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?
SendMe,
As to intent and background: My yard is long and narrow close to the end of the block; there are 5 neighbors on the N side, 2 on the E side, and one, an abandoned house, on the S side. It's part of the N side and the S side that I want to block off, and create privacy fences through trellises. I've priced actual fences, and it's a bit more than I want to spend for a place I want to leave in a few years. When my father's gone, I have no reason whatsoever to stay in this area.
I do have honeysuckle, and some of the older vines are thick enough to be used in a trellis, but I don't think they're stand alone vines or have the strength support that would be needed for that, but they could provide lovely, fragrant covers.
I do understand that most bamboos are invasive, but as I recall from a previous discussion on another forum, there is one variety that's not. That's an excellent suggestion.
I would check with the Michigan DNR to make sure the variety isn't invasive, but frankly I don't think they do anything about nonnative invasive if they're not on public property. One of the neighbors has a black locust which is very invasive and nothing's been done about it, even by the city.
CWillie,
Sturdiness is one of my concerns. I have visions of peacefully hoeing one warm sunny day and suddenly having a whole trellis collapse on me.
What I probably would do is plant morning glories, my favorite vining crop, as well as beans and peas and possibly some other annual viners. I might even run strings down to the ground to channel some of the weight off the verticals.
Using scrap wood was my intention as I don't want to put a lot of money into a place where I don't plan to stay.
I was thinking of wood trunks of at least 2 -3" in diameter for the verticals, and even just string from one vertical to another but preferably other branches trimmed from the many vigorous and unwanted trees in the area. I was thinking of weaving the horizontals into the verticals in a wattle style.
When you plant yours, do you support the trunks in any way, such as staking them to posts in the ground, or planting them in cement? I want to avoid the latter, as I really don't want to go to the trouble of creating fence posts along the long property border.
The use of metal is something I've considered, but thought generally in terms of PVC b/c it's white and wouldn't be as visible as something darker. However, I've read that there's a powder type dust used as a finisher that can be toxic, so I'd need to do more research on that.
On another subject: has anyone made trellises from vines in their yard? I'm thinking of a combination of grapevines and honeysuckle vines, but wonder if they're strong enough.
The older, thicker vines might be, or could be if wrapped together in a doubling effect. Or what I might do is use tree limbs for the vertical posts and vines for the horizontals, which don't have to be as strong.
Any suggestions?
And I spotted the dibble! It is beautiful, painted with flower design down the wooden handle. Will try to pull it out tomorrow and take a picture of it.
I had a break in the rain around 3:pm so i did plant around 70 bulbs.soil here is very sandy so very easy to do to...about 30 minutes total.
This bed has drip irrigation. There is good points and bad to having sandy soil. Lacks organic matter which is added as compost andy it dries
I was thinking of you and all your bulbs as I remembered a few times when I bought so many bulbs I was still planting around Thanksgiving. I learned my lesson, though.
Sharyn, is your cat an outdoor cat, or does he just go out occasionally?
Sharyn, I have a hard time with the shovel action too!