Mid-Atlantic Roll Call, Part Two

Greetings Wise Ones!

Part One currently has 357 Replies and 4,044 views. It's getting hard for some people to open.

Please use this post to allow us to greet you and get to know you. Use the old post to read about folks who have been around for a while.

Hyperlink to Mid-Atlantic Roll Call, Part One:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/799678/

Return to this post to check on folks who checked in prior to June 20, 2008. I'll keep up with posting the names of our community in both posts.

Blessings on your garden,
Elf

Directions for Roll Call:

How about we begin the new year by checking in and telling each other a little about ourselves? I often wonder who we all are and how many Mid-Atlantic types there are here.

Here's a template. Feel free to adjust your response. I add the names of folks who have checked in with very Roll Call information to the bottom of this post when I get the free moment. :) Check Roll Call One to see how folks use the template.

Name:
Location:
Family:
Employment:
Gardening Level:
Gardening Focus:

Checked in so far:

1. lastelf, Baltimore, MD
2. plantmover, Newport News, VA
3. sallyg, Millersville, MD
4. doccat, Fredericksburg, Virginia
5. Bec_No_Va, Woodbridge, VA
6. Gitagal, Perryhall, MD
7. VA_Wild_Rose, Fredericksburg, VA
8. Chantell, Stafford, VA
9. lafygardener1. Albion, PA
10. dragonfly53, South Boston, VA
11. HollyAnnS, Dover, Pa.
12. bseward, Kilmarnock, VA.
13. Gahagan, Freeport , PA
14. Amy319, Bethesda, MD
15. DarraD, Reva, VA
16. Buttoneer, Carlisle, PA
17. metopa, Stormstown (Port Matilda), PA
18. rubyW, Skyline Drive, VA
19. JennGroves, Jenn, Glen Burnie, MD
20. jody, Pasadena, MD
21. pamgarden, Center of VA
22. Greenhouse Gal, Southern NJ
23. rcn48, Lexington, VA
24. cwspy, Fredericksburg, VA
25. chriscoli, Wheaton, MD
26. PAMSPACE, Temperanceville, VA
27. pj617, Damascus MD
28. critterologist, Frederick, MD
29. flowerjen, Central NJ
30. RatherBDigging, small town northeast of Lancaster, PA
31. woodsyearthmama, Southwest VA
32. Michaeljo, West Norriton, PA
33. Mosbyone, Fredericksburg Virginia
34. NisiNJ, Bordentown, NJ
35. ottahand7, Monkton, MD
36. Gardengirl1204, Richmond, VA
37. Jake, Glen Arm, MD
38. Cottonpiker, Audubon, PA
39. kudrick, Fallston, MD
40. Tammy, NE Pa
41. Susan51, Danville, Va.
42. thistle5, Alexandria, VA
43. Micha (Pronounced: Mee-sha,) Brookeville, MD
44. lcsera, Aspen Hill, MD
45. Sundownr, Southwestern VA
46. davis1679, Disputanta, VA
47. babybubbs, Magnolia DE
48. net4tmi, Severn, MD
49. mkinne, Leesburg, VA
50. Kubileya, Laurel, Delaware
51. ginpan, Danville, VA
52. aspenthomas, Lucketts, VA
53. qwilter, Severn, MD
54. largosmom, Newport News, VA
55. PattyMarie, (Out) Wayne, WV
56. ldy_gardenermd, Highland, Maryland
57. stormyla, Valley Forge, PA
58. wvgardendeva, Berkeley Springs WV
59. Hineni, Damascus, VA
60. gailDelaware, Ocean View, DE
61. darius, Marion, VA
62. Wisdomskr, Mechanicsville, MD

As of Friday, June 20 2008. Who's next????


This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 1:22 PM

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 1:24 PM

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 1:30 PM

WOW-listed like that...that's a big group of people!!!

I thought I'd try to collate some of the responses from the first thread, since I'm pretty sure it's too long for dial-up folks to open. I'll put several people's introductions per post, and I won't be including any of the responses or chat... for that, you have to go back to the original thread!

Name: Elf
Location: Essex, Maryland
RFamily: I'm married with four successful children who have left the nest. I LOVE being in my fifties!
Employment: High School Reading Teacher, but an English teacher by training, and I'm a minister.
Gardening Level: Intermediate
Gardening Focus:

I have a strange garden. It's a meditation garden. My objective was something that would force the walker along a path like a labarynth, but really be a garden. It's definitly not formal, but it is different.

What happened is what the neighbors describe as my maze. When giving directions, all I need to say is, "Do you know the house with the maze out front, and all the angels?" It's a kind of maze, but it is not one that you get lost upon, which is the fun of a traditional maze with the dense boxwood. There are no dead ends to get lost at during your journey. The paths are currently grass and there are a couple of larger stop off points where'd you'd be able to sit an meditate, or play a game of cards with a friend. Like a labarynth, they lead to a center point and then out again. We bought brick over the summer, and with any luck, the paths will be more brick than grass by next fall.

I'm trying to get a cottagey feel for the beds along the paths. I decided that symbolically, I didn't want the paths to move in a circle where you can always see just what is ahead, because life is just not like that. Life is full of surprises. So when they curve, they make a gentle turn, but it's a turn, and you always find an interesting new thing to expeience ahead on the path.

So you'd walk a curve and ahead is a bench under a tree, a drift of flowers, or one of my little angels (they are all over 36", so they are very present and not so little.)

In 2006, I did a lot of the "bones." I laid it out, tilled it, discovered evil in the form of quack grass, and planted dogwoods and red buds, 80 rose of sharon, 50 crape myrtle, (they both form the outside boarder,) lots of snow balls, burning bush, spirea, peony, blazing star, and in fall, lots of bulbs. This year I started adding roses, perrenials, hollyhock, lilies, a few more trees, some hardy hibiscus, some other kinds of shrubby stuff that grows well around here. I'm also playing with varying leaf colors and textures. Hubby is building arbors, seating, and a pergola. I went to Harpers this past summer and bought benches, fountains, tables, and statues, none of which are yet installed. The fencing between the outer tree area and the maze may go in this next summer, sooner if I get the money. Teachers don't do all that well.

I have no clue as to how this will all turn out, but I'm having a lot of fun and driving my hubby nuts. He has a riding mower that makes him feel very manly and in charge, and I took the front third acre and made it a push mower job. I'd like to get the paths covered eventually so he doesn't need to mow, only mulch the boarders.

I still have about 2000 bulbs sitting in the spare room. I wanted to plant today, but it rained, rained, rained. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow!

Blessings on your garden,
Elf

**************

Name: plantmover...my DH says that as near as he can tell, moving plants is all it means to be gardener.

Location: Newport News, VA

Family: Loving husband, two sweet daughters, and one terrific son-in-law.

Employment: n/a

Gardening Level: I feel like I know just enough to be dangerous; but on a good day, I'm an intermediate.

Gardening Focus: Small spaces; we live on .13 of an urban acre. There's about 7 feet of clearance between our deck and the neighbor's screened patio. This fall I planted a green tower boxwood hedgerow to provide an 'illusion' of privacy. I've added beds along each side of the house, an herb bed in one back corner of the lot, and hope to put in an xeric bed at the other back corner where there's a sunny slope to the street. Initially, I was dismayed at the limitations of our lot; but it has caused me to research and be very intentional about which plants to choose and buy...probably a good thing.

We've lived in several states, including Arizona and Alaska, and I have a hard time limiting myself to plants of one or two zones. So trial and error is still part of my sometimes brutal gardening techniques.

I'm amazed and fascinated by the diversity of plants, especially those of Mediterranean climates (they're so Dr Seussy). Working with plants is like free therapy...well, almost free! ;)

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SallyG
Name: sally
Location: Millersville, central Maryland. Lifelong central Marylander. If I could have dream home, it would be in the mountains, by a stream. An old mill would be soo cool.
Family: married to hubby who mows, does a big job when asked and leaves the rest up to me; three kids 16,14 and 11 .
Employment: n/a , dgree in agriculture , U MD, inspected restaurants for several years before kids
Gardening Level: know more than most I meet and less than many DGers I meet

Gardening Focus: Might say, using my natural yard as my botanical playground. Not good at design and structure, better at just wanting to experience different plants and enjoy plant material.. I try to find a suitable place for what strikes my fancy, an assortment of inexpensive, readily available, interesting things, meaning if something comes up out of thebrown and looks promising I give it a chance. That got me interested in learning about native plants. Too cheap to pursue much exotic stuff. 98 percent organic. I compost, and have small fruits and small veg garden

I have always loved nature and being outside, poking in the stream as a kid and playing in the dirt as an adult. Enjoy the birds and bugs too.

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Name: doccat
Location: Fredericksburg, Virginia
Family: Married to DH for 36 years. 2 grown sons and 2 lovely grand babies. A girl 4 and a boy just turned 1.
Employment: Retired federal worker=now I have time to do real gardening again

Gardening Level: Experienced organic gardener-recent grad of the Virginia Tech Master Gardener program and am mentoring 2 newbie gardeners on here.

Gardening Focus: My main area of expertise is growing veggies organically, but I also grow roses. We have gardened off and on for over 25 years. Since I've retired I want to get back into doing a larger garden, to cut back on our grocery expenses and because I miss doing it. I love trying unusual veggies and thought I had died and gone to heaven when I saw the Baker's catalog, them are my kinda people!

We are also planning on turning some areas into perennial beds. I'm not highly experience with those, but am intrigued and figure if I can raise hybrid tea roses the perennials ought to be easy. We have compost bins and use wide row beds for planting. We turn those into rather casual raised beds just by raising the soil level with a shovel. We have a big Horse Troybilt rototiller that I love this our 2nd one. They are big tillers, but the balance is so precise it will turn on a dime and give you change. Don't worry over much about soil compaction, since we rotate the beds yearly.

We have about 3/4th of an acre, so have room to move around a bit. We also have black walnut and pecans. As well as Bosc and Sheckel pear trees. I want to replant apples this year. We took down the 3 apples we had here, they were tired,but gave us years of wonderful fruit. I also want to put in a couple of replacement black walnuts and hopefully an almond tree. The bw's are also getting tired, they were here when we bought the place in 79 and have bearing for at least 10 years. The newer hybrids claim to have an earlier date to bear, so I'd like to try a couple of those.

Am working on DH for starting a small worm bin for additional nutrients for the garden. Also eyeballing some of the homemade greenhouses. But I may settle for one of the smaller ones to start. I have garden fever in a big way. I'm holding off most of my winter sowing just yet, as it will only make me more work in the end. I've got bulbs I'm forcing and some amaryllis growing which helps control the urge to plant something! LOL

**********************

Bec_no_Va

Name: Becky
Location: Woodbridge, VA
Family: DH, 2 doggies, 1 kitty (one more coming soon), several birds
Employment: self - employed translator

Gardening Level: forever beginner
Gardening Focus: aha, I have no focus, I just want more room, but since I can't I am concentrating on building UP - lots of climbers going in this year - hanging planters and more bird feeders and bird houses. I managed to get my backyard certified as a backyard habitat - so I will be concentrating on hardy, disease free plants that requires no insecticides - also, tackling the ugly mess called a lawn, for whatever reason we can't keep a lawn going in the back so will more than likely brick the entire back yard (not much to it, considering I live in a townhouse) -

I am very much a let's-try-it-and-see-if-it-works kinda gardener, and have had mostly luck with it - planted roses this year and they did fabulous, do I know anything about roses, nah, but they grew and they bloomed - I love reading about other peoples gardens and see their successes, and die with envy when I see the spaces they have to play with :) Goal for the spring/summer - fix the stupid lawn and cram even more plants into the tiny space I have left :-)

Gitagal
Name--Gita

Location--NE Baltimore County; specifically the Perry Hall/White Marsh area. The fastest growing, most abused by developments in the last 20 years! Also the greatest place.

