Gardening as therapy.

Do you know what they are spraying?

Thanks Pammzi and Cwillie.
If there does end up to be spray, I can use something to neutralize it, just like the hazmat team does. I will look that up.

Can you talk to the son? Maybe he is not aware of the product being banned? I am so sorry our going through this.

Cancel that. I will ask admin to delete my post.

Aren't you in California, home of the "green"? Is there not someone you can report this spraying to (anonymously, of course)? Even if you can not prevent the current application a hefty fine would discourage future treatments.

Ready for my gardening therapy today.
Pending a real live nervous breakdown.
I have come to trust the regular posters here.
The issue is the neighbor with perhaps dementia, she is mean, a gossip, and someone you wouldn't want to cross. Talking, asking, has never worked in the past.

Last year, she sprayed a BANNED toxic chemical in her yard, (ant control); and onto my yard, I think only near her driveway, but the smell was bad, really bad for days, and it made us sick, sprayed near our intake at the air conditioner. She is someone who thwarts the laws, rules, etc. as it suits her, and would never warn us that she is spraying.
I avoided a confrontation because war with her would be painful.
Talking to her about any issues (trapping and relocating a baby possum) has resulted in condemnation from the entire neighborhood, because the incident was misconstrued, misreported, misrepresented by her. She trapped a baby possum, then allowed it to try and get out for many hours, waking me up at 4:30 a.m.to 11:30 a.m. when a neighbor came to discard it (or relocate it) against Dept. of Fish & Game laws. This all unfolded because of the creaky metal door waking me up, and then concerns reported to Animal Control about the baby hurting itself trying to escape. Their conclusion: That I had called the police on the neighbor who removed it. Here, animal control teaches, not arrests or fines people. But, I am the bad one?

So, the yellow sprayer is sitting out in her yard, her son has come over to help her.
dH is incapable to ask her not to spray using that toxic chemical.
If she sprays, we will get sick.

I am not even a green person, just vaguely aware of protecting the environment.
I learn, but I try not to get carried away or make it my singular focus of life. So what I am saying, is that even if I knew nothing about what that banned, toxic chemical will do to the environment, the rivers and oceans, the smell and the toxins will make me sick.

Can I just run away from home, or call the hazmat team? Do you have anything common sense, in between these two extremes? I am trying not to freak out here.

Stopping her may result in damage from this neighbor. As per a reported history about a fire started by her, that I don't know if it is true.

Can someone help me? Help me not get sick, help me not to have a breakdown, help me protect my dH who is even more environmentally sensitive than me.
Or, am I taking this too seriously?

Found hardy mums, I love the deep reds and purples they come in. I think they are perfect fall flowers. I wanted my dad to have some flowers at this cemetery plot and decided to bring him a potted plant for a change.

Send, great idea - I think I'll tie some fake fruit to the junk trees to confuse the neighbors who snoop over the fence and peak around in my yard!

Sharyn, I LOVE the smell of fresh apples, and especially the fragrance of a cider mill.

Years ago my parents took us to a cider mill; I'll never forget the image or the fragrance. I recall it was something like an open basement, stone walls, and there were dozens and dozens of baskets of fresh apples.

I can still picture it in my mind, whether it's a realistic recollection or a fantasy recollection. It was such a delight!

My house smells like an apple crisp apple orchard😊

I agree with GardenArtist and Cwillie, goodbye summer, hello fall.
Was just thinking this yesterday, when it was chilly enough for longer sleeves in the morning, and I was cold in the a/c of In N Out last night. It still gets hot out in SoCal, so I am guessing it has to do with an internal clock, a seasonal awareness.
We cannot fight it anymore! I guess that is why the old tradition in fashion circles is to never wear white pants after Labor day. (But I do wear them, ha ha).

