A Continuum of Gardeners and Gardening - it takes all types!

In light of some recent discussions, it seems to me a good time to reflect on the fact that gardeners (and gardens) exist on a continuum. There are good professional gardeners. There are bad professional gardeners. There are people who own nurseries, people who grow seeds, people who mow people's lawns. There are people who garden on the balcony of their apartment building, and plant seeds in paper cups. There are people with several greenhouses and those who wish they had a sunnier window. There are people who own huge amounts of land and hire landscapers to landscape it for them. There are people who post pictures they took in public gardens. There are people whose joy it is to see their ideas come to fruition and then to post them here.

I live on a plot of 3000 square feet maybe a third of which is house. I could be totally intimidated by some of the posts on here. When watersedge posted her (non-photoshopped) picture of 15,000 grape hyacinth bulbs, we were pleased and proud to know her - at least I was. When it came out that she is the Head Gardener and that she is on someone's staff, it doesn't make the picture less amazing, or the process, as she explained it to us, less interesting. That Tomtom's containers always look so perfect may be annoying, especially since she lives 5 zones south and 13 hours east of me, but they're still beautiful. Should Dale_a_gardener be 'allowed' to post pictures of containers he got paid for making, while the rest of us post containers we paid to make? Sure. He's proud of his work. He didn't have to tell us he was getting paid.

Some people post pictures I think are unbelievably tacky. Some are incredibly lovely. Rather than being resentful of where I fall on the tacky to gorgeous scale, I just try to take it all in. I know my pictures aren't as nice and my gardens (the front one and the back one) aren't as lovely as some other people's. I didn't join DG to be the best (and it's a darn good thing, too). Each of us has something to offer. (My own original contribution is using clothespins to hold open wintersowing containers.) I have learned a thing or seventy million on DG - I even learned about some books I want to buy to keep me off the computer! I have made some very good friends - on- and off-line. I've stuck with DG through the questions about Co-ops, through the buyout by NameMedia, through 'king''s failure the other day. We are "for gardeners by gardeners". Not "professional gardeners" or "beginning" or "amateur" or "experienced" just "gardeners." We all have something to contribute, and together, we're a pretty good resource.

xxxx, Carrie

edited to spell my name correctly!

This message was edited Jun 14, 2007 7:49 PM

I agree with much of what you've said. On the other hand if you were on a thread about recipes for hot dogs you might not want someone taking over with their prime Filet Mignon recipes.

I try to follow what the originator of the thread has in mind so I'd never post a photo of a red rose in Zuzu's blue flower thread and wouldn't show a heavenly clematis in a thread about horses.

I agree, Carrie, and I would add that gardeners rarely remain static. We are different gardeners at different times in our lives. For example, my first garden (more than 30 years ago) was in a polystyrene container on a windowsill. My second belonged to my landlord and I could look at it and learn the names of the plants, but not plant anything. My third was in pots on a windy balcony infested by dirt-seeking cats. My fourth was an actual, owned, in-ground garden with bad drainage and weeds, and in it I joyfully made all the usual beginner's gardening mistakes. And so on. I have finally reached the point in life where I have acres of land, and am (I suppose) an experienced gardener, but by now I lack the energy to do much gardening!

I don't know what precipitated this post, but there were some great points brought up. I have to say that the more I look at other people's flower beds and gardens (both on here and on garden tours I've taken), it gets a little overwhelming. My first efforts, which pleased me so greatly before, begin to look sad and amateurish. I don't like that I've begun to look at them that way, and I'm trying desperately to just get back to being happy with where I am in the process.

I have so much to learn from every angle, from design to implementation, and the more I learn, the more I realize there is to know. I have to remind myself that some of the lovely landscaping shown here has taken years of trial and error, and that I can't be expected to get there overnight. But I do know that impatience is the enemy of the gardener, and am trying to allow my own skills and knowledge to unfold with time. It's hard, though.

Great, Lono, because I have to be very careful not to feel overwhelmed and/or intimidated. It is hard. You forgot to mention, along with your own skills and knowledge, that your own dirt has to unfold with time, too! I notice with every success story there's a line in fine print that says after applying 2 inches of compost. Where do you get 2" of compost? How do you get it spread evenly? If 2" is good, is 4" better? What if I already have stuff planted there? Ed. note: these are rhetorical questions only. If I had wanted to know, I would have gone to the compost forum.

My point is, or was, you're only talking about the years of trial and error, not the years of building good dirt. That's why farmers plant cover crops and then plow them under. At least I think it's the same.

xxxx, Carrie

Hmm, I don't know about years of building good dirt. I'm having fun gardening on sand and gravel, and growing plants that like to grow "lean". I think that exploring the possibilities of the soil that you have is an acceptable alternative to enriching your soil to grow heavy feeders.

Lono, you just have to ask yourself what you want out of your garden, and what it pleases you to see. A garden filled with annuals and vegetables is no less of a garden than one containing mature perennial plantings, a manicured lawn is no less perfect than a wildflower meadow. I call my garden an ongoing experiment, it's full of weeds and gaps where plants died, and pictures of it are never going to grace the pages of a magazine, but I love it all the same and I don't care what the neighbors think! (In fact they probably think I'm crazy.)

OK, June, I agree with you. I didn't mean everybody has to spend years building up their soil, but here in suburban Boston, unless you plant things that do well on years of builders' debris, it's a good idea. We have naturally crummy rocky soil. (One of the reasons "young men" were constantly going West!) Not much grows in my yard unless I at least loosen the dirt a little, and amending it a little is a favored alternative to planticide. That's one of the reasons I'm so crazy for containers.

xxx, Carrie

One thing I'm very blessed with at this new house is good soil! I'm still amending for situations, of course, but you should see the earthworms working their little round butts off in those beds, LOL. It's a great starting point for me, and it's at least one thing I feel I had a head start on (with a little help from the previous owner, no doubt).