Family--I am divorced--16 yrs. on my own now. I have 2 grown daughters. One lives here--the other one lives in Seattle. Very different types, but best friends for life...Not married--NO grandchildren. :o(

Employment--I have now worked for Home Depot for almost 10 years. Started out "owning" the whole Greenhouse- full of houseplants. My job preference. In the last 4 years, because of my bad knees, arthritis and two knee replacements, I have had a sit down job there as a phone operator in the store. Borrrrring...but stress-free.

Gardening level--Hmmmmmmmmmm...More than the average person would know. A lot of amassed knowledge from all my jobs in this field, but none of it too scientific. I know NO horticultural names of anything! When it comes to plants, i am like a sponge. I just absorb every little bit of knowledge and how-to and love to pass it on. I have worked for a grower and also for a florist. I learn because I ask questions. Too bad if they are annoying! Before HD, I had the stressful but fulfilling job of being in charge of the house plant dept. for almost 5 years at the, now defunct, "Franks Nursery and Crafts" store in Towson. All my jobs have been garden oriented. Low pay but my soul has been at peace.

My Gardening Focus--HA! Like Bec said--WHAT focus??? I would like more room too...:o(. I have lived in my house for 38 years. It is a nice house and I keep a nice yard and do my best with planting flowers. I love Spring when all life springs anew. Then I am shamelessly in love with my garden. I am in awe what the earth can hide all through the cold Winter months and then explode with color--just like that! I actually write poems TO my garden! Have 2 pretty good ones.

However, my garden is also frustrating as it is VERY established and there is no room and not too many options to experiment and plant new things. You see, way back when, I planted 2 lovely Maples in my back yard. They grew and grew, feeding off all the good fertilized put down for almost 20 years by my lawn service. They got too expensive, so i have been doing it myself for the last 3 years now. Honestly--my lawn is better than ever!
The biggest problem and deterrent to dig and plant are all the roots from the Maple trees. I cannot dig a shovel in--anywhere in my back yard! It is really hard to plant anything-so I have started to do more and more containers.

My whole property is only 65'x100'. I have beds everywhere! All around the house and all around the back boundaries. I have a shed--and there are beds on both sides of that as well. I have 3 different circular beds--two of them have a tree/shrub in the center. Beds, beds...more beds!!!
Since I have been in DG, I have, of course, acquired new plants. Going on 4 years with Brugs. This past summer I had MG's and 4-o'clocks for the first time. I saved enough seeds to cover a football field, but I will not (probably) grow but a few of them. Been to 2 plant swaps and come home with new stuff. WHY, oh WHY do I do this to myself?????
I even grew a jungle of tomato plants in the more distant shed bed. You name it--I have it. Roses, 7 Peonies, zillions of bulbs, butterfly bushes, a Lilac bush, Burning bushes, Azaleas, Yews, Junipers, Hardy Hibiscus, Daisies, Bl. eyed Susans, ferns, Brugs and Daturas, and, of course, all kinds of annuals in season.

Focus? WHAT focus??? I am out of focus! Then I sit on my porch swing and think: "Who cares?"...It.s ALL mine! I DO share, though! Very gladly.

***************************************

Name: VA_Wild_Rose... aka Karen
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
Family: Hubby, 4 kids, 3 cats, and at least 100 indoor plants
Employment: Medically retired Firefighter/Medic... currently looking (desperately) for a new career!
Gardening level: I would guess... Intermediate *?*
Gardening focus: Since we live in an apartment, for now it's mainly indoor/houseplants... but I can definitely put my balcony space to use in the summer! I raised monarchs and lunas from egg to hatch last summer on my balcony!

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Name: Chantell (such an original DG name I picked eh? - It IS my name LOL)
Location: Stafford, VA
Family: Divorced for TEN years!! Have 4 kids (3 living at home still), 1 grandbaby (she's 8 months and a cutie - let me know when you have a few hours, I'll tell you about her), 3 dogs, various fish and ummm a "couple" of plants...LOL

Employment: Helping the Shrink for almost 9 years (read: running the office for a Psychiatrist - LOL)...but currently "keeping my eyes open" - so anyone needing an Admin...give me a hollar (gotta network where you can - right?)

Gardening level: I don't kill most...what will that qualify me for?

Gardening focus: I'm a tad fickle...love my C & S' but sadly realizing I hate mealies more then ticks at this point. On the other end of the spectrum if it's fragrant - I LOVE it (read lavenders, gardenias, jasmines...mmm, mmmmm!) And IF it makes for a good photo and/or attracts butterflies/hummers - I'm in HEAVEN!! I'm gonna bug Karen to death so she can teach me how to be a good butterfly mommy!! Becky's already given me the pointers on the bird feeders etc. Gotta love DG!!

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Ladygardener1
Name: Chris short for Christine
Location: Albion Pa, up near Lake Erie
Family: Husband of 37 years, Daughter and son-in-law who live out of town, no grandchildren except the 4 legged kind, I also have 2 dogs and 2 cats.
Employment: Dental office coordinator and whatever hat that has to be put on for a small office

Gardening Level: Been playing in dirt since I can remember. If experience is the best teacher then I guess I'm experienced.

Gardening Focus: Plant collector, will try to grow what interests me. I'll try anything once. Not good at landscaping, so lean towards the cottage garden style. I enjoy nature, and sit quietly for hours watching bird, butterflies, frogs and dragonflies that visit my garden.

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Dragonfly53
Name: Terri
Location: South Boston, VA

Family: I have two married daughters and one beautiful granddaughter. My husband and I will celebrate our 39th anniversary this year

Employment: I work from home as an Import Compliance specialist for a company in Philadelphia, PA

Gardening Level: I was an original subscriber to Mother Earth News, so that makes me older than dirt, LOL!

Gardening Focus; Currently I'm trying to find ways to make our new property seem less bare but without spending a lot of money. We have walking trails throughout most of our property and I'd like to design some stopping spots that will invite people to stop and spend time just enjoying Nature but it's hard to find things that look nice, provide a screen and yet are not palatable to deer, LOL!

I also like to grow vegetables and fruit and am enjoying the extended growing season here in the lower portion of the Mid Atlantic region.

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HollyAnnS
Name: Holly

Location: Dover, Pa. (1/2 way between York & Harrisburg, Pa.) South Central Pa.

Family: Husband Ric we have been together for about 28 yrs., married for 25. Four children all grown and two Grandchildren, my daughter's daughter Lily and my son's son JR. Lucky to have all of them & my parents fairly close to home, so I get to see them all on a regular basis. You have seen pictures of Julie's Banana Tree, both of the wonderful grandchildren & quite often my comments about My Guys (Ric, Josh & Jamie) doing some project for me.

Employment: I retired from the Fed Government in March of 2007and expect to pick up a few part time seasonal jobs from time to time. Just finished working at Williams Sonoma for the Christmas season. Ric retired also from the Fed Gov in August of 2007. I spent the last 2 years volunteering as a scuba diver at Adventure Aquarium and I have a lot of different hobbies and interests. There is a Community College nearby with many interesting classes that I have been checking out. Many in Horticulture, I don't think I will have any trouble keeping myself busy now that I'm retired.

Gardening Level: Experienced Beginner

I've always had flowerbeds and houseplants generally treated with benign neglect, mostly they seem to thrive. In the last few years more and more of my plans and projects are coming to full promise and I have sooo many more. Ric is wonderful putting together my ideas and encouraging me in my endeavors. It's so nice to have a partner to work with.

Last year we added a Holly hedge, Cannas and several plants for a Butterfly garden, which will be enlarged this year. We put up a gazebo and this year I hope to enlarge the beds around that area as well. We will be expanding three other beds in the front yard, too. We have 2 small ponds (very small) and next year I will be adding 2 new water features. There has been a plan for a large pond for many, many years. Hopefully it will become a reality in the next 2 years. Just last fall we acquired a very large pile of very large boulders and the site is now ready for us to start.

Last year we recovered the old veggie garden from the perennial weeds and hope to revive Ric's old interest in veggie gardening. He's been expanding his interest in herbs, thanks in part to Critter. We have the makings of a Greenhouse stored in the barn, don't see that happening this year but maybe next. Ric and I don't always work on the same timetable, so you never know what project will get moved up or down on the list. Last year was my first serious attempt at seed starting boy that was fun. I am really looking forward to trying that again. My goal is to continue to enjoy my gardening and continue to learn and grow as my plants grow. Who knows maybe I will become an Intermediate Gardener, in a few more years. LOL

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Name: bseward…real name is Betty

Location: Kilmarnock, VA. Kilmarnock is located on the Northern Neck of Virginia. This is a little known area of Virginia…thank goodness. For those who don't know the Northern Neck, it's a peninsula bordered by the Potomac River on the east, the Rappahannock River on the west and the Chesapeake Bay on the south.

Family: My husband and I have been together for 30 years but married and celebrating 25 years in 2008. I have 3 grown children living all around the country and my husband has 2. We have 6 grandchildren but will welcome twins in 3 months.

Employment: Retired 4 years ago but spent over 30 years living and working in the Northern Virginia area. For the past couple of years, I’m working part-time as a receptionist for Weight Watchers. This gives me a couple of extra dollars but more importantly keeps my eye on the scale and accountable.

Gardening Level: not a beginner but I don’t feel comfortable saying intermediate. I’m learning all the time, especially after I joined DG 2 years ago.

Gardening Focus: We built a house 4 years ago on 1.5 acres of a former bean field. We have a small creek for a view and I’m slowly but surely adding the flowers I love to the property. I’ve added daylilies, oriental lilies, roses, sedums, etc etc. If it’s fragrant or pretty, I’m willing to try growing it. I can’t say I have any focus other than that.

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Gahagen
Name: Gary
Location: I live near Freeport which is about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Family: Wife of 22 years, 2 dogs and 4 cats.
Employment: Retired for 4 years.

Gardening Level: I too am not comfortable calling myself intermediate as I’m still learning many things.
Gardening Focus: I’m out of focus! Started out mainly with perennials but have expanded into conifers, japanese maples, grasses, etc.

Amy319
Name: Amy

Location: Bethesda

Family: Just me & the cats
Employment: Fed Govt

Gardening Level: intermediate
Gardening Focus: everything! My yard is a hodge-podge -- lots of shrubs and perennials -- I most love my water garden and am trying to expand my edible gardens.

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Name: DarraD
Location: Reva, VA
Family: A husband of 40 years, two grown daughters (not living at home) and two teenage grandkids (living with their parents), 2 dogs and 3 cats.
Employment: Retired in fall 2002 in prep. for move from Southern California to VA. Moved here in spring 2003.

Gardening Level: Will always consider myself a beginner as I'm having to relearn anything I may have learned living in CA. As an example: Our first Christmas here I bought several pots of poinsettias and set them on the steps of the front porch as I'd done on our walkway in CA every year. They looked so pretty the first day...the next morning they were frozen to death. This past spring I severely injured the hanging plants for the front porch as I brought them out when it was lovely and sunny and then we had one more freeze. Big OOPS!

Gardening Focus: Obviously keeping things alive, learning what can grow here and trying to have a vegetable garden along with flowers. I took an organic gardening class down at UVA and am trying to put that to work with veggies etc. The soil here was stripped when they cleared the woods for the house several years ago so we're working on making it healthy again.

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Name: Buttoneer (Judy Showers)

Location: Carlisle, PA

Family: a DH (Bob) of 29 years, 2 stepkids, the oldest in Carlisle, PA & the youngest in Virginia, 2 grandkids and 2 great-grands, also our "kid" Fritzie II, a 7-year-old rat terrier who loves us both but gets so jealous when we hug & kiss. LOL.

Employment: Currently Ahold Financial Service (who owns Giant of Carlisle, Giant of Landover, and Stop & Shop Food Chains. But I will be retiring at the end of this year & looking forward to be able to spend more time with my family & my plants.

Gardening Level: Intermediate (outdoor gardening) Expert: (tropical) DH built me a 10 X 22' greenhouse. I know many many plants by their scientific names because when you are trading seeds with people from other countries, they go by the scientific name & not the common name because their common names are different than our common names. I am not a master gardener but hopefully in 2009, I can take the course & become one, something I never was able to do when working.

