The biggest challenge in my garden is:

Were you referring to Halloween, hellnzn11? If so, that is in Oct.--Sept. has just 30 days. --and, just for the record, I wasn't flirting--just making a joke--certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. :o))

it's finding a place to put my gun while i dig that prevents me from doing my best work. it's not fashionable to wear gun holsters these days. so what is one to do? lol.

Do you shoot the weeds?

lol. not really. ol potagere up there just thought all texans had guns. and i 'aim' to please.

Animals....deer, bear, turkey, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrel, chippies, mice, voles and skeeters so large they have a town meeting to discuss who they will eat next and if to do it where the person is or drag him home where they fear the really big ones would eat the find first.

Oh me oh my..........I use lots of organic controls, fencing, have a heart traps, leg hold traps, deadfalls, snares and a very quiet Model 9 Beeman one break pellet gun. I feel the proper place for deer is venison right beside the mashed tatters, bear makes great saussage to go with the aigs. The rest are fine to eat but I could never eat away our problems....not ever. I do what I have to do to keep things in ballance. Our whole family harvests and eats what we take. We live by the reasoning that....sometimes we eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats us. Yes I am speaking of a surburban back yard. I have no neighbors that help either with the exception of a few road kills.

Normally our only disadvantage to growing outside is our excessive amount of wind every day of the year. This year we are still in a drought, so it is impossible to do anything but try and keep plants alive.....forget making them pretty! Not a drop of rain since January.

OK, this went a rye somewhere. I was just joking because you said:

marsue has edited me out!!!
The story of my life!

Potagere
LOL, Potagere!!--I thought maybe I had embarrassed you with my marriage proposal!! LOL

Hey! I just noticed that we are in the same zone! How cool is that?!! So I said:

"Stop flirting you two", (as a joke, as you were also joking.) I was just making a joke that we are all here too, because Potagere said that you should more appropriately send a dmail. I said, in agreement, meant as a joke, "This is all about us day. Your day is next month on the 31st." (Just another bad presented joke because there is no Sept. 31st, so it was not going to be your day either.

this comment was for Susan who said;

"Mine was no of the about but its really all of them plus bad soil and water. Have ph of 7.1 to 8.9 in the soil and our water is sodaie, not sure if thats a word, it taste like and test like you took a glass of good water and put a cup of baking soda in it. Makes it hard to get things to grow so my yard is the survival of the fittest."

I forgot to say this comment was for Susan.

Now that we got that straight and acknowledge that my humor does not translate well on screen.... Carry on with you guys and your yard issues.

hellzn11..............did you move?

Definitely not enough time! Work 8-5 M-F, one hour commute each way. So far, i only have a container garden on the patio and a couple of big planter boxes out front, all of which I have to water before and after work (during the summer) . The rest of my gardening gets done on the weekends-weeding, deadheading, fertilizing, etc. Next spring I plan on doing raised beds in the front yard....will need to find time to do that...and enlist the help of dh, son, and a couple of friends...with the bribery of plenty of food and beer!!!

Morning, All!

marsue and I were just foolin' around! I hope we didn't offend anyone!

hellnzn11, I was really confused, so thanks for the clarification. Conan thinks you're really cool because you know he's a Corgi! People are always coming up and asking what he is!

mamajack, I'm sure not coming around your place unless I know you're weeding and not packing!

Potagere

When people ask, "What is he?", why don't you reply, "A dog".

potagere, you are a great wit. how is it that you speak english so well?

Mother tongue!
Je suis Americain!

y'are? where are you from? i bet you're a closet texan. lol.

I'll be he's from the northeast - maybe Boston?

bah-stun! y'think?

We'll find out.

Scintillatin' Spokane!

Just saw this hilarious thread (been away for a couple weeks at family weddings.)
I find it interesting that there is no really clear "winner" as to which is the greatest challenge to gardening, though lack of time and lack of space are in the forefront. But it seems like we all have our horticultural challenges, some of us multiple (like me: pests, soil, and climate. And don't even get me started on fungus diseases this summer!) Yet we keep on keeping on. Two questions: are gardeners masochists? ;-)
Would we ever feel we had achieved just want we wanted in our gardens and had no further challenges? I know I wouldn't.

is wanting 'more' being a masochists? (ohhhh we said 'masochists' on DG ;)
( haha,why is everyone pointing to me? ) =)

then to answer your questionsCapeCod.... Yes.
and Heck No. but look at what we DID accomplish this year.
thats why I want more.

and ohhhh....i just love it when Jim speaks français

Merci, Phyl, ma petite chou! Voulez vous faire le jardinage avec moi ce soir?