June, one thing you said that struck me was about knowing what I want out of a garden. I think that's actually the problem-- that I'm searching for a vision of "my" garden. I hadn't thought about that before, but I think that may be the root of it all. I'm in a phase of having my head turned every which way by beautiful gardens, but I don't have my own vision. All I know at this point is that I'm really attracted to using a lot of native plants and flowers, and as I told someone else tonight, moss. Woodland, moss, native, rocks. Outside of that, I'm just out there floundering.

Lono, floundering is part of the process! Looking at other folks' beautiful, established gardens can be daunting, but remind yourself that you are just looking for ideas that you can work with. Your own garden is not going to be a carbon copy. It will turn out as original as a painting. (Much of my garden is in the "paint spilled on the ground accidentally" style). Don't get stressed, don't decide everything ahead of time, and start with the trees and structures that will provide the shade you need for growing moss and woodland plants.

A lot of what you see in pictures is usually the best side. Most people don't want to capture the ugly sides, let alone show it to other people.

Also the ones growing tropicals in FL and CA have the weather to grow those beauties. The rest of us have to be contented with growing small specimens in pots. There are plants that are spectacular in Northern gardens that the tropical gardener wouldn't have a chance of growing.

Lono - having good soil is such a blessing. What a great advantage it is. I have an article, somewhere, about "How to Dream a Garden". If I find it I'll either post it (seemed long to me) or send it to you.

How true about the "paint spilled" and the gardens that "just happened". I never used to believe it until it happened to me with just one garden that seems to be the favorite of mine and visitors, Joan.

hcmcdole - I have noticed that nobody shows off the garbage bin side of the house - thankfully. That could be a fun thread: pictures you don't want credit for!

Gardening, to me, is so personal and we all have to decide what it is we want: peace, abundance, the tropical feeling, vegetables, all sun and no shade, shade and no sun, dappled shade, etc. Then the plants we fall in love with come into play and we're either adding trees or cutting limbs. I think they call it the joy of gardening.

Ah yes, hcmcdole, we yearn to grow the things that are just outside our Zone range, and sometimes we find a way! Greenhouses, conservatories, cold-frames, window-sills, raised beds, micro-climates....the gardener's ingenuity is boundless.

"I have noticed that nobody shows off the garbage bin side of the house - thankfully. That could be a fun thread: pictures you don't want credit for!"

Here is one, pirl. LOL This is a fun thread. WUVIE cracks me up! The "fun" starts on down the thread about June the 4th.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/726520/



This message was edited Jun 16, 2007 8:24 AM

Wow! Her husband is talented in so many fields despite the work area.

Yes, I just offered a plant in trade to someone in Texas, and she said she'd rather have seeds because plants grown up North would shrivel up in her garden!

xxxx, Carrie

this is a sweet potato vine which actually lived through the winter, a first for "annuals" in MY house!

Isn't he? And her too!

Yes, she is, and quite lovely looking, too. The results of their work is worth the "conditions".

carrie...great thread...where did you get the lovely green planter....is it vintage?

really great thread with respect to where we are gardening wise, soil wise, experience wise, climate wise....etc etc...; i could almost guarantee your that i would have a lush lovely setting living in a better zone; but the fact that i dont....the fact that i live in hot windy west texas makes things a little different....but i find myself making excuses for my photos sometimes....oh this is only my 2nd year....or i have total shade....or etc etc...; i love the fact that i have this great group of people that live in a worse zone than i do and they say....ooohh ahhh ooohhhh; or that someone in my zone shows me their lush lavish garden that looks like it came from hawaii and tell me that you can get a fabulous yard by doing this this and this......

thanks for bringing up this topic

It's fun to save the photos of other, for our own use and viewing only, so we can think of how we can create the same effect in our own gardens. Delusional? Maybe, but it's still fun in the dead of winter.

Thanks, s-n-s, I consider it aqua or turquoise. I didn't know which GREEN pot you were talking about!!! I got 2 of them, separately (but from the same person), on eBay, so I guess it is vintage. They don't have holes, and every container I put in there I either have to dump the water every day or SOMETHING! I have to think, maybe a shallower inner pot on stilts?

xxx, Carrie

carrie...hubbie has drilled holes in all my vintage pots...cause i was killing them with the standing water in them....but i also have a few vintage pots that i just set another plastic pot of some kind that i can lift out after a rain or water..hope that makes sense...

It does but MY DH would either 1] say he'd do it but never get around to it or 2] break my beee-yootiful vintage pots! What kind of bit does your DH use? Around here it can rain 2-3" a day, and those particular pots are only 6" deep, so i have to be too vigilant about dumping the water out. Plus, think of all the micronutrients we're leaching out!

xx, Carrie (thinks we should start a separate thread about handling vintage pots)

i have an antique store and have seen alotta pots that survived someone else drilling holes in them...that is when i decided that i was gonna do it....i am not sure what size he used will find out....but hasnt busted a pot yet....and he has done at least 10 and about 5 of those were mccoy...(i cringe when i say that....) but they were ...but my plants were drowning so i had to do something ; if ya wanna start a vintage pot thread we could see what others do....also, using the inner pot in the vintage pot has worked real well for me also

The best drill bit you can use on glazed pots is a diamond hole saw. I've tried the carbide bits which kind of works but the diamond bit does nice, clean cut holes in a lot, lot less time. Plus you can use it many times over compared to other bits.

A half inch bit will set you back about $20 but well worth it.

http://www.diamond-drill-bit-and-tool.com/Diamond-Drill/MAIN.htm