How has gardening changed for you over the years???

When I first started gardening I would get out my hand trowel to plant a 4" potted plant, Now I get out my big fork and cultivate deep and wide to plant the same small size plant, and then I mulch around it. That change represents the major shift I have experienced over the years.

Thank you Patti for getting us back on track. Soil amendments with compost is the most beautiful way to make the planet a better place.
When I started gardening I too used a trowel, now I have a Dixie Chopper lawn mower, chipper-shredder, Dump-haul trailer, push mower, Debris Loader, Lawn vacuum, small rototiller, large rototiller, Gas powered Blower, Gas powered weed whacker, bush trimmer, small and large chainsaws, multiple garden trailers, wheelbarrows, shovels, forks, edging tools, hoes, trowels, huge sandblaster, and a building specially designed to hold all this garden stuff. I won't even go into the hand tools, seed starter paraphernalia, fertilizer spreaders,etc. We have a tendency to become a little fanatic when the garden experience is rewarding.

LOL I hope I didn't infect you, GHG, when we were at lunch the other day.

Yes, composting is in the blood now. DH is even involved now. He told me there was some ready to go last night.

I'm also thinking about 'changing' a bed. I never would have considered that before.

Didn't you see Maggie after we had lunch? Anyway, so far I'm fine. We've been picking up a lot of bugs from our youngest granddaughter, who's ten months old. The whole family has been sick a lot this winter, I suspect because of that.

How do you "change" a bed?

Dig out what is there and replace it with something else. At least that is my idea of changing a bed.

I don't remember from one minute to the next what I do. :( heehee I did however see her brother earlier in the week who had a fever. I suspect we all got it from him.

I am getting a little better about actually pruning things. And actually throwing out things that reproduce too readily. Both are still a bit of a battle for me. (I still have spider plant and Christmas cactus starts everywhere.)

I am also moving more towards things that don't take quite so much physical effort....daylilies rather than dahlias that need digging for instance. I am also just starting a new habit of trying to give tall things support BEFORE they need it.

Trying to do better at repetition for effect rather than having one of absolutely everything, though that is also tough for me. .

Sharon how could you possibly support plants before. I can never remember or get motivated until they fall down. You are truely a Master Gardener. LOL

Steve, Julie showed me the light with hog wire. If you cut it and surround the plant early on, the leaves grow through it and disguise the wire. When you buy it by the roll, you can save individual pieces for specific individual plants year after year. Mind you this is a work in progress but phlox and shasta daisies were the first victims.

LOL on the 'new habit' of supporting. I'm about 1/3 successful at that.

For the most part, if a plant can't stand on its own feet, it doesn't get to stay in my garden. Kind of harsh, but effective.

bonehead - That is my attitude also. As I have gotten older I have slowly moved to lower maintenance plants. If it needs help to stand up - I just don't have time for it. Truth is, even when I was younger I always forgot to tie them up. lol

I also spend a lot more time on my rolling stool when weeding instead of my poor ol' knees.

Not me any plant that wants to grow to large size and cannot complete the strength is an asset to my garden. Thank you Sharon and I will look for the hog wire.

Yep, Steve, I would HATE to see you give up your delphiniums. I, of course, have the issue that my lack of sunny spots makes all of my plants a little more rangey than under normal circumstances. On the other hand, rain and wind can be an issue too, even for usually sturdy stuff.

Mountain girl - will those chicken wire wraps work on dahlias?

Pig not chicken.

Hog, not pig, Steve.

I haven't considered that Mistish. I usually just used a wooden stake for them. The good thing with this wire approach is that if it is done early enough the leaves hide the wire. Dahlias don't have an excess of foilage so I'm thinking it might not be the most attractive approach. Something to consider if you have large dahlia clumps, however..

I will admit that with my dahlias I am like Steve. When it is past time to stake them, I get around to it.

I forgot dahlias, which I do support. I use tomato cages painted army green so they are less obtrusive. I don't dig them up in the fall and have been gradually losing them one by one to either the slugs or over-winter rot. Will think twice about replacing them, although I do enjoy the late summer blooms.

