Who is your best assistant in your garden?

Dahlianut - you are Soooooooooooo Funny! :-)
btw - I've been telling people about my new Dahlias - one said she thought they only came in one size - Tall. Now, after talking to you and getting some from you (Thank You!), I can talk a Bit knowledgeably about the (at least?) 3 different sizes and uses (border, mid & background).

Thanks so much for the lovely dahlias....... they're starting to bloom very well, and ever so pretty. You've converted me!

Oh I agree - grandchildren!! Should we ever forget for even the briefest of moments the beauty God blesses us with - not just visually but the perfume of all perfumes... Just look to a little one "working" along side of you...watch their face as they bury their nose into a bloom you've held out to them...and listen as only a toddler can say: "ahhhh Yum-mee"

While I do the bulk of the work, I do have occasional helpers. My nephews , 3 1/2 and 5, like to use the push mower while I weed. They also have a hole they've been digging. I have no idea what it's for or why they picked that spot but they sure work hard at it. The dog likes to eat the echinaceas (free style pinching). In between snacks and overseeing my work, she naps in the daylily bed.

~Sharon

Chantell , I have two beautiful Maid of Orleans I'll trade you for those babies .I can't get any great grandkids out of either dgk,s LOL digger
Thanks again , maybe they will bloom next year .

Skiekitty!! Hello. Your doggy looks like my best buddy Scooter!

My DH is as addicted to gardening as I am, so we work together. He loves tomatoes and plumerias. I love daylilies and tropical foliage. He has a horticultural background. I have a farming background. He puts his stuff in containers and I put my stuff in the ground. He does all the chemies and I do the composting. All in all we manage some tomatoes and flowers every year. LOL

The only way to get something done right is to do it yourself. Me, myself & I - us. At the nursery I work at we work as a department but I still find the only way to get it done is to stay overtime and get it done properly.

Oh, oh, I lied! I said I'm the only helper I've got, then got to thinking about who put together the raised garden forms, who brought in the extra dirt and mulch, and who bought the plants........ my dear hubby. He gets very interested in the garden in the early spring, then loses interest in June. I guess this works out O.K. because I'm still in school teaching my brains out in May, so it's good he gets a head start!!! But if I leave for any extended period during the summer months, I tremble wondering what condition the garden will be in when I get back!!

Me, myself & I, of course! What a wonderful team.

See, here’s how it worked just last week:

I’s always keeping an eye out in the garden for both good and bad things going on. Me & Myself are at the ready.

I saw the return of a Trumpet vines along a 10ft underground runner that refused to die after the mother plant was pulled.
Me & Myself dug down deep to find the 3 inch round root, digging and cutting only to find that it kept breaking into pieces.
I immediately got the Round-Up and began applying it to all exposed roots.
Me & Myself then covered up the hole up with soil again.
I noticed there were other volunteers popping up and cut the new plants down and applied Round-Up to them.
Me helps Myself to a nice cold beer after that ordeal.
I realized that the ice cold bottle of beer needed to be in a chilled glass from the freezer.

The reward – priceless!


This message was edited Jul 7, 2009 7:03 PM

If I only had a spouse that was interested in helping. It is so hard to do anything in this forsaken land. But I do have a sense of satisfaction and it takes my frustrations out and exhausts me, so it is fine most of the time. We hired someone to haul stuff off today for the first time, since we had a few obstacles in the way of my efforts to landscape.

If I was really honest about it, Me, Myself, and I really do all the gardening. I love it when my kids get involved, though. Each year, they choose and plant some flowers themselves, which they carefully nurture throughout the summer. I never know what their newest obsession will be. Lately they've been into roses and clematis, which suits me fine! Not what you might expect from two boys, 7 and 10, but they know what looks great!

The veggie garden is mine, all mine, from start to finish. DH helps mow, but that's about it. I sure wish I could get him more involved! Especially where digging up new beds is concerned. . .gets a bit tedious when I have to do it all by myself. LOL

I am the head of a Staff of one. I do all of it, including the lawn. I wish I had help here, but zero interest means zero help, other than harvesting Tomatoes, Blueberries & Cherries. The bright side to this is I make all the decisions about the design work & what to plant.

I, too, am assisted by Me, Myself, and I, but I do get my face licked by my sweet dog, Raja. Luckily she just sits by my side and licks my fevered brow. DH doesn't care for dirt. Has only recently started eating vegetables. I explained that vegetables that are cooked contain no harmful bacteria and he has hesitantly begun to consume them.

Just me except cutting the lawn but do not think that is really gardening

I said my grandchildren...I only have 1 for now & at almost 2 he does a fine job deadheading & watering. :D

I fired me last week, so I had to look for a new job. I hired me this week for intense website programming, but I think I'm going to fire me in a few days and go back to my old boss - me, and try to get my old job back.
The pay isn't much, but the dog likes me right well.

Good one, gordo. My dog likes me pretty well, too. I don't really have any jobs to get fired from except poll worker and all that happens there is that I keep getting promoted! But it is only once every couple of years. I think I can handle it. The rest of the time its the dog and me digging in the dirt, etc. Most pleasant.

I can't vote, WAHHH! All of these polls should have an "other" button! My best helper is my 78 year old mother. Sometimes I think she is sneaking her garden into mine one or two plants at a time. She is always bringing down plants for me to try and fit in somewhere. She has a phenomenal number of plants in the two tiny gardens attached to her retirement cottage, and she seems to think I should aim at an equivalent level of density, LOL! Seriously though, she is a great help and many jobs in the garden go better and faster when she is here, even if it is only for the convivial company while working!

Ciao, KK.

This is a recent shot (mid-June) of about half of one of Mum's two garden areas (See what I mean!!)