Maybe she'll "Tiptoe through the Tulips" with you.

Ha, French, huh? Well, I may be Texan, but I think Jim just said something like, "Thank you, my little lady, would you like to go in the garden with me this evening?", or something like that! It's been 30 years or so since my one year of college-French ( just in case I ever got to go to Paris, I thought!), and never did...I've forgotten most of it, since I never used it after taking the course! I had 2 years of Spanish in High School, & learned it better, but don't use it much either, although down here you really need to know it. I just like the fluency of French; it just sounds so romantic, don't you agree, ladies? When I get to use my husband's truck with the Satellite radio, I turn it to that Canadian station that has a mixture of English & French songs; my teenagers think I'm crazy since I don't know what they're singing about, but I just say, "Oh, it's gotta be a Love song!" Ha!! =) ...oh, yeah, Gardening woes... yes, they're awful, aren't they?

not enough sun!

Masochists? I think no. I think gardening is about creating something. Masochism is just pain for no purpose outside of itself.

Sometimes I think I am a masochist when I am out pulling weeds and the sweat is pouring down my face, neck and back and my hair is wringing wet! Who else but a crazy gardener would do that to themselves on purpose when it's 90F in the shade and the humidity is off the charts!! Oh, I forgot--the purpose is to have a weed-free flower bed! I guess that isn't masochism, after all--
Sweat with a purpose--that's it! Oh, wait--Southern ladies don't sweat--we "glow"!

Carrie: in my yard it's too much sun, not enough shade.

Petalpants: I agree--French does sound romantic--even if I don't understand more than a couple of words. :o))

My biggest problem is a disability. Dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease that attacks one's muscles and skin.
I can hardly get back up after pulling weeds because my muscles are weak. I have to garden when it's sprinkling/raining out, or very over cast, or early in the am or late evening when the sun shine is very weak. The disease attacks the skin as well and makes the skin extremely sensitive to the sun. If I'm in strong sun 15 minutes, I will burn. If I get too much sun, it makes me sick like I have the flu. I love gardening, being outside, nature, birds, butterflies and I cannot make my disease get the best of me. I would like to get more involved in helping others, volunteering etc. but I never know when I am going to have a bad day.
Weeds are a big problem here as well. I use some landscaping fabric and that has helped a lot.
The soil here has a lot of clay. Composting is great, but it's hard to do.
Squash bugs seem to eat everything including tomatoes.
We have a simple irrigation system and that has helped a lot.
I am starting to use more native plants/shrubs because of limitations, but I am really enjoying and appreciating the natives and the birds really like them!

PETAL good seeing a fellow texan here. where do you keep your gun?

POTAGERE.......the pnw. why are you in france?

and yall just continue on with the topic at hand and never mind me.

Mamajack: Ha! Well, to be truthful, did you say 'gun' as in only One?? No, we have more than one, don't ya'll?--- after all, we live in Texas! You know, some are for hunting and some are for protection against intruders...but we don't keep them in a gun cabinet, like on that old 'Bonanza' show; ours are kept put up, but handy---till they are needed. I don't usually carry one while out in the yard gardening, however, as holsters get in my way while weeding! And I generally would just rather use a 4-10 Rifle, but you know, rifles are like having to carry an extra shovel around--- kinda long, and you don't want your rifle to get wet! So I venture out in my yard weaponless, Ha!! Cannot think of where Fate is located at in TX.; is it out in the middle of nowhere, or a suburb of a city? And where did they get that Name for the town?! =)

Long story, mamajack.
Short version: Ms Marta works for the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, just across the border.

lol.........petal you are girl after my own heart. fate WAS in the middle of nowhere until a couple of years ago. now we have 2 HOA housing developments in our midst. whoo pee.

potagere.........and is ms marta your wife? and a un worker? how exciting. yall got one of those secret ubs accounts? i don't. hehe

yall answer back and then we prob. need to quit talking on the voting thread. i have to say that on just about every thread i get on. so sorry.

haaaaaaaaa i'm still laughing over my petite...muuuuahhhh Jim

i love hearing the language even ive forgotten more than i ever knew about it.

marsue...in this part of the south, us su'thern wem'un don't sweat...we glisten ;)
oh man....i'm fighting back the urge to say we don't spit either. ; o

ok. climate and weeds and sweat. and DEER!!! and racoons eating my corn.