I too leave tomatoe cages in place for peonies. I was always concerned about the underground parts when pushing the tomatoe cages into place each year so now I just leave them there. I don't really enjoy seeing them all winter but they do also serve to protect the little nubs from my footsteps.

I am gradually ditching all my double peonies in favor of singles. I find the doubles just throw themselves into the mud every time it rains whereas the singles don't have the weight problem. Here's my favorite single - no clue what the variety is (it's currently posted in the peony forum hoping someone will be able to shed light on the name). I've divided this one several times in my yard, vivid color, strong stems, and nice color in the fall.

Deb. thanks for the idea for supporting dahlias. I will give that a try this year as my venture into growing tomatoes this side of the state is diminishing radically. I, too, have usually left my dahlias in the ground but dug the few I have left this past year. My big problem is the critters that think they are their winter stockpile of food.

I dug and divided dahlias one year with my neighor, who inherited a whole mature fenceline of them. It was a lot of work, and many of them dried up or rotted in their sawdust boxes over the winter. I then spoke with a local dahlia grower, and was advised that most will over-winter in the ground OK unless they get waterlogged. Alternatively, as a safeguard, just dig up a chunk of each variety to store in the event something happens over winter/early spring (slugs). For me, it's just easier to leave them to their own devices over winter and if I lose one, there are so many new ones to choose from at the local plant sales. I'm finding with my bad wrists, I have to pick and choose what chores to do and which ones to forego. No more dahlia digging for me.

When we first moved in this house 30 years ago, there was only a few shrubs that I promptly moved in favor of a veggie garden in close proximity to the front door. The challenge is to keep it looking good right there on the front walk. Lettuces and many other veggies can make a delightful display. I am very limited on what I can winter over so what survives the winter is what you see. Since I have foot issues I "crawl" around my yard using 2 knee pads when weeding. I have limited my efforts to those plants that don't require a lot of maintenance, slug resistance, and frequent staking that live a distance from the house. Thanks for the reminder to get hog wire for my tall perennial grasses.

Now I have to see what hog wire is.
I've always considered supporting plants to be somewhat of an artistic endeavor, depending on the plants. I am prone to plant things that need support so that they grow through something else, such as dahlias through rose bushes, or lilies through smoke trees, or even through exbury azaleas. Then, if it's a dahlia, for instance, I like to mess around with the branches of the plants, placing them 'just so' for the right effect. It's a little soothing to me, sort of like decorating. So I don't really think of it as work yet.
For my peonies, I use those little wire fences that you can move around. I actually like those for a lot of plants that can be a bit floppy. I like for the peonies to droop a bit, but I agree that when they fling themselves in the mud it's a tad annoying. I let them droop artistically over the edges of those cheap little fences. You can bend the fences to any shape and the ones with the round tops I bend down so that the top is more of a U shape. Then they hold the plants in place nicely.

Pixie, I like your idea of using other plants as support. I've been trying various things in front of crocosmia and have settled on lemon balm - they both spread easily and the balm seems to help keep the crocs from laying themselves out. I also had a stray sweet annie grow amidst my dahlias and that was a nice combo and seemed to provide some additional support. Will let more grow there this year (these self seed for me). Also plan to move meadow arnica to the feet of the dahlias as this nice little daisy goes dormant about the time the dahlias really start their growth spurt. Which then opens up a spot to move the echninacea to for a better combo with the chocolate boneset. And so on, and so on. Early planning in the head is so much easier than actually doing the work...

I like to use slaves to hold up my plants. Much more dramatic garden effect. Lol

But Steve don't the slaves require maintenence? Ha

he has slaves for that too, I suspect.

You know...... when I read the thread title today, my creative spirit changed it to read "How Gardening Has Changed You Over The Years" which, to me, is a much more fascinating exploration.

Today I took my first walkabout on this land where I have come recently to live. I had been told that at a certain point down a certain dirt road, I would find a small log with a No Trespassing sign stuck in it which I should ignore and just step over, that back that way an old couple had a garden where they used to grow apple trees and blueberries and all kinds of things but that they probably don't do much with it now.

