My biggest garden problem is too much or too little ...what?

I also went for the last answer. We have too many rocks, tree roots, weeds, and bugs. Too much humidity.

Not enough rain in summer. Not enough time. And the big one: Not enough energy! So I guess I have too much garden to maintain.

My garden is all tropicals, and most of them need shade. In fact, I was surprised at how any tropicals need shade to grow. The house is new, and the yard has no trees - thus no shade.

I'm growing bananas and Castor Bean plants to try and provide some quick shade, but they're not helping this year - maybe next year will be different.

Steve

The response I needed to check is too many weeds and too many rocks and not enough energy and helping hands to keep it going.

I checked "too much clay", but in fact my biggest garden problem is my bad back. If I could bend and dig and work the way I would like, I could overcome most problems to my satisfaction.

I checked not enought rain. There was not a choice saying "plants are growing too well" and I am running out of space. Every year I go thru the same routine . too many hostas, too many viburnums, too many bulbs. So much for composting all my leaves and my grass cuttings...Everything grow too well...
Right now it is too hot and not enought rain. I see already my water bill going up for the summer.

I voted clay (which we do have a lot of), but the real answer wasn't listed. We've had record high temps and record high rain fall (our county is currently listed as a disaster area from such bad flooding--thank God we were spared!)...the bugs (particularly aphids) and weeds are out of control, and I've had my share of diseases as well. This is also the first year that my back gets strained easily enough for me to force myself to limit my activity. And like someone else said, money is a factor. I've spent all I can for this year, so I need to make do with what I have on hand. Lastly, I think most of us can relate to the time thing. I have 3 small boys and 2 female dogs that hate each other, so I really have my hands full trying to maintain the peace. Tamara

Not near enough rain. We've had drought conditions for sooooo long.

I'd have to say: to much to take care of. We bought this place (4 acres) thinking we'd just garden the area of the house, & leave the rest cleaned but natural, HA! as soon as an area was clreared I thought geeze, Hostas would be nice in here, so hostas went in followed by other shade loving plants & water system. We had a nice medow full of Trilliums in the spring, there is now a pond & trails along it & we keep it mowed to look like lawn once the Trilliums are done. Now we have "Rooms" all over the property & all that has been cleaned has NOT been left to nature, at least native nature! Most is on Drip system which I'm very glad of. It is pretty but sure a lot of work! This just one of the "Rooms" I have done out near my shade garden. The Blue & White room. There is a bridge, a bedroom & trails by the creek. This is only one side of my place, the other side has a big Green House Veggie gardens & more flower gardens! Yikes! Bj

Too much shade and too many trees - which makes sense that I have both. Opposite of where I used to live.

Looks like too little room is a big one, along with too little rain and too much clay. I wonder if our geography has anything to do with the two latter categories. I'm a balcony gardener with plenty of room to keep me busy but not enough room to do everything I'd like to do, like grow sun-loving plants, tall plants, etc. This year I had to get rid of a nicotiana I didn't know was going to take over the whole balcony! LOL If I had more room, I would have put it somewhere else because it was so beautiful.

I have tons of trees and with the fog and dew (and my frequently too heavy watering hand) the moisture is good, but along with the trees is a lot of shade. While good for the temperature regulation, I have places, particularly a strip of dirt right by the house, where I would really like to plant some color but am afraid there is not enough sun to sustain anything. Anyone who has good recommendations, please feel free to let me know!

Not enough time to plant it all.. When I run out of room I'll take over the old cementery up the street and start planting there. Hopefully plants and not me!!
:)

Susan

I never seem to have enough room for all the plants I want to grow.If I had my way it would be all garden and flower beds and such and no lawn!May have to purchase an empty lot somewhere near for what I don't have room for here! Cedar

I voted "not enough trees", but in truth, my biggest problem is that we live in a place of extremes... maybe "Too Much Mother Nature" is my real answer :-)

* Too little rain (10"-14" total percipitaion in a wet year, but probably only 1 or 2 of those inches in rain, sprinkled 1/8 of an inch here and there)

* Too little organic material of any type

* Too much sand

* Too much sun

* Too much wind

I didn't even vote because there wasn't an "other." I have none of these problems. The only problem I have in this garden-paradise is not enough time. Time, give me more time to garden. Daytime I sit here working, staring out at all the possibilities; nightime my dreams are of designing these awesome beds. I'm sure if I had the time other problems would surface like: "now that you have all this time because you're not working, where are you going to get the money to support this gardening habit?"

