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?
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.
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.
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’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.
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!
Hope to find new friends on this site.
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)!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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?
We park there to eat our lunch.
We decided to leave the gardening to the real gardeners.
Golden, I lost my very favorite cedar to the antlers of a buck.
Do any of you spray deterrent? How about anything for the moles, voles, gophers, rabbits, etc? When we moved here the previous owners left 9 (9!) sprayers in the garage - all were partially filled and unlabeled. I had to pay to have them disposed of at a hazardous waste site. I do NOT want to use anything that might find its way into the water or harm the predators but I would consider safe deterrent’s if there are any that work.