On this occasion of my 1,200th post on this blog, I’ve decided to answer some of the commonly asked questions about me, my garden, and my hoes.
1. Do you really wear a long white dress when mowing the lawn? No, usually I wear a long green dress because green is my favorite color. Wait, Dr. Hortfreud would not like me telling tales like that. The truthful answer is no, I don’t wear a long white dress while mowing the lawn. I wear jeans or light cotton pants and a t-shirt. The t-shirt is almost always green.
2. Do you use a reel mower? I wish! I have enough lawn to mow that I don’t think it would be practical to use a reel mower. Plus, I think those mowers are hard to push and they cut the grass very short. I believe that the grass should never be shorter than three inches, except maybe the last time you mow before winter. Of course, if someone wants to provide me with a new reel mower that mows the lawn to a height of not less than three inches, I’d be happy to try it out.
3. So why did you put on a long white dress and that funny hat and pose for a picture with a reel mower? I didn’t! I clipped that picture from the cover of a 1910 seed catalog. As I recall, it was Hortense Hoelove’s idea. She thought it would be fun.
4. How many hoes do you have? It depends on your definition of “hoe”. I’ve got some tools that are hoe-like, but some wouldn’t say that qualifies them to be called hoes. Let’s just say I have countless hoes because every time I try to count them and think I’ve counted them all, I find one someplace that didn’t get counted.
5. Do you think you’ll get any more hoes? I hope so! I won’t rest as long as there is some type of hoe out there that I haven’t had a chance to try out in my garden.
6. Do you hire help for your garden? Help? No, not for this garden. Well, there were some guys who came and installed the lawn but other than that I’ve planted every tree, shrub, and perennial in the garden myself. And I tend the vegetable garden myself, too, which means I get first pick at all the produce, including those tomatoes I picked last night, pictured above. I didn’t think there would be many to pick, so I didn’t take a basket or trug out with me. Turns out there were lots of tomatoes to pick including two ‘Purple Cherokee’, two ‘Illini Star’, one ‘Ace’ and oodles of cherry tomatoes. I only picked the ‘Black Cherry’ tomatoes. I used my stretched out shirt to carry them all back to the house. I’ll pick the others this evening. Yes, ‘Purple Cherokee’ is very good, I’ll grow it again. ‘Illini Star’ is okay but I probably won’t grow it again. I’ve already said how much I love ‘Black Cherry’ tomatoes, haven’t I? I will always grow them!
7. What kind of gardening do you do? As soon as someone meets me for the first time and finds out I “garden”, they usually ask me what kind of gardening I do. I never knew quite how to answer it. “All kinds” sounds flippant. Listing what I grow sounds like GADS. Finally today, I think I have an answer… the breathing kind of gardening. I’ll let you think about what that means, and then someday, I’ll ask Dr. Hortfreud to explain it.
What kind of gardening do you do?
I think this question is difficult to answer.
Congrats, Carol, on your 1,200th post, all of which I've found amusing, entertaining and informative.
I look forward to many more.
What kind of gardening do I do? Year-round, thanks to you.
Like Lisa said, that is a tough question to answer. Most gardeners dabble in all kinds of gardening.
Congratulations, Carol! I'm looking forward to your next 1,200 posts!
Thank you for your 1200 posts Carol…I'm enjoying the journey forward. I'm not sure what kind of gardening I do…but it has something to do with just needing to be out there.
Congrats on reaching such a milestone! And I don't think we should be pigeonholed into a "type" of gardening. Only a non-gardener would ask such a weird question.
Ohhh can't wait to try the 'purple cherokee.' It's the only plant that hasn't given me a ripe one.
Congratulations, Carol! Those tomatoes look good.
I do ornamental, mixed borders. See. That wasn't so hard. Of course, it's such a broad definition as to be almost meaningless.
Great Carol: 1200 Posts and still going, I am working on number 27 and wondering if I could ever get to 1200 or more. You have put a lot of effort and thought into your Blog. It must be very rewarding to you.
What kind of gardening do I do, Well that's a good question. My best answer is that I just Garden in many ways.
Enjoy your Day,
John
Ahh yes! I am growing those black cherry tomatoes for the first time this year, I love them. I'm experimenting with some purple and black tomatoes this year. Look forward to seeing more of your tomatoes.
Mostly people want to know if you're growing veggies or flowers. Actually, where I live, they assume you're growing vegetables. So in your case, if you just say "I grow both vegetables and flowers" you've answered the question they thought they were asking.
Congrats Carol. Yes, that is a hard question. I guess folks think you're either in the vegetable or floral camp and never the twain shall meet.
Love your 'maters. I've heard good things about that Black Cherry. I liked the Purple Cherokee as well. But for the fall I'm trying Heatwave and Solar Fire. They're supposed to bloom okay in extreme heat, which we still have a month or more to suffer. (So I hope you see I'm not trying to rub anything in! 🙂 )
Congrats and thanks for the entertainment once again. That is a peculiar question to answer…My kind!
What kind of gardening do I do? The first word that came to mind is "random." Random in that I wake up and never really know what I'm going to work on until I get outside. Random in that I'm still trying to figure everything out, so I go with whatever makes sense at the time. Random in that I seem to have a this-and-that method of planting. And random in that I can be gardening in one area and flit about to four other areas in a matter of minutes, like a bumblebee, eventually coming back to the first area… maybe.
Congratulations on the big milestone! I can't wait to hear the explanation of the breathing kind of gardening. My kind of gardening is the necessary kind.
Oh yes, breathing, it's perfect. Gardening is like breathing, you can't not do it. I just counted that I have written 526 posts. It was hard because I had to go back and count the ones on blogger to add to the wordpress ones. 1200 is amazing. Kudos, my friend! Here's to 1200 more, glass of ginger ale raised, (Schweppes). 🙂
Frances
My answer to what kind of gardeining … the kind that keeps me sane. Congratulations on such a successful blog.
1,200 posts??!! That is a staggering number, especially when your posts aren't just a few photos with captions, but thoughtful, informative, and usually humorous articles. My hat is off to you for your prolific creativity, Carol!
So glad you answered the questions about your profile photo. Until I met you, I always pictured you looking like this when you mowed:) I wasn't surprised, though, to find out your favorite color is green:) When people ask me what kind of gardener I am, I simply say "a beginning gardener." Not exactly what you're asking, but the fact is I learn something new every day about gardening.
Congratulations on all those posts, Carol! I still don't know how you find time to garden. And I always say I grow flowers, though technically that's not true because some greenhouse grew them and I just try to keep them alive. But I've always known what kind of gardener I am – a lazy gardener!
What kind of gardener — what a question! I'd sound like I had GAD too… "I love Australian native plants, except that my front yard is mainly the exotics I wanted to put in somewhere, and I have a small vegie patch that I focus a lot of energy on, and I have a few fruit trees, a lemon, a quince and some bananas, except bananas are a grass rather than a tree…" The only kind I don't do is indoor gardening. Except for the avocado pip growing on the kitchen window-sill!
I think my answer to that final question would be "REAL gardening." Dirty, messy, exasperating, exhilarating, frustrating, rewarding, and quite literally down to earth!
What type of gardening do I do? The one that produces bounds of beautiful…weeds…
Congratulations on the 1200th post! Robbie