Gardening as therapy.

Cap, you'll love the lever tool. I've had mine a long long time.
Ladies: This is our first Spring in our new location. We have hundreds of lilacs here, daylilies, phlox, honeysuckles. Very aromatic here, like sitting next to an old lady doused in perfume at church. Many plants here that I can't even identify, but I'm learning one at a time. I also have a baby goose, now about 3 weeks old and growing fast, named "Lucy Goosey"

i ordered something pretty cool this weekend . a lever style wine corking tool from
portugal . ordered 300 new corks too . im not very particular with my own hooch . a used cork smacked in place with a hunk of 2 x 4 is fine with me but doc , out at the farm , wants to make and bottle some mead this year if the bees produce well .
both items were absurdly cheap on ebay and if i use them at the farm much you can bet your ass ill write em off my taxes .
i once wrote off a package of beard berets FFS . business image -- advertising ..

GA dig some of that phlox if you can. It will come back every year.

There don't seem to be eco friendly places around here. Local towns/cities are all "dig out the dandelions, spray poison on the weeds" and so on ... ugh! Of course the local farmers spray poison on the crops. Last year the field across the road had carrots and the farmer said to me "help yourself". I saw them spraying what the tanker said was water but we had a wet summer ... no thanks.

Personally I feel the poisons sprayed on our food is what is making people so ill. Growing up in the UK things like Alzheimers, dementia and even cancer were virtually unheard of and there wasn't so much processed food.

My late mother was a vegetarian for years, living on "fresh" (sprayed to death with poison) or pre-made, boxed stuff you only had to microwave. She had parkinsons (no history of that in the family) and had dementia for years - backing her car out over the lawn, close miss car accidents, trying to cook something on the stove in a pyrex bowl (which of course exploded) taking a knife to dig out a music cassette she'd put in the wrong way while it was plugged in.

She was mean, nasty and spiteful life long but I think her exposure to the poison in/on our food caused the health issues and is causing so much illness now. Just my theory.

Just wondering....does anyone know someone living in one of the eco-friendly communities, where composting is mandatory, people love gardens and diversity, respect bees and pollinators, and find creative uses for weeds and volunteers (except Virginia Creeper which has been an unwelcome volunteer for the last few years)?

Ash, I was treated last year to a nice crop of wild phlox as well as some other volunteers which I couldn't identify. I had something once which I think was Bouncing Betty. The most exciting volunteer though was a delicate, lovely Wakerobin, which the local rabbits found quite tasty once it set seeds.

Just north of the rehab facility where Dad's at now is a small field of wild phlox in pastel colors - it's so dainty and lovely. I love the blend of pastels.

Glad, I think generally code enforcement people think that anything except (a) cultivated, often labor and water intensive lawns (b) landscaper choices of blue ageratum, golden marigolds and red wax begonias (all planted in shade) (c) Stella D'Oro dayliles....are weeds." I've found they as well as tree cutters don't even know what some perennials are. One didn't know what an evergreen was and whacked down a scotch pine.

Pollinator plants? What are those? Bees? Why would we need them? Code enforcement people seem to be singularly unaware of natural gardens and lawns. I don't know what they'd do in my area if they ever had to deal with xeriscaping.

Ash, yes! The things that grow wild in different places that we work so hard to adapt to our own spaces. Here, if nothing had been adapted, we would be limited to sunflowers and natural grasses and of course an excellent variety of weeds!;-) Wouldn't be so bad if code enforcement would let the natual grasses be.

Glad day lilies grow wild along the road side here and I noticed the other day wild phlox blooming at the edge of the forest across the field. Nature is amazing isn't it.

Cwillie the snowball must be very old as it's about 10' tall. I'm afraid that side of the house has become overgrown, my main focus right now being getting seeds in and the veggies growing and mulched. Once they're established I can turn my attention to other things.

Just as the harvest came in last year my mother passed so things got really chaotic - no time to keep up or can. Froze some but gave most away. I share produce with my helper and his wife who live in town and have no garden. Any excess after that he passes on to their neighbours

Glad just enjoy your lilies whatever they are all are beautiful. If you are going to be in the house next year divide them up in the Fall and you will have twice as many next year

Just waiting for my lilies to bloom. Wonder what type they are, what color they are. waiting......

