Good morning all! It’s a beautiful day in VA, blue skies and low heat/humidity. Sure beats the 90+ degree weather and high humidity of the last week. Now if we would only get a good soaking rain for a day so that I don’t have to go and water…
For your viewing pleasure, a preview of more after the flip:
Something to think about before going into the flip zone: who or what inspires you to garden? Whether you container garden or have acres of land, why do you get your hands dirty and do potentially back breaking work?
Flip…
Let me tell you about Pat. She was my neighbor growing up. I was friends with her daughter and Pat ultimately became a surrogate mother to me. She was so different than anyone in our neighborhood. And for me, who felt “different”, she was my safe harbor.
Pat was a complete and utter liberal in every sense of the word. She read Mother Jones and protested the Vietnam War, she hated Reagan and Bush 1. She molded me into a Democrat (I grew up with Republican parents), although I was a bit more conservative than she.
Anyway, Pat gardened. She had a small veggie garden in her back yard and rented a community plot from our town. She “let” us weed and pick veggies and she’d talk to us. She taught us how to compost. They were idyllic days of youth that I miss now.
Pat passed away in 2000 before anyone of us was ready for her to go. She had melanoma and it had spread everywhere. When she died, it felt like I had lost my own mother.
A couple of years before Pat passed away, I had applied for a community garden spot in Arlington Cty, VA, but the waitlist was long. So I forgot about having applied.
My birthday in April of 2000 I really was missing Pat. This would be the first birthday she wouldn’t be around for. And I really wanted to garden. It was a physical need. On my birthday, I got a call from the community garden master telling me a plot had opened and did I want it? Hell yes!! And I knew then that Pat was still around and that she had remembered my birthday.
She inspires me to garden, to carry on her legacy to be a small steward of the land. Who/what inspires you?
And as promised, more pictures:
Remember to post your own pictures! No garden or container is too small!!
I have to run up to my veggie garden to water before the sun gets much higher. I’ll be back in a half hour or so.
Ahh, okay here goes. God. Yup, I am one of those people who find evidence of God in nature and there is nothing more natural than growing stuff in the dirt.
It’s a miracle really, I understand the science and biology of it all… but when I put a seed in the dirt and food grows or flowers grow, to me that is an amazing process that I give thanks for.
When I was a child, my mother planted and we all took care of a acre sized garden. It was next to our house. We grew everything you can imagine growing in upstate NY, cucumbers, corn, squash, tomatoes, beans, peas, and pumpkins.
I am sure there was more that I do not remember. To me the most fun was the pumpkins. I had my own little plot and I grew about 30 pumpkins. I gave some away but most of them I carved and put all over the house at Halloween.
Walking around in the dirt, the smell of the crops after a good rain, the sumflowers and sweetpeas along the edge of the garden. It was almost as magical to me as the forest on the mountain behind my house.
Now I garden in pots on my porch. But I get almost as much pleasure from it. I grow mostly pansies, violets and petunias because they are so easy. But I have been know to grow masses of morning glories that take over the deck.
There is nothing more satifying that watering and misting the plants and then sitting there enjoying the sun sparkling off the leaves and smelling the earth and the flowers.
And yes, I atribute it all to God’s creation.
Thanks for sharing, because yes, I do want to know. š In this fast paced world it is nice to take the time and wonder at G-d’s (or whatever spirit people believe in) miracles in the garden. It’s amazing that my piece of heaven survives in this urban jungle and I give thanks for that.
Lovely story, mlk, and thanks for it.
I think I may be inspired to garden by my late father. He was the world’s most gentle soul, a man who related best to small children, birds, and flowers. He died in a November. A few weeks after that I became just obsessed with feeding birds, which I had never ever done before. I was pretty sure that was my dad’s doing! And now I garden. . .a bit more every year. . .and I hope he’s enjoying the view, especially the roses, since he loved roses.
My mom feels this, too. Last year, we didn’t get the flower boxes in her front windows filled and I found out later she felt bad about that all winter because of Dad. This year juicy big red geraniums are blooming in them and she feels peace of mind about it.
Dad may have been a gentle soul, but he still doesn’t let up until the birds get fed and the flowers bloom!
I’m sorry for the loss of your father, but I’m glad that you keep his spirit alive through gardening and birding.
