@michele-b thank you Sweet Michele I am doing wonderful and I got herbs and flowers today . I talked to them and told them I would take care of them as I do my son. I could feel there welcoming energy! I am grateful for all of y'all ?
Cause the grass has to be dry... and.. it makes the lawnmower beers taste better ;-)
@michele-b Michele, the description you gave of your garden is making me so hungry! But i have never heard of Logan berries or Marionberries. What do they taste like?
p.s.- glad you liked the song ?
Well, I am still going on (do I need an ' off ' button? ?)... just wanted to tell you how much I like all those lemony things too. The lemon verbena is so awesome and makes a nice refreshing skin splash when it's hot.... lemon balm is another one that is dear to my heart. I once got about five flats of it and planted it all over the place... lemon Divine!
And yes, the celebrated little Meyer lemons ... the same thing happened to me Claire. I always wanted to grow one, and tried planting a two year old tree in with about seven kinds oregano... it grew one little lemon... and died. They are sensitive, lols. ?
Maybe one day it would be worth another attempt?
And then there is lemon thyme, lemon basil, lemon-scented geraniums, lilies, mint..............it's heaven?
???
(Here's a little secret ... thyme waits for no one, but you can eat the little flowers. Good on sweet baby cucumbers ?)
Jeanne, I see your energy resonating alot with Barbara Kingsolver's... she has a distinct Pisces/Aries/Sagittarius aura, as maybe you do as well?
I can see why you love her writings so .... ?
(I will for certain look up 'Animal Vegetable Mineral')
Claire and Journey,
LOL! So true! My dad didn't drink, ever, but it was the perfect excuse to come inside, make himself a giant glass of Country Time powdered lemonade with enough ice to supply a polar bear for a year, and spent the next five hours "recuperating", as my mother would say, in front of the TV, until dinnertime. A few times he got so hot and red she was worried he was going to have a stroke.
Stargazer, I love snapdragons, and I know the exact color you are talking about. It is mesmerizing. I haven't been able to find it this year-I wanted to plant a couple more-I can't find the salmon color either. The yellow is gorgeous. I hate it when snaps are listed as annuals. If you just leave them alone, even if you don't bother to trim them, they come back beautifully the next year. Hearty little devils, too. They sprout in rock crevices and among the weeds even without water.
I wish one or all of you lived close by so you could see my lawn and advise me. As I mentioned, I'd like to get rid of a big portion of it. Having said that, my husband and I don't enjoy the upkeep of gardening -- we're getting old, cranky, both have bad allergies and I get overheated very easily. (@polarberry, after working outside I kind of look like you father when he was “recuperating.”) Plus there are only so many weeds I can pull without cursing, and my husband's approach to weeds is cutting them down with a weed wacker. So I'd be looking for something very low-maintenance.
@claire, I know nothing about native grasses here in Virginia, but if they require minimal upkeep, that's an attractive idea.
@unk-p, I love your suggestion of how to easily convert lawn/weeds into planting beds! Last week I temporarily lost my mind and consulted with a neighbor's landscaper about getting rid of our weedy lawn and having it resodded. He said "to ensure that these weeds won't come back, I first apply two separate treatments of Roundup over the entire lawn, then dig it all up and resod." Did he really say two treatments of Roundup over the ENTIRE lawn? First of all, I didn't think they still use that crap. Second, at that moment I understood that the coronavirus wasn't going to kill me; the Roundup would. Not to mention all the dogs, cats, and other critters we have around here.
@unk-p, I’ve been thinking about the significance of your presence in this world. I believe part of your life’s purpose is to shake things up -- with a touch of humor, of course. ?
@polarberry, the town arborist I spoke about in an earlier post told me that our town landscapers stopped using Roundup a long time ago. They now use 30% vinegar, which he said works extremely well. I'd read that 30% is quite potent, and there are warning labels you should follow on how to apply it. Anything with a warning label ... I'll take a pass on that! Bring on the weeds!!
Vinegar works well. Years ago I bought this organic product, and I can't remember the name of it, but it was made with a mixture of vinegar, cloves, and a couple other ingredients. It stank to high heaven, you could smell it on Mars, but it burned those weeds like fire lol. You could see them start to shrivel up as soon as you sprayed it. These days I just pull them, because even if you spray them with something, you still have to pull them out unless you want to leave them dead in the ground to crispify.
I hate weeds, but I do admire them for their tenacious ability to survive anywhere, under any conditions.
@polarberry, thanks for the info. I'll do a search and see what I come up with.
Maybe all of us in this community should consider ourselves weeds -- ability to survive anywhere, under any conditions. But purdy' weeds, of course!
@deetoo yeah, i would stay away from any chemicals. Especially Ruin-up, and those products that claim to kill weeds and fertilize at the same time- like that stuff that rhymes with Snott's Greed and Need, which is absolutely toxic to trees and earthworms.
I hate pulling "weeds", too. Not so much because of the chore of it, but because i always feel guilty about it. Even more so, ever since i had that visit from the Dandelion deva. Most weeds need sunlight, and they seem to like poor, compacted soil- so my strategy is to shade them out with plants i do want, and improve the soil w lots of organic matter.
If you do hire a professional, consider looking for a Permaculture practitioner.
hope that helps!
This is the fruit/herb garden, Mint, Lavender, Saffron, Garlic Chives, Onions, Thyme, Oregano, Table Grapes, Blackberries and Mini Fruit Trees: Cherries, Figs, Plums and Peaches:
This is the recently planted summer garden, Zucchini, Butternut Squash, New Mexico Green Chile, Basil, Leeks, Tomatoes and Beets:
And finally the "Perennials" LOL
