos said to change water every two or three days.
I have already failed.
However, this should be fun, right?
These suckers are growing by themselves.
There are so many so-called slips, I could have a 5 ft. x 5 ft. garden.
Planting in the morning, or very soon into available square planters.
Thanks Cwillie, I will do that!
My gardening these days is confined to the balcony and my indoor plants which are adjusting well. I am growing oat seeds in an old roasting pan to give Rocky some greens. Despite tenting saran wrap over the pan to keep the moisture in, the seeds have not germinated as well as I would like. However I did get some green blades growing and put them down for her and she munched the lot and pulled up a few. But she likes it and goes out for a taste daily except yesterday which was too hot for her.
We also have an elm tree seedling growing in a decorated watering can, With temps here in the 90s I'm watering the oat grass and the elm seedling daily. It will need to get planted out at the lake this fall.
Of course the things that yield the best and are easiest to grow are usually the things that are dirt cheap to buy in season.
I think if you can make several batches of various items by doing the canning storage maybe get ahead by a year worth of food, then it might start getting a little downhill from there? because you make a batch, eat a batch, and keep that cycle going. Living off-grid must be the best feeling in the world? ok maybe second best feeling in the world.. :)
cw -can you bring the plant indoors? Flowers mean fruit!
Rocky's new grass seeds germinate well so she is regularly munching on the new growth. I germinted some catalpa seeds R picked up in his travels. We
ll see if the tree grows here. Got an acorn planted too. I am growing a sweet potato in a pot. Not sure if I will just keep it for the leaves or try to get some tubers from it. That will need a much bigger pot.
The Sweet potatoes did have nice leaves.
I donated the plants to a neighbor, without guilt.
This all started when a sweet potato sprouted and I let it grow, all by itself.
nacy - apparently they can be grown indoors in a deep pot with lots of light. I'm not sure it would be worth trying. I gather outdoors they need a warm climate.
His name is Howard. He is light brown, digging his hole at noon.
We met face-to-face. My first thought, automatic, was to run water in all the holes to force him out. Recalling that my Dad, a tree surgeon used to stand there with a sharp pole to kill the gophers as they exited. Nah, that's not me.
This gopher will be protected under the "live and let live" standard. Even though he is a "rodent". I read that they eat insects. There are also piles of dirt made from red ants, and they are disappearing.
Nature is so fun to watch.