My snowball is blooming as well, it was one of the first things I planted here and it is finally big enough to be showy! I noticed sawfly larvae were attacking it yesterday and dusted it with diatomaceous earth, you had better check yours too Ash.

GA you weren't pushy at all. I have a helper guy a few hours each week to do the heavy stuff (and I don't bend well) but he's been on vacation for 2 weeks so the place is looking a bit scruffy. Coupled with not eating much and horrible heat I was on a bit of a downer.

It's cooler this morning and the huge snowball bush outside my window is in full bloom, just beautiful. Today I'll plant the rest of the seeds - beets, radish, lettuce, spinach, kale, sunflowers and more peas. I'm not sure if I'll like kale but, if not, the chickens will.

Well I damned near pulled this huge weed up - the only thing that stopped me were its pretty leaves although everyone kept trying to tell me it was a thistle - well I do know what a thistle looks like so I thought I would leave it for a while and today I was rewarded. Its the most beautiful red oriental poppy and a stunning 'weed' it is too

The asiatics are a cluster of flowers atop a single stalk, correct? I guess I do not know the difference between lily types asiatic vs oriental vs day. I had several varieties of day lillies at my house. I had lots of Stella d'Oros.

Glad, my daylilies are setting buds now. You could have daylilies or you could have Asiatic or Oriental hybrids - both beautiful. They're still in the growing stalk stage, no buds so far, but with this heat wave everything could change.

The back lawn is already drying out and is becoming more and more pale. That usually doesn't happen until the end of July or August.

If you have the Asiatics or Orientals, you're in for a real treat. I used to have masses of them - they were just gorgeous.

Ash, I probably shouldn't have suggested the extensive conifer program. When I read garden magazines or daydream, my imagination begins creating all sorts of concepts which I'd love to implement, but also know that in reality it's far more than I can accomplish. I didn't mean to be pushy.

And I do understand that feeling of being overwhelmed - it happens much too frequently for me!

What I thought might be daffodils are now definitely a variety of lillies. The plants are loaded with buds, nothing blooming yet though. Walked around the yard a bit this morning. There is a corner planted with all sorts of things that I do not know what they are. And I now know why there are so many birds in the yard. There are strawberries, still very small, turning red, throughout the yard. None in an area I would call a garden.

There were bunnies when I first came but I think the coyotes got them. The abusive bible thumping hermit nutjob across the road had cats running/breeding everywhere and left food out which brought the coyotes to kill them. Had quite a coyote prob that first summer, even had one jumping at my living room window trying to get my cats who were inside. She finally kept the survivors inside, none shotted or fixed. There were 25 inside a couple of years ago so goodness knows how many there are now.

GA with so much to do here I have neither time nor inclination to plant things I have to baby. Couple of years ago 158 black cedars were planted around the perimeter to grow into a wind break. I've planted shrubs with colourful leaves in the backyard. They look nice but only need an occasional trim.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Had some oral surgery recently so barely eating and no energy but it will pass. Going to chop some tomatoes and cucumber for the chickens and pick them some grass then I really must vacuum. No point in doing much cleaning with the heavy farm machines kicking up the dust on the dirt road along with winds across the fields occasionally creating dust storms until the corn grows on a bit.

Yes, the babies are cute, after I got over the fright I was worried I had squished one, but they all seemed to be able to run just fine!
That momma cottontail made a habit of having her babies in our yard for a while. After I fenced her out of the garden she made her (invisible nest) in the middle of the lawn, twice giving me heart attack moment when I was cutting the grass.

Sorry, the comments on Japanese maples should have include CWillie's comments and experiences as well.

One of the local communities rented a goat to munch away on the weeds; it was an experiment in alternative (and safe) methods to control overgrowth. I don't recall how well it worked out but do remember that another community tried and it was so successful - the goats were happy, so much so that they began to expand their feeding area and start trimming ornamental shrubbery and plants that didn't need trimming.

Ash, your life does sound idyllic - so peaceful and away from the "madding crowd."

Given your skill in natural living, I was thinking of a way that could protect the delicate Japanese maples, albeit a long (very long) term project. Gather pine cones, sprout and plant the seeds and grow your own crop of evergreens to place around your borders, or the ones that need a windbreak the most.

This year I'm going to try to exponentially expand my few conifers by taking cuttings. I've rooted yews before; this year I'll try junipers and arborvitae, as well as sprout some of the several bags of cones I've collected over the years.

