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?
You are right the wheat field is so pretty, and green. Even when it turns golden and harvest time approaches, still a pretty sight.
I attribute any green thumb I have to the Lord. He gave me a Dad who taught me what I know about these things, and HE blesses them.
I don't like my options for plant-shopping in the city. All the big box home stores sell everything to everyone. I don't generally find much at their picked-over selection. A farmer's market of plants would be better. I'll just have to find one next day off and go get some things, I suppose. Hopefully if I buy well, they will last many years.
Paperwhites used to have them inside, but no more, don't others find they stink?! And bad!
It is wet here and chillier than it should be but thankfully no Floods and no Snow. I brought in handful of narcissus that had been knocked onto the ground by the rain and put them in a vase by my computer - very pretty.
I will assume you mean the bulbs pulled and moved in a corner to whither down.
I can look up what to do after that, because replanting the bulbs I found in places last year has resulted in a large planter box of dead things, never growing. Looks dead, looks ugly. My garden is always a surprise to me.
If the leaves have faded and withered completely there's no reason you shouldn't trim them off. They'll be back next year. But don't cut the leaves until they have fully faded or the bulb won't get the nutrients back. There's nothing to stop you lifting them, shaking them clean, and leaving them to wither down in a secluded corner out of sight somewhere.
I like it when they just pop up unexpectedly in the ground, not so much when they are in a planter box or pot.
I tried to pull the brown like a weed when passing by in a hurry.
So I guess I have a choice, 1) to pull out by the bulb, and lose the plant.
Or, trim the leaves down to the ground. That leaves an ugly trimmed plant until next time it grows and blooms, and who know when that will be?
Not looking forward to a bare planter box, waiting for something to happen.
How are the banana trees doing?
You have definitely been blessed with a green thumb.
our veggies, herbs and fruit trees are also abounding and fruiting. Winter wheat is lovely green.Will be turning soon , though :( I love the green fields.
Praying for you a good harvest too.
My big fur baby loves fresh tomatoes and if I let her out in the morning, I have to make sure she isn't having a fresh picked breakfast.
And I am feeling it. Do a bit each day those winter pounds will come off in no time.
Now I don't have to bring up the bouganvillias.
Chemicals won't help.
My hubs won't like for me to buy anymore planting mix for anything. He ridicules me for buying dirt, actually paying for dirt.
Sometimes, I think if I had enough money, I could just buy new potted plants each year. Throw the old ones out.
In my garden the snowdrops and crocus have yielded to the early daffodils and scilla and I may need to get the lawn mower out soon.
We have added some new additions, 3 lemon trees and 2 fruit cocktail trees( they are plum trees, grafted with peaches and nectarines), and 2 avocado trees are on the way.
I love fruit and nut trees. :)
Pollinator bed is showing growth of flowers, of which I am so excited about.
(Farm girl here where chemicals are a way of life. That said I don't believe in using them to make your yard pretty, especially if you are one of the people b*tching about chemicals in your food)
Ok!
The neighbor that moved was using Diazinon, a product banned in the 70's.
I don't use those chemicals myself.
Thanks for the heads up! Same day Roundup was in the news, being sued!
Please stay away from Roundup. It’s horrible. Proven link to lymphoma. My BIL works for Monsanto (they are responsible for Roundup) and my MIL always used Roundup. She innocently thought it was a great product. She died from lymphoma.
The whole city stops if it snows here. We aren’t used to it and are terrible drivers in the snow, so everything shuts down and we go outside to marvel at the snow!
I did go to Colorado in the spring for our honeymoon (1978) (one week after ski season closed) and we got caught in a snow blizzard on our way to Vail!