You might be a gardening geek in the fall if…
1. You are still watering container plants that are long past their prime and should really be dumped in the compost bin. Bonus points if you try to bring the plants inside to revive them.
2. You think your neighbors are nuts to bag their leaves for curbside pick up. Bonus points if you take their bags of leaves for your own compost bins. Double bonus points if you take the bags in broad daylight.
3. You harvest seeds from flowers you know will self-sow all through the garden without your help, because you are concerned that next spring, they suddenly won’t. Bonus points if you actually sow the seeds in the spring.
4. Your electric drill becomes your favorite tool for planting bulbs. Bonus points if you’ve worn down a spade bit planting crocus throughout your lawn.
5. You are nearly as excited by the ‘harvest of the compost bin’ as you are the first tomato. Bonus points if you have a compost bin. Check that… you can’t be a gardening geek WITHOUT a compost bin.
For other signs of a gardening geek, see this post and this post.
My, my, my. I just came in from a day of dividing and replanting oxblood lilies and do I ever qualify for a geek this time.
1. 0 (I don’t have any seasonal potted plants.
2. Double bonus points. Not only do I take bags of leaves in broad daylight but, when I’m driving, I’ll stop my car for them. (I’m the woman who got 32 bags of free Christmas tree mulch in my Miata, remember…not all in one trip, of course.)
3. Bonus points. You just never know if the self-sowers will actually self-sow. Always good to have some backup seeds.
4. 0 (Any hole in my yard is 1/3 rock, 1/3 roots, and 1/3 clay. I’d love to live somewhere I COULD use an electric drill, though.)
5. I started turning one compost pile last week and using it to get the meadow ready for those self-sowers. But as I’ve often said, gardening is just my excuse to play in the dirt.
Guilty of all of the above, especially the leaf-napping. We don’t have enough leaves here because the wind blows the leaves from our hardwoods off into other counties….SO you bet I go off to Kentville or Wolfville with the truck and pick up loads of leaves for my compost and for mulch.
Four out of five. That’s 80% for me.
#1) In the small garden, I am more than happy to let container plants go when they’re past prime. In fact, I’m often pushing them out the door (that is, into the compost bin) because I want to move in something new. Just today, I hacked back my containerized Scarlet Runner Beans. Although, I am also trying to get just a couple more weeks out of my containerized cucumbers, so maybe I get half credit for #1, bringing me up to 90%.
#2) I do take my neighbors’ green waste, but they know me, and noone thinks I’m nuts. They’re delighted–especially when I give them vegetables I grew with their composted waste.
#3) Yes! I am always collecting seeds from my garden plants, even the self-sowers. And tonight, I even sowed some tarweed indoors to see what happens when I re-start that plant right away.
#4) Yes. Bulb augers are a must in the small garden. I’m already augering in bulbs too.
#5) I certainly do have a compost bin and I get very excited when I fork out the good stuff. I used to try hiding my bin under a trellised passionflower (seemed like the thing to do), but no more. The compost bin announces itself plainly to every backyard visitor. How many points do I get for sitting at the compost bin with my pruners clipping everything into little bits so it will all decompose faster? And running newspaper through the shredder to make sure I have the correct balance of ‘greens’ and ‘browns’?
I thought I was a bit weird, watching how the compost behave, for example. But from your comments I feel I have a long way to go still. And I’m sure I will take it!
Oh, I’m such a garden geek!
1. Yes, I’m still watering them because they actually still look fairly good. And yes, I’ll bring them inside for the winter (most of them), because … well … I can. I mean, geez, if they make it through the winter then I won’t have to pay those exhorbitant prices for coleus, will I? LOLOLOL
2. I can go this one better – I’ve got our neighbor trained to put his grass clippings on my compost pile. I don’t even have to go get them. 🙂 As far as leaves go, we have MORE than enough right in our own yard. If you were my neighbor, I’d share them with you.
3. I just bagged a bunch of cypress vine seeds today from the cypress vine that self-seeded from last year’s seeds. As I was tearing out the vine itself, I saw all those seeds laying in the soil below it and I wondered why I was bothering saving any, but it just seems like a shame NOT to! Maybe I’ll want cypress vine somewhere else. (Like I can’t transplant some of the gazillion seedlings there will be next spring . . .)
4. I don’t get any points here. I use my dibber for most of the smaller bulbs and my trowel for the larger ones.
5. You betcha!
hmm, never thought of myself as a gardening geek (other types, yes!) –
#1- yep, it’s hard to know when to let those pots go.
#2- we have people who call us to come pick theirs up, plus lawn clippings to mix in – I love compost- http://muumsmusings.blogspot.com/search?q=the+thrill+of+compost
#3- once in a while – don’t usually get them planted again, though
#4- I’ve heard of using a drill, but have never tried it. Maybe I should, though I’m not very mechanically inclined.
#5- See #2 above.
I love reading others’ blogs, I learn so much!
Hahaha! A garden geek I be. All except for the hand drill, that is.
I not only go out and collect other people’s fallen leaves but I also have a neighbour trained to bring me bags of them. He thinks I’m very strange…but he does it. 😉
Carol: LOL at this post! I have the week off from being a ‘garden geek’! My son is getting married on Saturday so I am celebrating! As for an electric drill…you are soooo lucky. It is a long handled shovel for the massed bulbs and I sometimes find that a jackhammer would be a good tool to use here at ‘Ledge and Gardens’!
Yep geek through and through! Yes on the compost, annual containers, seeds, wintering over of some pots. No on the electric drill.
Adding: wintering over of dahlias, cannas, elephant ears – big production.
Guilty of most of the above! I don’t steal (I mean borrow) neighbors leaves and I don’t use a drill.
You should probably add that your have already started making plans for next years garden!
Linda
After reading all three posts I would like to know where do we go to cash in these bonus points?! I’ve got dozens!
Oops … I think I mostly qualify. I’ve never used an electric drill to plant bulbs, but otherwise I’ve done everything else.
Not only do I pick up bags of leaves in broad daylight for myself, I have also been known to do the same for my parents. Some neighbours just dump their bags of leaves here. I love it!
I am definitely guilty of trying to nurse along container plants. And I absolutely LOVE the drill tool for planting bulbs. INSPIRED. I am all over this idea.
–Robin (Bumblebee)
MSS @ Zanthan Gardens… I remember reading about how you hauled stuff in your Miata. Perhaps you’ve given up and traded it for a truck by now?
Jodi… Taking others’ leaves seems to be quite popular among gardeners.
Chuck B…. Absolutely you get bonus points for setting up shop by the compost bin and cutting up stuff to put in there. And shredding newspapers for the compost is over the top geeky.
Verobirdie… Watching compost turn, being excited when compost is made puts you on a solid path toward gardeners’ geekdom!
Kylee… Bonus points for training your neighbors to bring you leaves!
Muum… Sounds like you should start thinking of yourself as a gardening geek. Because you are one based on your comment on what you do.
Dirty Knees… Like Kylee, extra points for training your neighbor to bring you leaves.
Layanee… You can take a week off from gardening, but not from being a gardening geek!
KJohnson… Welcome to the club!
LBP… Absolutely planning for next year’s garden should already be started!
Michelle… Unfortunately, I haven’t worked through where one might cash in the points. Hang on to them, though, and check back.
Kate… I am impressed that you have people bring the leaves to you!
Robin(Bumblebee)… The drill method for small bulbs is the best. I just use a regular spade bit.
Thanks all for the comments and for making me feel less along as a gardening geek!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens
Another post confirming our Garden Geekdom. Bonus points abound. I feel like a kid in a garden center. 🙂
Guilty of all bar the drill. Love the sense of humour though..