Gardening Focus: To scatter as many different flowering plant seeds as possible and make the area around our house look full & colorful. I attend as many plant sales & swaps as I can during the month of May and pick up some really neat & cheaply-priced plants to put in the garden. I also like experimenting with plants from other areas of our country and put tropical potted plants in the garden for the spring-summer-fall and in the greenhouse for the winter. I enjoy starting plants from seeds & am experimenting right now with polymer crystals to see how good they are at starting seeds.

My DH built us a pond in front of the house and we love having it there, but it takes a lot of maintenance because it is so large: 11 X 7'. We are hoping to once again put in a large vegetable garden the way we used to when we were younger & more limber. I hope to do some canning & a lot more cooking, something I was only able to do on Sundays, so I have a lot to look forward to and will probably be busier than I was when I was working.

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metopa
Name: Sue
Location: Stormstown (Port Matilda), PA; but I'm originally from ME. that's why I'm Metopa; ME to PA! I love it down here. People are so friendly.
Family: My DH of 36 years, 5 daughters and 1 son, and 11 grandkids!
Occupation: I have worked for Wal-mart for 15 years. Yeah, I know about those season-end specials. Just make sure you water them real good when you get home!

Gardening level: forever beginner, as was stated above. I'm always learning more and more. DG has been a very great help to me as I plan my gardens. We just bought a house (our first!) 2 years ago, along with a yardful of bishop's weed:( . But I am excited to actually have a place I can plant what I want, where I want it! Wow!

Gardening focus: I just love plants! Wherever I have lived, when possible, I always have managed to have a little spot where I could grow a few pretty flowers, just to brighten up my place. Sometimes, all I might have would be a Morning Glory vine, or a few pansies. I couldn't live without flowers!

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Rubyw


Ruby, I live in Central Virginia and have all of my life. I am happily married to John and have been for 15 years. He restored my faith in males after two unsuccessful other tries, which each produced a son. Ben is 28 and married last year and is daddy to 6 month old Emily Nicole. Tucker who is 18 and is still living at home. We have three male dogs that sort of dictate much of what occurs around here. Thankfully they have not been too bad about messing with plants or compost piles.

I took early retirement in 1993 due to health issues. I was employed by The City of Charlottesville and my last job was as an Eligibility Worker for a Federal Jobs Program. Thankfully the health became better without the stress of having to go to a job every day. The past year and half I have had some new health issues to contend with, but it is all good as we speak.

Growing up my parents always had a large vegetable garden and my mother always had flower beds that she lovingly cared for. It has only been a few years that I have been able to enjoy gardening to any extent. I have always had house plants and have usually planted at least one type of outdoor plant each year. I do still have the off spring of a piece of Sedum Autumn Joy that an aunt gave me over thirty years ago. It has moved with me several times. Last summer it grew to almost two foot in height, something that it had never done before.

Upon receiving an inheritance a few years ago I was able for the first time to be able to purchase some of the lovelies that I had seen and wanted over the years. There is nothing more beautiful than flowers in bloom. This will be year number 4 for living in this house and we are continually filling almost all of the yard space. We have a 2 acre lot on a hillside that adjoins The Skyline Drive. I suppose we will eventually begin planting outside of fenced in yard due to lack of space. There is land clearing that will need to take place first though. It is a work in progress.

I cannot remember how I stumbled across Dave's Garden, but it has been a large part of my days since finding it about two years ago. The one observation that I have made about DG'ers is that all in all, and of course there are always exceptions, but this is most giving bunch of folks that I have ever met. It seemed like when I first began posting, I would go to the mailbox and almost once a week or so, I would have some sort of little gift in the mail from another DG'er who had heard me mention wanting whatever the package held. I couldn't get over it. Amazing!!!

I especially enjoyed the Plant Swap held at Hart's last June and am hoping to participate more in group get togethers during 2008. Thanks for letting me share and thanks to everyone who participates in the threads. I very much enjoy all that I learn on here.

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Name: Jenn
Location: Glen Burnie, MD
Family: 1 hubby, 4 year old daughter and a 2 year old daughter, and old bullmastiff, and an older english bulldog
Employment: HR Manager in a Think Tank in DC
Gardening Level: bad
Gardening Focus: veggies, herbs, and hopefully some flowers this year..

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Name: jody
Location: born and raised in ME (Waterville, nice to see some other "mainiacs" around), moved to pasadena, md 15 yrs ago now have another place in accomac,va that we bought 3 years ago. Someday the new house we are building on it will be our retirement home. I just started creating gardens there 1 1/2 yrs ago, still lots and lots of work to do.
Family: dh and 4 cats, moved my mom from ME to the VA house 2 years ago

Gardening Level: intermediate

Gardening Focus: changes all the time... the only constant is hostas.

Pamgarden
Name: Patti
Location: Center of VA (formerly FL)
Family: Married to DH 39 years in 2008. Daughter, son-in-law, four grandchildren living in NH. Soon to have a kitty from the rescue center and hopefully a dog in spring.
Retired in 2003 from multi-national corp-international human resources

Focus: currently is trying to understand the soil and climate here in VA and dare I say, improving it--the soil, not the weather
Gardening Level: Would have to consider it beginning again

DH and I moved into our house in July 2007. With the drought and the soil compaction of new construction, we could not get a trowel or shovel in the ground, and so resorted to containers planted in colorful annuals, and with two birdfeeders, we had hummingbirds, goldfinches and a couple of black and yellow swallowtail butterflies, too many yellowjackets (ewww) and deer. We put up two bluebird houses and have had a series of "lookers" we hope will settle in this spring and raise a family. We need trees! We're on 10 acres of field that I believe had cattle some years ago and has been in grass (switchgrass?) for probably 10 years. There are a few very large white oaks and many other hardwoods on the perimeter, but nary a stick on the acreage around the house.

A few weeks ago we took what meager kitchen scraps we had collected over the months, mixed it with some bagged compost and finally were able to put in a skinny, slightly raised bed along the deck and planted it with some containerized plants. In Florida I was a container planter of tropicals, citrus, figs, orchids, amarylis, herbs, butterfly plants and some roses. We raised monarchs and swallowtails. What I couldn't grow were peonies, hostas, daffodils, tulips, foxgloves, roses with good vigor, and plants that don't stand up to the intense sun, heat and humidity of zone 9. I am humbled by the expertise on this forum and hope to learn about gardening in my adopted home.

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greenhouse_gal
Name: Greenhouse Gal
Location: Southern NJ
Family: DH, two children: son, married with one daughter who's here a lot while parents work; daughter, living on her own; labradoodle puppy, still at home.
Employment: Painter/portrait artist
Gardening Level: Intermediate
Gardening Focus: We garden organically and are trying new things all the time. We have lived here for over 35 years and have enriched our sandy garden soil fairly well by now. I think we're in zone 7a or b; since we're on a river near the bay we have a microclimate that's warmer than nearby towns. Last year I revamped my garden using Elliott Coleman's ideas; we're also trying to put in drip irrigation but only got partway through the setup last year. This year I ordered some products from Spray-n-Grow, after reading very positive things about it on DG, and I'll see if that helps my plants become a little more resistant to pests, although last year was better than the year before. I'm still trying to figure out a way to grow zucchini without being tripped up by squash vine borers and squash bugs. Last year I tried silver mulch on those rows and it did seem to help, but they still succumbed midseason. We have not been successful with tree fruits, which is frustrating because I like to buy organic and the choices are limited - and expensive! Strawberries and raspberries are fine, and our blueberries are finally taking off. And our freezer is full of last summer's tomatoes, beans, asparagus, peas and spinach - as well as our chickens and geese and some deer meat.

We have visited France the last two years and are trying to grow some of the varieties we saw there. And I love the way they use bamboo poles to support their tomatoes, so we're going to do that this summer, too. Here's a photo taken in Southwest France to show you what I mean. Lots of fun things to experiment with!

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rcn48
Name: Debbie
Location: Lexington, VA - in the heart of beautiful Shenandoah Valley
Family: DH - my soul mate who I finally found 10 years ago; 3 children - son, 29 living in Phoenix, daughter, 25 and son, 23 both living in Maine; cat, Lucky, who we often call "shi**y kitty" - we think he's schizo! and our precious new puppy, Phoebe, 5 mos.
Employment: DH and I own a nursery - he established in '81 as wholesale - after I joined him in '99 and his back surgery in '01 we switched and started selling at botanic garden sales, mostly in northern Virginia.

Gardening Level: I'd have to say Intermediate because I'm always learning!

Gardening Focus: Anything and everything! First learned about perennials in the '80's, by the 90's I had started a small landscaping business with a friend and eventually knew I wanted to start my own backyard nursery. Moved from Maine to VA and joined my husband-to-be in his business and realized my dream :) Amazed me when I first met him that there were no perennials in his gardens - similar to the carpenter I used to be married to who never finished remodeling our home? LOL

We've planted over 300 trees and shrubs and countless perennials to the gardens since 1999 and we're still planting! Have always loved shade gardening and wildflowers. My only regret moving to VA was leaving behind the incredible variety of wildflowers that grew on the 100 acres where I lived :( Oh, and the rocks! Built some wonderful rock walls for my gardens there and I really miss the endless supply that was readily available to incorporate in my gardens - nearby gravel pit was an easy drive with the pick up or lawn tractor and cart :( I'm so desperate for rocks that we actually bring some back with us every year when we make the annual trip to Michigan for a vacation, and on a recent trip to Maine my son dug through a 4' snowbank to find some for me!

Also interested in bonsai and moss - had a great collection in Maine where I displayed the bonsai on old tree stumps with a collection of moss surrounding them - something else I miss, tough to duplicate that in this heat! I guess I should also admit to my obsession with Rex Begonias :( That started years ago when an aunt gave me a slip of hers - grew it to perfection and entered in the State Fair and won Best in Show! And it's all been downhill since - collecting and killing them! LOL My most recent obsession has been container plantings. Last winter I painted every container I could find to create a 'theme' and furiously planted them with the intentions of entering some in Fine Gardening's container contest. Came up with a few I thought would be candidates - pinched, fertilized and took pictures of them throughout the summer - got ready to take the final pictures to submit only to discover the deadline for entries was the week before - story of my life! Did I mention I'm a Scorpio and we're known for our procrastination! LOL

That's about all I'm willing to admit to :) I've been a DG subscriber for a little over three years now and since joining the team of writers I'm finding less and less time to visit the forums :( I'm hoping that will change soon! I've got more projects I want to work on this year and hoping to share them with all of you.

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cwspy
Name: Janine Stier

Location: Fredericksburg, VA

Family: Married, no children

Employment: DoD

Gardening Level: Novice

Gardening Focus: In 2004, my husband and I moved into our 1st home. After years of moving around like nomads with the US Army, it is wonderful to finally own. We love our city and look forward to many happy years here in Fredericksburg.

My focus has been learning about my yard and installing the bones on which to build a beautiful outdoor space.

We purchased new construction and I did not realize how much work it was going to take to make our landscape/gardens welcome for human and wildlife alike. :-) I tell you one thing; I will never buy new construction again! :-) We are in an older neighborhood and live on a wooded lot. We are certainly glad that the builder did not just clear the lot. However, our lot is sloped, made of clay and grows rocks! I dig new holes for plants with a pick axe and condition the soil as I go. I have learned a lot in the past 4 years. Reading, researching learning about the micro climates in our yard. The first year, I amended the beds in front of the foundation, adding mulch so I could have time to observe the sunlight around the house and decide what I wanted in each area. I also added a garden arch, flanked by two PJM Rhododendrons to the right of the house. The arbor now has Don Juan roses, transplanted from my Mom's home, climbing up one side. The second year we were in the house we added a deck, the third year we added a couple of retaining walls (small stacked stone) in order to provide a place for a veggie garden. At the same time we hired the retaining walls built, we had a small stone patio (leveled by another stacked stone wall) added on the slope below the deck in the back and added some basic landscaping material to the front yard and side yards. I feel as though I have finally added the bones to the main portions of the yard.