Dave you left the biggest answer out. Wrong zone to grow what I want to grow. LOL

Ha ha.

When I was young enough to handle all the room I have to garden, I was too busy.

Now I have the time, I am too infirm to get around to all of it.

I said not enough precip - at least this summer so far. A few thunderstorms flood everything out and then nothing. I need a good farmer's rain.

Someone mentioned Time and I would definitely agree with that one. Can we put an order in for shorter work days, say 11-2 and then 3 day weekends - of course I still want my full time salary. Too much to ask for????

I have a new house, which is located on Virginia Red Clay. Yuck, it is so tough to deal with. The builders scraped off all the decent topsoil as usual, and left me with the hard packed clay (from constant heavy equipment use during construction). It' now been three
years since moving in, but things are coming along well in the prepared and amended beds. We also have 1/4 acre of the back yard that is thickly wooded, so there we have dry shade - but I haven't done much of anything with that ... yet!

My only complaint is our Minnesota winters, so I voted "too much snow." I started out with a blank canvas of sorts this year. There was hardly anything planted on my corner lot in town, I have a sunny side, a shady side, and just enough trees.

So I guess I'd be another gardener who's in the wrong zone. lol. :-)

Anybody can grow plants in Zone 6 and up it is only we skilled zone 4 gardeners that are great. LOL

To many tree roots...I garden in Maple roots...its a learning process...what lives,lives..and what doesn't well.We try it in another spots...hehe
Add me to the worng zone list too..zone 4...would love to be in 6

How about too much zucchini and not enough tomatoes?

I ammend my soil one plant hole at a time with scotts garden soil (my favorite) (I used to use top soil because it was cheapest never helped finally figured it out). Plant what loves sun and water when needed.

This one was a tossup- my gardening space is complete and full sun, with not an ounce of shade. However I can only garden on my third floor roofdeck, which is only about a 12x12 foot space- plenty of room considering I live minutes from downtown Philadelphia, but still not a lot of room compared to the yard I used to have in Ohio (moved here recently). More room and at least a little shade (I love fuschia for example) would be the perfect blend.
Cheers :-)
Samantha

A big 'hearty' welcome to DG, to ya .. PhlowrsInPhilly/Samantha!

- Magpye

When I moved last summer, I got the perfect yard- 1.25 acre, lots of tall, old trees that are perfectly and strategically placed, some sun, some shade with a good balance of each, and, for the first time - GOOD soil.

My problem is...BERMUDA GRASS! It is the bane of my existence. I am tempted to dig up the whole yard, spray the bare earth with full strength Round Up every day for a month, then till it and sod it.
Karen

Picture is only of my back yard

This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 11:28 AM

we here in central maine are getting alot of rain. alot of cloudy days, my morning glories will never bloom. the lawn is growing nicely though, should rent a baler LOL

LadyCleo,
I have way to many sweet gum trees also. The previous owner didn't take into account how tall they would get and they are planted too close to the house. My son fell off his swing when he was barely two and broke his arm on one of those danged roots. Don't even get me started on those satanic little demon pods those trees drop. Have use noticed how fast those stupid things will ruin a mower blade? The roots spread! I can only plant one side in front of my house because those roots are everywhere! I can't dig into the hard clay soil if I wanted to. I want to get rid of all eight in my front yard, but I am afraid all those roots are supporting the foundation of my house! Okay I am done with my rant. (grin)
~Dayna

Welcome MyHiraeth! I got a smile out of your begonia under the chair -- I had to move a not-a-chair (decorative in a shabby way, scavenged from neighbor's trash) to shelter a pipe-vine (not flowering as yet) when I clipped and pulled yards-n-yards of jasmine that *had* been shading it.

