A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 I'll know better next year

I just finished transplanting the flowers that I started inside this year. There are very few left after the hardening process and my clumsy attempts at being gentle. But I'll know better next year and my 100.00 annual budget for gardening will go a lot father too.

First, I'll have compost so I won't have to buy it. Second, I'll plant in jiffy pots for the things that have to go outside. Three, I know about hardening so I won't lose almost my entire first crop. Forth, I'm going to listen very closely to the directions for collecting, drying (or not) and storing seeds from the flowers that do bloom this year. Fifth, I'll have the bulbs, tubers, corms from this year and any of their divisions. And if everything works out ok, i can trade some of mine at the seed exchange and get a larger variety.

There now I don't feel quite so bad. When I first came in from the garden I wanted to cry.

Stick with it TK~~~
There is almost no better

And the "Gardening Bug" is ferrous bug,
and when it strikes, you have no idea..
But once bitten, there is noooooooo cure!!!
Maw~haaaaaaaaaaaaa.....

Weezie

Have I been bitten

COMPOST GROCERY LIST

130 cups of coffee grounds
360 egg shells
3 trees worth of leaves
10x75 feet worth of seasonal grass clippings
1 years worth of shredded newspaper advertisements
Sugar to taste
Water weekly?
Turn every ten days

Don't worry, TK...there will be heartbreaks when you garden, no matter what you plant, be it vegetables, fruits, flowers. Personally, I'd love to start a veggie garden, but have no clue! Plus, I'm afraid something would destroy my veggies (if it isn't the bugs, it'll be the dogs). :p I've lost plenty of plants, especially when I was starting out...but have gained much knowledge since!
Perk up...it takes time and learning to grow a green thumb.

hange in there tk... i did veggies in buckets last year. they did great until i got too busy to keep up with the watering schedule...

this year, i am trying again, and expanding my selection. i also put out a bunch of flower plants... and i discovered that my 10cent seed packs from 2004 were still viable. so, i'm good for a little bit longer! (the hint in that is to not throw out the left over seeds, you can use them next year)

thank you weezie, sheri & jiffy;

Your keeping me going, when I would normally just go into a funk thankyou very much.

TK,
Uh~uh NO funks allowed here...

I get exsassperated every now and again,
and I say, "Why can't you just buy a tomato
at the grocery store, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY????"

Then when I eat the first tomato of the year,
and it's warm from from the sunshine, and my mouth just tastes pure heaven........
I'm like THIS IS WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY I DON'T BUY THEM FROM THE GROCERY STORE

Same for growing flowers, and I hand some to my kids, to take over to Grandma next door, and I watch them walk over with the flowers in their little hands, and think to myself, this is the memories they'll have growing up, and I watch when Grandma opens the door and she's all excited to see the kids bringing things to her and then she always smells the flowers and says, Thank~You!

And I like to hand my oldest some jalapenos' and he takes them to the neighbor lady who uses my extra's, ***Like growing 6 or 8 jalapeno plants, to only use a couple peppers for some salsa is craaaaaazzzzzzzy, but that's what I do...*** and she doesn't have time to garden, and her landlord won't let her, so it's so nice to be able to give her fresh veggies she'll use...****She makes a ba~zillion stuff with those jalapeno's... "

And we always grow extra and it's so nice to see that taking a bag or two to the Meals~on~Wheels volunteers or meal recipents, makes their day...
and they looked forward to some fresh veggies...
(And my mom gets the biggest kick outta doing it,
which boosts her spirits up too.)

But, it's things that, things in your own way, that will endure you to gardening, in the future that will keep you going, and maybe an experiment here and there, and only one may work out, but WHATTTTTTTT A THRILL, when it works out...

And the extra benefits from gardening, not only the fresh outdoors, and excercise, but the peaceful serenity *even if it's only once in a while* outways any of the YUCKY moments, for sure.
And then the learning, and the sharing and the comradory is un~equaled....

Weezie

Your wonderful,

I'm growing green onions, chives, cilanto, tomatoes, and lettuce but you know it never dawned on me that I might actually get to pick some. <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" />

What a great idea.

Am I slow or what? lol

tk, what got me started again was the memory of my son popping a whole tomato (one of only 3 last year) into his mouth like it was a cherry. it was just over golfball size, but it was red and appearantly juicy!

oh, I can just see that. It's so cute. How old is your son? My daughter and her girls live on the West Coast so I never get to see them.

The nieghbor up the incline from me has taken to stopping to talk a bit though and that's pleasant. He has a lovely yard with a simple combination of lawn, trees and flowers. I really like it.

oh, it was more funny than cute... but you know how mothers have soft spots for their children.

you see, my son is 6'2", 275#, size 14 shoe! but you know us mothers, soft spot no matter how big they are...

i know you miss your daughter and grandchildren... i don't have grandchildren yet.. the girls are 20 & 25 and matthew is 18. the oldest wants to finish law school before she and her husband start their family. the younger two aren't married yet.

here is a picture of matthew and the ficus i killed this winter. this was at the end of the summer last year when he was 17.