My husband and I placed a small criss/cross fence near the street and have placed bulbs, dusty miller and mint between the fence and the street. The soil is so bad that it contains the mint like a rock wall. I dug the street side bed and added healthy soil but put no barrier. The mint has not escaped into the yard in 4 years! During the summer, my husband makes us batch of iced mint tea every week, so we harvest the plant often.

Late last year, in preparation for my husband’s retirement party, celebrating 20 years in the service, I also had a pea gravel path put in connecting the arbor side of the house to the back yard.

Finally, one can travel easily from the front of our home to the back via level paths.

This year my focus will be on cleaning out the wooded areas and adding shrubs and plantings that benefit the wildlife while building a beautiful woodland garden. I also want to plant a couple more evergreens to help with screening a few key areas from the neighbors. I am thinking of Thuja Green Giants and American Holly planted with other shrubs. I just love the smell of the two existing American Holly in the springtime! This will allow us to enjoy our yard without always feeling like we are on display. :-) Luckily we have great neighbors on all sides, so we still want to be able to see and talk to them, yard to yard. :-)

The most frustrating thing has been the sloped lot. While we are blessed to have a variance in our land, it is difficult to walk on most areas of the lot. The only level portion of our lot is the 2ft area right in front of our walkway . Overcoming that challenge little by little has been rewarding.

I have a neighbor across the street that also enjoys gardening and it is fun to see her develop her lot as well. She moved in after us and is a blessing to me as it is nice to have someone close to share the passion of gardening that understands the frustration of growing in this rocky, clay soil. :-)

Our city's area Master Gardeners group offers 1st Saturday in the Garden programs from spring to fall. I sure look forward to monthly events each year.

All the time researching plant material and watching the light on our lot has helped me make minimal mistakes. My foundation plantings are not boring. I placed Nandina on either side for the stairs leading to the porch, and on the outside of the Nandinas, lining the foundation of the porch, I have mixed plantings to include Otto Luken laurels, sweet box, hydrangea, bleeding hearts and astilbe.

In an area of the front yard where water used to pool (runoff from the front slope) we planted astilbe, cardinal flower, milkweed and a Sweet Bay Magnolia. That is my contribution to the butterflies and also welcomes my guests with a beautiful smell as they approach the walk to our home.

Well, I have gone on enough... :-) Thanks for "listening".

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chriscoli
Name: Christine
Location: Just North of Wheaton, MD
Family: To be married April 4th!
Employment: Microbiologist (hence the Chriscoli...I work a lot with E. coli)
Gardening Level: indoor - intermediate outdoor - novice
Gardening Focus: sure, whatever will grow.

First of all, I think this roll call is Awesome! I've been lurking on this website for about a year but often get overwhelmed with all of the posts to read.

I've always been an indoor gardener (tropical plants) and worked volunteering for club fundraisers in a tropical plant propagation greenhouse several years. I started my outdoor gardening when I was growing up in Phoenix, Arizona and continued it when I moved to Flagstaff, Arizona (7000 feet in altitude, more snow than we get in the DC area, yet incredibly dry).

I've been living here for 5 years, now but only been in a house with a yard for the last two (thanks to the fiance). He's given me a totally blank slate to try midatlantic gardening...small front yard with grass, a tree, and a small flowerbed. I'm busy adding perennials, herbs, and whatever I can get to grow. Sun is at a premium, though. Unfenced backyard backs up to woods so it's lots of dry woodland shade with lots and lots of deer! I continue to be amazed at what they will eat. They've got to have incredibly efficient livers to process those toxins!

Oh, and I've been having a great time making compost! It's the microbiologist in me, but I love seeing those happy microbes busy at work. Fiance is a great cook by hobby so there's never a shortage of veggie peels and fruit cores to add to the pile.

Anyhow...just converted our unused downstairs/basement bathroom into a seed propagation room...set up some plastic shelves in the shower stall and have my fluorescent lights on in there (with electrical running far, far away from any water!). With the door shut, it's holding a nice temperature. It's mostly perennials right now. Anyhow...that's about it for now. As soon as the weather gets just a little warmer I've got two more beds planned so I need to get digging!

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pj617
Name: Patti
Location: N. Montgomery county, Damascus MD Area
Family: DH Grown Kids 1 Grandson, 2 dogs

Employment: Landscape Designer (Beginning) work for a landscape contractor

Gardening Level: I'd say my level is somwhere in the middle. I know enough to be dangerous!

Gardening Focus Heirloom plants! All Kinds. Like Christine, I've been lurking on the site for a year or so. Elf, this was a great idea. It can be intimating to just jump into a thread where it seems like everyone has know each other for some time.

Back to my focus, My DH and I live in an old farm house, 170 yrs old (appox). 1 acre of grass. We spent the last 5 years updating everything inside (with a little outside). Last year I started to focus on the outside with a new patio, fence and walkway. The garden area is huge around the patio. The soil here is terrible and even with amending with leafgro and other compost, I have a hard time getting plants to take. It gets frustrating they will do really well as long as I baby them and as soon as I start to back off a little they're gone!.

This year I'll continue working on the patio garden and over the winter I redesigned the beds in front of the house and hopefully will create and plant the new beds in front this spring. Previous owners really didn't do any gardening other than a vege garden, very few shrubs, trees, or plants of any kind so it gets expensive. But I do a little at a time and slowly it will be as beautiful as I imagine.

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critterologist

Name: Jill Nicolaus (generally known around here as "Critter")

Location: Frederick, MD, just south of the city of Frederick. The cornfield behind us is slated to becomes a housing development, but we've enjoyed it for the past several years. I love living in surroundings like this and still being just minutes away from grocery stores and other shopping (I don't need a "major mall" LOL).

Family: Jim & I will celebrate our 10th anniversary this spring. We were college sweethearts, but it took us a couple more tries to get the right person, right time, right place thing together. No kids despite some major jumping through hoops, so if you know of a potential adoption situation, please let me know. :-) We adore being "Aunt Jill & Uncle Jim" to our nieces & nephews, and we're blessed with the kids who are in our lives already.

We have 2 tabbycats -- Blake is 17, and Eliot came to us as a kitten at the end of last summer. I've got a few saltwater fish, and I am hoping to get my aquariums into better order this year and add to them. My DG name comes from my academic background in biology and my general love of critters -- I still get neighborhood kids bringing me toads and baby birds and questions!

Employment: I've worked as a teacher and would like to get back to it someday. I'm having fun writing articles for the DG daily article feature (look for me on Thursdays... for a linked list of my past articles go to my member page and scroll down). Other than that, I keep busy with a myriad of projects around the house!

Gardening Level: I'm always a novice at something. I'm easily fascinated, and I like to dive right in and try to learn a lot about a type of plant that interests me, hopefully improving my odds of not killing it right away.

Gardening Focus: Eclectic (see above). I like cottage style gardens, because they suit my desire to have one of everything and find a spot for it somehow. I'm learning to repeat elements (color, height, texture) and create "sweeps" of interest rather than just going with total chaos, but it doesn't always (ever?) end up quite the way I've planned it when drawing out the design on graph paper... :-)

We've got a little less than half an acre, but because of the shape of our lot at the end of the cul-de-sac, most of the yard is in the back yard. That's great for me, because I can keep a smaller front yard looking a little more formal, with some tidy lawn area, and the back yard can be a little more, umm, eclectic. People reading my posts tend to think I must have 10 acres because I talk about so many kinds of plantings, from fruit trees to lily beds, from butterfly gardens to banana plants... but I just do a little bit of a lot of things. The only thing we did a whole lot of was compost... the builder left us with some nasty clay, so we've had about 40 yards of compost plowed into the garden areas... that was the quick way to improve the soil, and it's working out nicely. Now, if I could only win the war against the Johnson Grass in the mini-orchard and the poison ivy in the fence row...

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Hi everyone.
Name:flowerjen
Location:central nj
Employment:stay at home mom/business owner hvac co.
Family:married 18 yrs with a 5 yr old boy and a 18 month old girl

Gardening level:Upper level beginner I guess. I have more time now to garden more

Garden focus:Trying to fix everything the former owners did(we've been in this house 3 years)but basically a blank slate to work with. So many different ideas, so little time and $, trying to take it slow 1 project at a time. Finishing up my shade garden this spring which was my first major project.

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Name: RatherBDigging (because I would be!) aka LuAnne

Location: small town northeast of Lancaster, Pa in Lancaster County. Holly is fairly close but I haven't met anyone else from this area of Lancaster County on DG...where are you all?

Family: Live with DH. Married 21 yrs. Have two teenagers, a son of 16 and a daughter of 18. Our little Mia, a red, short-haired mini dachshund. She is 8.

Employment: I am a nurse, but I had to medically retire from my positions in the kidney dr office (which I loved so very much) and also dialysis. I loved my jobs and the staff and patients I worked with. I had Lyme disease (never, ever ignore a large red circular rash on your body, just because it did not bulls-eye...) and resulted in a neurologic pain syndrome that limits how much I can do depending on the levels of pain that day or time of day. I never let it break my spirit, though. Gardening makes me hurt more, but it is what keeps me sane!

Gardening Level: I guess I would say Intermediate. The more I read on DG, the more I am still learning.

Gardening Focus: Oh, so much. An dabbler in many; an expert in none. My mind is always working when it comes to gardening...I love my fountain in the front yard, which is alittle more formal than the cottagy back yard. I love landscaping with trees and shrubs, esp for winter interest. I love hosta, heucheras, grasses, roses, iris, grow some veggies and herbs, perennials and love to grow things even more based on foliage and textures. I love Japanese gardening and watergardening. My small pond we took up last year and had a man come with his machinery and dig out a 14 x 20 ft pond! My husband knows what our first project is this year. (He is great...he helps with whatever I need with not too much complaining...heehhee) I like working with stone and I also landscape to attract the birds. This year, besides the pond, I want to have a potting shed/storage shed built, but I want to have them use a used old door and two old windows to give it instant cottage look. I want to finish a few old projects and then build some trellis for clematis vines and my climbing roses. then maybe a pergola...then raised beds. Trust me, I hope just the pond gets finished!

Thanks! You guys are great. Hope someone from my area is one and listening. I've been in Maryland and Virginia...beautiful areas.

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woodsyearthmama
Name:Kyrina
Location:Southwest Virginia
Family:Married with a son
Employment:I am a full time Mama
Gardening Level:Lifelong novice
Gardening Focus: Edibles, natives, organic methods

Got my first garden plot at 7 years old and filled it with veggies which I proudly brought to the table...Many of my childhood memories centered around my own time in my gardens. I was the only on in my family who gardened. We moved a lot, and my parents were always great about giving me my plot and taking me to buy my seeds, soil, and poo!! I have always gardened organically, I had actually never even thought about using chemical fertilizers or pesticides...and I guess I have been lucky in never having the need to. My husband quickly learned that where ever we lived I would claim a part of our land for my garden...so far this is my fourth with him...I am hoping this is our last move!

I now have a few acres outside of Lynchburg, VA. An acre plus or minus were cleared in the woods for our home and I have started again, only this time on clay. I have always been a soil-builder, but sometimes I think this clay stuff is going to drive me crazy! But how can I complain? I have plenty of organic matter to compost, plenty of space to grow...look forward to getting to know and learn from the group!