Oops, spoke too soon....there is an "atumnal equinox" about Sept. 21, dH says, and he is always right. in his opinion.  This has been a loooong, lonely summer.  My garden is calling.......
so are my neighbors, whose grass will soon be bringing a 14 day notice from management.
Wishing I could help them.
Vinca are blooming here.  The rest of the garden looks dull, almost petrified in place except for the decorative apple tree (never any apples) is larger.   Maybe I will tie some grab apples to it this year just so the neighbors will have something to  t a l k. about.  Lol.

It is so exciting to plant fir autumn. I can't wait for the plant to arrive hoping there is not too much delay. Readying the garden, visualizing all the colors, enjoying the crisp cool autumn air!!

It's OK, I guess I can't deny the changing season any longer. (sigh)

I'm sure if I was out there taking better care of the garden it would be more vibrant, but I still have lots of zinnias, marigolds and cosmos and the alyssum, ivy and wave petunias in my planters are doing fine. Brown-eyed-susans are pretty much the only perennials that are still going strong.

Waiting for plants is exciting! And it's even more exciting to open the box and find all those sweet little plants or roots, just waiting to be planted and provide their cheery blooms in my garden.

I'm seeing bulbs in stores, and that reminds me of the excitement of spring. It's like jumping ahead, through fall and winter and thinking of the anticipation of spring and the first cheery little leaves to pop up through the snow as it quietly but surely melts, and as I check daily to see what has sprouted.

Fall is still trying to get a foothold in my area. A few trees are like advance scouts, testing the weather, sharing their beautiful and stunning reds, oranges, goldens and sometimes a blend of all those colors. Many are still holding court with their variety of greens, as if some stalwart resistance has grouped them into preserving their green status as long as possible.

Oh, sorry, CWillie....can we discuss Fall now or are your flowers still in bloom? I don't want to rush them! The hydrangeas in my area are turning color, the goldenrod is still dominating the scene, and other than vibrant mums, most of the other flowers are preparing for a long winter's rest.

All the plants I ordered for fall planting are on the way. May be delayed (Irma) and hoping they arrive in good condition.

I've never grown spider lilies, but I have a long list of plants I want to grow...someday...

The volunteer goldenrod is in bloom now, adding a spike of color amidst an army of volunteers in various shades of green.

At my father's house, goldenrod is more abundant, scattered among a massive trumpet vine which is also in bloom. Last week the orange and golden blooms provided a nice introduction to fall color, as have the trees here and there which are anxious to don their fall wardrobes and put their green colors away until next year.

I have spider lillies blooming now. It always amazes me how they come up on a bare stalk every September without fail, knowing it's their time to bloom, and then the foliage appears later. I got them from my much loved grandmothers yard years ago and love the red spider looking blooms, something unique you don't see a lot anymore.

I used to have that problem when commercial mowers zoomed and zoomed over neighboring lawns, throwing clippings and dust over on my property. I raked or swept it back to the property where it belonged, but it irritated me. It wasn't really the owner's fault, but they should have advised the commercial service to be more careful.

However, if you've ever seen these guys on the big mowers, they just zoom around so quickly they don't really pay attention to the clippings and dust that are blown around.

Maybe I should have saved them and dumped them onto their trailer the next time they came over.

My neighbors now mow their own yards, so that problem resolved itself.
I do resent it though when one of them has her yard sprayed. The guys aren't that careful with the spraying wands.

You have a legitimate right to resent these kinds of messes.

I'm so tired of coming home to a windrow of grass clippings all along my drive. Oh, and my house door opens along the side of the house so that the clippings are basically blown on to my doorsteps. You don't want them in your foundation plantings - basically a pile of dirt alongside the house - so throwing them on the neighbour's driveway is acceptable? Who thinks that way?

Better freeze some of that lemonade, Send

A week of triple digit temps headed this way - is the sun ☀️ getting even with the moon 🌙

GA,
Thank you, the lemonade was fabulous!
Here it is already Friday again.
Everyone have a wonderful gardening weekend!

Forgot for a moment you had moved into another gardening zone!

