12th Step Recovery Program for plantaholics. You might be ..

FlowrLady - I solved the problem of lack of space by moving over to the public terrace! My lovely neighbours are quite happy to let me plant gardens on the terrace - as long as I don't ask them to weed! I get great sites for gardens - and the neighbours think I am doing them a favour hahahahaha - all those potential gardens and I didn't have to buy the real estate!

Oooh Seandor,

"Besides yours, how many yards do you landscape? For other peoples yards, do they buy the plants, or do you?"

You might have a problem. Remember though, plantaholicism has to be self-diagnosed to be effectively treated ... This means that denial is your friend. :)

Flowerlady, next year I will be down to a ten by twelve foot patch of lawn. I am already planning its demise, with wintergreen, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1101/ , as the primary filler/ground cover, and low-growing ornamental perennials peeking out.

(To the tune of the Vanilla Ice song "Ice Ice Baby") Mulch mulch, baby!

Like I said, there's my roof. Actually, the roof to my computer room only has a gentle seven degree pitch. It would be PERFECT! :)

-Joe

This message was edited Oct 30, 2007 1:38 PM

FlowrLady, I'd bet a church or nursing home would love to have you visit. I adopted 2 beds at our church to tend, little by little they are becoming mine. (after weeding today I seed snatched from all the other beds, will be sharing soon.)

You might be a plantaholic if you think the title song from one of Cher's Albums is "Gypsys, Plants and Theives".

lol, great one! I will sing it from now on as I snitch seeds.

LOL Yankeecat!

Plant thieving is horrible, but I have bitten a mandevilla laxa start off of a public planting (it wouldn't pull or snap off.) My problem is, I am a guy: I don't have purse-room for scissors. HEY I could carry a Swiss army knife.

-Joe

JOE!!! YOU bit it off??? Oh my!!! LOL... ok, so a purse is out but that does not exclude you from baggies in your pocket and that swiss army knife! And .... What could be more manly than a tool box???

well i've pruned a few small roses with a swiss army knife.lol. too lazy to walk to the garage for my pruners for just a few cuts. got my 534 bulbs planted i bought yesterday. discovered an easier way to plant bulbs, that just figures now that i've done all my bulbs this year.

len, what is your discovery? don't hold out. No bulbs this year because I can't do the digging, share PLEASE! I want bulbs, wah!

OK Len... so you figured out a new better way to plant the bulbs AFTER your's were complete. Will you share your info or just want to taunt us???

Cathy, you and I were posting at the same time. Len has figured out how to hold Plant-a-holics in suspense!!!

he'd better give it up quick, i'm feeling a plant fit coming on, starting to shake, I'm drooling and twitching. I passed up the bulbs at the store today, and they were marked down, it was so hard to do. Come on Len, spit it out! panting panting....

i have a big honda tiller i bought last year. I have been tilling and using a mattock to put the bulbs in with, the big ones. But this last little bed i just threw all bulbs on top and went around and pushed them all down in the dirt to the bottom. It's probably something that everyone else has been doing that i just discovered at the last minute. Some of the bulbs i would hoe all the loose dirt back put in bulbs and hoe the dirt back over them. I don't know why i didn't discover it earlier being the lazy gardener that i am!lol. It's probably because i get overwhelmed with all the bulbs sorted all over the house and never know where to start. maybe next year i'll put some bulbs out in the pasture by the pond, I'm beginning to run out of room.
this year i bought some grass seed to put over the top of the bare soil over the bulbs because last year i didn't do that and crab grass was all that grew with the bulbs.

I've tried all those other gadgets for bulb planting and finally broke down and bought a tiller. the best thing for gardening i ever done. I even bought an auger for the back of the tractor, the kind for fence post holes, which doesn't work unless the soil moisture is just right. too dry doesn't dig, too wet just sits in the clay and spins. I have 3 tools that are indespensible for gardening, 1)shovel 2) handheld mattocks (i have a couple different styles, i call em my choppers), 3) tiller.