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Name: Michaeljo (not very original, when I signed up I didn't realize everyone used such creative names. If I could change to a more creative, funny name I guess I would pick some thing like 'garden_hoe' - I'd do anything to spend more time in the garden).
Location: West Norriton, PA, near the King of Prussia Mall, and within an hour's drive of Long Wood Gardens (to the south) and Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve (in New Hope to the North)
Family: DSO and I together for 9 years this April
Employment: Accountant, CPA - staring a new job on Monday, March 3rd -- very excited about this new opportunity.
Gardening Level: Well, I've been puttering around the yard for several years experimenting with plants that catch my eye. I'm a work-in-progress novice -- learning new things all the time.
Gardening Focus: I have a very casual approach to gardening -- I see a plant that I like, put it in perfect spot, then change my mind next year and move it to a new perfect spot. I spend most of my free time outside working in the yard, planning new gardens, moving plants around, feeding the birds, and fighting with the squirrels, rabbits, deer and ground hogs. I'm usually up at the crack of dawn (sometimes earlier), DSO usually finds me outside (with flash light in hand) digging in the dirt, watering the garden, playing in the compost pile, or checking on my newly planted babies. This year I decided to try winter sowing. I planted 30 containers -- I find myself checking them everyday, not sure why?? Most of the containers are still just full of soil -- a few have sprouts, which I have to admit is very exciting. Recently, I was inspired by a DGr's article on Rain Gardens. I'm planning to build one this spring, so now I think a have a new garden focus -- native plants.

Many of you have inspired me since I've joined DG in November 2007. Because of you I have starting composting, winter sowing and have become addicted bulbs, seeds, and Dave's Garden. This is a great group of gardeners and I look forward meeting and making new friends.

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mosbyone
Name:Paul
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia (yes another one :))
Family: yes
Employment: Rugs Direct
Gardening Level: Level A1A
Gardening Focus: Perennials, Perennials, Perennials. AND Merrifield Garden Center.
I put in about 2500-3000 sq/ft of beds in the back yard a couple of years ago. Last year was the first full season. Some of my pictures have been posted here. I am Very eager for the sping to come in fully. My daylilies have already poked their heads up. Still looking for fairly large Buddleia alternifolia, not a 3" pot.

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Hello, everyone, from the Garden State (I feel compelled to say that to remind people that the city images of the Sopranos are NOT representative of most of NJ)

Name: Denise (Nisi was a college nickname that some of my alumni friends still use when addressing me)

Location: Bordentown, NJ--that's just south of Trenton. Close enough to Phila to be a diehard Phillies fan.

Family: My DH was a widower with three sons when I married him almost 25 years ago. We (technically he) have three grandsons. He and I then had two daughters who commute from home to part-time work and community college. We also have a black Lab mix who loves to dig. Please see below.

Employment: My DH took early retirement because of his painful arthritis--today was his last working day. I work out of my home doing medical transcription.

Gardening Expertise: Edited to change "expert on tomatoes" to "some experience with tomatoes, as do most gardeners." For other vegetables I always consult my various gardening books before I plant. I am a rank novice at growing flowers, but will be trying that this year.

(If the following looks like too much to read, you are welcome to skip it and go to the summary at the end of the post.)

Gardening Focus: My beloved late father worked at an electrical wholesale distributor, so he had access to lighting fixtures. He set up lights in my basement, and I use them to grow about 50-60 4" pots of tomato seedlings each year, most of which I sell at flea markets and at a stand in my suburban front yard. I also grow some for sale in 6 packs. Whatever doesn't sell goes in the back yard garden or in many containers--from Earth Boxes to Gardeners Supply self watering containers to 5 gallon Home Depot buckets. I also plant bush and pole beans and zucchini. There are strawberry plants but the voles (field mice) ate every single blossom last year. The pest guy put out traps and I hope there will be no little scurrying "surprises" in the garden when I go out there this year.

In my heart I have always wanted be a farmer. I love the countryside (and yes there is plenty of it here in NJ!) But all I had was a back yard. My DH has always said that back yards are for playing whiffleball, so I was allocated a 3 ft x 30 ft strip of area along the back fence, out of the way of the "playing field." During our first few summers the horrible native Bordentown clay soil had dry cracks in it like the desert; it has been amended over the years. I am very happy with the Gardener's Supply Company grow beds (black plastic 3 foot sides that join together to make raised beds). There are several of them, one planted with fall bearing Caroline raspberries last year. Our dog loves to dig, so we had to put up a fence. The back yard is cut in two by a split rail fence with wire mesh to keep him out. The girls are now too old to play whiffleball, so I inherited more space, and the abandoned swing set is going to make one amazing A-frame!

There is a small parking lot farmers market in Bordentown where I would like to sell extra tomatoes, but the market requires organic practices. The Miracle Gro I have used on the plants has rendered the soil officially unacceptable for three years. (The organic farmer said that MG is not disallowed just because it's chemical. It actually does its job too well -- it makes the plant grow so big so quickly that the plant uses up all of the micronutrients in the soil, which MG does not replace.) So I hope to use that area to grow beans for the family and cut flowers for sale -- using organic fertilizers. I'm really nervous about trying cut flowers for the first time. Have bought seeds for zinnias and ordered lithianthus plants. Any suggestions are welcome. Meanwhile this year's tomato plants will go in new raised beds with imported soil.


SUMMARY: Have grown vegetables for years, am trying small fruit, this year will attempt cutting flower garden.

NisiNJ

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ottahand7
Name: Nancy
Location: Monkton, MD - Northern Baltimore County
Family: Married to my lovely husband Gary and 2 spoiled cats, a Maine Coon and a Korat
Employment: retired as of 1/07

Gardening Level: intermediate - completed Master Gardener training last fall and completed my 40 hours service last month.

Gardening Focus: 2 areas of focus - One in the MD garden and the other at our UP Michigan garden. In Maryland - shade gardening and a small patch for dahlias, tall bearded iris and daylilies. I also enjoy daffodils and try to add new varieties every year. In MI it is all sun. I had to deal with too many trees taken out when our cabin was built and stopping erosion. I put in 70 daylilies last year - 50 plants that I picked up for $1.50 each and another 20 that I brought from home. Also achillea, perovskia, monarda, helenium, helianthus and some hostas around the cabin. I am looking forward to hearing more about folks that live around the Mid-Atlantic.

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gardengirl1204

Name: Gardengirl1204 (Jeannine)
Location: Richmond, VA
Family: DH - married for 15 years this May; DD-12yrs old (she thinks going on 18!); DS - 10 yrs old; Murphy, almost 1 year old, spawn of the devil, Golden Retriever.
Employment: Project Coordinator with large credit card comp. here in Ric.

Gardening Level: intermediate; completed Master Gardener class and am currently taking Landscape Design courses thru U of R. Had an epithany last week that maybe I don't want to be a landscape designer.

Gardening Focus: I love the cottage garden styles. I tend to lean towards off the wall perennials - ones you just don't see in every garden center. If they attract butterflies and hummingbirds, I'll buy it

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Name: Jake
Location: Glen Arm
Employment: Grower at wholesale greenhouses in Baltimore area
Experience: Advanced
Focus: My wife says I don't put forth the effort at home that I do at work.
2 greenhouses at home, 3 acres in grass, not a lot of time

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cottonpicker
Hi all... Thought I'd better join the group. My name's Larry and known on tomato & vegetable forums as cottonpicker. Strange name, you say, for someone living in Audubon, PA... a couple of miles from Valley Forge. Well, truth is... I'm originally from OK & TX. Grew up on a cotton farm in OK & spent my share of time in the fields back in the 50s. Graduated from OK State Univ. in '64 & moved to PA where I worked as a research chemist for Smith Kline & French Labs (now GlaxoSmithkline) for 38 years. Met my wife of 31 years there...she's also a chemist and originally from Hong Kong. I retired in 2001. Have been a vegetable gardener all my life... started with my grandparents & parents. My favorite veggie-- tomato! I trade heirloom tomato seeds on-line & also grow lettuces, Chinese cabbages, Bok Choy, etc.. chard, Ital. greens, mustard greens, bush beans, cukes & zucchini. I forage for wild veggies & we enjoy eating poke, lambsquarter & purslane. Looking forward to gardening in 2008 & will start my seeds indoors under lights very soon.
Good luck to all!!
LarryD

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Name: kudrick
Location: fallston, md zone 6b
Family: hubby joe, 9 cats, 2 dogs. kids gone with kids of their own
Employment: retired early
Gardening Level: advanced beginner
Gardening Focus: tropicals and vines

some people "get religion". i "got gardening". i started with a front lawn which was about 80% weeds and have created islands of plants to draw the eye to beauty, not ugly.
i once lived in florida and have always loved palms. i have had windmill palms growing outside for about 3 years now and they do just fine. i also have banana palms which come back every year.
my biggest problem is lack of full sun. we don't get any. we have 3 wooded acres and i refuse to kill a beautiful, old tree just so my plants can have more sun. just doesn't seem right. so i have lots of beautiful plants that like some shade, especially toad lilies, columbine, ferns, cyclamen, etc.

i have many images of my babies on my website:
[HYPERLINK@kudrick2.homestead.com]

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Name: Tammy
Location: NE Pa
Family: DH and a lot of cats & chickens
Employment: Engineer

Gardening Level: Not sure... been at it a while now so not beginner

Gardening Focus: LOVE plants. I ran out of grass to dig out in my last
property (small city lot in Allentown) before finding heaven in Berks County.
We're on a small farm. I have a greenhouse and am addicted to seed
starting. I love plant shopping. I love seeing other folks gardens. I love
showing other folks my garden. I have started putting flowers in my
veggie garden. Mostly I grow tomatoes there plus a lot of other stuff that
I fail to harvest. Someday I'll retire! I plan to finally harvest and cook the
vegetables. And play in the dirt all day long.

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Susan51
Susan
Danville, Va.
4 wonderful grown sons
3 Grandchildren
Married to the boy I met when I was 13 and he has never let me down... One good man...
Mother first till boys went to school
12th grade edu.
Now almost 15 years this summer I am a Vet Asst. Can be grandfathered in as a Vet Tech but I dont need the title... Love my job.

Beginner in the Garden...
Love all plants and allergic to most...LOL that includes the animals... Was told I would never have rugs,or curtains on windows as they would hold to much dust for me. Also no animals... Yeah right they did not know me...LOLOLOL I never travel with out an inhaler and always know where the closest hosptial is... Use to carry a epi pen with me but no more.. :-) I wanted to live not die...

Married for almost 32 wonderful years...
I love being in my 50's as 40's were filled with surgeries... to many to count...
I love passion flowers and they are my thing this year... also want to get better in the garden as last year I had things all wrong.. Tall in front of little... Hey we all have to start somewhere...
Ok that is it about me... I love life ... Some days may be a little off but life is wonderful for me as I am very rich in family.

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Name: Thistle5, aka Linda
Location: Alexandria, VA, just a bit south of Mt. Vernon-our 1st house,suburban lot, .4 acres, mature trees in the back
Family: married, 1 son-12, 1 daughter-8, only 1 cat, Cece (my older 3 cats & dog left me this past year)
Employment: I'm a librarian, but for the last 3 years, I've worked p/t at a local garden center-Holly, Woods, & Vines (home of the plastic palm trees & giant watering can)-it works because I can work school hours (for the kids) & I love being around plants & people who are into plants

Gardening level: adv. beginner?-just enough to be dangerous, I'm more familiar w/ the things I grow than the things I don't

Gardening Focus: All over the place, obsessions w/ orchids, J. maples, hellebores, palms, edibles-always ready to latch on to something...I've been on DG for about a year & have picked up so much...

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CaptMicha
Name: Micha (Pronounced: Mee-sha)
Location: Brookeville, MD
Family: Ugh. I live at home with two brothers, mom and dad.
Employment: Bum/Student
Gardening Level: I'd LIKE to say that I'm a pro but I doubt that I am. Been gardening for like 6 years now
Gardening Focus: A little bit of everything. I especially like natives for restoration and wildlife value, tropicals... More.

I have big plans for my gardens but things never get done. I always seem to throw things in, rather than plan out and I always have to reach over huge butterfly bushes to get to coneflowers, for example.

IF I ever stop being so lazy and actually able to focus on anything for more than a few secs to get something done, my gardens will look amazing.