TK....keep on going! I don't have a clue as to what I am doing most of the time....but just being outside is life to me. And as you see the things you planted start to grow and bloom...there is just no greater joy! It is an amazing process. We share from our garden also...we always over plant. But it brings back great memories of my grandparents who were master gardeners and no one ever left their house empty handed...salesmen loved going to their house..they never bought anything but those guys would leave loaded down with veggies. and after gardening time...they sent you home with home canned goodies, their only request was that you bring the empty jars back...and they would replace them with full ones. I want to be like them when I grow up!

Congrats, Jiff . . . some people try their damndest to kill a ficus and get nowhere - but when you want them to live, they're gone.

One sure fire way to kill it? Move it - they don't like moving, I know that.

We have a beaut we've been raising out in the lobby - a tenant brought it down last summer cause it had grown too big for her apartment space.

It's in the office right now - I'm stashing all plants that can't go outside in there till the vandalism is over in this place.

The deiffenbacca - she's still hanging in there. She looks good, in fact - maybe she likes being in the office - might keep her there so she can't poison anybody.

I saw one in a cafe on Saturday - I asked the owner if she did anything special with it - she said, no - I've been trying to kill it but it won't die.

I think I'm going to turn mine out on the picnic table today - I'm going to keep its soil in there, but mix a bit of new stuff in - it really needs it. The soil she's got is all hard and scruffy looking.

I was thinking of leaving some leaves out for when the vandal walks his dog - but I like dogs, y'know . . .

I used to say I had a black thumb because I was such a lousy gardener. But the truth was I was lazy and didn't want any of the work gardening entails. I am one of those instant gratification addicts. Anyway I gave up instant gratification about 4 years ago and am finding gardening one of the most theraputic things to do as a replacement. I have done just a little at a time but this year....I am jumping in with both feet! So to speak. LOL

Yeppers,

Jump in with both feet and sink right up to my eyeballs. lol

I just had to go the local dollar store looking for those window bird feeders. 10.00 in taxi fares :p (ouch). And then of course they didn't have them. Or anything else that I needed. So I bought stuff I didn't need for the garden. I am hopelessly in love with this little weed patch.

So today the cardboard, coffee grounds, egg shells, edging fence, plastic, shovel,... are all going out to the weed patch. Next year I hope to be able to truthfully call it a garden. Right now it is a small strip of flowers amongst the weeds.

And a compost pile that keeps on growing!!!!!

YOu go!!!!! Sounds to me like you have it well in hand. I just realized that even when I said I wasn't gardening.....I had hanging baskets outside. So deep underneath all my laziness was a gardener trying to get out. LOL Then we moved to this place and I have this dirt that looks like I could grow anything. I can't stop myself from planting things and waiting to see what will happen. If it doesn't do well, ok I try something else next year. In the meantime we are having fun??????
<img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Yes, fun and exercise (my pants keep trying to fall off.) I think it has to do with all those trips up and down stairs so the plants can do their hardening thing. I've already started a list of plants I want to get for next year including things like bird of paradise. I've always thought they were beautiful and with this group supporting me I'm willing to give them a try. I'm so excited. Let me know what successful and less successful plants you run into. I started a string about easy to grow outdoor plants around here somewhere. It has great suggestions on it from all the people in the know.

YES THIS IS FUN!!!!!

Diefenbaker? Wow, a plant named after one of Canada's Prime Ministers, that is too cool <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Maybe I should be growing Martino's Roma tomato this year...hmmm

I'm like that too, TK.... so, don't feel bad..

I got way~layed a few times that also sorta hinders me *alright~~~BOGS ME RIGHT DOWN~~~
there I said it...*like having kids, both by C~Section, having my mother live next door to me and allllllllll of her 300+ ft landscaped fence and 7 garden beds to take care of, boyscouts,
story hour, neighbors, no money, gettin' the flu bug, and cant' seem to get my butt of this computer some days :rolleyes:

But, I try never to loose faith, and I am always saying, "I can do this all with GOD's help!!!"
But I manage to get most of it done, and if I don't, I don't worry about it..
Like Fernie said, No biggie, you'll find plants that will work for you and your garden....and how much you want or can put into the garden... so plants are very self~supporting and grow with out any help at all.. actually do better without our help!
TRUST ME....
So, keep it up and keep on dreamin'...

Weezie

P/S did you get your name on some mailing lists for catalogs to come in this winter?
If you need a list let me know, I'll gather them all up for you!!!