The  mums will not be a summer clearance especially in California. Check the clearance rack and use your own judgement, if the plant looks healthy. These, the flowers are at the end of their peak, otherwise they are perfectly fine.

Mums, or "Daisys" as I was calling them-thanks Sharyn, I will have to go looking this afternoon. Hoping that it was not a pre-eclipse sale, or even an end of summer sale.

I picked up some 10 inch potted mums at lowes this morning for $1.00 each.

This thread is as close to a thread as possible to post about the eclipse. We had 99.---% coverage. It was pretty cool😎😎with almost dusk like blockage of the sun.

Volunteering to help clean up after GA, but my broom for the garden is missing.
Can we have some Blue Cheese dressing, leaving the calories in?

Going to hunt for chocolate trifle now, be back soon.

I've just quickly harvested some onions but I didn't grow radishes or kale. Can someone else volunteer to bring them? BTW, has anyone grown tillage radishes? It's something I want to try; it's easier than digging and turning over soil in the fall.

Do you like light ranch dressing? I'm whipping up some in between posts. Maybe we can expand on that. The poppies have been in bloom; if anyone knows how to harvest and save the seeds, we can make poppy seed dressing.

Veronica, welcome! As to rich cakes and puddings, one of the guiding principles of a virtual reality meal is that a magic occurs when we enter with food. All the bad things such as too much sugar and calories are screened out, but the food is magically just as tasty as it was.

I love puddings; you're welcome to bring them along with a trifle(s).

You raise an interesting issue as to food varieties. I've been wondering about the trend in some tv reality programs to those of folks already living primitive or minimalist lifestyles. People have hunted for years; we still do eat animals but they're raised and processed by others. I think that separation between their growth and eventual place in our diet allows us to avoid the hard work of raising them and the unpleasant aspects of converting them into food, although from what I read more and more people are raising chickens for their eggs.

Maybe we should add a chicken coop - we could have bluish and brownish eggs - great for Easter eggs and we wouldn't even have to dye them.

Dyeing raises another issue - should we have some virtual sheep for those of us who are knitters or crocheters? We can easily get a carder, spinning wheel and a loom, although I don't know much about the kinds of looms available.

I've been hunting only once; I got bored tramping around in the snow, but doubt if I could have cleaned anything I'd shot anyway.

Still, animals are a main part of American's diets.

No hate mail emanates from the Virtual Reality Parlor. Your opinion is just as important and welcome as anyone's.

So, grab a chair, sit down and relax. There's fresh lemonade for you while I work on the salad.

And for anyone who might be asking why I'm engaging in what might seem to some as childish fantasy, it's because it's a great redirection of caregiving thought and anxiety and helps me stabilize myself for the day.

Stacy I haven't made trifle in a long time but I still make a Christmas pudding and cake every year.. Most people turn up their noses at rich fruit cake in the US including my kids. Even my son says he only eats it because of the marzipan.

Send there is plenty to eat in your garden. Cute little bunny rabbits make a very tasty meal!
OK send the hate mail to me.

Many times I have lived off things my Dad or Hubby shot. Didn't appreciate having to do the butchering though.

Sorry this was gardening as therapy not gross other posters out with your stories.

Green Onions, radishes, red and orange bell peppers, and for Ali, Kale.
I have lots of bunny rabbits in my garden, nothing edible except aloe.

Will there be salad dressing when virtual reality hits the West Coast PST 2 1/2 hrs. from now?

The Virtual Parlor will be open today for the eclipse viewing. Special protective screens meeting scientific standards have been installed on the windows, so we can watch in safety.

I'm thinking a light salad with fresh scones might be appropriate while we wait. Lemonade has been made from fresh lemons, blueberries are fresh and ripe for the scones, and the Romaine and leaf lettuces have been harvested and washed. Grape and Beefsteak tomatoes, green and red peppers and cukes are being washed now.

Anyone want anything else on their salads? What are your gardens producing now? Donations for a big salad are always welcome!