I went back there..... today was the first day with a long enough period without solid slam down rain in days, so I took the chance. I got to that old garden, which is now all grown over with blackberries and other invaders...... something about it was very poignant. I will try to take some pictures. I could barely see the house through the trees and did not want to commit any serious trespassing despite my landlords assurance I could walk back there. There were two rather large fenced areas bordered by wide grassy paths, through the woods.

I don't know. Wow.

One way gardening has changed me over the years is that now, the plants really do speak to me.

These were watching gently as I walked along back there today:

Oh yes to the ease of planning! I have crocosmia planted among daylilies, and lily bulbs planted in the midst of them all.
I do hope there is some time to do a little gardening soon, and that it includes a day without a downpour.

Kylaluaz, we cross posted. That is such a cool photo, and an awesome experience. I completely agree that gardening has changed me in dramatic ways, not the least of which is that plants speak to me in ways that they never did before. And I talk to them. My kids think I'm crazy, but the plants don't seem to think so.

This message was edited Mar 16, 2011 4:00 PM

I like the Tolkein trees!

One memeory that i can;t get out of my mind has blurred and combine dwith dream images over decades. When I live in New Haven, there was a muddy shortcut with abandoned land ... I guess that they couldn't get insurance due to flooding.

I don't recall whether there was a tumbledown dwelling, foundation, or nothing left. But you could tell where gardens used to be, from some feral plants and the "feel". They felt abandonned and lonely, that their beauty was no longer appreicated and their love no longer returned.

I always wondered what happened to the prior human dwellers. And I liked the fact (or false memory) that the flowers had outlasted the structure, undaunted by building codes, insurance, floods, or even abandonment. They were waiting patiently, without resentment or demands.

In beauty.

Corey

Corey, sometimes when we're wandering around in the woods (which we don't do very much anymore, alas, because of ticks!) we'll come across a clearing with a lilac tree blooming away in solitude, or an ever-growing clump of daffodils, and we'll know that a house was once there. Even in the U.S. you can find places where the structure was built so long ago that it has now vanished without even a trace, unless the chimney still stands.

>> a clearing with a lilac tree blooming away in solitude, or an ever-growing clump of daffodils, and we'll know that a house was once there.

I love that! Something remains, and it's something beautiful.

When I moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, it seemed that everything was newer and cleaner. Maybe that's only my imagination.

Heinlein, in Stranger in a Strange Land, said that Martians had learned to abandon cities after they had absorbed too many memories and passions from having been lived in for too long.

That's what the West Coast feels like to me: not yet over-crowded, used up, tired, dirty or squalid.

Corey

When I moved temporarily from the East Coast to the West Coast I was surprised at what I considered to be the shoddy building practices. Even in the nicer sections of Bellingham, near where we lived, you didn't seem to see the neat construction and the solid brick or wooden homes that I was used to. And even nice houses used plastic over their windows in the winter. It may be different now, but it was odd back then. It felt as though the PNW wasn't INTENDING to make memories, or at least not very extensive ones. Things didn't seem to be built to last.

The closest I've noticed to what you said is that fact that manufactured homes are much more common here than in the parts of MA/CT/NJ/NY where I've lived.

I will add that manufactured homes are NOT mobile homes!
My old double-wide manufactured is NICE.

(Sensitive much?)

Corey

I've seen wonderful manufactured homes, Corey. This was in the late 60's so I'm sure things have changed a lot.

Is that when the whole lumber indistry crashed ... when lumber was almost all WA had?

Corey

I don't know; I was going to grad school there at the time. So we weren't keyed into the economic issues.

I like my trailer/mobile home.

Today I had hoped for further breaks in the weather, to go back out and get some photos, and maybe even do a little more garden prep, but no, it is rainy and cold again.

Today it was gorgeous here - sunny and seventies - but I had to take my granddaughter to the orthodontist to get her braces off and that killed the better part of the day. Tomorrow it will be in the fifties again. But my peas are coming up!