What crazy things have you done for your gardens?

When I was young I was always so insecure and embarassed about everything but since I started gardening I have turned over a new leaf. I've done several things that have given my neighbor (Gladys Kravitz) a good story or two.

My neighbors realized I was going to be different the first year I started planting because my daily attire was my swimsuit top, shorts and knee high rubber boots.

Next came the year of the grasshopper, which required me to wear my attire and carry a plastic baseball bat. I would have to go out early and beat them off my plants!

Then my first year of raising butterflies I had some caterpillars in a little bug hut on my porch. It suddenly started raining and the wind was terrible and it blew my bug hut away! So, I ran after it! (in my shorts and boots) I was soaked. Later I opened my front door to look out and there was such a loud noise that my ears started ringing and I couldn't hear for a few seconds. I learned the next day that lightening struck the neighbor's satelitte dish.

Last year when we had a flash flood after months of drought I had to go outside and do some damage control and reroute flooding water. It was lightening so I didn't want to use my umbrella so I wore my trusty boots and a waterproof jacket w/hood and carried a plastic garbage can lid over my head. LOL! (all while my husband watched me thru the window while he watched football)

Now tell me your stories!

(my son and his boots)

Hahahaha....Paige that's too funny, I think I've seen you on 'America's funniest videos', I , bet your neighbors have the camera going all the time.

I cut my 'dead zone', the area between the rocks and the grass....with scissors. It's the best way to get it even and not weed whack the plants hanging over. Sometimes, if I think no-one is looking I'll cut a blade that is higher than the rest in the yard, you know how the mower always misses a few. haha

I'm totally obessesive about those huge magnolia leaves all over the place. I'm always picking them up from my plants, and the lawn, .....the dang things can smother a little plant!

Another weird thing I do is when I'm over at my neighbors, when we are outside talking, I can't just stand or sit there, I have to be pulling weeds. I've tried things like put my hands in my pockets or holding something. I can't do it...I start pulling and pulling. I can't handle weeds in the flower beds or more like weeds where they shouldn't be. I think they are starting to catch on.....they're always yelling at me.....'hey Rox, can you come over here...we'll talk'. lol

LOL, Paige! Loved your stories. I have similiar ones.

In Florida where I live it gets soooo hot during the summer. I have been known to work out in the pouring rain in my garden just because it is cooler. And I often work after dusk during the summer for the same reason. My neighbors often ask me if I am okay. LOL I am sure they think I'm missing a few marbles.

And of course my neighbors think I am the crazy woman in my PJs with my trusty flashlight walking around my yard at night. I've been known to be out there very late like midnight or 1:00 am when I am not working the next day. I like night gardening. It's fascinating! Though I have had visions of a neighbor calling the police thinking I am a burgular trying to break into my house.

I also will collect cats in my hands. One afternoon, I had a handful of Monarch cats that were crawling all over my hands. I was pulling them off the milkweed and trying to hold them all at the same time. (Just one of those spontaneous moments when I SHOULD have gone inside and brought out a cage or container to put them all in.) One of my elderly neighbors sneaked up (unintentionally) from behind me. I jumped and turned around abruptly. When she saw me holding a handful of "bugs" she nearly passed out. Scared the living daylights out of her. (She doesn't like bugs! LOL) I notice that now she calls over to me from her driveway before approaching. Smart woman!

I also look at my plants from all angles. I've been known to get down on my hands and knees to check things out. I know my neighbors are wondering what the heck I am doing.

And the funniest thing that I remember happening, was one night..... I was out weeding (because I could see in the dark due to the moon). An elderly gentleman was out walking his dog. Well, the dog came up in my yard (probably to do it's business). Neither the dog nor the man knew I was kneeling down pulling weeds. I heard the man say something so I answered him back. (I thought he was talking to me, but instead he was talking to his dog.) Both the dog and the man nearly jumped out of their skin! The dog started barking like crazy and the man was holding his chest and trying to contain his dog. LOL! I occassionally see this same man, but I notice that he now walks on the other side of the road. Never walks right along my yard anymore. Hmmm ..... maybe that episode was a good thing! No more dog poop from someone else's dog to pick up! :-)

Gladys Kravits lol, She lived by me for years and moved 2 years ago. Either that paige, or she has a sister. hehe

Very good Becky, you would never jump out and frighten your neighbor and dog on purpose, but I like how that worked out really well...lol!

Rox! I could always find Winkie outside when I lived in Pasadena, she'd be picking up magnolia leaves.... at the time she was about 75 years old. So there is no cure for that pick up leaves, pulling weeds tick, girl.... There are some houses near me for sale if ya want to move by me, hehe..

I was out taking pictures of my Brug right before I cut it down, and decided to get the 'up angle'. So I layed down underneath them. Before I git up a car had stopped across the street and just sat there... When I got up they drove away slowly...

Ya think they thought I had passed out or what was going through their mind there??

Then there are my night time escapades of Summer, attempting to get shots of the elusive Sphinz Moths on the Moonvine. Yes I have spooked a few people too lerking out in the yard.

Then there is my gear for mowing in the death wave heat, ...A bandanna with ice around my neck, and a sweatband. Like some Rambo Lawn Lady!!

fly-girl - YOU would love my yard! It's pretty much ALL weeds except my garden area! Come on over! :-D

deb - We're gonna rename you the "Rambo Garden Queen"! LOL I can just visualize someone thinking you'd killed over in your yard as you are laying on the ground taking pictures. My neighbors would probably think that was "normal" behavior for me! LOL They've stopped asking questions. They are afraid of the answer.