Hey Joe, too much concrete, no problem, just pile up soil on top and plant. Two of my garden beds are partially over asphalt and I did add dirt over concrete and plant a 20' x 3' neighbors sidewalk that was alongside my driveway. She said I could do anything I wanted since she couldn't see it. It worked fine for 6 years until they needed to paint the foundation. The dirt wasn't touching the house, I used pavers to form a "planter". "Gardening on pavement, tables, and hard surfaces by George Schenk will help you out. I only maintain 2 small garden beds besides my own so I don't think I'm a plantaholic at all. lol

sorry about the suspense bit i guess it was a let down huh? lol

oh my goodness sempervirens, planting over the sidewalk! lol. Now i don't feel so silly when i tilled up part of the gravel driveway and planted tulips. rock garden? lol!

Len123 - please help me . . . I have limited resources so I cannot make too many mistakes. DH has a big rototiller which is fabulous for starting a new garden.

Do you have a mini-tiller, like a mantis? Do you think you get your money's worth from it? I checked on-line and it's $350.

Is this something like you have?

http://mantis.com/home.asp

I got a Mantis tiller this past spring, and I just adore it! I opted for the electric model, figuring I'd rather deal with a long cord than with fuel and a pull-start.

Hopefully by next week I'll be able to report on how it works for planting bulbs! I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try to till up the whole area (probably at least a little, to break up the dead grass on top) or just use it to till up some holes where I can add amendments and bulbs (daffs plus crocuses).

seandor i bought a little mini tiller from sears first. it's okay but not quite as good or as easy to handle as my honda. honda also makes little mini tillers, i haven't tried those. I have 6 1/2 acres so i wanted the biggest one. the little ones want to go all over the place.
at least the sears craftsman. the little honda looks better but like you i didn't want to make another mistake and have to buy yet another one. http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/til.asp
I have the frc800. it is the biggest. it is wonderful. but they also have the small one and also the mid-tine. your local dealership should let you use it or bring it back if it is not what you want. that is the safest way. i had many dealers around kansas city but only one who carried the biggest one. all the others carried the smaller ones.i think the retail online is only $20 higher than the mantis. on the website they have a little quiz about choosing a tiller, if it is for new or existing bed, how big, soil type etc. that may be helpful.they also have a dealer locator, i think one is in agawam.

the pull starters now-a-days are a lot easier than they used to be. one pull starts now.
if it doesn't pull first time now something is wrong, not turned on, no gas etc. lol!

Sempervirens,

I have thought about just doing the whole drive area I don't use in containers.

...

Come to think of it, pots are on sale now at a lot of places.

MUST ...

RESIST ...





at least until I get my next paycheck. :)

And you say there's a book on how to plant on hard surfaces, eh? Hmmmmmm. I have *other* areas I could plant.

Anyways, when I find my dig camera I'll take a picture of the area, and a picture of my Ohio October banana. My musa basjoo is still thriving, sending up new leaves, but I see in the forecast the temps are taking a dive next week, so I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. My cannas are blooming again, and my elephant ears are lovely ...

A few more questions for the questionnaire above:

Do you go into mourning at the end of the growing season?

Does the first freeze cause you physical symptoms?



:~(

-Joe

I thought after the first frost is when you get to go dormant!

Joe, it was not a "let down" thank you for sharing your info. I have always just gone around the bed, throwing the number of tulips I want in a little heap, laying out all the bulbs and then digging and amending about a one foot hole, refilling 6 inches, adding the bulbs and filling. I sure don't plant ONE at a time!

Seandor,
I have had a Mantis tiller for 12 or more years now, and I could not live without it!! I don't think it would have to be a Mantis brand which is higher in price. We bought a Snapper brand for daughter and she loves it. It isn't the best for breaking new beds, but I remove the sod first then use it to till in the leaves and compost as I live in pure sand. If I leave newpaper or plastic on an area long enough for the sod to break down, then I can till it without problem. Rocks are a bit of a problem. the tiller tends to 'bounce' around when it hits rocks and certain ones will get caught between the blades, but I suppose this would be the case with any tiller. I have a gas operated one and it is easy to pull start!
-

Thanks for all the great info - alas, my DH decided to clean my glasses only to discover you can't use solvent on plastic. Replacement lenses are more than the cost of the tiller . . . well, maybe next year lol.

uh-oh, maybe that's why my glasses look like they are peeling, is that what yours look like?

Well, they look like frosted glass! I have always had high-index glass lenses before - which you can easily clean with anything, but these were very expensive, special order lenses (rats!) So. I am now wearing some hideous oversized glasses with huge lenses a la late 1980s. The presription is not nearly strong enough - but it will have to do until the new lenses come in. sigh . . .