Pat also fed the birds and would watch them from her back door. I had tried with smaller feeders that the squirrels kept getting into so this past Christmas, I had my boyfriend get me one of the Droll Yankee birdfeeders. They are a bit pricey, but if you have a problem with squirrels, they are fantastic!!! It now hangs outside my front windows for my cats and I to watch to see who’s hungry.
was an avid gardener. He grew up on a farm in Kansas, and wherever we lived he made our yard beautiful. His way of unwinding after a day at a very high pressure job was to go out into the yard and do the daily maintenance things. Often he didn’t even come into the house first. I love the results of gardening but have not always been enthusiastic about the hard parts. I live in the desert and between the rock-like soil and the 100+ degree heat, its easy to let the weeds take over. My dad died a year ago in May and I miss him so much. He was almost 83 and the last thing he did before telling mom he thought he needed to go to the hospital was mow the yard (with his newly-acquired and much-despised oxygen canister hanging off the seat). This spring I found myself making raised beds to put in tomatoes and other veggies and reclaiming the corner of the backyard that I had let go. I didn’t consciously do it to honor my dad, but that’s what it is. I wish I had done all this while he was alive, but at least I have a new way of remembering him. There are other things in my yard that he put in and I’m highly motivated to keep those healthy. Sorry for the long post, but you did ask …
Similar stories, yours and mine. (See my earlier comment.) My dad grew up on a farm in Missouri.
I love to mow the lawn. Of course, I also love to iron and to wash dishes by hand, so I’m just weird.
is the bird-feeding fanatic in the family. Daddy had at least eight bird feeders in the yard, but my favorite stories connected to that is the lengths he would go to in order to (often unsuccessfully) keep the squirrels out of the feeders. Squirrels aren’t an issue here in West Texas. As for ironing, I find it sort of satisfying, but love is too strong a word. I’ve lived with and without a dishwasher; with is better.
I think you can be sure that the only reason I can love washing dishes by hand is that I’m living alone now. Add even one more person to the mix and I’d probably get my broken dishwasher fixed by Monday, lol.
my father was in the Navy. Everywhere we moved, my mother got out her shovel before any thought of interior decorating. Early on we knew how real vegetables tasted. Later in boarding school, I refused to eat the white, hard core stuff they called ‘cabbage.’
Wherever I go, I find a way to garden. I just love looking at those little green things coming up out of the soil in the spring.
Since I love flowering shrubs, one of my favourite things is taking a cutting -‘a little stick,’ putting it in the ground and watching it grow. It’s much slower cloning a shrub but when it finally blooms, it has a history and it is very satisfying. I saved some heritage plants from demolition sites that way. In Victoria there is a group led by an ethno-botanist from the University who go around to these sites saving mostly native plants.
Next week, June 25, I will post a garden diary of roses. A preview:
I will have more to add, but I have some quesitons for now maybe some of you can help me with.
My pepper plants, all types, grow really good for a time and then leaves start to yellow.. I added iron and they did good for awhile and then they went south and that was not for a vacation..Did I use too much iron??
Also I need a home made (organic) bug spray for plants, anyone know one.
Morning glories, they do fine for awhile and then leaves get all discolored. Any hints. I am growing mostly in containers and using miracle grow potting soil and have a timed release fertilizer applied.
Then tomatoes, same problem a lot of die back, on lower leaves, container grown also, and its hard to get the watering right, too much, too little, it’s my nightmare.
you can dump soapy water on top of the plants to discourage the bugs. That’s homemade, but not quite organic. I’ve also heard that you can make a garlic solution and pour it over the plants. Supposedly the bugs don’t like the taste of either of these things. Again, I haven’t tried these myself, so I can’t vouch for them. Surely the garlic tea wouldn’t hurt anything even if it didn’t help.
I have used the soapy water mix spraying on plants, but then a lot of times the leaves will curl and yellow.
I had a recipe once that I think contained baking soda. But not sure and don’t want to kill any more plants…
Blasting water also removes a lot, but mine seem to find their way back….Pesky bunch of bugs I have. Just love the green worms on everything lately…Cabbage moths!!!One can do terrible devestation in one night. Lately I have been having squirrels eating flowers, mow then right down.. Here in the middle of a city, I have squirrels and don’t forget possums…
Gardens Alive has a bunch of organic pest and fungus control options. I don’t know anything homemade, except for the soap/water combo. I just ordered the Pyola for my cucumbers and melons.
Do you mulch around your plants? Mulch might help with some of the problems in that it’ll keep water from splashing back up onto the plants, which in turn can cause fungal diseases. Also, the mulch will help retain water so you won’t have to water as often.
I have a hard time growing peppers, so I’ve got no answers for you on the yellowing leaves.
mashed garlic and a dash of cayenne has been recommended to me.
