When did you start gardening? I started gardening, in a way, two score and eight years ago, when at the age of two my mother caught me with my hands in a bag of fertilizer. Family legend has it that she cleaned me up and put me down for a nap, then called the doctor who said to wake me up to make sure I wasn’t turning blue and was still breathing.Although my mother was a bit reluctant to do so, because you know what they say about sleeping babies, she did it, and I was fine. I’ve been gardening … [Read more...] about When Did You Start Gardening?
gardeners
Ideas from Austin
When you visit other gardens in other cities, you can take away something that is even better than a passalong plant. You can take home ideas for your own garden.Now don’t get me wrong, passalong plants are special, and I’ll never turn down the offer of a start of a plant from another gardener’s garden. And I’m grateful for the passalong plants I got this past weekend, and with great effort, I did not say “thank you”. (Not saying thank you is a tough rule to follow when receiving plants from … [Read more...] about Ideas from Austin
Do You Know Any Haughtyculturists?
“The haughtyculturist is a good name for the kind of person who is as terrified of growing last year’s roses as is a woman of being seen in last year’s hats.” From Of Flowers and a Village by Wilfrid BluntDo you know a haughyculturist? The kind of gardener who has to have the most current flower varieties and would actually prefer if they were the only gardener they knew who had those flowers?They would surely think my little woodland violet was just a common weed.Of Flowers and a Village is a … [Read more...] about Do You Know Any Haughtyculturists?
Handmade Gifts For Gardeners, Idea No. 5
How many hand tools does your favorite gardener have? After awhile, most gardeners acquire a few trowels, hand forks, hand digging hoes, bulb planters and other hand tools and need something to put them in so they are easy to find. How about making them a tool caddy to carry all those tools in?Here's one that I made last year after seeing a picture of one that was similar.My woodworking skills are limited as are my woodworking tools, so this is a pretty simple design. The tools I used to make … [Read more...] about Handmade Gifts For Gardeners, Idea No. 5
Handmade Gifts For Gardeners, Idea No. 4
I assume that every gardener tries to attract garden fairies (faeries in England) to their garden.This is done by letting a few places in the garden grow a little bit wild so they fairies have a place to hide and by planting their favorite flowers. I think they are partial to fairy lilies of all things and foxglove.Which brings me to the 4th idea for handmade gifts for the gardener... a fairy door. What gardener wouldn't like to add a bit of whimsy to their garden by finding some place to put a … [Read more...] about Handmade Gifts For Gardeners, Idea No. 4
Handmade Gifts for Gardeners, Idea No. 2
What seed obsessed gardener wouldn't like to get a gift of seeds in a handmade seed packet?Or better yet, what gardener wouldn't like to get a handmade seed packet with some 'seed money' inside or maybe a gift card good at their favorite nursery or garden supply website?I've made these seed packets before and given them as gifts for even non-gardeners. The first few times, I filled the packets with actual seeds thinking, "who wouldn't be thrilled with seeds?"Then I figured out that many people … [Read more...] about Handmade Gifts for Gardeners, Idea No. 2
