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?
(I never tried predator urine, that might be interesting)
This is not gardening related but I saw the mention of critters.
I was in our condo workout room yesterday and was on the treadmill next to the window. I saw a spider. One of those spiders that have the big body and the two long antenna looking legs on the front and the back. Not sure what kind they are. I wasn't too alarmed. It was on the outside of the glass. So I'm wiping the treadmill down after my workout and started really looking at the spider. To my absolute disgust and horror, there are about thirty more of them on the window. Maybe more. I lost count at 25.
I wrote a note and left it for the front desk person who wasn't there. I know the spiders were outside but just the thought of all those spiders growing to the size of the big one (the mom?) I truly would probably never work out there again if they don't get an exterminator in. I mean one or two spiders, yeah. But 30 or more? Someone get me a blow torch and I'll do it!
Use a stick to help them get out.
Call 911 to take them out.
Folklore voodoo and predator urine.
Allow them to live in the garage.
Use of a blow torch.
Where can I get one? Maybe using a blowtorch on weeds will help.
I will wear a costume, go door-to-door asking if they want their weeds blowtorched.
Mwah ha ha ha ha.
Gardening at it's best!
I'll wear a disguise. No one has to know it's me right. I'll get a Spider man costume at the Halloween store. Get it? Spider man costume. Appropriate right?
Spider woman I mean......................:)
"Where to buy a blow torch".
For gardening purposes.
Yeah, got it!
And CWillie' s costume can be a crickett uniform.
Sorry gardeners! Didn't mean to highjack your thread. With a blow torch............
Oh no, I'm getting into a silly, laughing stupidly by myself, kind of mood.
Good thing you and I didn't know each other when we were younger Send. Just think of the trouble we would have gotten into.
Better than other things I could be full of I guess.
Four years ago, and we are still talking about September critters in our gardens.
If I recall correctly, one of those years found GA wearing a ghilly suit.
Congratulations! GA for starting this fun and successful thread! 2K Comments, and 4 years going strong.
Gershun,
There has been a whole lot of laughing on this thread for years. I don't ever think of you as hijacking any threads. If you even have cat litter and cat grass, you are a gardener!
Click on "Oldest First" and it will be September 2015.
But thanks for the kind words; they're always welcome in these trying times.
To tell the truth, I am still not sure what a ghillie suit is, so I remember that.
And Gladimhere had some kind of hat? I think it was for when caregivers needed to hit their heads against the wall.
Anyway, so happy we are still here.
The changes for the fall season throughout the country (and the world)
are very interesting. It does not snow here, but when Fall turns to winter,
it makes good reading when Y'all are shoveling snow.
Love you!
Did you see the two young women (Harvard graduates) on Shark Tank television show who were launching a business with insect snacks? They tried crickets and scorpions in their travels. Always interesting to see how ideas are born.
They had traveled to different parts of the world and found it fascinating that eating bugs was a great protein source and created different flavors of cricket chips.
The panel sampled their products and I believe two of the sharks invested in their business. Your cute cricket story reminded me of that episode. Would you ever eat bugs?
It is true though, various cultures eat totally different than we do. Eating bugs is normal for them.
Our insectarium in New Orleans has certain items like chocolate covered ants and so forth. I haven’t tried them. My daughter did. But she was always that ‘jump right in’ personality.
She was the kid that climbed to the highest part of a tree, no doubt a few seconds later I would hear, “Mommy!” I would have to climb up there and get her down.
She had the same ‘Devil may care’ attitude that I had in my youth. Very carefree, not thinking about ‘what happens next?’ Oh, youth! That adventurous spirit.
Why do we have to age? We should be designed to reach out optimum age and get to stay there. Gosh, not sure what year I would pick. Maybe 21! 21 was a good year for me. Or at least get to stay 21 for about 10 years or so! Good idea, right? Or wrong? Just being silly...