Oh man... don't you hate that! My sweet husband needs new glasses SO bad!!! I try really hard to take GOOD care of mine because they are so expensive with the correction I have. I'm lucky, my last eye appt said I only needed to update the reading portion! I can get by without that change for a lot longer but my husbands glasses are WAY behind!!!

Well, DH meant well. And in a few weeks I will have wonderful vision. It's just it was an extra expense we didn't need just before Christmas.

I try to baby mine, too, see or eat this month?

This message was edited Nov 2, 2007 6:28 PM

Cathy, I'm sorry your's are bad too... glasses are just so darn expensive! I worry about doing something to mine. I know where my back up pair is but I'm so blind without correction that I could NEVER get to my back up's without help!

just remembered, we live in the countryside by the ocean, no street lights etc, 10 acres, about fifteen years ago, my dogs started to bark about 1:30 in the morning, after about ten Min's I thought I better get up and find out what the problem was with the dogs, normally, they would quieten once the deer ran off with the barking sound, I went out with flash light, as I saw the tail lights of a car sitting in our driveway way in the distance, went to the car to find 2 cop's with police dogs, asked why they were at my place causing my dogs to bark their heads off at such a ridiculous time of night, the cop said " madam, there has been reports off burglars in the nearby town and they have fled this way into your grounds" he said I should go back in doors as they were awaiting back up, then they would let the dogs out to search the whole area and try catch the crooks as there was plenty hiding places around my garden to hide the loot. Definitely NOT I replied, there is no way a battalion of cops with big fat feet and dogs are going to trample all my shrubs and plants for any burglars, especially in the dark where they wont know where they are putting their feet, madam the cop asked, "whats more important, your plants, OR, us catching criminals" truthfully, I informed them, "my plants" he took one look at me dressed in my winter warm PJ'S and slippers and retorted, If you dont get back indoors and shut these dogs off yours up, I may be obliged to let the dogs out now, I walked off in total disbelief and as I did, I whispered "please be careful as I have hundreds of spring bulbs just peeping through the ground. Does that qualify ME to be a plantaholic.
Or once our garage went on fire, I had to remind the firemen who attended that I had masses of plants in the beds, could they be careful where they put there water hoses. what do you think, is there any hope for me, I'm off to the garden center for some good old fashioned therapy after this. WeeNel.

DANG!!! WeeNel, YOU qualify!!! Telling the police you don't want them trooping thru your flowers .... LOL...

Too right phsy, our cops here in UK have to be 6 feet tall to join the police force, so you can imagine the size of those boots, anyway, the end of the story was, they never did get backup, so I guess they were too scared of the dark to go search for the crooks, was I ever pleased, but I have to admit, I did go looking for any loot myself the next day, never found any, but I never stood on a single plant, Phewwwwwww.
We have an Easter egg hunt for our grand kids every year and I dont even hide the eggs in beside my plants, just around the edges, my lovely little grand-daughter always Say's, the Easter Bunny never hides the eggs very well, to which I always tell her " they dont have a lot of time" AND they know it's not fare on the little ones (kids) if they are too well hidden. Even the Easter Bunny knows the score as far as plants in my garden are concerned, and Santa is the best, he just flies over the house and drops off the presents so he dont waken the dogs, and he drops the reindeer off at my garden as we are his last drop off. Will I get into heaven telling all those little white lies,
dont know for sure, but heaven is right here in my garden for now. WeeNel.

Hmmm, interesting thread. I don't see that ANYONE posting here has a problem. Sounds all pretty normal to me. It's everyone else who thinks there's something wrong with any of us who has the problem.

I have a saying- I don't have a problem because I can quit buying plants and gardenind supplies anytime I want. I just don't want to. Besides which, plants (even if your husband tells you you're done buying plants online because you spent more money on plants in March than on food) are cheaper than say a heroine addiction.

...and a tad bit more legal than heroine...lol

Hey, maybe we would all be looking for that illegal stuff if someone put a stop to our plant collecting, Oh NO they wont, we could always creep into someone else's garden, heeeee heeeee heeeee. WeeNel.

true.....

Don't we already creep into other people's gardens, or is it just me? I "very casually" admired the varigated liropie (sp?) at the local grade school the other day, and darned if a stem of seeds didn't break off in my hand. I felt just awful! What to do, what to do??