I chose Too Much Clay... we don't get much rain 9 months of the year -- but as someone else said, I can plant for that. After 15+ years, most of the actual garden beds are finally improved enough to call soil. The native matrix we call 'adobe' but if it were wetter it would be your gumbo! When it does rain (some years, in the winter) the yard doesn't drain, and I must be careful watering the fruit trees, because the big old holes they are planted in are clay pots with no drain-hole -- more than one has died from drowning!

I also have a lot of shade from street trees -- the very same Sweet Gums! They like to call them Liquidambars... they buckle the sidewalks until I'm sure older people are afraid to walk them -- or should be! I have fallen myself. A few years back, the city was going to remove them and plant something without the encroaching roots, which of course would have started small -- and a great uproar of "neighborhood action committees" was heard -- 99% of whose members NEVER WALK ANYWHERE. "Save Our Shade Trees" -- they blocked the plan. Now all the city can do is lay in wedges of asphalt everytime any particular ledge gets more than a few inches offset (!) (of course, the biggest tripping hazard is the 1-2" ledge, that is difficult to see coming...).

Then I have a house-long hellstrip, about 10 feet wide (~4' is sidewalk or path), between my house and the neighbor's -- which is our lot-line. Most things that do succeed in it are in fact "sun" plants (notably lavenders), but it's really "bright shade" and only gets about 2-4 hours of sun depending on the season. However, in the summer, those hours are BAKING HOT... and in winter, it barely gets enough sun to keep the lavenders alive, rarely looking good.

~'spin!~ P.S. I also have a bad back, or actually a pelvis that gets "thrown out" -- but physical infirmity wasn't on the list!

I see that 97% of the votes went to 'too little room'.

Does anyone have too much? laff

Joan

Do we ever have enough room to garden lol??? I never will!!! :)

YES! to all the choices.
;)

I probably should have picked to much clay or not enough room to garden as these are things I can't really change. But I chose the most obvious visual flaw which is not enough trees! I live in a newly developed plot of land and there were no good trees in the area which to leave so no one has trees except little ones freshly planted. I've put in 5 on my property (4 in back) but for the few years I will live here it's not likely I will get to enjoy their shade, privacy and splendor. I'll make sure to have trees on my next property for sure!

TOO MUCH SNOW Can't garden in Indiana half the year because of the cold.
The flowers die
The butterflies disappear
And the creek freezes

Oh well, I enjoy staying indoors and cooking.
Hope I don't break the scales LOL

In the Boston area this spring I heard a news station say we had five months worth of rain in five weeks. Too much rain. Dumping out container pots w/out drain holes. New plants still in flats or cells literally drowning. Standing water everywhere all the time. If we'd known it was going to be that way we could have done something about it but it took us totally by surprise. Even raining so hard we couldn't get out to plant things! My DH keeps watering and I keep trying to explain about water tables and long vs. short roots. Now it's normal - hot and humid.

xxxx, Carrie

Twenty years ago(at age 53)I didn't realize how little I would be able to do as I aged, so I attempted to plant at least one of our twenty acres. Now I am faced with not being able to cope with the herd of deer, the drought, the weeds and sprouts,the heat, the bugs( boy are there lots of bugs! ), so the place is really going to pot (no...not that kind!) So I voted for more than I can maintain...or something like that. :-)
Most of my flowers are in containers setting on the deck. Last night the marauding raccoons dug a bunch of them out of their pots! Yaarrgh!

I selected "too little room" because of all the ROCKS that take up room in my garden! Whenever I try to dig a hole to plant something, I have to try about 5 different spots until I find a "hole" between 2 rocks!!! I do have plenty of room to garden...more than I can handle.