Talk to plants??

My husband caught me talking to my plants while I was weeding. I have read this is very good for them, but he thinks I am crazy! Am I the only one who does this?

By the way--They don't talk back!!!

Interesting thread, Amy. I remember watching a show on TV years ago that addressed part of the question. Plants in a room with lively conversations fared better than those in duplicate quiet rooms. Another study played music and plants "listening" to soft easy listening tunes fared better than those where heavy rock music played.

A humorous side note, I used to milk cows for a living. When I played my favorite at the time, heavy metal rock, the cows were irritated and moved around when I tried putting on the milking machines. They were calm when I played "elevator" music which made me irritable. The ladies and I settled on country and everything was much better for all concerned.

Yes, I talk to my plants even though it's a one-way conversation. I figure it's a way to let them know I care besides furnishing them with the normal requirements they need. Then again, I talk to a lot of things that can't talk back to me and to some that can but I wish wouldn't.

Gary

I dont talk to my plants but every morning .... moment I am up ....even before pouring myself a cup of tea... I walk around in the garden and check on my plants... try and see if a new leaf has sprouted on recently planted ones. every one at home thinks I am a bit crazy
now that I have planted night blooming jasmine I am waiting for it to flower and spread its heady scent.

Cussing at weeds doesn't count ?

I wouldn't take any gardener seriously if they didn't talk to their plants! Besides, even if it makes no difference to the plants, it makes a difference to me! They are my other babies. And I take a garden stroll every day, and take pictures nearly every day. I'm sure the neighbors think I'm nuts too, but then, their idea of a garden is a lot of mulch and the home depot 5 dollar special... ;-)

Amy,

I talk to my plants. Usually it's when I'm having trouble with getting one to grow. Why not?

Granny,

I think cussing at weeds counts, but I don't think they care. LOL.

Gary,

I've read about the effect of different kinds of music on cows. It's the same with plants -- they like soft music or classical but don't do well with hard rock. There have been some interesting studies on both of these subjects.

Karen

Talk to my plants? Absolutely. I'm always asking them how they're doing. Am I crazy? Not in the least. Anything reproducing, growing and living feels love and pain. Only humans are arrogant enough to think that they alone experience these emotions. So my fellow gardeners, chat on.

i walk around my garden every day too--i check each plant and notice the changes--yes--sometimes i talk to them too! but i kind of like not having to keep up a conversation in the garden and being by myself--my mind is absorbed and i am at peace out there--------------well, most of the time!

You know, I didn't even realize I did it until I thought about it just now. But I do indeed talk to them, and lately I've found myself going out to check on them even on days when I'm not planning on spending a lot of time out there. I also love to sit and survey my backyard from an upstairs window. :)

Cussing at weeds doesn't help. They just grow bigger!!!

Well thanks guys--I let my husband read your postsand he figured out I am not crazy. I walk through my garden every morning and most evenings. THey are like my babies, too, and I enjoy caring for them. To be serious about gardening, I think you have to care about them or we wouldn't be able to put the time and effort in that we do. That is the difference between us and the people that put out the home depot special and alot of mulch!

for years (30!!) i was the one who put out a few plants and mulch and then forgot about them--and had a really sad looking yard--i didn't talk to plants and i sure didn't go out and look at them--in fact i hated looking at my yard because it just made me feel guilty--i never thought i would like to garden--i am a very late to bloom gardener now--making up for lost time and going in overdrive!!

LOL, Linda. We must be kindred spirits. I used to get excited about vegetable gardening every spring and plant a fairly large area. Then forgot about it. When harvest time came around I couldn't find many veggies amongst the weeds. I haven't planted a veggie garden for the past 15 years.

Five years ago I got ambitious and planted 25 ash trees. After carrying water to them for a couple weeks I gave it up and decided if God wants them to live He will take care of them. My friend quietly chided me by telling me that God didn't plant them there. There are only 10 left and are 8' tall.

I'm a believer in mulching. Or most likely, too lazy to weed. The few weeds that grow in the mulch are easily plucked rather than hoeing around everything; as long as I get my rear out there to pluck them before they get established.

