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 do 1 1/2 Cups sugar and about 3 1/2 cups of boiling water.
Itrr...the HB must love your mix.
I do boost the amount of sugar when they start migrating.
And I always have grape jelly out for the Baltimore Oriels.
"If a plant is sad, do other plants photosympathize with it?"
"I feel like I should clean the house, so I'm going to my garden to play until the feeling passes."
"I don't remember planting this."
🙂 "Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes."
"You can bury any number of headaches in a garden."
"A weed is but an unloved flower."
🙂 "I'm a gardener. What's your superpower?"
There are a couple of community gardens in the area, but all the plots are currently taken. I send my daughter (the one with the house) suggestions for bulbs--like Alium Schubertii-- all the time.
Glad, there are some really good reasons for 2' high beds. Back issues, for one, and possibly knee issues as well. Old age is another! In addition, the deep soil provides a lot of room for deep roots or potatoes to grow.
Another is being wheelchair bound, or having physical issues that compromise bending. I know of 2 people with these challenges; one gardens from a wheelchair, the other still (last I heard) manages backpacking despite having lost part of his foot to diabetes. He's built a little wall type structure over which he can lean while reaching to weed or pick his produce or flowers.
Diverting from the topic, are you (or others) familiar with Four Wheel Bob? He's physically compromised, diabetic also I believe, but climbs mountains, or more appropriately described, "wheels up mountains." This man is amazing.
When I feel sorry for myself, I think of him and his tenacity, physical and mental strength.
Watch 4 Wheel Bob Online | Vimeo On Demand on Vimeo
(Caution: reading about his challenges and commitments to overcome them can be very emotional.)
PS, one of the reasons I want deep containers is concern a more swallow box would overheat the soil in the southern sun. When it gets into the 90s the top layer of soil can get pretty warm but the moist soil just a couple of inches deep is much cooler.
Squirrels are busy digging where they do the most damage but I've gotten so used to it I hardly even cuss any more.... eh, what can you do.
Question on the cukes that produced only a vine: was there anything used to enhance the soil before planting? Sometimes enhancers encourage vine and leaf growth, but not flowers to bloom and become little plants. And sometimes there's just a bad batch of seed.
That's another question: at that time, were there enough flowers to attract pollinators? And/or was the seed old?
I'm always interested in safe, nontoxic sprays for edible plants. Feel free to share the formula you use!
Cardboard can be used to create mulch, although it's not as inclusive as something not as stiff. It could be shredded or cut up though, and would integrate more easily
You can put cardboard over existing grass or weeds, and anchor it down with a rock or something to keep it from blowing away. As it absorbs water during rain, the cardboard softens and eventually integrates in with the soil. At that point, you could also turn it under.
Digging up existing grass is hard work, and tedious. It's a job for a rototiller unless the area is small.
Unless the cardboard is placed over a hole or other area not at the same level as the surrounding soil, the decay, or absorption into the ground shouldn't be affected.
Are you thinking of large, very large pieces of cardboard?
What you might do is try a test piece, noting the date the cardboard was set out, weather, especially rain or lack thereof, commencement of softening and deterioration, and eventual decomposition if not shredding.
As to a lasagna garden over a patio, that isn't a realistic idea, as the "lasagna" won't decompose into the soil, it will probably just get mushy and become a trip hazard.
Container pots would be better for a patio, if you're in a safe area. I put begonias in containers on the front porch. They were stolen. I planted ostrich ferns in Grecian style containers; they also were stolen.
I think though that it was the drunks who lived next door, with one of the drunk's GF's who stole the plants. I saw one of my hoses and some special decorative rocks in their yard. Fortunately they've been gone for about a decade and a nice young couple lives there now.
There have been times when I planted cucumbers and a luscious green vine grew and never produced one cucumber. After a few years of refusing to plant any I gave in last year planted some and received a great yield. There is plenty of gardening tips on the internet that have helped, especially making our homemade non toxic spray for those annoying bugs that destroy plants, since our focus is organic gardening. We have vegetable beds at ground level and just purchased two galvanized tubs (used by farmers) that we set on blocks and this will help to make gardening easier to help as we are getting older and prefer not to bend down as much. We found these tubs at Home Depot, they had the lowest price. The brand name is "Tarter".
Some of my neighbor's yards are full of potted plants in their original black containers, pretty, but looks like a Nursery. The flowers are beautiful-all kinds.
GA, Cwillie,
Can the Lasagne method be done over a concrete patio?
This year I took the cardboard box from my new gazebo and laid it out beside my deck, moved my big containers there and covered the cardboard with a few bags of wood mulch, now I have another new planting area with almost no work at all!
I will have most of a gallon left over so I might take that to the store to see about darkening it and then thinning it out and using it on the posts and lattice... I haven't prepped there because cleaning lattice is darn near impossible, but if the stain is going to go to waste anyway I figure no harm trying!
Adding a second coat of another color may amend the deck color to be very unique and closer to what you want.
The paint store can advise you what color to effect the change, even change the remainder color of the blue/grey stain.
You should have your heart's desire after working so hard.
My solid color grey porch stain has already lasted ten years. No peeling or cracking. It needs refreshing if I don't want it to look weathered. The cost today of a gallon would be $52. (Olympic ). On the last coat, I added fine sand to create a slip-resistant surface. That was better than what the pro's used for slip resistance on the stairs. Ugly, and kind of rubbery looking. Let the sand dry, then sweep off the extra.
Do I understand this correctly?
The cardboard is used for creating mulch?
What I seem to be confused about are some instructions I read somewhere, that says just put the cardboard over existing grass, weeds.
As if you were making a whole new garden, instead of digging up the old existing grass?
If the cardboard decays, won't the garden drop down?
P.S. I presented this idea to my Dh who said: "Does that mean we have to get a subscription to a newspaper?" He is so funny.
This is a decent, but older, explanation:
How to Make a Lasagna Garden (thespruce.com)
It's basically layering mulch type ingredients around plants; the grasses, etc. eventually settle and decade, so it's not only a mulch but also a soil additive.
I totally disagree with the paper shown as being an additive, b/c I recall reading that colored paper such as that shown can have unhealthy chemicals arising from use of the colored ingredients. Lead comes to mind, but it's been awhile and I'd have to research that issue.
Cardboard with designs (such as those for household fixtures or equipment, with advertising and photos on the exterior) is not something I would use. I've used the plain cardboard and/or just cut out markings, such as those on cardboard used for shipping. Grass obviously shouldn't have been sprayed or "enhanced" for growth and lovely green leaves.
The problem I ran into was laying straw or hay (I can't remember which) out as mulch. A code enforcement office, ever diligent in searching out offending residents to chide and cite, did in fact issue a citation for the straw or hay, arguing that 'it attracts rats!".
Over the years I learned that in this "city", grass clippings drying for composting, harvested seaweed drying out also for layering on the garden, and other things which I've forgotten, ALL contribute to attraction of rats. Or so they claim. I held my tongue and didn't ask what attracted the two legged variety to the city employment staff. That probably would have earned me a trip to the local jail.
Dad had a good source of "lasagna" ingredients. We had lake privileges at a very close, walking distance lake, which annually dredged massive piles of seaweed. Being gardeners, we lined up to get the seaweed, and sometimes one of us kids helped heap it into the trailer Dad built, then spread it on his or my garden to dry out and enhance the soil. I did manage to get one load spread on my garden before the lawn police saw the pile.
My daylilies and roses loved it.