For roses,
I just used a little detergent in water, sprayed in the early morning. Be careful not to soak the foilage or you might get powdery mildew. Baking soda mixture is good for black spot but I find, continual plucking of the leaves helps.
Hi Diane –
Since someone else (who will go nameless) volunteered me for a gardening diary, I can’t give away too many secrets now, but can tell you the best tomatoes for containers are cherry tomatoes. While others get bugs, or bottoms turn black – cherries never disappoint and are sweeeeet like candy.
Re: watering – if you think you wind up with too much water and drainage may be a problem, try recycling packing “macaronis” – those annoying little white things that they use in boxes to ship fragile items – in the bottom of the pot and soil with perlite on top. They’re pretty good at helping to regulate moisture.
I’m really enjoying reading everyone’s gardening experiences – interesting how deep the roots of enjoyment are – sorry for the bad pun, but heartfelt nonetheless!
More to come later . . . .
Opps! Did it again – replied on ask’s page – sorry!
I grew up in the desert, reading Victorian children’s literature. So there I was surrounded by a lot of dust, pining for woods and streams and lilacs (did anyone else read “Under the Lilacs”?) and knowing something was terribly out of whack with my world. We would visit my grandmother in the Bay Area, and I would see her fuchsias, camellias, and roses and just gape. She had grown up on a farm and HATED vegetables — said she would NEVER grow anything but flowers. So I guess I was always drawn to gardening (but only flowers!) as a means of changing my own personal space into something far more beautiful and welcoming.
So now, here I am as an adult, living in the Bay Area. I have a strong tendency to overplant any garden that I’m in. My current garden presents problems for me because everything I plant (too close together) grows to gargantuan sizes — and that’s without ever fertilizing. God help us if I ever used fertilizer. So most of my gardening time is spent in what I lovingly refer to as whacking.
Currently in bloom, I have the butterfly bushes still hanging on; the lavender is going strong; the late roses are finishing up and the early roses are gearing up for a second go-round. The Russian sage is a froth of light blue, and the morning glories are starting to flower.
Probably the most eye-catching is the prickly pear cactus (it was here when we got here — trust me, I would NEVER plant a cactus; remember, for me this is all about leaving the desert behind!). However, I do know when I’m beaten, and I’m sure not going to be the one to escort this monster off the property. First off, I don’t think I really have what it takes to go into battle with it; second, even if I managed to remove it from its present site, I’m not sure that I would ever be rid of it. I learned the hard way that our green recycling refuses to take them. Seems that a single cactus pad will grow anywhere and under any circumstances; grind them up into 100 pieces, and you’ll get 100 cacti. So I’m afraid that any attempt to remove it would just leave me in far worse shape than I am already in. They just won’t give up. (Gee, do you think there’s a message there that we could translate into politics???)
So here’s the beast (with close-up of ants and all):
And I’m off to do some whacking — er, gardening!!!
Me too!
Okay… here’s one of the stupid things I did as a child:
I read those Victorian novels.
In the attic.
In Phoenix.
In summer.
But now I am in Connecticut and I can indulge those garden fantasies.
My current not-so secret garden:
Your garden is just beautiful! Sometimes I wish I had moved east — or to England! California has great soil and weather, but the lack of moisture means that most of us will never attain that fabulous lush green that you have.
It’s just delightful to hear that I wasn’t the only crazy child growing up on the desert (Las Vegas, for me). I can’t help but wonder how many others there might be?? Seems really odd in retrospect, doesn’t it?
Oh gosh yes…
And your gardening tendencies (planting things too close, because, don’t we know that in the desert it takes a thousand years to grow an inch!!) are exactly the same as mine.
I find it very very hard to pull up anything… it’s growing, it’s green, it’s thriving… can’t kill it.
I still cannot believe that my peas literally grow 2 inches a day in spring!
That desert upbringing!
That cactus is huge!!! I can imagine what a PITA that is to cut back and take care of. Probably have to do it covered from head to toe not to get prickered to death.
But it’s flowers are beautiful. I’ll give it that.
Loved “Under the Lilacs”! And in my climate (upper Midwest), they’re everywhere . . . and I always plant them, wherever I live. My current century-old home came with a couple of ancient ones, giving me great shoots, so I’ve planted more. That springtime scent is incomparable . . . at least, until the roses.:-)
That is SOOOOO unfair — you get century-old lilacs with your house, and I get a damn cactus! ;-(
It has a little eco system of its own and it has
to protect that. š