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?
We park there to eat our lunch.
We decided to leave the gardening to the real gardeners.
I finished the bamboo clean up yesterday and by the time I got done I was so sore I couldn’t sleep. Better today.
How much snow do you get on average over there?
50” is a lot of snow but I understand what you mean about the peacefulness. I used to be able to tell, even before getting out of bed in the morning or looking out the window, whether it had snowed during the night, just because of the muffled quiet. I miss it a little, but only a little.
I finally had a plumber out yesterday to replace the leaky outdoor faucet. But when I hooked everything back up and turned it on I had a geyser in the back border between the woods and the yard. I’m glad it’s almost monsoon season.
I think the wildlife around here preferred the previous owner and are working together to sabotage me. I must say, I’m offended, but I don’t blame them.
daughter - what a wonderful selection. and Oh My flowers that bloom in the winter. I wish! I remember seeing roses blooming in a garden in Scotland in February in the snow
nacy - zinnias have such vibrant colours.
Psue - geysers - I used to point mine at the parts of the garden that needed water the most. Of course I got wet in the process, but in the summer it was kind of fun. I had a resident red squirrel who was very territorial. Always had one over the 40 years. Couldn't have been the same one I think. Early on he set up his home in the garage, which I couldn't allow. I tried everything tasty to entice him out but he wouldn't budge. So I thought "No more Mr Nice Guy" and pulled down the garage door leaving just enough room for a squirrel to escape. Then I turned on the car and let it run. Mr Squirrel got the message very fast, left and never returned to the garage. He was smart.
The critters are really something around here. Both the cushions on my front porch loveseat have had all the piping chewed off. Birds sit on the windowsills and jump at their reflections. Bats roost in the patio umbrella. Chipmunks climb our ‘hobbit’ doors and scratch to get in. Owls wake me up at night. Frogs chirp in the downspouts (sounds like they’re using a megaphone) I love/hate them all!
Nacy, I did the same thing with all my plants when I moved. The light is very different here and I knew they would be goners if I brought them. My poor girlfriends managed to absorb them all.
I curated down to 6 which was difficult but a lot less work.
Psue -sounds like you have a zoo there! We had bats when I grew up and lots of excitement trying to catch them when they got in the house. My father would run around swiping at them with a towel while my sister and I ducked and shrieked while we covered our hair.
We have 4 catalpa seedlings remaining. They are not happy since I brought them in doors, so we will see. Rocky tried to eat one so I have to put them somewhere safe and bring her grass inside.
The farmer combined his wheat field outside our place yesterday and today so I dare not go out (allergies). Even R was suffering from the grain dust b/c of going outside We are keeping the windows and patio doors tight shut.
It’s fun to arrange all my ghost and goblins again but I find as I’m up on the ladder for the first time this year, I’m pulling the real spider webs off the ceiling beams so I can hang up the fake ones!
I did take a good photo of an enormous orb spider outside the kitchen window with several beetles in her web. Very messy, but I will leave her there for Halloween.
Nacy, we get no trick or treaters here. Our house looks a little bit witch-in-the-woods-y and is set down a steep driveway in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or streetlights. Not very inviting to tasty little children (cackle, cackle)!
Hope to find new friends on this site.
We have had the gas fireplace on and also the furnace at times, but then this is Canada and we have had the air conditioning on and the patio doors open too.
We find the condo temp hard to regulate. It gets too hot very quickly. We have learned to prop the front door open a bit to get a current of air through from the hallways, which is usually cooler than in here. There has been one frost only but more are coming.
Geese and ducks have been feeding outside in the field after the combining. Good pickings!
I’m envious of your pond but wonder how you keep the raccoons and other critters from feasting on your fish. I have a spot in my lawn that stays wet until June and I’ve been wondering what to do with it since I can’t mow down there until the grass is a foot high. Not sure about a pond because of the abundance of destructive critters I already feed, not to mention the maintenance. It would be beautiful down there though since that part of the yard is overlooked by the main floor deck.
I have been researching trees that will grow in our clay soil and the list is not long. Half the year it is heavy and wet and the other half it is a brick. But I am desperate for some more brilliant Fall color as the house is surrounded by huge firs and aging big leaf maples that turn golden brown but not red or orange.
Nacy, I’ve had mixed luck with old bulbs. Seems like the gophers get to them before they can get a root-hold. It will be fun to see what you get in the Spring.
Golden, I almost missed that you grew the Catalpas from seed! Bravo!!
