It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Good thing I was there to watch it.....
I’m getting a kick out of the construction going on around our neighborhood. They leave lumber laying around, large stacks, lumber leaning against the framing of the house, ladders left leaning against the house. In California, it would all be gone before daylight. Not to mention the lure to children to climb the ladder.
I do regret selling some useful products in a yard sale. The small amount we received was just not worth losing the use of those products.
I have decided, to make room, keep sheds/garage organized, get rid of junk only, not good working things, almost new, such as:
[List of regrets below:]
Battery charger/starter
Automobile buffer/car shine
RV 26' and 50' electrical hook-up cords
Hedge trimmer
RV 12 v. deep cycling battery
Huge house fan on a pedestal
(2) beautiful love seats that I could use today
etc.
That's not all.
When at the local equipment rental, I saw a product used to prevent mudslides.
It was a 25' long bail of tightly wound hay, about the diameter of a lunch plate.
It could be staked into the ground to hold in place.
You could use that, add dirt on top, and voila', a better, stronger berm.
You could also place some sand bags, dig them down a bit into the dirt, with several inches above the ground, use as a base for your berm, add the planting mix or topsoil onto that. Big berm!
I've picked up a child's pinwheel from the dollar store "to protect the grass seed I've planted" and I've been moving it around the side yard. This morning I was out spraying caterpillars with insecticidal soap so I gave the feeder a good treatment too, it shouldn't harm the birds and I hope it will make the seed less palatable.
Actually, life is looking a little better everyday. Sure, it is hard, it has been hard.
Just came inside after w a t e r i n g our plants, on the neighbor's side that has been under construction for 6 mos. Mud was going everywhere because they have not landscaped, instead, drove over our landscaping, breaking potted plants, toppling them over, and crushing the rocks down so there is only dirt, not rocks. What a wet mess now.
Tomorrow, when the contractors return, they will be tracking dirt everywhere.
My hubs wants me to water just before they arrive, but alas, it i s not watering day.
The birdseed will get on your side, as well as the bird poop. Can you put fly paper tacked down on your side to catch and hold the seeds? Oops, he stepped on your side.....
Spring is here....everyone shut your windows, because CWillie is going to fertilize her lawn down that strip on the neighbor's side, with real fertilizer! Whew!
Sorry to learn life isn't going so well for you.
I have fantasized about a motion-activated sprinkler for my neighbor, but he moved.
I have considered giving away all the bird food to the neighbor who feeds all animals, because this mess I am having is becoming too much. To offend my neighbors is not what I want to do either, wanting to be a good neighbor.
A baby squirrel got caught up in a flower pot that had a cactus. It's mother had to rescue it by pulling it out. It was a grey ground squirrel, and they moved into my yard since I fed the red squirrel. They are nasty with flies covering their backs as they travel.
Still, it was precious actually seeing that cute squirrel interaction.
But they scared away my red squirrel.
Having a predator up the chain might help the birds stay away. What about the neighbor's cat? Can you start feeding feral cats nearby for awhile?
This really happened...a friend did not want the neighborhood hoodlums sitting on her wall, smoking pot daily @ 4:20 p.m. Her son, sprinkled charcoal dust on the wall, until they no longer sat there. If you sprinkled charcoal in the area where your neighbor walks to feed the birds, he would be walking the black into his own carpets, and move the feeder. Think about it....the bird poop is already being walked into his/her house.
The neighbor across the street has crystals turning in the wind, I thought as a decoration. It is irritating to me when a flash of light crosses my eyes when I am outside, and sometimes, in our front windows. Maybe he is trying to rid his yard of squirrels too! I thought it was cute when a squirrel plopped down in the shade the other day at the end of his driveway.Now, I am going to have to chase the birds and squirrels away, on behalf of the neighbors close by.
Sorry, life is often irritating and sorry. I am actually embarrassed that I have so many ideas to chase things and people away. I am, I think, getting good at it. :(
I think the birds would quickly fly off, but the music would continue, and hopefully annoy this pesky and inconsiderate neighbor.
Or you could just put a speaker up in the yard and play music at night.
I'm feeling nasty today; I feel sorry for anyone with nasty neighbors like this. I have a few of them too.
Just read your 2 messages. I think you're right; this guy will find a way to retaliate.