I'm hoping to be a better gardener now that I'm semi-retired. I'm still not ready for a large veggie garden yet. ;< )

Gary

always good to know you have company when you mess up!! thanks for sharing --now i love being out in the garden but it sure took a while to get to that point

I don't talk to them per se, but similiar to other posts, I cannot wait to get out the door with my first cofee and "inspect". In fact, it is becoming a ritual for my husband and I to do a "walk about" before he leaves for work, and it's a strangely intimate thing to do. I think talking/looking/relishing is part of the reciprocal relationship we get hookd on ... we help them to do what is natural, and they give us immense pleasure back with their scent, their blooms, and their growth.

that is a good way to put it--maybe now that my kids are raised i needed to nurture in a different way!

Any one who gardens ALWAYS talks to their plants. That doesn't make the gardener crazy. If the plants talk back THEN the gardener is crazy. Aren't we all......

Ann

Of course we all talk to plants. You would be surprised how a plant begins to thrive after you have told it that you mean business and if it doesn't shape up it just might wind up in the compost! When we winter in FL, my neighbor takes care of our plants in our sunroom. She talks to them, too and everything looks wonderful when we return. When a long-awaited bloom appeared on my night blooming cereus, we were on a trip, coming home one or two days after it had bloomed. Perhaps I should have told it if it was going to bloom to wait until we got back home!

I don't say much to mine, just a "c'mon, grow!" to the ones that are lagging, "there ya go" when I water them, and of course a "wow!" or "oh baby!" to a particularly lovely flower that has bloomed suddenly. Not a good garden conversationalist I'm afraid!

But one thing that has really been great since I got busy with my flower garden last year, is that my neighbors talk to ME a lot more. I've been speaking with people who have walked past my yard with their dog for years but never said anything before. So the garden is a great ice breaker!

Just had to steal this thread for a second.....
CRice- Good to see another Jersey DG'r

Carry on.....

I too talk to my plants, and for a while I thought I might be a little, you know,... But then I saw even my DH, a monument of normality, talking to them (well, he talks to his favorites), so I said: hey, everything is fine. I also play music for them, and have my coffee early in the morning with them.
I wonder, a weeping willow would listen to hard rock? would it nod and bang its head and locks?

I heard my non-gardening granddaughter talking to the plants the other day when we were watering. She's been helping me this summer as we have so much to water and dragging 300 feet of hose is really a pain. Since she's 16 and "cool", I didn't let her know that I had heard. LOL.

Karen

funny--i am picturing her talking "cool" to them!

Oh, indeed, very funny but I didn't dare let on that I heard. Hee, hee, hee. Maybe I'll make a gardener out of her yet.

Karen

seems like when it is a teenager you have to let them think it was their idea (gardening) while you are busy planting the seed!

I agree. She loves blueberries which are far too expensive to buy. Last year I planted four bushes for her. This year they really took off and were loaded with berries for two months. She has been delighted with them and now refers to them as "my blueberries." She is beginning to take an interest when there is a new bloom or veggies that she likes are ready to pick. So, one small step at a time.

Karen

i hope i do as well as you when i have grandkids!! the 3 of my kids who are out of the house like plants in a small way--but they have smaller areas to work with, are young and "poor" and of course have plenty of time--seeing as their mother wasn't into gardening till i reached my 50's!!

I hear that. I didn't garden either when my kids were at home -- too poor, too little space, rented property, apartments, and not much time. Retirement certainly does have its advantages. I'm still poor but now I have the space and the time. LOL. But if the curiosity is planted, it will grow.

Karen

karen i believe you-- they don't cook either and i like cooking -but it will come-to everything a season -right?

Yes, indeed. We all become different people, I think, at different times in our lives. My son, who never ever cooked at home, became a very good cook after he married a gal who couldn't/wouldn't cook. Since I live by myself now, I tend to cook in batches, eat some, freeze some for later. There is no such thing as a "small" pot of soup or spaghetti sauce or if there is I lost the instructions. LOL.

Karen