You should see the look on people's faces when I tell them that I raise and release butterflies! LOL LOL LOL LOL They always do a double-take like they didn't quite hear me right. My next idea is to get some wallet photos of my cats, butterflies, and my flowers, so that when people start showing me their children's photos, I'll show them my photos! LOL Wouldn't that be a hoot! (snicker) I want a bumper sticker that says,"I break for Butterflies!" or "Have you planted Milkweed today?" LOL We need a close-up photo of a Monarch cat's face (smiling) with a "milk" moustache and have it say,"Got milk(weed)?"

I'm on a roll tonight, ya'll! Time to go to bed.

Oh Becky you are a wellspring of ideas!! ROfL!!! The bumbersticker thing! We have to do that! Definatly need wallet photos of the 'babies'....hehe. I get some strange responses too.
I am still working on the book.. It might take some time to get it down, these big productions just don't spring up overnight. hehe

LOL Becky you are just like I used to be. I worked until 2 to 3 a.m. and came home and gardened. DH would hollar out the door when he left for work. I had a Street light in the front and back side yard. Much cooler at night in the summer for sure. I am still out looking at 1 or 2 a.m looking for the night moths all summer but have no neighbors to worry about now living out in the country

Oh Becky, I just thought of something to tell you and everyone. I have used a headlamp light all summer.. It takes 3 Nickel sized disk batteries and it is really bright. We got it in Spring-early Summer. Didn't have to change the batteries until just last week. I used it to water the yard after dark..Most of all, it's great to have 2 hands to work with.

DH bought it at Radio Shack. I love this thing! I have to turn it off if I am talking to a neighbor or it really could freak them out, let alone blind them.

Guess what, Deb? I have two of those headlamps. I call them miners headlamps! They work great, don't they?! My dh uses one at work and I kept the other one for night gardening. The only bad thing I discovered about them was that it helped the mosquitos locate me much faster! So alas, I don't use mine when it's mosquito season (which in Florida is pretty much year round .... except cold days or rainy days!) But hey, I tried. I just garden by moonlight and wear dark clothes now. (Full moon that is and it takes the mosquitos longer to find me if I am wearing dark colors instead of light colors!) There are no street lights on my street or the street behind me, so on a clear night you can see the stars and moon and probably a few planets. A star-gazers dream location!

My only other dilemma is the night flying beetles! I have long hair and it freaks me out when something large hits the back of my head and is making that horrible loud buzzing sound. You've never seen anyone do the cha-cha-cha and rumba like I do when I have a bug in my hair! LOL

Lol on the headlamps! I don't garden at night because I'm always afraid of stepping on toads and the mosquitoes are always so bad. Do you all wear netting? Or would that be a little over the top lol.

These are funny, I ordered some for my family and friends that are bf lovers.
http://shop.monarchwatch.org/product.aspx?p=113231(base)

Very cool ty Roxanne!!!

And I spray a little repellent on b4 going out on really bad days. I make sure my hands dont have any of it on them though.

I live in the country and I don't very often have to wonder what the neighbors think. I can wear a veryold raggedy t-shirt and shorts and during mosquito weather I sometimes attach a bunch of dryer sheets (said to repel mosquitos) to my clothes with a safety pin. I'd been out working in the yard like that, getting dirtier and sweatier as time passed one day, digging in the mud and ripping out weeds. That was when the elderly Jehovah Witness couple in their Sunday best showed up. If I'd seen them in time I would have ducked back to the side yard and gone to the back door. But I was so intent on my work I didn't see them in time and couldn't tell they were there until it was too late. I must have been a sight! They didn't try to talk to me very long before they left! Not the first time visitors left thinking I was the most bedraggled thing they'd ever seen.

One day, my beloved canary got out of his cage... and flew into the big maple tree in front of my house.
I knew begging wouldn't help, so I got the hose out. I thought if I got my bird completely wet, he would lose balance and fall out of the tree, into my loving hands.
Didn't happen; he loved the shower and took off.
My neighbours couldn't understand why I would be watering a huge tree in the middle of the crown.
I could see them think; "she's a nut"!
The bird survived, and every now and again he comes to my feeder by the front door. He will peep his very well know peep, and takes off again. No more showers for Mister Peepers!

Christie

Chrisitie - Awww ... so sorry to hear that he escaped. That's funny about the bird shower! LOL Amazing how many of them survive here in the U.S. quite well in the wild.

My neighbors don't think I am a nut ...... they know it! LOL! They don't "get" my love for butterflies! Clearly something was lacking in their childhood not to love butterflies! lol

This thread is hysterically funny!

Well, I guess my neighbors consider me crazy for a couple of reasons.....how about begging for cats? Begging for thistle weeds. Or perhaps yelling at the neighbor who was spot killing his weeds to STAY AWAY!

lol Christie, your little canary is lucky he lives in CA if he's going to live in the wild. There is an area near me that has tons of these large green parakeets in the trees. There's another that has these even larger green parrots. Weird! I need to try and find out when they are back out and get some pics.

The house next door to us has been for sale for a while and at some point nutgrass appeared in their lawn. Nooooo! Stay awayyyy!! The realtor thought I was nuts when I called and told them they'd better come treat that stuff because I did not want it in MY yard! I'll have to start taking measures on my own if it shows back up in the spring. More entertainment for Mrs. Kravitz. :)