Is there a possibility of having that side of the yard surveyed and boundary staked, then putting up a tall barrier wall? Or maybe a tall wall and make it a living wall with ivy growing up over it? The ivy would provide some insulating value if he makes a lot of noise to retaliate.
Maybe a whirligig close to the bird feeder to generate a breeze, but again it's dependent on wind.
I suppose you could sneak out at midnight and throw bird feed on the ground in his yard so the birds go there first, but that doesn't solve the problem.
I think something that scares the birds away w/o harming them might help, maybe even some rain bells? Or maybe a ceramic cat at the base of the feeder?
My thinking hat must be worn out tonight; I'm just not able to come up with any good answers. I'll keep it on for a while; maybe it'll start working if I find something to tempt it.
Passive aggressive neighbour has put a bird feeder right on the property line between our houses, about 5' from my clothesline and within 15' of my door and sidewalk. The jerk already has 4 others in his front yard and freely welcomes all the squirrels too. Any ideas how to make the birds and animals dislike the feeder?
(If I get angry enough I may just mysteriously "disappear" it at midnight).
I don't want to start in containers way too heavy to move. Maybe I will just wander on over there and spread grass seed and wild flowers just keep them out on the outer edges where heavy equipment and work boots won't be.
We live trap and shoot them with a pellet gun. We poisoned for a while, of course we did not compost, then the hawks and migrating golden eagles gave us pause, if they eat the poisoned varmint it is lethal to them, we did not want that.
We also only trap in our fenced in yard, if they know what's good for them they stay out. They don't, by the way. They can't resist the yummy organic delicacies they may get. Last year, we got 2 nectarines before the buggers struck.
Our very hot climate is our main reason for composting, without great soil we would never be able to grow any food. The great thing is that like 95% of all native plants are edible in this area. Some are yummy, others must be a hunger thing😁.
Figs and pomegranates love out weather, go figure.
Not to be gory, but what do you use to trap and kill? I know there are rat traps; do you shoot them or poison them? I honestly don't know what I'd do if I actually saw one.
We have raccoons (which like to crawl down chimneys), opossum, and of course the charming little bunnies, 3 different varieties of squirrels, the probably everpresent mice, and the 2 legged variety of rats (in the city hall).
I once saw a few birds of prey, which I think were buzzards, but I couldn't (and didn't want to) get close enough to them to investigate. It's odd to see that kind of wild bird in this area.
As I wrote, the only reason I would now use a contained composter is b/c of the vermin that the city claims are all over. I'm too lazy right now to research them; I really would prefer open air composting. If you like, I can PM you the URL for the best gardening site I've found, you could sign up and ask; I'm sure you'll get responses from people who do have the tumblers.
CWillie, the 3 pile system would be my preference, but even if the city wasn't rataphobic, one of the nosy neighbors would complain and I'd have to turn all the compost under. This is NOT a gardening neighborhood; it's more of a lawn worshipping neighborhood.
Glad, what's the estimate for when your house will be built? You could plant in containers, but that's still a heavy item to move, and from my experiences in moving, I want to move less, not more!
This year I plan on harvesting prickly pear fruit and making prickly pear and lemon popsicles. I do not like the jam.
I also plan on trying the Saguaro fruit, if the winds don't blow them all off. 3 years running the wind has destroyed that wild crop.
As for rock hounding, we are travelers and 4x fans, that is how I find all of my fun rocks. I use them in my garden, I also found a beauty that has gold and silver visible and I use that as a bookend. You never know where you'll find an amazing treasure, so I look everywhere.
Composting can attract varmints, we have a problem whether we compost or not, so we trap and kill, then add to the compost pile. We turn ours weekly for the first month, then water weekly and turn 4-6 weeks until cooked. I never do a very big pile, so a small pitch fork from this side of area to that side is fairly easy. We also start a new pile in a different area so that ground can get nutrients, it helps that we have a large back yard and are not full of plants, yet.
Ticks, ??? I use lemon grass, lavender, peppermint and mums to keep bugs at a minimum around the patios and pool. Never seen a tick, maybe we don't have them, it gets really hot so I don't know if they can survive the heat or it is so dry. I have tons of lizards, so maybe it them, they are the best bug defense ever!
I visited the local nursery on Sunday so have a bit of excitement about getting started. Last year I bought wildflower seeds, blue flax, and a mix. I was hoping I would be set by now, but here I am.