When gardening in S.TX., ladies, you 'glow' when you walk out to your garden; you 'glisten' for 2 minutes in the sun; after that you 'Sweat', period.

See, we don't even have to pull those weeds, cuz if'n the glistenin', glowin' and sweatin' falling down on the weeds don't kill them, the spit'n surely will! We southern 'wimmin' are a tough breed! LOL

Nobody offended me, sorry it took me so long to get back. I have been burning the candle at both ends uhg!
I hope I did not offend anyone. My humor needs to be in person so you can see facial expressions and voice fluctuation.

Hey Potagere, I don't know but I think that was a song. Who knew they were singing about Gardening adventures?

I used to have a 1/2 French bulldog and 1/2 Corgy and my friend had a Cardigan, so I love the breed. My h does not have the same attraction, but they are great.

We are total gluttons for punishment and this whole thing could be it's own Support Group thread, in itself. The Martyr Thread. Not sure if I spelled it right, I am on IE. lol

Oh, good, helln, glad to hear that--and we can put it behind us! :o))
Somebody "up there" on this thread said we needed to get back to voting but, hey what would DG be if we couldn't do a little talking, too--okay, a lot of talking! LOL However, I'm still voting for those big, bad weeds as being the worst problem in my garden!! (or maybe it's my aging body that is the problem!)

I could be wrong, but I think that since The Voting Booth has moved on to a new topic, we can probably chat here!

Helln, I think the words to that song were a bit more risque. Check out this link to "Lady Marmalade"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfgHzBfZ1zE&feature=fvw
1/2 Corgi and 1/2 French Bulldog?!?!? That must have been an interesting looking dog! Can't see why anyone would not love Corgis! They are extremely loyal and affectionate, besides being so cute!

We've taken a sharp left turn towards Autumn this week, so I've been busy "rescuing" tomatoes before the various fungal diseases can get them (I was too late to save my peaches!!!), making sauce, freezing, and just generally trying to stay one step ahead of the season!

Potagere

My dog was odd looking, very odd, looking, like an old horse with a sway back because of the long body.

Gardening is exasperating here and I lose more than I keep, also, everything leafs out but never flowers or rarely. So horrid.

I watched part of the video clip that Frenchy-Jim posted; that definitely didn't look like ladies enjoying gardening activities! I watched till one of my teenage boys came into the room, then zipped out of there real quick...Well, that was different, Potagere; I'm more used to country songs! Ha!! Jim, hope you get all your tomatoes preserved in time.
Helln, that kind of dog does sound strange but cute; I guess he had a good personality to make up for it!? Last July we brought home a little terrier puppy from the dog pound; he was so tiny & cute we couldn't resist! The vet told us he's Yorkie & maybe some Maltese; he's blond & white, and now about 7 months old, I named him 'Ziggy'. My oldest son (19) brought home a puppy 6 months ago; he had His dog in his apt., but kept leaving 'Bandit' here when he went to work; then my son moved back home, and so we have this big dog who 'lives up to his name'--- he steals your socks, shoes, underwear, anything he can get & runs with it! My kids keep trying to figure out what kind of dog he is, with short, thick hair, a curly bushy tail, and big eyes that look like he has eyeliner around them!--- my husband says he's just a 'mutt'! Both of these dogs have really good personalities. Before that, we have had several Dalmatians; the last one was like my shadow and died about half a year ago; I still miss her! A long time ago we had an Afghan Hound, and a Llasa-Apso mix Terrier. Dogs definitely become like a member of your family!
Marsue, Helln, Frenchy-Jim, and all: Have a safe and Happy Labor Day weekend! =)