Something else I'm going to try is a modified Bonsai experiment with conifers. I don't want the small Bonsai trees, but if I plant them in containers, commercial or self made (I have in mind wattle containers), they can still grow, but likely not to the same height as a free-growing tree. I collected seeds from a beautiful burgundy maple with deep forest green overleaf and plan to sprout them.

Your comment on egg shells reminded me that I read somewhere, probably on my favorite gardening forum, that one species of birds (blue jay, I think) need calcium from egg shells. It had something to do with their bone structure, I think. I'll try to find the reference.


Willie, my local rabbits must be having families but I've never seen them. Still, I enjoy the occasional adult visitor. I would love to find a nest of bunnies!

I did see 3 baby raccoons exploring my roof, occasionally hiding out in the chimney. They were sooo cute, until I went downstairs into the basement one time and heard them chattering in the chimney cleanout. Shortly thereafter I had the chimney capped, something I should have done earlier.

Years ago I hauled a lot of straw home from the farm in my little honda civic hatchback (my first car) to use for mulch. One day I was walking through the garden and tripped over a hidden depression and baby bunnies ran in every direction!

I've been saving my coffee grounds and egg shells (grind them in the blender), mix together and add to the soil before planting. Just an experiment but the veggies are growing really well. I'm using some old straw for mulch as the plants get bigger and we'll see how that works out. Never stop learning..

primarily , im a stone mason and i there aint much that pisses me off as bad as cat crap in my mason sand pile . i just dig it out of the finished wall and get over it . its SO much better than a greasy eyed , needy -- assed dog . i hate yapping dogs so much that by default , i like cats .,. thats pretty messed up ..

What a life Ashlynne. It sounds beautiful. Baby chicks and all. Captain I wish I had gone to wal treas :) I paid 3.98 for my tomato plants and not at the seedling level. Just a small city backyard. I love the feel of the earth its very soothing to the nerves even digging in the cat and dog pee ridden tree garden on the street. Seems to be taking a while to see the blooms on the impatients. I bought my mother some bell like flower think its the canterbury bells any way it has died I forgot to water it before I went away for few days. It was a beautiful plant. So its nice reading about the different settings of gardens and how the expanses of land are managed and kept up. Its really enlightening and interesting also refreshing.

5 of my tiny tomato seedlings didnt make it . so i needed 5 storebought tomato plants . the farm store wanted 3 . 68 cents each .; so i ended up at the wal treason . i bought 5 tomato plants at 1 . 50 ea . i aint happy about that but if i keep an eye on them , they will pay off ..
i want to brew up 10 or so gallon of catsup . ive done it before and the results were great ..

Japanese maples are beautiful but with the open fields, high winds and snowy winters I have to plant tough stuff.. Planted 4 red flame spirea in the backyard a couple of weeks ago, got too busy and we've had little rain. Looks like they may be toast but I've drenched them tonight and I'll do it again in the morning.

Today I moved the chickens from the garage brooder to their coop. At 3 weeks old they've gotten huge. Having spent time talking to them from day 1 they're quite tame. Still more veg to seed, lawns to over seed, potatoes to be hillled with straw, deck needs a fresh coat of stain and, and, and ...

It's really hot in the daytime right now so up early, get into stuff, then nap during the worst of the heat. Carry on when it's cooler, feed us all and sit on the deck until after dark. Watch the 11 p.m. news then zzzz. It's like that in the country - your daily routine changes with the seasons.

Me too, Cwillie. Putting off the raised garden as just a dream that may never come true. As we try to upgrade our landscaping to fit managements approval because in the drought the lawn has died. Already spent $200 for landscaping in the last two weeks, and our yard is one of the top 10-20 yards in the hood.

Discouraging, and I have been nervous about it.

Fighting on, carrying on, and praying.

I had to replace the Japanese maple. I was going to be cheap and just put in a shrub instead, but I decided to try again and ended up having to pay half again as much for a tree 3' smaller than the old one.
Gardening used to be what poor/thrifty people did to cut down on their grocery bills, now it is trendy and everything costs too much. It is hard for me to justify spending hundreds of dollars on annual plants and mulch when I am trying to pinch pennies elsewhere. I wanted to buy lumber and good soil to build a raised garden bed, but I'm gonna put that off for another year.