Feeling out of place and not a "Club Member"

[Eamonn]

So far this year we don't seem to have had a Spring.

The weather has been cold and yesterday was the first day in 18 days when it didn't rain.

Rory and Friday don't seem to notice the rain or the cold, so we have still gone for our daily big long walk.

The result is clearly noticeable on the celery green carpet.

All this rain has made keeping the grass cut a real chore. It has also delayed my "Spring Planting".

I know absolutely nothing about flowers and taking care of them.

Her Who Must Be Obeyed always took care of this, but when she became ill the flower gardens and the care of them landed in my lap.

The first year I didn't do anything and weeds with nasty burrs took over. The burrs stuck to the dogs fur and it seemed I spent hours and hours de-burring the dogs which made a real mess.

Last year I really went to town, I weeded and placed some sort of black cloth which is supposed to last ten years, it allows the water to get through and doesn't allow the weeds to come up. I bought all sorts of flowers and bags of mulch. I watered a fed the plants.

While some of the plants didn't make it, the ones that did looked good.

I had planted a mix of annuals and perennials.

One of the perennials (two in fact) really took off and by early fall had over-taken half the flower bed. As spring came closer I watched and waited for signs of new growth. My hope was that these guys would take over and I would not have to do anything.

Sadly nothing came up.

A couple of plants with blue flowers, that I didn't like very much did return and the plant which I somehow managed to break while I was trying to get it from the pot came back, well it never bloomed last year, so maybe coming back is a bit of an exaggeration?

I gave some thought to what my goal was.

I want a maintenance free flower bed.

Plants that come up year after year, cover the ground and don't allow the dos to get covered in burrs.

Yesterday I took off for Wal-mart looking for the plants of my dreams.

Sadly it seemed Wal-mart is not the best place for plants, so I went to K-mart.

K-Mart seems to have more roses than Wal-mart. There was line after line of hanging baskets.

As I was looking and becoming more and more frustrated, I met Rory's Vet. I asked him if he knew anything about plants? He admitted that he didn't and suggested that we go for a drink. This seemed like a good idea so I put my plant selecting on hold.

While we were enjoying an adult beverage he let me know that his wife always buys her plants at the local garden center.

This seemed like a good idea. So early this morning I took off to the garden center.

I was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a golf shirt. It seems to be well dressed at the garden center you need a pair of gardening gloves in your back pocket. It also seems that real gardeners wear their glasses on a rope. I'm not sure why?

Of course the place was packed. People with flat after flat of plants. I walked around reading label after label. I loaded up a cart, waited in line at the check out where I asked a few what must have been very silly questions as I got some very strange looks and the answers were not very helpful.

I really did feel out of place.

It was if they knew I was only there to prevent the dogs getting burred and they knew I wasn't a real gardener.

I didn't know if my soil was acidic.

I did know that we get the morning sun and afternoon shade.

I was going to buy 8 or 10 bags of mulch, but I felt so out of place I stopped at the gas station and bought my mulch there. It cost a lot less.

I have friends who have wives who belong to the local garden club. I'm not going to join.

Anyway what do garden club members do?

I somehow can't see myself sitting talking about how well my geraniums are doing thanks to the adjustments I made in the acidity of my compost.

The plants are all now in the ground. I'll wait a few days before I hit them with the mulch. I was tempted to do it today, but my back is really hurting.

I did buy a lot of perennials, so maybe next year I'll have more luck.

Eamonn.

PS Her Who Must Be Obeyed has been surfing the net looking at English Setters. You can bet if she gets one he or she will want to dig up all the darn flowers.

[Karen_216]

THat's ok. At least you're trying!! Who has time on their hands after all this scouting??

I don't belong to a garden club and enjoy planting flowers and seeing them come up (as long as my Dad trying to be helpful in his retirement does not put down weed killer in my yard which leaches into the flower beds)

IMHO garden clubs are for SERIOUS gardeners- I mean the ones who don't jsut plant daffodils and tulips but actually breed them themselves and can look at one and tell you the actual variety of the daffodil.They develop actual written plans for their gardens and take pics at all seasons so they know what is palnted where and dig up bulbs and seaparete plants and enter competitions on design. etc.

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

Best to stick to the smaller farm type stores if you want advice and not the huge buy everthing stores. If I see something that comes up that I like - even if it is a weed I leave it but then my "garden pro sis" sees it and pulls it out .

In my gardening enthusiasm I rsponsed to the call at my sons elementary school and adopted a plot there as they needed someone to tend it. I thought- what a great opportunity for the pack!! I didn;t realize how large it was until my den went out. It was full of ants and I personally spent money on the plants which died soon from drought. Of course even though I sent messages to the pack my den was the only one to come out (I noticed the boys from last year did not show up this year.) I even told them they could get GTA crdit hours for this. THe first meeting had 4 boys (which inculded my son who sat in the car half the time and then smashed his leg w/ a garden tool).The 2nd time was 2 boys- again which included my son and the cub I took myself as I was babysitting him !! They weeded a little and planted a few bulbs and then tired out and decided they were done.

So the garden I adopted for the pack is really my own person garden project. I really needed thatas I only have close to an acre myslef and am a new CM!!

Good luck in your garden endevours-- get a book and find out what does good locally and go with Native species. YOu'll make the birds and environment happy!! Wildflowers do well in sun and reseeed themsleves.

BTY- I tried the black weed guard and had to pull up the next year- Hubby put grass clipping on top-- HELLO-- givng a place for the weeds to grow- defeating the purpse of the weed gard!! Besides which I couldn't till the garden with that in place.

shouldnt' you be planting and not on the internet??

[scoutldr]

Could it be that's how novice Scouters feel, too? The perennials that we don't like very much thrive and keep coming back? If you want success, you have to follow the program, which is spelled out in the gardening manuals. (Gardening for Dummies?)

[Sprite]

I read this thinking it was about Scouting. Am female, with lots of Girl Scouting experience. When my son joined the Boy Scouts, I'd attend the parent meetings to hear "Any Dads who would like to help..." I even wrote up areas I could help and submitted them to the SM without much response.

 

Finally the troop was desparate for an adult to go on a campout and I went. Granted being female in a BS camp isn't easy--but I had a great time and the SM respected me afterwards. My son has been in the troop for 5 years now--I'm still learning the Boy Scout way and finally wanting to do more of the training sessions. When I became an ASM I was the only female in the company of all divorced males. I had to wonder if I was in the "woman haters group." I'm not! The other adults scouters are great and not woman haters at all but I did feel I needed to prove my stripes.

 

I am a firm believer that everyone has benefit and can be useful. As I've seen in other forums not all people are in their niche this is our challenge to the adults and scouts. Encourage each person to benefit the troop in way that fits them.

 

Sprite

[ozemu]

Eamonn really! We Scouters should be great gardeners. You just have to follow the same processes that we do with Scouts. Listen to the vocabulary.

 

Chop off the tall poppies.

 

Pull out the weeds.

 

Nip them in the bud.

 

Cut out the dead wood.

 

Let fallow ground lie.

 

Not too much sun.

 

Reap what you sow.

 

Plant (your tent) for the morning sun.

 

Companion plant.

 

Prune viciously.

 

Be careful about fungus.

 

Put down some roots.

 

hmmm Green thumbs? Needs antibiotics. Maybe that one doesn't work very well.

 

Oh come on - you're not trying! You're being melancholy. Maybe it's the rain making you mouldy. Now if you came down here to visit you could enjoy the driest May in 100 years.