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Name: lcsera
Location: Aspen Hill, MD
Family: I'm married with 2 dogs and 2 cats. I basically inherited my interest and (modest) ability in gardening from my mother-in-law, who has the greenest thumbs I've ever seen.
Employment: I've worked at a vet clinic for the last five years, and I love it so much I'm still there part time even though I'm in my second year of pharmacy school in Baltimore which takes up nearly all my time.

Gardening Level: I still consider myself a beginning gardener. Last year was really the first year I ventured into the land of mail order gardening (with pleasing results, happily) - and I have really enjoyed learning from my mistakes and growing to look forward to things like digging and raking and mowing (well, maybe not so much mowing).

Gardening Focus: I love the look of cottage gardens with masses of color and texture, but currently my garden is mainly "experimental" and I'm ecstatic when things grow and, better yet, bloom.

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Sundownr
Name: Bev

Location: moved to southwestern VA from southern WV 15 yrs ago
Family: married 20 yrs; 2 grown sons, and Miss Peanut, our dog (the real boss)

Employment: semi-retired; I've been a design drafter for 35+ yrs, working with engineers, architects, surveyors and in the construction field

Gardening Level: forever a newbie, always learning. I started an organic garden after my 1st son was born (30 yrs ago). I wanted him to have the freshest, no chemicals added, veggies on earth.

Garden Focus: Mostly edibles! I'm renovating a small vegetable garden I started a few years ago and couldn't keep up with. I have more time now, our eating habits have changed, and have become upset with the quality, selection, and price of fruits and vegetables available in stores. I am, also, very interested in herbs for cooking and remedies.

I have a very small yard with deep shade in the front where I've not had much success with ornamentals...still experimenting. I have limited sun in the backyard where the vegetable garden is located. I like flowers if I can eat them, they grow in shade, or are "plant 'em & forget 'em" varieties.

I absolutely love the DG site. I’ve been treated so well, received seeds I had been looking for, and have learned so much in the last month of wading through articles and forums. I’m so happy and excited to be a DG member! I wish everyone good luck with their garden projects this year!

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davis1676
I'm so glad to have found DG & now this forum too. I've been reading alot & trying to find my way around the website. My name is Debbie & I'm from Disputanta, Va. My family consists of my DH of 22 years & 2 sons; a 4 mo. old puppy (Petey Pie) & a 8 mo. old kitten (Mr. Jackson).

I need to be outside, hanging out in the yard, at least a couple hours every day, or my sanity goes haywire. All this rain has put a real burden on DH & sons. Thankfully I've been able to get outside the past 2 days. We recently completed & moved into our retirement home. I'm sitting on 2 acres of red clay. Please offer advice. So far I'm not making too many wise decisions in the way of planning my landscape (that 1 gal. barberry bush planted in Oct. has grown twice as fast as I thought it would & needs to be moved already). The grass seed isn't doing much in the clay but it's too expensive to topsoil it all. We just tilled for our vegetable garden & I can't wait!

I look forward to getting to know everyone & would love to participate in a plant swap in the central VA area.

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babybubbs
Name Bob, Age 68 , Married 23 years, Live in Magnolia Deleware, Wife Debbie ( a very nice person).

We live on about 1/3 acre in a trailer. The IRS liked the other place in PA. sooo they took it :( However I am not a doom and gloom person. They will be paid off this month after 11 years of fines and penalties plus monthly payments. Jody was the first person kind enough to invite us to the swap and we will go if our son does not come home from the air force that week. I think the date is June 7?

This year is veggies, herbs, and elder berry bushes. Last year was kill the bamboo year. I bought the running kind (duh) and tried to contain it with a 3ft trench except not against the house. Well that stuff grew 22ft under the house and tried to come through the floor. The solution: 250 lbs of salt, injected it with Pro round up, a lot of hand digging and a few gallons of hi test gas. None can be found this year (knock on wood):)

Gardening is fairly new to me and I am trying to grow things to eat because the Gmo food is not my style. Whoever heard of putting a flounder gene in a potato? My tomatoes should taste like a tomato not some dull red thing. I like to learn about healthy eating and growing organic. No Drs. for me and no pills except the herbs I brew. My education is ( they had to burn the school down to get me out of 3rd grade) :) This group is well rounded with a lot of happy people (I really like that). I wish everyone Love and good health.

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Name:net4tmi

Location: Severn, MD

Family: A husband of nearly 9 years and a daughter who will be turning 5 in May

Employment: Actively looking

Gardening Level: I will always see myself as a beginner though many of my friends and coworkers come to me for info and advice.

Gardening Focus: Birds (especially Hummers) and Butterflies.

I've planted many plants that say they are magnets for hummers, but we haven't seen many in the 6 years we've been here. It wasn't till last summer that we saw maybe 2 that came back on a regular basis to our feeder. Been trying to find someone to design us a garden/landscape but most companies want to design and install.

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mkinne
Name: Mandy

Location: Leesburg, VA, but grew up in the Upper Valley area of VT (still have family there), lived in central NJ for a while and visit in-laws there often, and lived in Chicago burbs for a few years

Family: DH of 10 years, 3 boys (10, 8, 4), 2 small rescued dogs (a corgi-jack russell mix, a toy fox terrier mix)

Employment: stay at home mom, former tech writer

Gardening Level: beginning, though all my neighbors think I know much more than I think I do

Gardening Focus: Figuring out how to make my little suburban yard accomodate the plants I like (peonies are my fave, clematis are growing on me - pun intended - and anything else I take a shine to), learning more about native plants, xeriscaping, and minimizing watering needs.

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Kubileya
Name: Joya

Location: Laurel, Delaware

Family: My husband, Dan, and our 16 month old son, Nathan

Employment: Mommy!

Gardening level: I don't know... I've been gardening for about 10 years now and have worked in the nursery business, but I still feel like I'm learning new things every single day. I hope it's always like that!

Gardening focus: Uh, focus? I think I have gardening ADD. When I lived in Hawaii I was into orchids and trying to get roses to grow there. Then, when I moved back here, it was antique roses for awhile. When I was living in an apartment, it was trying to get vegetables (and roses!) to grow on the balcony. Now, I guess it's mostly vegetables... and tropicals... and xeriscape plants for the landscape... oh, and edible landscaping... and roses! And anything and everything else. I don't think it's possible for me to focus on anything!

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ginpan
Name Anna Ruth
Location Danville, VA
Family 2 grown sons, 1 in Va Beach, 1 in
Chatham, VA

My animal family consists of Edie12
Jackie-10, Katie-10, Emily-2,and
Layla-2, (she is a quaker parrott
who tends to put holes in my hands

Employment: Full time at Danville Regional Med-
ical Center, Radiology Department

Gardening
Experience: Started my seeds under lights this
year, and it's gotten away from me.
My beds are not yet ready, but
most of the seedlings are..Nothing
formal, just whatever catches my
eye! Joined DG in April...A real
bargain for my money!!!

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aspenthomas

Name: Terri Thomas

Location: Lucketts, VA (a little north of Leesburg, VA and a little south of Frederick, MD). The 35 acre property is primarily wooded, with a meandering creek and a 1 1/2 acre pond. The place is called "Aspen Hill" in honor/memory of an American Eskimo dog. Aspen was a very beloved member of the family (you dog lovers know what I'm talking about) during the years of the house building project. She tragically died not long after the house was completed.

Employment: I am a federal government civilian working for the Navy as a Program Manager for Imagery Systems Architectures.

Gardening Level: I've been interested in gardening for about 10 years. I have read a lot of books on garden design and perennials - more theoretical knowledge than practical experience!!!

Gardening Focus: I have tons of ideas of what I want the property to look like. In the past, I've had no focus. I've jumped from area to area, but I haven't been able to achieve the effect I'm after. Pick-up truck loads of plants seem to get lost in such big spaces. I've finally realized that I need to focus on a single area to get the look and practical experience that I'm lacking. For the next few years, I want to concentrate on creating a lush shade garden on the wooded hillside between the house and the pond. I have visions of mountain laurel, azaleas, rhododendrons, spring blooming bulbs, bleeding heart, phlox divaricata, astilbe, helebores, ferns, solomons seal, hostas, sweet woodruff, triliums, virginia bluebells, epimediums, brunnera, and on and on... Oh, to dream :-)

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Qwilter

Location: My "full time" residence is Severn, MD. I live between Arundel Mills and Ft Meade. Moved to the area 14 yrs ago sxpecting to be here for 3 years or so.

Employment: Darn it, Yes, I'm employed. DH & I are both retired Army. Now I work as a Systems Engineer - a jack of all trades & master of none. We are planning to "retire" in 3 years and move to the FL location and start our 3rd careers - quilting & gardening for me.

Gardening Level: I dabble in anything that is perennial and blooms!!!!! We bought the house new and were given 3 shrubs and a few Mums. None of that remains. I've cleared the brush that was in the back of our property and added a few beds - a new bed every couple years.

Gardening Focus: If it looks pretty, and is hardy in MD, I will try it. I use all my focus up at work and gardening is just my relaxation. Since we are moving in FL in a couple years, I've actually been focusing on the garden there and letting the ones in MD just mature,

I love tropicals. We were stationed in HI 1986-1993 and I collected Orchids. Now I have to keep mine indoors for a good part of the year.

I also have a vegetable garden. I do tomaotes, peppers, green beans, carrots, & lettuce. There is nothing tastier than a tomato right off the vine.

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largosmom
Name: Laura
Location: Newport News, VA
Family: Hubby and fur and feather kids
Employment: Geek

Gardening Level: Experienced but always learning

Gardening Focus: Hostas and Japanese maples, but I'm landscaping my home with all sorts of perrenials, more sun than shade.

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PattyMarie

Name: Patty

Location: (Out) Wayne, WV (you other wayners will understand that one!)

Family: 2 dds (24 & 22)... moved out a month ago to another property we have 30 mins away. 1 ds (18)...still at home, sorta. 1 grandson (3) ...nana's delight! Married to my dh for nearly 27 years. 3 cats, 2 fish, 23 laying hens.

Employment: left the business world to write full-time...still working on getting published...well, I've been published...want pay for it now! ;->

Gardening Level: Master Gardener certificate (no active groups in my area)

Gardening Focus: My goal is to provide as much organic, home-grown food to my family as possible. I'm that lady who stops and gathers dandelions from the yard, to eat in my salad or on my sandwich, on the way in the house for lunch.

I have plans from the Paul Revere House garden in Boston, MA that I am converting to a medicinal and tea herb garden. I also am working on putting fruit trees (cherries, apples, & peaches) throughout our 1 1/2 acre property. I have a dry, sunny spot where I want to put a mint garden.

Our property is between a very busy country highway and a large creek--privacy in the back, almost none in the front. In order to remedy the privacy thing, my dh came up with the idea of putting a wall (using privacy fence panels) at the mid-point in our shady front yard. It has been fun softening this hardscape with flowers. I had avoided using any plants I couldn't eat since I spend so much time maintaining the vegetable garden. But in front of the wall (highway side, sun to part-shade) I've planted yarrow (pink & yellow), clematis, honeysuckle, roses, lavender, purple coneflower, monarda, lilies, poppies.

The best part of the wall is all the speculation from friends and family about what's on the back side. Today a couple guys at my dh's office guessed it was for a rooster fighting pit (of course, I just raise hens for eggs...no roosters in the flock). It's part to full shade and I'm looking forward to putting in a white garden for nighttime viewing. I'm searching for white varieties of bleeding heart, hostas with white edges, white astilbe and any other shade-loving, white plants I can find. I have a stack of rocks to use in a pond/waterfall that will help disguise some of the highway noises.

As we put fencing around the front of the property (so the hens can be more free-range), I want to use red raspberries, blackberries, and grapes to aid in privacy and provide more fun foods. I already have 3 blueberry bushes that have very tasty berries.

Ultimately (within the next two years), I want to put in a small greenhouse and give tours of the property and offer free classes on organic gardening and making the best use of small properties.