I have a 50' x150' lot near a lake and about 10 minutes drive away from here in what once once a summer village, but is becoming a bedroom community for people to commute to the city. It is overgrown with tansy and poplars right now, but we plan on planting some more trees - apples, a Shubert chokecherry, the catalpas, and whatever. And also probably will grow some veggies and berries eventually and some perennials. I miss my Japanese anemones, delphiniums, hostas and roses.
We have a seed thing going here. R collects seeds and dries them. Then we try germinating them. We have some apple seeds drying now. It's really one of his hobbies but I am happy to help.
Would a Japanese maple work at your place? Apparently they tolerate clay soil as will a Virginia creeper and both turn red in the fall. I miss my Virginia creeper.
My neighbor behind me has big beautiful sugar maples , bright orange in fall . They are in clay soil next to a swale , which in heavy rains turns into a stream . My back yard is higher on a hill on my street and is flat but slightly pitched down . Rain runs into the swale in my neighbors yard . Those tree roots must be in wet clay on the one side and they do fine . They’ve been there 20 years . We also have had some very dry summers past few years . 15 years ago we had a couple of really wet summers . Nothing seems to affect these trees.
Japanese Maples are on my list. I have three, but they are the lacy leafed kind, one green/peachy, one red/burgundy and one really weird one that with such fine grey-green leaves they look like fuzz. I was considering an upright, larger leafed variety. There is a gorgeous one I’ve seen that’s luminous copper until it goes dark in the Fall. There are so many beautiful Japanese maples and I have a great spot for one (or two or three) more.
Way,
I hadn’t thought about Sugar Maples. Great suggestion! I will look into those. There are four areas on the property I’d like to selectively ‘re-tree’ and sugar maples might work well in that too wet/too dry spot if they can handle being in the shade much of the day. There is an enormous big leaf maple stump in that spot and I suspect the decomposition of the roots over time is contributing to the sinking soil there. We call it the swamp from November through June.
Golden again,
How nice to have a place to retreat to and dig in the dirt. And near a lake! Good soil then! Bonus! Are the chokecherries you speak of trees or shrubs?
And thank you for mentioning Virginia Creeper. It had run through my mind (on the way to somewhere else apparently) when we first moved in. I have very fond childhood memories of the Virginia Creeper that grew over the windows of our house and I could sit inside and study the bees very close up.
Now I just need several thousand dollars and someone very strong who has a pickup truck and enjoys digging holes in bricks!
We had clay back in Ontario when I was a child. Lots grew in it. We had climbing roses all over the garage, phlox, forget me nots, day lilies, sweet williams, snow drops, those tall chrysanthemums, holly hocks, caragana. lilacs, cedars, maples,...A neighbour had a great apple tree. Mother had a vegetable garden.
cw - decisions, decisions but not of the worst kind.
We have flocks of geese and ducks in the field outside feeding on the left over grain. They've been at it for a couple of days now. I love to hear the honking and quacking as they land. Then they chatter a bit amongst themselves as they are feeding, You see family units working together. After a while, more honking and quacking as they leave. I haven't got a pic yet of the flocks circling. I haven't been fast enough with my camera. The magpies, interestingly enough are quiet when the geese are here - a welcome change from the squawking they often do in the daytime, especially when Rocky goes on the balcony. They were chatting quietly to the each other after the geese left - quite pleasant sounds for a change.
R, of course, thinks of bringing down a few geese but we are in town.
Story about duck hunting and sand hill cranes.
An guy was talking about his "catch" when he shot a sand hill crane along with geese and ducks. He tried cooking it but it was very tough.
An old geezer told him "You have to use the Rock method".
"Rock method?"
" Yes. Put a rock in with the sand hill crane and cook them till the rock is done, Then throw anay the crane".
"T-t-t-that's all folks"
Nacy, a patiette! I laid one this year too. It was a lot of fun, like a jigsaw puzzle, until the last 3 pieces. I was working between a curved stacked stone wall, a straight concrete sidewalk and a wood deck so those last 3 pieces were a real challenge. Got it done though and it’s pretty!
Golden, seeds are a smart idea. I don’t know if I have the patience for it but it would be very rewarding to reforest some of this property with trees I start myself. It’s definitely shocking to see the prices of trees in the nursery.
A week or so ago I’d noticed some weeds coming up in the gravel along the side of the house. They can’t be seen from the windows but I knew Id better get at them before the rains start or they will be huge by Spring. I gathered my gear and went out to get started and WONDER OF WONDERS! They aren’t weeds they’re Cyclamen! Dozens and dozens and dozens of them! I’m chortling in my joy!