Has to be me, myself and I. Except that I do get help with the lawns, there are 4 between our place and mom's next door, too much for me by myself. The rest is mine and have to say my biggest 'helper' is my boom box and now an MP3, especially with Brian Culbertson playing.

I have a helpful "staff" too (Me, Myself, & I) and we mostly get along pretty well, except Me keeps coming up with crazy ideas like growing 24 different heirloom tomatoes for a family of two, while Myself insists on WinterSowing beween 80-90 jugs of seeds. I, well, I has been known to procrastinate about jobs like weeding and edging. Lazy slob!

Non-gardening DH has cleverly figured out that if he lavishes praise about our garden efforts, and doesn't object too much about the $$ we spend, he can get away with not helping much!

And as Katye says:

I can't vote either!! My gardening help is a lifelong friend that just found herself out of work. We are having a grand time re-working all my beds this year. If I survive I will post pictures later!!!!

When the hubby is home, he's a master at what he calls "being on the business end of a shovel" since I seem to have a never-ending supply of 50+ year old azaleas and camelias for him to rearrange (I don't like how they were planted decades ago)! In his defense, he's also an avid, talented gardener (and much better at veggies than I am).

However.....I agree with art_n_garden that the pooches would've probably gotten my vote had they been an option! The three of us spend more time in the garden than anywhere else, and even if they aren't doing any of the work, their company and playtime often keeps me in the dirt longer than I'd be otherwise!

My critters help a bit in the garden....The 3 cats are very good at planting themselves exactly where I am working and the 3 dogs are very good at helping me dig....they come right along behind me and try to dig up whatever I have newly planted. But, they are fun and I'd be lost without them.

I do the outside work - since I grow a lot of unusual and hard to find plants, if anyone came in to pull weeds, they would probably pull a significant plant - last year, a friend insisted to help, so I directed her to a shade bed that has mostly hosta, astilbe, - usual stuff...showed her what to pull - namely, ground ivy. About a half hour later I came back to check how she was doing and she had succeeded in pulling my Tricyrtis Raspberry Mouse and Limelight.they look nothing like ground ivy. YIKS !!

Bletilla - Hardy orchids

I voted me, myself and I, but given a choice, I would have voted "Other". The butterflies help lighten my spirits, and the neighbor's cat helps to supervise.

Occasionally DH comes out with a glass of seltzer, or to tell me to stay out of the sun.

All in all, it works out pretty well.

I would have checked children, but it said loves to help. My son has to get "paid" when helping and still gripes. He won't get up early to come help...he sleeps until noon and then works two hours in the hot sun and has to go home to get ready for his regular job. If he would get here early the two hours would be in the cool shade and then he could nap in the hot part of the day.
DH is helpful but he does the deck plants and really doesn't do much in the yard now other than deadhead cannas. But then he has respiratory problems.

For heavy construction (arbors, walkways, digging out new beds), our college age son is my best helper. For spraying, fertilizing and lawn maintenance, hubby is my best helper. For plant selection, all the lovely ladies and gents on DG are my best helpers! For pond cleaning and maintenance, fountain cleaning and maintenance, art design and installation, garden design, bed prep, planting, pruning, weeding, problem diagnosis, splitting out, documenting, etc., etc., etc. it's the trio of me, myself and I. Before our daughter was married, she didn't show much interest in gardening... but the rest of us all enjoy going to the nurseries together to see what's new... and all three of us have been known to stop the car to get a better look at plants or gardens that catch our attention. We've also specifically planned trips to Epcot in April to be there for the annual garden displays and seminars.

This message was edited Jul 9, 2009 9:34 AM

Sheila, if I worked the swing shift I wouldn't wake up early either.

Well my cat tiger was my best helper. Now that he is gone after 20 years its just me now. Maybe some day another cat will show up like Tiger did and stay and help me.
Greg
Zone 9

After I voted I did realize my DH did help me. Last year I cleaned out an area for a raised bed and he set it up and helped me fill it with soil. This year he built a "Garden Patio" over the raised bed with a sun screen over the top. I guess he does help a lot. He takes care of the front lawn, but can't get him to weed the flower beds. I do appreciate his help as he has a lot going on medically. My dogs do come out to watch me dig in the dirt. I

My dog is a small hole digger, mainly to bury things. So far he's pretty good about staying out of the flowers, just sniffs. O.K. and he did mark one of my roses for a bit this year. It now has a big brown spot in the center. *GASP!* So me, myself & I for now, with dog and occasional cat supervision :)

The family cats weren't much help, but they were good compamy. Unfortunately, they saw the freshly tilled garden as the biggest, bestest, warmest, fluffiest litter box in the world!

Do your cats object to your putting plants in their litter box?

I can see the need for a 'spin-off' Voting booth topic.

Stay tuned for a 'non-human helper' poll in a few weeks!

My DH helps in his way: he tolerates my gardening behavior when it bugs him.

I voted, me, myself and I. I wish I had helpers. DH buys me what I need and that is the end to his help. But like so many of you have pointed out, at least I have control over where things go and how it looks. Not a big consolation to me, though.

Melody, did you ever imagine so many people would prefer voting for their pets over their significant others?

I think one of the reasons the pets are getting so many votes is that they're such great company without injecting a single opposing opinion or quietly grumbled explatives...can't say the same for the hubby when I have him moving 8 foot tall camellias in the middle of a hot afternoon! It's almost like voting for me,myself and I with perpetually happy companions!

Over the years, I've had various non-human assistants. Some preferred to hold a supervisor position, other than a participating one, but they do tend to be interested in what we're up to. I've had a few cats over the years that could definitely complain if things didn't go their way, and a couple of dogs that didn't want their universe altered...so opinions are not limited to homo-sapiens.

My dog, Tashi, is a big helper just by smiling, and giving me encouraging wuffs. When Tashi smiles, the whole world smiles with him.