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ldy_gardenermd

Name: Angie (aka ldy_gardenermd)
Location: Highland, Maryland
Family: 2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks, 2 cats, 1 husband
Employment: Domestic Engineer/Independent Demonstrator for The Angel Company
Gardening Level: Um..I have been gardening since I was a preteen, maybe longer what level is that lol...
Gardening Focus: wildlife, native, pleasure...

I have been in a garden I think since I was a baby! I remember being a toddler and seeing grass between my little pink toes. I remember as a kid playing in the rows of the vegetable garden and how much I loved peas and snap beans right off the vine! I know as a teen I grumbled about going to all the plant sales and lugging plants for my mom and I really didn't enjoy the garden club meetings with the old people and the boring lectures lol.. I remember that I used to only plant annuals and then I only planted perennials as a teenager with my first flower beds. I also still love marigolds as much now as I ever have, there is just something wonderful about them, sturdy and pretty little flowers.

I am married to my best friend and high school prom date it will be 13 years this December. We live in the log home that he and his family built in 1985 on five acres of woods. When his parents moved to NJ we bought the house from them, I was 16 the first time I saw it and it was my dream home, so don't ever think that dreams don't come true I know they can! I used to work full time but when dh said I didn't have to I was ok with that. I am a Demonstrator for The Angel Company which is rubber stamping and scrapbooking supplies and I sell my handmade cards and creations as well. In addition to gardening I have been writing forever it seems and get almost as much pleasure out of that as I do spending time in my gardens.

I have a vision in my head of how I want my gardens to be, not like an English cottage though sometimes one of my beds looks like that. But more a place of peace and beauty, somewhere that is full of native plants, that butterfly, bees and dragonfly's flit about. A quiet place that chipmunks can scuttle under the brush pile for safety and where there is also a bird song in the air to lift your spirits no matter what. I relish the days when I hear nothing but nature and forget that there is a bustling world away from here. I don't use chemicals of any kind on any of my plants, I don't want them on my plants, I don't want them harming anything that might be food for something else and I don't want them in my ground water since we are on a well.

I am not a fussy gardener, if it can't grow without having special treatment it isn't meant for my yard. I look for the most natural way to deal with problems and sometimes that requires patients above all else and that is one thing that I am so glad to be learning. I have visions of nooks and specials places in my garden, a rock here to sit on, a quiet spot by the pond to listen to the water and a warm spot of sun to watch the flowers bloom. I think as long as I keep that vision in my head I will be ok!

I want to say thank you to my mom for teaching me early on about having the grass between my little pink toes, it was a gift to last a lifetime!

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stormyla

Hi! Mary here from the Valley Forge Pa. area.

Single, 50's with a very significant other, and a life full of wonderful nieces and nephews.

25 years this summer of stockbrokering!!!!

Lower range of intermediate. Know enough to know what I don't know!! The earth is a great educator.

3 years ago I moved into a property whose grounds had been neglected for 20 years. It's a one acre corner lot. Not a flower in sight!!! Every bed was mulched with straw except the hugh 350' by 25' one, which was covered in pine bark. The beds around the house had only anceint ugly ewes. The hugh bed is back bordered by mixed hardwood trees that were covered in woody vines up to 80" tall. Didn't know where to start first so I tried to do a little bit everywhere.

The vines are all gone. May I never in my life, plant a vine!!!! I used lopers, machetes, axes,, and several chain saws. I pruned all of the trees and raised the canopy by 20'. I haven't had to buy firewood in 3 years. I bought a used chipper and ground all of the prunings and the entire bed of pine bark mulch. I chopped and dug the roots of vines that rivaled those of medium sized trees. I keep a constant vigilance with tough brush killer against their return. Pretty good sucess, except last year the wild climbing roses appeared. Not to mention, the wild grape ivy. As I cleared, I started planting shrubs, perennials and bulbs.

We ripped out the ewes with an old pickup truck and chain. We brought in about 60 truckloads of humus to mix with the clay. The bank in front of the house had depressed over time and required 30 trucks of dirt to rebuild to the stairway level.
There was not a single living worm anywhere. Just snails, grubs, spiders ants and moles. The large bed had an artificially built hill that housed at least 10 groundhogs. I'm so happy that I had watched "Caddyshack" enough times to be familiar with Bill Murray's techniques!!! Just kidding!!!

The power lines were completely eaten through by squirrels. The bunnies kept leaving fur balls inside of the clump birch. gypsy moths everywhere. enough japanese beetles to fill 6 bags repeatedly.

If it weren't for weeds, the grass would be nothing but bare patches. I aerated and seeded and fertilized and weed treated and have a fairly presentable lawn, which I've hired someone to cut.

I grow a few vegetables and herbs in large pots and troughs.

I dug enough rocks out of the beds to border all of the beds. One bed along the garage had been used as a builders dump and I'm sure that I removed 2 complete tiled baths from it. I can't believe, I'm still finding some. Another bed had a completely rolled up wall to all carpet buried in it. Tree roots had grown through it and It had to be sawed out in spots. I also dug out a fossilized bag of cement. Go figure.

I'm still finding large pieces of glass in the beds and I'm sure that I've passed 10,000 corona beer caps!!!!! I moved here because I thought that my life style had gotten too sedentary and the care of a large property would do me good. LOL LOL!!!!!!!

I've made lot of mistakes in my plantings, but the earth keeps up it's continuing ed.
This year, I'm focusing on shrubery. I put in quite a few in the last 3 years, but I've come the conclusion that my large bed has to be at least 65 to 70% shrubs, just to keep the maintenance doable. Last year I raised a lot of perennials from seed in cold frames. I also purchased a lot but would have gone broke without the seeded ones. Most of the beds around the house are about 85 to 90% complete and now just need fill ins due to death!!

I've got a bunch more perennial seedlings under way and they should be ready to go into the big bed about the time that I'm finshed planting the rest of the shrubs. My front border of the big bed is almost done. I'm weeding as I plant because some of my markers got dislodged during the fall leaf clean up and I'm still waiting for everything to grow larger so that I don't weed any perenials. So far the big bed has taken 15 scoops of mulch and it's only about 1/3 done.

The squirrels dug out the last 24 lilies that I planted. Someone also dug up 10 of the 15 astilbe that I put in. Some of the perennials need to be divided and others moved around.

I'm hoping that I'll get to ride my bike or go to the beach this summer, but who knows???

I also plan to dig up the rock borders and put some of those rubber mulch strips under them. I have enough bricks to make a walway around the front of the big bed.

There is a path down the deepest section of the big bed that I want to fill with gravel,, but may not get to this until next year.

I've looked everywhere but cannot locate any Daphne Cneorum. Does anyone know where some can be located?

I've been a member of the site for 3 years, but until recently have only used it for research. It's great to read all of your comments and I'm looking forward to some more fun interaction. I'm happy to report that there are worms everywhere!!! You'd have thought that I struck gold when I found the first one this spring!!!!

There are 2 schools of thought on cheesesteaks. In south Phila. where they originated, the 2 most famous places serve them two ways. Cheese whiz for people with a love of processed vegetable goo or provolone for the rest of us!!!! They keep the cheesewhiz warm in gallon jars and apply it with paint stirers. YUKKK!!!

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wvgardendeva

Hi, Elise here in Berkeley Springs WV, which is 5 miles from MD, 20 miles from PA and 10 miles from VA, so we are not really too connected to the rest of WV. I have lived in this area for 7 years. Originally from MI, and have lived in MD (Columbia and Bowie), Boston MA, and Richmond VA.

Family: Divorced long ago, 2 grown children, 3 grandchildren, 1 tuxedo cat

Employment: Retired from various IT jobs and consulting.

Gardening Level: I have been growing vegetables since 1974 and have had gardens in all the places I've lived, except Boston, so I would say I'm at least intermediate on the veggie front. I like growing flowers (mostly perennials) but have not put as much effort into learning about them as I have into growing food.

Gardening Focus: I just bought an old house a year ago on about 1/2 acre of sloping hillside. Nothing is level here in
Berkeley Springs. There wasn't much in the yard except a very overgrown privet hedge on the street side and a couple of spruce trees (I think that's what they are) in one corner of the back and one old lilac bush in the other corner of the back.

My first priority was to get a small vegetable patch going so I could find out what the soil was like. It's sand and shale, but at the bottom of the hill the sand is quite deep. And, there are a lot of worms already present. Last year I managed to get some viburnums and wigelia planted to begin a border with the vacant lot next door (kept nicely mowed but not another thing on it). Also got the hedge somewhat tamed so I could think what to do with it (don't like any plants that are clipped into boxy shapes). And, I planted a few daylillies, hucheras and other perennials.

This spring I planted 2 apple trees, black currants, red raspberries, strawberries, and an elderberry that a friend gave me. I'm experimenting with some swales on the steepest part of the hill, made from part of my brush pile as the base and then covered with all of the sod I dug up when I made new vegetable beds. I can tell already that it is helping to slow the drainage off the hill so the plants will get more of the water. I also planted blueberries but had to add soil sulfur so will see how that turns out. They look pretty good so far.

Then I turned my attention to native plants, which is a new direction for me. I have planted 2 Serviceberry trees, an American Smoke Tree, and 3 Eastern Redbuds on the street side of the dreaded privet hedge. When they get big enough (hopefully by next year), I will have the hedge cut down to the ground and put some old carpet padding over the stumps to try to kill it off. I'm also experimenting with native plants up in the back where the brush pile used to be, planting native grasses, flowering perennials, a pagoda dogwood and a couple of fragrant sumacs. That area will require lots of weeding, since the pokeweed is so enthusiastic here.

Also got the vegetable beds going with a pretty good variety of plants. We'll see how the shock of suddenly going from nights that were too cold (temps in the 40s) to temps in the high 90s affects things. The squash plants seem to like it but the peas are in shock.

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Hineni

Name: Sunny

Location: Damascus, VA (as of 6/13)

Family: Joseph, three daughters (1 - College, Lynchburg VA, 1- getting married Jan 09 (in FL), 1- Junior in HS in 09 (in FL))
My Jack Russell, and an old blind, deaf, lazy bladder challenged outdoor cat; we are inheriting a rescue draft horse and Vietnamese pot-bellied pig with farm

Employment: Remote worker for the telco industry, Project Management

Gardening Level: 2nd year neophyte and lovin' it!

Gardening Focus: Sustainability - self-sufficiecy - growing our food and our livestock's food

Dreams and aspirations:

Goats, rabbits (for fertilizer), Chickens, Cow/calf pair (hoping for a Galloway)

Projects on the horizon:
Moving
Amending the soil
Grading driveway
Developing the springhead
Fence repair/upgrade
Chicken coop
Summer kitchen
Outdoor bread oven
Root cellar
Wind/Hydro/Solar power composite system

Bringing with us from GA:
Eight blooming blueberries
Red Raspberries
Blackberries
Half of my garden that survived the recent tornado on 5/21
Seedlings from a fellow GA DGer
Forsythia - gift from a fellow KY DGer
Raw Milk
And as many of my other plants as I can stuff in the multiple trips we'll be making!

Our goal is to be a self-sufficient as possible, but we are extreme newbies to this line of thinking. Been dreaming of it since 2005 and only are now beginning to see our way to implementing what I've gleaned from scads of books. Oh, I am a biblioholic - I LOVE books, the older the better. My stronger half is a city boy with great gardening intuition and a very adept handyman.

I am a tad sad to leave the soil where I learned to struggle over slugs and cabbageworms, but ectstatic to be gaining acreage, and I think that is even a mild word for what I feel :) We will be living in a remodeled 1930's farmhouse, saltbox style. We have various sized barns in differing stages of delapidation :) We will first lay eyes on our new home on Friday, as we accepted this position strictly via E-mail and telephone discussions. Can you say ADVENTURE? LOL!

I look forward to gleaning knowledge of the area regarding soil, climate and general 'HELP' topics as we proceed down this exciting and challenging life road.