I used to garden with grandpa when I was young. He grew beautiful flowers in the front yard and veggies in the back yard. I loved it as a kid because I could dig in the dirt. Plus just watching nature is soothing. Watching flowers and veggies grow is very satisfying.
I haven’t been able to do any of that for years. Maybe I will do something small. I have all evergreens, low maintenance now that a gardener takes care of. Hubby had shoulder surgery. I have horrible allergies.
I miss seeing flowers in my yard. I’d love to plant a small veggie garden but I don’t have a clue where to start.
A long time ago I took a basic course that was put on by LSU agriculture department but I don’t remember any of it. I do remember our instructor saying don’t plant garlic unless we wanted to wait the same amount of time as having a baby to harvest it, 9 months!
I've started garden clean up. Nothing is thriving, even tomato ripening is slow. I harvested the basil and some other herbs for freezing/drying last weekend. I didn't get any fall plants started. I'll prep a small area for garlic planting in a month or so. Not a great year for vegetables but the flowers were really nice, especially all the sunflowers. I put all the spent plants in an unused raised bed. We're in a semi-rural zone so I can burn them (a little at a time).
I love garlic! Yeah, see what you mean about plant and forget. That would be low maintenance. Can that be planted in a container or is it better in the ground?
My daddy did green bell peppers in a container and they did really well.
He even had a lemon tree in a container and he had tons of lemons. His kumquat tree was in the ground. That did well too. Daddy was a good gardener too.
Another concern that I always had a dog. They pee and poo all over! Now I no longer have a dog but dog sit for my daughter. How do you keep an animal from getting into the veggies planted?
Send, if I were you I'd make a grouping of large pots rather than try to construct a raised bed. An eclectic mix of pot sizes and flowers and veggies can be quite attractive.
Have to slime the tires when ready to drive it around the yard.
🚜🚜🚜😦😦😧
Guess I will order bulbs instead.🌸🌹🌷🌼🌻🌺🌾🌈🌽
I have a Slime air compressor and know that it's a producer of automotive products, but beyond that, I'm in the dark as to what's going on with your JD tractor (?)
Did goats actually butt the tires, put holes in them and cause them to go flat? What does "sliming" the tires mean?
Glad's goatheads are a vicious kind of horned weed pod, I had a busy afternoon learning all about them after she first mentioned them on the forum!
Goat head flat, CW got it right. Nasty weed officially called puncture vine. They puncture tires very easily. So you buy fluorescent green slime, remove the tire valve to completely flatten the tire, then pour in slime, inflate tire, drive to spread slime throughout the interior of the tire. And the slime repair is supposed to last two years with small punctures. Will give it a try, hope it works.🌾🌾🌽🌽 and stay out of goat head area with the tractor.
I confess I thought Glad lived in an area with wild goats that went around butting the tires on her John Deer (tractor?). I could envision her driving erratically while trying to avoid charging goats.
Glad, I use slime in my 4 wheeler and I have never had a flat tire and believe me, I would have been walking without the slime. The tire store actually puts it in as a service when you buy new tires.
It is not recommended for highway tires, the speed and balance seems to be an issue. It stays fluid so I can imagine that you might feel it in the handling of the vehicle.
I live in an area with those dreadful puncture vines, it is a seasonal hunt to stop them from going to seed. Grrrr!
https://patch.com/michigan/farmington-mi/weeds-got-your-goat-these-goats-will-get-your-weeds
What more can you ask for from a mowing machine? Mine doesn't even baaaa when I greet it even though it's a good machine.
I'd love to have some, if for nothing else than to demonstrate to the city and "neat lawn freaks" that there are climate friendly ways to maintain lawns, beside their obsessive mowing.
Currently on tap, if Virginia EVER cools off, is taking the back corner and transforming it from messy unused space to a native perennial hangout with a bench and whatever else appeals. I've done pollinators in the dry creek bed, watched monarch caterpillars eat up the milkweed and become gorgeous winged creatures. Love it all, GardenArtist, and YES, it nurtures my soul.