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?
Bumble, you got me on the plant joke. 😂
my plants.
Put them all together in a planter and put wire over the top to keep animals out. However the planter is overall not big enough for all that I planted, the tomato plants are crowding out the strawberries now. Oh well, thats ok. A handful of tomatoes are starting to ripen.
its a pleasure to come home in the evening from work, water them and assess the progress. Raising vegetables gives a good feeling. When getting back from visiting dad also, to just go outside for ten mins and look at the vegetable garden, is calming.
LOL 😝
I wish that I had my grandfather’s rose garden when I was a child. He grew the most beautiful roses.
I was so proud to bring grandpa’s roses to my teachers when I was a kid.
Grandpa would cut a bouquet for grandma to place on the dining room table and a bouquet for me to take to my teacher.
The funny thing is that some of the same nuns that taught my mother also taught me. It was cool.
I loved hearing stories about my mother as a child from them. Those nuns didn’t forget a thing! 😝 They were quite young when they taught my mom and my aunt.
My dad’s peppers flourished so well that my kids gave him the nickname, “green pepper grandpa.”
Maybe I will become. bell pepper, momma! 😝
Maybe, I will try planting hot peppers next time and I will be, Hot pepper momma! LOL
Let us know how it works. It’s very hot and muggy here!
Has anyone ever used banana peels as fertilizer. I read you put them in a jar of water for a few days and poor it on your plants, flowers ect... I'm going to try it anyways.
Spring is busy, I hurt all over! And it's been hot 🥵 for spring
I have peppers on all of the plants! Yay! 😁 Can’t wait until they are big enough to pick.
I love our Spanish moss too. Historically, it was used to stuff mattresses, pillows and furniture in Louisiana.
The tour guy did say the garden center is called that because anything and everything grows there.
I heard you all get less wrinkles because of the humidity .
We do have long hot summers and high humidity but we also get a fair amount of rainfall here.
I love the beautiful colors of zinnias.
It is fun watching something grow, very rewarding!
I like to grow zinnias, then I can cut them and put them on the table or give them to someone that needs a pick me up
Gardening is a lot of work! It is a nice hobby for those who enjoy it.
My grandfather never saw it as work because he loved it so much. Grandma would never have worked in the yard.
My dad loved to garden. Mom enjoyed it too.
I am seeing tiny peppers growing on my plants now! Yay! 😁
Now day 3 of gardening, and my muscles are killing. Gardening is definitely an exercise! 🙂
And I just got my "tomato" plants in,
Not to mention moms! My flowers are going to look better than my mom's this year! 🙂
One step at a time, can't get it all done at once!
The cannas I do both, a few in the ground and a few in posts for the deck
I've potted everything up but still no sign of life from the cannas.
I love vegetables, always willing to try new ones. I'm so suprised, I've never heard of them.
I even like brussel sprouts 😁
I love gazebos and trellises. They are so pretty!
Yes, seasoning and the way veggies are cooked makes a huge difference in taste. Who wants bland food? Yuck 🤮.
We can’t like everything. I still hate beets and butternut squash.
I spent the major part of the morning wrestling with the canopy for my gazebo, it's year 3 so I was afraid too much force might tear it to shreds. I think the people who design those things must be twisted sadists.
That’s true. We plant according to our environment.
Mirlitons thrive in our area. They are on everyone’s table for Thanksgiving dinners.
We eat a lot of vegetables I love to make soup and salads. I spend a fortune on vegetables at the grocery.
I like going to the farmers markets but they seem to be as expensive as the grocery.
We use a seasoning blend, referred to as the ‘holy trinity’ here. It consists of onion, celery and bell peppers. They even sell it fresh packaged in containers or frozen in our stores.
I think if kids are exposed to gardening when they are young they will appreciate it as adults.
I have to say that I was a picky eater when I was a kid. I drove my boyfriend’s mom crazy! She was a fabulous cook and invited me over to their home for dinner quite often.
I didn’t eat many vegetables then.
My boyfriend’s mother fixed that!
When I told her that I was excited to eat her chocolate cake, she told me that I couldn’t have any cake until I ate vegetables with my meal!
Hahaha 😆, it worked, because she made a killer chocolate cake, so I decided to start eating vegetables!
My mom didn’t force us to eat when we were kids. The nuns at my school were really strict about eating. I remember that well. That’s why I brought my lunch to school, because I didn’t like the school food.
As a kid, there were lots of vegetables that I wouldn’t eat. After trying them I loved them.