***************************

gailDelaware

Name: Gail
Location: Ocean View, DE
Family: Husband & me
Employment: both retired

Gardening Level: beginner

Gardening Focus: Vegetables and flowers for permanent landscaping

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Darius

Technically I'm in your group by area... and many of you know me. I lived in Bawlamor and then Annapolis long before I was a gardener or there was a Dave's Garden. Sigh.

Name: darius
Location: marion, va (southwest in the mountains off I-81)
Family: jes' me, although I'm estranged from a half-sister and niece who live in the same house
Employment: retired in poverty!
Gardening Level: middlin'
Gardening Focus: In the last 2-3 years it has changed to growing foods... annual crops and now getting started on fruits and berries. I want chickens and/or goats but need fencing, and a chicken tractor. However I still love flowers and trying to get some things planted each year, esp. bulbs. (This place had only grass and steep treed hillsides when my sister bought it 2 years ago.)

*************************************

wisdomskr
Hi I am new to Daves Garden and I have been gardening for about 8 years.
Name: Wisdomskr
Location: Mechanicsville, MD
Occupation: Full time mom, wife, student (almost done for a little while) and gardener
Family: Great husband and two kids a dog who likes to dig in my daughters garden and a cat with a split personality who likes to hide in my sons garden

Garden level: almost intermediate and always learning

Garden focus: perennials and some vegetables.

My favorite plants tend to be daylilies and echinacea but I have recently been very interested in any plant with dark foliage. My most recent purchase was a chocolate joe pye weed. It looks great and is a native plant. Trust me I have not gone native in my garden but I do try to grow plants that can sustain themselves.

My husband is in the military so we have moved a few times and I have sadly left beautiful gardens to future owners in base housing. We bought a home this time and I am loving it. We have lived here for three years and I am beginning to think with the tornados and high heat, I am back at our previous base in OK. Unfortunately I do not have enough time or money to plant as much or as often as I would like but I think we will be here awhile so I have time.

I am a full time student with a major in Biology ( I like ecology classes the best) and before you ask I don't know how I do it. (Two semesters to go!!!!) I will be taking a class about Maryland plants this fall which I think will be very interesting. It is nice to meet all of you.

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wind

Name: Diana Wind

Location: Mt. Laurel, NJ zone 6b

Family: married, no children but lots of furry friends if they count as "children" :) My husband is Harry, some of you met us this year at the Longwood Gardens trip. My mom, Junetta, lives with us and also loves to garden.

Employment: well, this is subject to change since I closed my health food store and restaurant. I'm on the writers' team here on DG but have been so busy planting, I'm having a hard time with my schedule and launching my first article!!! Keep an eye out though :)

I've worked in a few diff restaurants, went to culinary school and am currently working at the Center for Advanced Food Technology in North Jersey but very soon I will be back to being a student. I'm near finished, just need to complete a few more semesters. I'm a senior undergrad at Rutgers New Brunswick, NJ studying nutrition.

Gardening Level: well I have no idea!!! I keep learning more and more from all the wonderful people here on DG :)))

Gardening Focus: I wouldn't know how you would describe my focus. I like self-sowing plants and tend not to weed or heavily mulch my garden beds. This drives some people crazy as our gardens look a bit on the wild side!

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*whew!* If I missed somebody while doing the big copy/paste, please let me know! :-)

EXCELLENT Critter!!! It was so much fun to "meet" everyone again - thank you :)

Thanks! Critter, for doing that.

Thank you, Critter. Welcome to Diana & Wisdomskr!

You're welcome! It's fun to see folks I've "met" elsewhere on DG (wind, Darius) as well as some entirely new-to-me names (Gail, wisdom, Sunny)... I'm really loving this thread!

I thought we should discuss whether or not to "sticky" the roll call thread at the top of this forum, but I didn't want to take up space on this thread to do so... so please click here, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/868356/

Thanks!

HI!! I lurk!!

Name: Debbie Cranford
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Family: Married, three children all married and 3 grandchildren...6 and
under.
Employment:I am a retired high school teacher after 25 yrs. with
PTSD. I stay mostly at home now and have just really gotten
back into gardening.
Gardening Level: I guess I would call myself an advanced beginner
with quite a bit of knowledge of wildflowers as my MS degree is
in Biology.
Gardening Focus: I have been collecting TB irises but we are moving
to the Eastern Shore of VA and have no plants at our new
house. So planning some landscaping there..so need other
plants too.

Hi to all!!!
Debbie

Hi Debbie, Welcome and welcome to the retired life, it is good. You sound a bit like me in that I always did some gardening but retirement has given me the time to really do so much more. So many of my years of planing are starting to come together now. You will have a wonderful time with your new garden adventure.

Yes, welcome! Please start a thread and post some photos of your garden...

While I hate to stifle any of the friendliness that makes this forum so wonderful, if we can keep this thread as a place where people post just to introduce themselves, that would be good. Otherwise, the thread gets lengthy fast with chatting back and forth, and the introduction posts get harder to find.

Thanks!!

Welcome Debbie!

Welcome Debbie! It would be nice if you start a thread with a photo of your new home so everyone can offer assistance!!

That would be really great!!! I think most of my pictures are of different sides and areas that are different in amts of sum. They vary from full sun to full shade. I will start a thread here but will have a bund of pics. Is there a file I could put them in??
debc

you can start a blog or journal on "my tools" then just post a link in your new thread.

OK thanks a million for the tip!!
debc

No prob

Name: Judy Showers (Buttoneer)
Location: Carlisle, PA (about 20 miles South of Harrisburg)
Family: Husband, Bob, Rat Terrier: Fritzie, Daughters: Tammy & Loretta, Grandkids: Michael & Nicole, Great-grandkids: Amber & Bryce, Father-inlaw Grayson (age 92), Uncle Albert (age 95), Cousins: Frank & Susan, and those are the ones closest to me.
Work: I retired from the Giant Food Store Corporate office 12/31/08. Yea!
Gardening level: Although I am not a Master Gardener, I know a lot about tropicals, since I have a greenhouse my husband built for me, attached to the house.
Gardening Focus: Definitely tropicals. I love them all.

Buttoneer--WELCOME!!!!

I saw your Thread in the Crafts Forum! You are SO talented!!!!

You will love the Mid Atlantic Forum! WHERE have you been hiding????

Keep lurking here--it will become your "addiction".,...We are THE people with THE activities all gardeners seek!

Is that a Lady Margaret Passi you are holding?????

Gita

Gita, I'm pretty sure it is P. jeannette, which I used to have, but don't have anymore. Bob took that pix at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Fla in 2005.

pj617 - Damascus MD
just checking in

Gita, You asked where I was hiding. Well I was so busy with work & craft shows, I never had a lot of time to check in here, but since I retired 12/31/08, I have lots of time. Yippee!!!!

Welcome Buttoneer and PJ.

Thanks to you all. I went to the RU last year in February and am looking forward to the One 2/21 weather permitting.

tree .. Teresa
Location: northern Shenandoah Valley, along the Shenandoah River, in Virginia
Family: spouse, oldest daughter married w/one grandson; middle daughter living at home & completing student teaching for her degree in elementary education .. will graduate in May from Shenandoah University and then will be planning her wedding for October 2010; and my son who's putting in his time as an electrical apprentice working toward his goal of being a licensed electrician. Also, 1 dog, 3 cats, a flock of 4 guineas & assorted chickens, and 3 painted turtles.
Employed as Accounts Receivable supervisor for large multi-specialty medical practice
Level ? Been gardening all my life .. I don't like labels .. I just like working with plants & love the smell of the earth.
Focus ... ha ha ... at best could be described as "diversified" ... otherwise known as lack of focus .. *LOL* I have loads of houseplants & stick flowers & shrubs anywhere and everywhere outside ... have started a small orchard of apple, peach, plum & bush cherries as well as elderberries & am experimenting with the lasagna-type raised beds which I'm expanding to grow every vegetable I possibly can to preserve by canning, as I feel that the economic situation is going to get a lot worse before things turn around. My aim is to be as self-sufficient as possible.

Welcome, Teresa!

Hi Name is Doris Jean (Froggy3125)
Live in Falls Church, VA-I've been in the Northern Virginia area for the last 46 years. Just joined DG about 6 months ago and think it's the best thing in gardening next to actually gardening. All you DGers are just great people!

Second marriage (best one!) to great DH for 10 years, grown son in area with wonderful wife and a sweet 4 yr old granddaughter. Also, a kooky cat-Sammy-and a tiny (5 lb) little dog-Izzy. Also, most of my family lives in immediate area so am very blest with lots of family love.

Work as a proofreader/editor for an educational Publishing company in Falls Church. I'm in my third year of classes as a Fairfax Master Gardener and coordinate their Senior Center Gardening Classes program.

Been gardening about 20 years or so- probably an intermediate but always learning kind of gardener.

My focus is playing with dirt. Love to grow all sorts of flowers and plants- tomatoes, herbs, tropicals, lots of annuals cause I love all those colorful blooms, some perrenials and ornamental grasses. I have four small flower gardens, my small tomato patch, and about 100 containers all over the back yard and deck. I only have about a fifth of an acre for a yard, including the house, so its really not a lot of gardening space, but I just plant a little of everything I like. I'm going to try WSing for the first time this year and plan to attend the seed swap in Feb. I also have a bunch of houseplants inside. What can I say - I'm a plant-a-holic. Also trying to learn about Bonsai too. Sooooo..probable not very focused at all but loving every minute of it.

Froggy, you ought to get your DH to build you a homebrew greenhouse like mine did out of old storm windows & cement blocks. I never counted all the plants in there but I'm in it all winter, dividing, fertilizing, pruning, taking pix, and talking to them. It's the best thing for winter doldrums. Then in the spring-summer-autumn, you take them all out & do the same thing outside.

Love it, Buttoneer. We have a small shed built against the house that I'm thinking of turning into a small greenhouse by cutting out window space on the outside wall. Might be a spring project, except my DH is going to grad school at night-so not much time for other projects yet.

Welcome Teresa & Doris! Looking forward to seeing you both around!

Name: BrightStar
Location: Chesapeake, VA
RFamily: Just me and my dad left now, but once my life was different. I was the mother of a sensitive, intelligent young man with cerebral palsy - Mike. He lit up my world. He's passed on now. Mom's gone, too.
Employment: Medical Technologist for 25 years. After Mike died, I tried to make some changes. I tried computer application training, professional writing training, a few teaching courses - but that didn't materialize into a job, although I used all of it as a Medical Technologist, in one way or another. I'm still interested in computer stuff, so I've taken a few courses in database stuff, and I'll probably take a few more. Maybe one day I'll end up as a high school computer teacher. It's a good idea to keep my ear to the ground, because they have started with layoffs at my hospital and I figure my time there might be short. I've started talking to recruiters about Medical Technology jobs in other parts of the country. So - probably coming to a town near you - BrightStar the Medical Technologist! With a moving van full of plants!
Gardening Level: Intermediate
Gardening Focus: I go through phases. Right now I'm in a tropical plant phase. There was a time when I had no use for cactus plants, but then I visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona, and I saw how beautiful they could be. I slowly realized that I was starting to collect them. I'm pretty picky about which ones I fall for, though - I have a donkey ear plant, a "spikey" cactus, several types of ghost plants, hen-and-chicks, and a hot pink and a double red kalancho. And yellow and red crown-of-thorns, and a zigzag cactus, and a fuzzy golden "brain" cactus that is top-heavy and falls over, several types of fuzzy silver succulents, several sedums, several Christmas cactuses, a weird succulent that has thick tomato-shaped leaves and is getting ready to bloom, two types of variegated kalancho, two types of agave, an aloe, earth stars, and a hoya...

Naw, I don't like succulents or cactus plants...do I?

Still, most of what I latch onto are tropicals. I notice that I've gotten a lot of vine seeds lately - the latest was Easter Lily vine seeds from the DG Marketplace. I guess I'm more of a collector than a gardener...and once I start, it's hard to stop.

"Hello. My name is BrightStar - and I'm a plant addict..."

Hello BrightStar and Welcome to the club!